Las Cositas

Note: The following post is actually an article I wrote for the Biannual Passionist Newsletter. Before it goes to press, I thought I'd share it with you all.

Friends and family back in the states routinely ask me the same question: “What kind of work are you doing down in Honduras?” A seemingly easy question to answer, yet one that I’ve been struggling to answer myself over these past three months. I find myself telling them of the projects we’re currently involved in, of the seventy-five latrines being built for the community of Corralitos, of the baseball team we coach in town for kids under the age of twelve, of the weekly visits we make to the homes of sick members throughout our community. As I talk about how great these projects are—and they are great—I feel like I’m unable to convey the truth of what our works carry, of the tradition that we as volunteers have now joined.

The true goal of this program is so much simpler than any project, yet in its simplicity I’ve found it to be so much more meaningful. We live alongside the people of Talanga. We are present in the community. We share in their lives, accompanying them through their many struggles and joys. Even saying this, it’s hard to define exactly what this means; it ranges from something as simple as taking the time to talk with the people you pass everyday in the street to humbly accepting food offered by those we visit. In truth, our work lies in the small, everyday actions we decide to make.

To be honest, accepting this way of thinking hasn’t been easy and even now continues to trouble me. By nature, I like to see results in what I’m doing, to take an action and then see the equal and opposite reaction. After weeks of feeling this frustration coupled with my own shortcomings, I came upon this quote from Archbishop Oscar Romero:

“We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.”

Our work here is at its beginning, and as ambitious and passionate as we all are about creating substantial and noticeable differences in the lives of those we meet, keeping these words in mind will help us through the struggles of the next year. As long as we do something, no matter how small, we will have succeeded in creating an opportunity for change.