Of Love and Might (Part 2)

The lives of the sacrificial Jesuits who abandoned their comfort zones to share the Good News to a community that had rejected the Gospel in the past and martyred the first missionary there by fastening him to a cross and letting him drift away through the violent rapids and into to falls, to his doom, really touched my heart.

While observing the pains of these loving missionaries ascend the mountains of Brazil to share Christ’s love to the natives and successfully bring about a golden age among them, I found it difficult to sink in the audacity of people with political power (like Altamirano) to use the name of the Lord while consciously knowing that the decision they are making against the marginalized people of simple faith, is of their own will. This can be illustrated in the in the dialogue below.

Altamirano: Tell them they must leave the missions. They must submit to the will of God. Gabriel: They say it was the will of God that they came out of the jungle and built the mission. They don't understand why God has changed his mind.

(Father Gabriel was translating the words of Altamirano to the native in their own language. I just cannot imagine the pain in his heart as he translated those devastating words to poor people who had trusted him so much. While I understand the pressure faced by Altamirano by powerful forces, the political dilemma which he was in and how much his conscience must have troubled him, he very well knew where his decision would lead – the slavery of the natives and ultimately their doom. He was not willing to choose otherwise; the path less traveled by.)