Knees deep in muck, sweat stained bandanna, sunscreen pasted on my skin, trekking through the jungle with an entourage of Mayans, Jesuits, and donkeys – Belize did not fail to live up to my expectations!
It was just about a month into my long experiment in Belize and I was invited to go on the long and arduous hike through the Mayan jungle to one of the most distant Mayan villages – Machakhela. We got into our trucks, drove 2 hours through rough, bumpy, pot hole ridden jungle terrain just to reach an impasse of mud and foliage – now the real adventure would begin. We hopped out, grabbed our walking sticks, packed our sacs onto the mules, and began the next two hours of our hike through knee deep mud and jungle wilderness.
With the threat of quicksand, spiders, and jumping snakes we nevertheless continued our journey to reach what I could rightly deem as the closest thing to the Garden of Eden. The jungle opened up into a valley of grassy fields, palms trees, and a small village of thatch roofed huts. It was a pristine paradise without a speck of litter on the ground (which I had noticed in other villages where the Western fingerprint had already made its mark). But this was a truly untouched land.
We arrived with the Bishop of Belize and were packed and ready to help minister the Sacrament of Confirmation. We crammed into a hot and stuffy hut-like church and were welcomed with a cloud of Mayan incense. The local community was gathered and garbed in their traditional dress – apart from the confirmandeants who were a bit out of place wearing what seemed to be wedding dresses for the girls and tuxedoes for the boys. Nonetheless we enjoyed a beautiful celebration followed up by a traditional Mayan soup called Caldo.
There was a great feeling of being welcomed, but with it the reality of being a foreigner from the ‘outside world.’ Making the long trek back into the woods I pondered, “Could I live a life like that?” The simplicity, natural beauty and earthiness of the Mayan lifestyle was very attractive to me, and so I was left to wrestle with the controversial questions surrounding enculturation, evangelization, and colonization. I often reflected on what different obstacles, challenges, doubts, and questions the early Jesuit missionaries were faced with when encountering these seemingly alien and foreign cultures and peoples.
Belize is a beautiful country, and being assigned there for 5 months to go venture into its tropical and exotic climate has been a dream come true. It always remains a wonder to me to hear the stories of previous Jesuits who through many arduous journeys continued these missions of instilling, nurturing, and enflaming Christ’s Spirit in these distant lands.
I’ll never forget the first time I watched the film The Mission. What dedication, inspiration, and perseverance I saw in those courageous men. They gave their lives, their talents, their whole selves to the mission of bringing Christ to the Native peoples. I am amazed further still at their fundamental disposition of ‘finding God in all things.’ They didn’t necessarily come to bring God where he wasn’t already, but sought God where He was to be found – within these people, their cultures and traditions.
I’ve always been a fan of music – especially music as a means of experiencing God. One of the greatest experiences I had while in Belize was leading and organizing a primary school choir of fifteen children ages ten to twelve. Not only was I able to interact with them on a personal level and receive deeper insights into their culture, but I was able to truly witness God at work in their lives – as well as my own.
For two months we prepared our song Holy is His Name (lyrics based on Mary’s Magnificat played to the tune of the Scottish folk song Wild Mountain Thyme), to eventually enter into the annual Belizean Festival of Arts. I’ll never forget how proud I was of these students – from a variety of ethnicities, cultures and backgrounds including Mayan – singing together the Praises of God’s name. And how proud I was still to see the excited smiles on their faces when they won the gold medal.
We even made it to the final performance in Belize city where many of them had never been before – let alone step outside their small communities and villages. It was an incredible experience to journey with these students, witness their growth and see God at work in their lives through the expression of their individual giftedness.
I have never felt so welcomed in my life. I was brought into the community, involved in different activates, and participated in the lives and cultures of the people of this beautiful country. There are significant differences from where I come from, but indeed I found a home in Belize. As a Jesuit I realized, you are always a man on mission, where the earth is your home and the sky is your roof. Our founder even referred to himself as “the pilgrim”.
In my journey with Jesuits I think it is this aspect that I have resonated with the most. For my true home does not consist of a specific location, culture, or environment, but where I find God walking by my side in the people I meet. I leave Belize with an ever expanded heart, with room to accept and welcome the differences, uniqueness and beauty this world has to offer.
"One never reaches home, but wherever friendly paths intersect the whole world looks like home for a time." – Hermann Hesse
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Unless otherwise indicated the photos are by Brook Stacey, nSJ.