CAC Programs Director Barbara Otero-López writes in the spring ONEING issue about the colonizing exile that her ancestral family suffered, and the resilient love that her ancestors inspire:
My ancestral family includes many Indigenous women who were taken captive by Spanish conquistadors and settlers. These women were captured and taken from their own families into communities that were vastly different from their own. They were taken as captives, wives and slaves. They were used as bartering tools and to secure alliances. They were exiled from the lives they once knew and were forced to live as wives and slaves. These women bore the trauma of captivity, the trauma of exile in the land of their own people. They were forced to marry and bear the children of their captors. Trauma such as this is known to be passed on through the womb, through the umbilical cord, from mother to child, and then again to that child’s child. Sustos is a Spanish word that names soul wounds such as these.
Despite the pain and trauma of captivity and forced assimilation into a culture and society which was not their own, despite their sustos, these women learned how to love and pass on this love through food, song, healing, tradition, and the love of God and all Her creation. This love in the time of exile was a sacred love, one borne of resilience and silent resistance. And, as I have learned, just as trauma and soul wounds are passed on to successive generations through DNA, love and resilience are too.
As Dr. B [Barbara Holmes] has taught us, “You journey with your ancestors. That’s why knowing your roots is important, because whether you know it or not, they’re journeying with you. Wouldn’t you want the help? Wouldn’t you want the warnings? Wouldn’t you want the blessings of those who have gone before you?”… [1]
I am going to be a grandmother myself now, and I can hear my mother and my grandmothers calling me to listen and to wake up and live the stories they want me to pass on, to continue the honor of being the translator of memories and mythologies, to pass on the love and resilience which has been passed on to me.…
There is an invitation for us all in times such as these. We are all being called to wake up and name our sadness, pain, and trauma, to allow our tears to flow and season our very lives. Times such as these are also calling us to stand up, to avoid becoming cynical and bitter, and to not be consumed and overpowered by our anger and sadness. Instead, we are to transform all that into something much more generative. We have much to learn from our ancestors, from their stories of trauma and from their loving protest of resilience.
I believe that in times such as these, we are all being called to listen. What stories are your ancestors wanting to tell through you?
| The Trembling Rock |
 Click Here for AudioI’m a fan of Marvel movies. I realize they get dismissed by serious film critics, and I know they’re created to appeal to the masses to sell merchandise and theme park tickets. However, when you get past the nonsensical action and corporate product placement, these movies often tackle timeless themes shared with great literature. Bruce Banner’s struggle to control his anger and contain his inner Hulk is an echo of Robert Louis Stevenson’s story about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The runaway A.I. called Ultron, created by Tony Stark to protect the world, is a retelling of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. And the journey of a scrawny but courageous Steve Rogers into the righteous leader Captain America draws directly from the biblical story of King David.Among my favorite Marvel movies are the origin stories—the films that explain how well-known characters were plucked from obscurity and transformed from zeros into heroes. The best origin stories are told as flashbacks where the audience has already been introduced to the superhero, but only later discovers the hero’s unexpected and humble beginnings. Luke does something similar when telling the origin story of one of the church’s early heroes.Peter was likely well-known to Luke’s audience. He was, after all, the most famous leader of the Christian movement in the first century after Jesus himself. As Luke would later record in the book of Acts, Peter courageously defied both the Jewish and Roman authorities, performed miracles, and preached to crowds of thousands who came to believe that Jesus was the Christ. Tradition tells us that Peter eventually founded the church in Rome, where he was later arrested and martyred. His leadership, courage, and unwavering faith explain why Jesus gave him the nickname Peter, meaning rock. Peter was unshakable. It’s also what makes his origin story so amusing. Luke tells us that Peter, whose given name was Simon, ran a fishing business in Galilee. After a night of fruitless fishing, Simon and his partners washed their nets on the shore when Jesus arrived. Forced toward the water by the growing crowd, Jesus got into Simon’s boat and taught the people. Afterward, he told Simon to push out into the water and let out their nets again. Simon knew this was ridiculous for many reasons. One, in the heat of the day, the fish would be too deep to catch. That’s why they fished at night. Two, the men were exhausted from a sleepless night of work. And three, Jesus was a carpenter, not a fisherman. What did he know about where to catch fish? But for some reason—perhaps because he was persuaded by what Jesus had just taught the crowds—Simon agreed. You know what happened next. So many fish filled the nets that they began to break. A second boat was called to help with the haul. At this point, it’s evident to Simon that this was far from an ordinary catch, and that the man in his boat possessed a supernatural power and authority. So, he fell at Jesus’ feet and confessed his unworthiness. “Go away,” he said, “for I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8). While he doesn’t yet fully grasp Jesus’ identity, he is aware that Jesus carries God’s holy presence—and Simon is terrified. In this way, his encounter with Jesus echoes the experience of others called by God. Moses hid his face when God called to him from the Burning Bush, and when Isaiah encountered the Lord in the Temple he cried out in horror and said, “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5). Simon’s calling was very similar. It started with a divine encounter that filled him with fear.It’s telling that this is the moment when Luke first calls him by the name Peter. Up to now, he’s only been identified in Luke’s gospel as Simon. But when he is on the ground, his knees knocking, and his voice trembling before the presence and power of Jesus, Luke tells his audience that this broken, whimpering, frightened man is actually the hero of the Church they know as “the Rock.” Early readers of the gospel must have been shocked by this origin story. This is Peter? This frightened man is the one who would defy kings, confront the authorities, and turn the world upside down? Really?Yes, really. Luke wanted his readers to take a lesson from Peter’s surprising origin story. It is through encountering Jesus and his power that we learn to fear nothing else. Having been shaken to the core in the presence of Jesus, nothing will ever shake you again. The transformation of fearful Simon into fearless Peter happened when he came to fear Jesus above all else. It’s the paradox John Newton wrote about in his hymn Amazing Grace: “Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear, and Grace my fears relieved.” DAILY SCRIPTURE LUKE 5:1-11 ISAIAH 6:1-8 WEEKLY PRAYER from Brother Roger of Taizé (1915 – 2005) O Christ, tirelessly you seek out those who are looking for you and who think that you are far away; teach us, at every moment, to place our spirits in your hands. While we are still looking for you, already you have found us. However poor our prayer, you hear us far more than we can imagine or believe. Amen. |
