40 days, 40 years, 400 years and 4000 years

Lent is an ambiguous time in the Church calendar as it calls us to a time of penitence even while looking forward to the joy of resurrection. In this way it mirrors real life which also brings with it this same ambiguity as we walk this journey of faith toward our final resting place. It also looks different given the different locations from which we all seek to practice this discipline. For me, since a decade ago, Lent has been known to me as “Cuaresma” (40 days en Spanish).

In Latin America, at least among the more devout Spanish speaking “mestizo” Catholic population, Cuaresma is a time of attending Mass more frequently, denying oneself red meat and having a slightly more religious consciousness leading one to think about the teachings of Jesus. For the indigenous populations, who in southern Mexico (and Guatemala for that matter) having adopted the religion of the Protestants partly in resistance to the imposition of the Roman Catholic church, tend not to give much importance to this discipline.

While not wanting to criticize either of the practices of these two groups we can happily report that some 40 years ago a new religious consciousness began to appear that is bringing together some from each of these groups. The Indigenous National Congress held in Chiapas in 1974 convened by the late progressive bishop, Samuel Ruiz, re-invested the meaning of Lent with more biblical metaphors such as solidarity, repentance and resurrection. These metaphors have had the power to bring together people from many different religious traditions to work side by side for what many call “Otro Mundo es Posible” (Another World is Possible).

While the 500 year anniversary of the Spanish conquest of the Americas was remembered some 20 years ago many Mayans today remember the resistance of their ancestors that persevered for another 100 years until finally some 400 years ago the last Mayan stronghold fell. Interestingly, the Hebrews of old also suffered under Egyptian domination for some four centuries until God sent them a liberator. Lee Van Ham, in his soon to be released book, “The Eden We Can Choose,” points to both Moses and Jesus who spent 40 years and 40 days respectively in their own wilderness in order that they might be rid of the imperial consciousness from inside as well as learn ways to oppose it. Many today hope that this year might see the end of four centuries of domination by an idolatrous economic system inaugurating a new era of peace, prosperity and abundance for all.

So, during this special time of 40 days we invite you to remember the Hebrew people of some 4000 years ago who were liberated from their oppression as well as the four centuries of oppression of the indigenous in our own continent today. We give thanks for prophets like Samuel Ruiz who 40 years ago put in motion a process for the liberation of the Mayan descendants of Chiapas.

We would like to invite you into this discipline not out of some religious duty but as an act of repentance, solidarity and hope for our own liberation from whatever oppression might be binding us. Finally, as bishop Samuel Ruiz said some 40 years ago, echoing the Apostle James: “Estar arriba con los de abajo, estar adentro con los de afuera y caminar para que las cosas no sean iguales (to be above with those who are below, to be inside with those who are outside and to walk as if these differences do not exist.”

The brother (or sister) in humble circumstances ought to take pride in her high position. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position because she will pass away like a wild flower.

—James 1:9-10

Comments

[Lee Van Ham]

Jubilee did not come up with the slogan "Another World Is Possible" but to practice the jubilee economy is to live that other world now. I bow in appreciation to the many Indigenous Peoples who know Earth is sacred, a core conviction of jubilee as well which says simply, "The Earth is Yahweh's." Private ownership, a core practice of the conquerers of Native Americans and Mayans, not only violates jubilee but precipitates the violence necessary to secure land as "mine" or "ours." As Bishop Ruiz understood so well, solidarity with the landless was the sacred way because holding land as commonwealth was essential to the community of life. Though the product of the land may be held privately, the land itself is so essential to the wholeness of life and community that it is too revered as the wealth of all. For a person or company to own it is to downgrade it. And that's precisely what industrial agriculture has done as its methods extract the soul from the soil. Thanks, Dan, for inviting us to reflect on our land use in the spirit of Lent and actions of solidarity with all who are making possible another world.