Faith and Missionary Activity, Part 5 - Missionary Activity
12/August/2007 02:48 PM Filed in: Mission
Staff |
Missionary
Reflections
Lent in Honduras. Living in Honduras is almost to
live a perpetual Lent. From the thick, balmy haze of
the northern coastal and jungle regions, to the dry,
piercing sun of the central highlands, comfort comes
only after resignation to discomfort. Cleanliness, hot
showers, and quality hamburgers are only faint rumors
to a missionary in Honduras. And there’s always the
smell of some unpleasant thing, be it diesel fumes,
sewage, or burning garbage. But like all good Lents,
the drier it is, the more refreshing the Easter feels.
In Honduras, Holy Week is a very celebrated time, filled with a great outpouring of devotion. In Comayagua, everything shuts down as the city streets are filled with “carpets” of colored saw dust and flowers. Beginning on Holy Thursday, gigantic murals of religious significance and artistic beauty are created, and when the bishop leads the Good Friday procession, they are trampled and destroyed. My Lent in Honduras seemed was particularly trying. I had taken ill with several barrages of Central American infections, suffered many festering sores and dropped to 105 pounds, and worst of all was feeling taken for granted by my friends among the missionaries. Finally, on the afternoon of Good Friday, I went to the chapel. The veneration of the cross has often been a powerful experience for me as it transports me to Golgatha in a flash when I touched the wood. This time, I laid all of my struggles and anxieties at the foot of the cross. While genuflecting and embracing the wood, I asked, “Am I to be a chump for my friends?” “Yes” was the answer as clear as any spoken voice. I do not claim a locution, but more likely an enlightening of my heart, made possible by its emptying at the foot of the cross. Read More...
In Honduras, Holy Week is a very celebrated time, filled with a great outpouring of devotion. In Comayagua, everything shuts down as the city streets are filled with “carpets” of colored saw dust and flowers. Beginning on Holy Thursday, gigantic murals of religious significance and artistic beauty are created, and when the bishop leads the Good Friday procession, they are trampled and destroyed. My Lent in Honduras seemed was particularly trying. I had taken ill with several barrages of Central American infections, suffered many festering sores and dropped to 105 pounds, and worst of all was feeling taken for granted by my friends among the missionaries. Finally, on the afternoon of Good Friday, I went to the chapel. The veneration of the cross has often been a powerful experience for me as it transports me to Golgatha in a flash when I touched the wood. This time, I laid all of my struggles and anxieties at the foot of the cross. While genuflecting and embracing the wood, I asked, “Am I to be a chump for my friends?” “Yes” was the answer as clear as any spoken voice. I do not claim a locution, but more likely an enlightening of my heart, made possible by its emptying at the foot of the cross. Read More...
Faith and Missionary Activity, Part 4 - Missionary Church
10/August/2007 02:46 PM Filed in: Mission
Staff |
Missionary
Reflections
“You know, there’s external poverty, and there’s
internal poverty. External poverty means they don’t
have enough to eat, they can’t get the medicine they
need, they can’t get an education or anything like
that. But the internal poverty is even worse because in
that kind of situation, people live without hope.
There’s just no way out. They’re in a box and there’s
just no way out. So when I came [to Honduras] so many
years ago, the idea of “where do we begin?”, “what do
we do?”, “how do we break this chain of poverty?” And
very quickly [came] the idea of education – you take
these young girls and boys and you help them to study.
You give them an environment and a motivation to
study.” – Fr. Emil Cook, O.F.M., Conv. (Mission
Honduras) Read
More...
Faith and Missionary Activity, Part 3 - Apostolic Mission
07/August/2007 02:42 PM Filed in: Mission
Staff |
Missionary
Reflections
“Okay, we have to remember that there are very few
priests here [in Honduras] – one priest for every
45,000 Catholics. I have Mass at the American air base
at 4:30 on Saturday evening, then I come home and I
have Mass for our boys in the boystown and girls in the
girlstown at about 5:30. And then on Sunday I have Mass
at the boys orphanage at 7:00, then I have Mass at the
American base at 8:15 followed by a Bible study which
over at about 10:30. At 11:00 I have Mass at the girl’s
orphanage and the mother’s project. From there, I come
home, get a bite to eat, and we take the bus to La
Barca, where we have the City of Children, and we have
Mass at about 2:15. Then we get back in the bus and go
up to the coast, which is another two hours. Then I
have Mass at 6:00. So that’s Sunday, I have five Masses
on Sunday. Well Monday up there at the coast, I have
Mass at three different villages. I have Mass at 3:30,
5:00, and 6:30. So that’s the Sunday Mass schedule.” –
Fr. Emil Cook, O.F.M., Conv. (Mission Honduras)
Read
More...
Faith and Missionary Activity, Part 2 - Divine Missions
04/August/2007 02:39 PM Filed in: Mission
Staff |
Missionary
Reflections
“I could work somewhere else, perhaps making more
money. But as I said, I am committed to contribute my
services to this institution. I recognize all the help
I received from Mission Honduras. So that is why I give
back to them as a physician. If Mission Honduras had
not helped me when I was young, I would not be a doctor
now. Maybe by now I would have ended up a farm hand or
a peasant.” – Dr. Ramon Fuentes (Mission Honduras)
Read
More...
Faith and Missionary Activity, Part 1
01/August/2007 02:20 PM Filed in: Mission
Staff |
Missionary
Reflections
It must have been almost 100 degrees by noon that
day. Several of us missionaries were driving up the
highway known as Central America 5, from the village of
Las Flores to the city of Comayagua, to get supplies
for the mission. Read
More...
Summer update from Fr. Emil
20/July/2007 02:25 PM Filed in: Fr. Emil
| Mission
Staff
Around the 25th of June I
went to the dominican Republic with one of our new
Honduran volunteers and with our executive director of
APUFRAM. In the Dominican Republic we have a university
house n the capital and a boarding facility for high
school students in Estebania. Read
More...
On the road with Fr. Emil, April 2007
05/May/2007 08:54 AM Filed in: Mission
Staff |
Fr.
Emil
After leaving the
Kasson/Byron area in Minnesota, we spent Palm Sunday at
Burlington in southern Wisconsin. At a retreat center
there, persons from all over the United States ranging
from California to Florida met to discuss issues on how
to improve support for the missions.
Read
More...
On the road with Fr. Emil, Mar. 2007
01/April/2007 08:44 AM Filed in: Mission
Staff |
Fr.
Emil
Santa Fe was successful,
with every Mass filled and an open house dinner at the
house of a parishioner on the weekend of March
3-4. Read
More...
On the road with Fr. Emil, Feb. 2007
02/March/2007 08:30 PM Filed in: Mission
Staff |
Fr.
Emil
After Chicago, we were off
to Minnesota. On the weekend of February 3rd and 4th we
stayed at the Schindler home in Wells, located in the
southern part of the state. For the next week Father
Emil traveled around amid wind chills down to 30 below
or colder. Read
More...
On the road with Fr. Emil, Jan. 2007
10/February/2007 10:56 AM Filed in: Mission
Staff |
Fr.
Emil
Fr. Emil celebrated Masses
at St. Catherine’s parish in Cincinnati, which has been
a long time supporter of Mission Honduras. Monday we
headed out for Pennsylvania. Read
More...
Fr. Emil's US Tour
10/February/2007 10:52 AM Filed in: Mission
Staff |
Fr.
Emil
Every year Fr. Emil Cook,
a missionary priest working in Honduras, travels around
the United States to acquire support for the missions
in Honduras as well as those started in Dominican
Republic and Liberia, Africa. Read
More...
St. Aloysius of Baton Rouge team
11/January/2007 04:59 PM Filed in: Missionary
Reflections
Just thought I would write
everyone to let you know that once again St. Aloysius
of Baton Rouge had another wonderful trip. Our team of
29 spent only eight days at the Mission, but God does
not need much time to change lives and attitudes. This
was a very powerful group and we teamed with a group
from Wisconsin to make a difference.
Read
More...
Mission Endurance, I Mean Honduras
09/January/2007 02:58 PM Filed in: Missionary
Reflections
By Heidi Bratton
I spent the February school vacation living out of a carry-on bag, taking cold showers, digging ditches, killing centipedes, and chaperoning 15 teenagers. Sound like a nightmare? It wasn’t. It was a little taste of heaven on earth called Mission Honduras, and I had the extreme privilege of serving in this mission with our church youth group. Read More...
I spent the February school vacation living out of a carry-on bag, taking cold showers, digging ditches, killing centipedes, and chaperoning 15 teenagers. Sound like a nightmare? It wasn’t. It was a little taste of heaven on earth called Mission Honduras, and I had the extreme privilege of serving in this mission with our church youth group. Read More...
The Spiritual Works of Mercy
09/January/2007 02:57 PM Filed in: Missionary
Reflections
By Nicole Bratton
In Honduras, God was present to me in a way I had never experienced before. I found Him in the eyes of the little children that ran to greet us from the Mother’s Project. I heard Him in the words of each member of our mission group, as they shared what had inspired them during the days’ expeditions. I saw Him in the example of the long-term missionaries who had found a purpose for living that was much greater than themselves. Read More...
In Honduras, God was present to me in a way I had never experienced before. I found Him in the eyes of the little children that ran to greet us from the Mother’s Project. I heard Him in the words of each member of our mission group, as they shared what had inspired them during the days’ expeditions. I saw Him in the example of the long-term missionaries who had found a purpose for living that was much greater than themselves. Read More...
The Corporal Works of Mercy
09/January/2007 02:56 PM Filed in: Missionary
Reflections
By Peter Bratton
During our group’s time in Honduras, we performed a variety of jobs for the Mission. In the mornings we did everything from digging ditches and making curtains to picking up garbage and sorting supplies. Sorting the supplies was a full time job; we brought nearly 2,500 pounds of books, pharmaceuticals, pencils, and paper donated by our parishes. Read More...
During our group’s time in Honduras, we performed a variety of jobs for the Mission. In the mornings we did everything from digging ditches and making curtains to picking up garbage and sorting supplies. Sorting the supplies was a full time job; we brought nearly 2,500 pounds of books, pharmaceuticals, pencils, and paper donated by our parishes. Read More...