Ricardo Mayol

Léalo en español.

I want to share with you an experience I lived through my last Saturday in El Salvador in the Shekina Baptist Church of Santa Ana. We were assembled to build the Salvadoran chapter of peace. We arrived at 9:00 am. A group of us were there including our host, Pastora Ruth Rodríguez, Pastor Carlos Sánchez of the 1aIBSV (Former Executive Minister of the Baptists in El Salvador), Miguel Tomás Castro (pastor of IBE), Pastor Tito Orozco (Chaplain of Colegio Bautista de Santa Ana), Luis Magaña (a young economist and leader of the network of youth), Armando Márquez (Executive director of Sicsal), and myself among others. Like good Latin Americans the meeting started at 10:00 am. We presented the continental network which was received enthusiastically. Carlos, Luis, Miguel and I had been promoting this idea, we presented the vision of peace building and the group became fired up with many ideas.

At noontime we had almost finished the meeting, although we still needed to tie up our agreements. The food had already arrived. Our dishes were distributed by preference, beef or chicken. We had prayed and agreed to fine-tune agreements as we ate the succulent delicacy. None of us had taken a bite when the event, which I have still not finished processing, occurred.

Shekina Temple is on a small neighborhood, a corner at the bottom of the last street. The temple faces an unpaved street which has houses on the left and leafy trees and coffee plantations to the right. The street ends where the church property also ends. Out to the main street you must turn right to another unpaved street right side of the temple. We entered the Church through the right side door, which was still open.

With the dishes on the table we heard a shootout and agitation approaching the church from the street. Then, just to the side street, exactly parallel to our work table, we heard loud noises and then two intense and dry shots. The gate through which we entered was still open. We all got confused. I went out into the courtyard and closed the gate.

The racket outside was calming down. We looked out and became aware that the police had killed two people. We wanted to leave, but they had closed off the crime scene area prohibiting our exit until the bodies were processed, which took 4 hours.

This event does not stop disturbing me. What I thought on that day keeps bothering me today. I want to explore it with you, asking to God, who is our Mother and Father that we can hear her voice, his call so we can respond to the call.

What came to my mind was and is:

1.       If I could have done something that would avoid that death that took place in front of us when we were setting up the paths of peace.

2.       My 2nd thought was and continues to beat my head is, how is the murderer of these people doing? If that would have been his 1st time depriving someone of the sacred well of life or if he is already used to murdering and seeing it as something natural?

These 2 questions trouble me today with the same force they had on me that day.

1.       A history of violence: The history of El Salvador... Civil War...

2.       An atmosphere that absorbs: The prevailing logic of death... How it became dominant through the media...

3.       Perverse interests that are profiting from death to monopolize wealth and power

1.       Being there. Being a presence that helps to process the experience of violence before killing becomes something natural. This is to incarnate the Gospel.

2.       Breaking up schemes, the logic of death; imagining and shaping a world of peace. This is a cultural work that breaks the common sense. It is a work of art.

3.       Exposing systems of death, exposing them; making the light shine in the darkness. This is prophetic work.

This is a calling from heaven.