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Published by
OrthodoxyToday.org,
August 13, 2005
Summer Trip to the Hogar
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Fr.
Steven Kostoff
Seek first his kingdom and his
righteousness, and all things shall be added
unto you.
Matthew. 6:33
Our Mission Team recently
returned from a visit to the Hogar Ragael Ayau
Orphanage in Guatemala City. It was a wonderful
trip that accomplished three major goals: 1) a
substantial donation of money and materials to
keep the orphanage running; 2) a great deal of
repair and maintenance on the physical facility;
and most important 3) an increasing closeness
and loving interaction with the children who
live there.
The time we spend with the
children of the Hogar is short but  leaves
a deep impression on the minds and hearts of all
team members. As friendships with the children
form and deepen, the remark "Is it already time
to leave already?' takes on the tone of a lament
as the time to depart approaches. The next
question is always "Will I be able to return one
day?" When the children and Mission Team members
line up for the farewell hug on the last day the
tears flow.
About half of our team was
making their first visit to the Hogar. It was
fascinating to hear their first impressions.
Many of them describe the Hogar as a "spiritual
oasis" for the children.
The Hogar occupies a large
square city block completely surrounded by a
fifteen-foot high wall. There is a metal gate at
the entrance controlled by security guards. It
was built in the nineteenth century and today
this fortress-like structure protects the
children from criminals and other threatening
elements of Guatemala City's rough and tough
zona 1.
The Hogar is an oasis of
normalcy, sanity and basic decency - even
something of a paradise for children who come
from horrible and hellish backgrounds. The
Church helps heal these troubled children. It
functions as a childrens' monastery
where the children are protected from the
outside world to be healed by Christ through the
grace-filled life of the Church -- especially
through regular participation in the Holy
Mysteries (Sacraments).
One day Madre Ivonne (the
abbess of Hogar) sent me to anoint all of the
children. As I visited the classrooms, nursery,
infirmary and other places where the children
eagerly lined up for the annointing. Later in
the day the younger children approached me with
a smile pointing to the exact spot spot on their
foreheads where they were anointed.
Turning our attention beyond
the enclosed space of the Hogar for the moment,
or perhaps using it as a model, I would say that
the image of a "spiritual oasis" can equally and
as effectively describe the role of our parishes
in today's world. In other words, our Orthodox
Christian parishes can be experienced as
spiritual oases within the superficial and
spiritually-barren environment that threatens to
reduce our moral, ethical, social and spiritual
surroundings to something of a cultural
"wasteland."
Now, if that sounds too
"negative" or bombastic - or simply like too
much of a religiously-driven cliche - I would
suggest taking a good, hard look at what is
being offered as "food and drink" to our souls
today. The non-nutritional fare of those
over-sized "food courts" within our mega-malls
that pass for "dining areas" today, only serves
as representative of the less tangible,
seemingly more cerebral, but equally toxic fare
that is served up smilingly for our interior
consumption. We may be temporarily entertained
or distracted, but our minds and hearts will
remain famished and hungering for something
"other."
That "other" is present in
our parishes like "a fertile spot in a desert
where water rises." This is the living water of
the Gospel. As Jesus said to the Samaritan
woman:
"Every one who
drinks of this water will thirst again, but
whoever drinks of the water that I shall give
him will never thirst; the water that I shall
give him will become in him a spring of water
welling up to eternal life." (JN. 4:13-14)
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