April 5, 2005

• From Hell to Heaven in Guatemala

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  I recently went to an Orthodox Orphanage in Guatemala called Hogar Rafael Ayau.  By God’s grace, I experienced things that have penetrated my heart and opened my eyes to many things.  I wish to share my experiences and meditations with you because I desire that others benefit from this story as I have.  Before my arrival, I was told that most of the orphans there have disturbing pasts.  The Guatemalan government, aside from being corrupt, is ineffective in law enforcement.  As a result, Guatemala City, is a dangerous place, especially for children.  The orphanage is located right in the center of this city (surrounded by a 17 ft brick wall).  The people there are extremely poor and their poverty compels many of them to great sins against children.  Many children are exploited by adults in order to make money or satisfy their desires.  Some are sent to beg on the dangerous streets.  These children are ordered to stand in the middle of the road and beg for money from cars stopped in traffic.  Imagine your five year old brother or cousin in the middle of a busy street standing in between cars three times his height. There are also some parents who rent their children for money.  These rented children are then subjected to whatever the “leaser” desires.  Many are sexually abused or forced into prostitution.  I will not ask you to imagine your younger sister or cousin in this situation because this would be something too difficult to accept.  The things we can barely think and talk about happen to these children every day.  Some children starve to death because their parents are so hungry they will not share the food with their own seed.  Many children are abused physically by their parents.  One child at the orphanage had deformed feet.  They were webbed to the point one could not see the child’s toes.  They looked like two globs of flesh.  This was because when he would cry as a baby, his mother would dip his feet into boiling water in order to stop him from crying.  Forgive me for sharing with you these tragic stories, but I ask you to take a moment and think about the situation these children are in.  They have no police to protect them from their parents or exploiters.  They have no one to raise them, love them, or show them any kind of positive emotion.  What they learn from their parents is sexual and physical abuse, stealing, and selfishness.  What do you think they will do when they get older?  The only thing they were taught. This is where I was going and these were the children I was going to spend a week with.

  
  

   

  
  

  A few Orthodox nuns were called by God to serve the children of this city.  Children were taken away from this corrupt city and placed in the hands of these nuns.  At the time of my visit, the orphanage had grown to about 150 children: 150 abandoned, abused, and exploited children.  How could a few nuns be expected to raise these children?  Could a few nuns show these children enough love and care so that the children could move beyond their dark past and start living a normal life?  I will answer this question in time, but, for you parents who are reading, imagine being put in charge of just one of these children.  How difficult it would be to try to take this child who has only seen and experienced evil and show him how to experience love.  Would you be able to force this child to behave let alone teach him about Christ and the Church?  In our country, children like this spend their whole life seeing psychiatrists and counselors.  Remember, that is with a 1:1 ratio, child to parents.

  
  

   

  
  

  My first day there was a Sunday, so we started the day with liturgy.  We were not sure about the time change and ended up being ready an hour before liturgy, so we decided to walk around.  Suddenly, a small boy, about the age of 6, ran up to two of the members from our group and gave them a hug.  He walked them to the church and we sat in one of the pews talking and playing with this boy.  What love that boy had!  Not knowing us and seeing us for the first time, he, without hesitation, acted as though we were his family.  Soon the rest of the children had formed a line outside to enter the church.  Upon entering, each would bow before the icons in the back of the church and then do three full prostrations in front of both the icon of Our Lord and the icon of the Theotokos Virgin Mary kissing the icons after the prostrations.  After all completed their prostrations, the liturgy began.  A nun and a young orphan girl led all the liturgical chanting, but could barely be heard because of the overwhelming chorus of children singing.  Almost every child had the service memorized and joyfully sang with a loud voice.  There were points in the liturgy where I felt the church was going to shake because almost 100 loud voices were praising, resulting in one powerful and resonating sound.  Can you think of anything more beautiful than young children filling the church with their voices, praising God with all their heart?  I assure you the angels rushed to behold the children of God and listen to their voices directed to Heaven.  Truly, a feeling of peace and calmness, which only comes from God, overcame all of us that day.  It was evident God was among those children because just listening to their praising and being around them lifted us spiritually.

  
  

   

  
  

  Throughout the service, we noticed children doing many prostrations.  Nobody was forcing them to do these prostrations, but it was out of their own will that they subjected their bodies.  Some children started prostrations at the beginning of service and didn’t stop until the service ended.  When we asked one of nuns about this, she told us that some of the children say that they lied or did something wrong and felt they needed to repent.

  
  

   

  
  

  That Sunday happened to be the first Sunday before the Great Fast.  A special service called Forgiveness Vespers is celebrated by the Eastern Orthodox on this day.  Towards the end of this service, the two priests did full prostrations before each other, kissed each other’s hands, and asked each other for forgiveness.  The nuns then did the same before the priests each one prostrating before the other, kissing each other’s hands, and asking for forgiveness.  This was an act of great humility, but what I saw next I will remember for the rest of my life.  The children lined up before the priests and nuns.  Each child did a prostration before the priest while the priest prostrated before the child, each kissing each other’s hands, and asking each other for forgiveness.  Each child followed this same pattern with the nuns also.  After completing this process with all the nuns, the first child stood next to the last nun in line.  Then the next child would stand next to that first child in the same line and this process would repeat until there was a circle of priests, nuns, and children all the way around the church.  This continued for about 30 minutes until everyone in the church had prostrated before everyone, kissing their hand, and asking them for forgiveness.  Overall, everyone prostrated before about 100 people most of which were below the age of 11.  I am still amazed by this service. First of all, these nuns were the authority in the orphanage.  They had to be strict in order to control the children.  Essentially, they were the parents of the house, yet these nuns gladly prostrated before every one of their children.  More incredible than this though, was seeing the children bow before their authority figures and before each other.  Picture yourself prostrating before your parents.  Picture yourself prostrating before your children or your younger sibling.  Certainly it would be difficult. 

  
  

   

  
  

  Personally, I benefited greatly from all the prostrations, kissing of hands, and begging for forgiveness.  At first I was embarrassed.  It was hard for me to allow priests, nuns, and innocent children to kiss my hand.  They did not know they were kissing a defiled hand.  I wanted to pull my hand away but was afraid this would offend them.  After a little while, when the prostrations became more difficult and my body became weaker, I began to feel as though I was prostrating before Christ Himself asking Him for forgiveness.  I no longer saw orphans.  With every kiss of the hand, I felt I was pulling Christ’s hand begging Him to forgive me.  By the grace of God working through these orphans, I was able see Christ in all those around me.  Surely, if one can feed, clothe, and visit Christ through others, then one can humble himself and ask for forgiveness from Christ through others as well (Matthew 25:35).  I urge you all to prostrate before as many people as you can, especially those whom it is the hardest to prostrate before.  If not physically then spiritually prostrate before them; for it is not them whom you prostrate before, but it is before Christ.

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  Apart from their actions in church, I noticed great faith and love in these children.  One of them was walking outside and didn’t know he was being watched.  He made the sign of the cross and then continued to walk.  Moreover, all the children would repeatedly hug us when they saw us.  Many of the children made us cards expressing their gratitude for our presence.  One girl’s words touched me the most though.  This young girl was talking to us about all the noise we could hear coming from the city.  She told some of us that our parents shouldn’t be worried because this (the orphanage) is a holy place and nothing will happen to us.  She then made the sign of the cross.  There was not a doubt in her mind that she was protected by God. 

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  How could these be the same Guatemala City children I described earlier?

  
  

   

  
  

  Just so you will know that the events I just described to you are no small thing, allow me to compare these children to our children and even to us.  How many of our children have done one prostration or even know what a prostration is?  How many of us have the faith of that young girl?  If you were in a dangerous city, would you feel at peace and have no doubt that God was protecting you?  How many of our children will hug those in Church they do not know?  More than this, how many of us would immediately accept a visitor of the church as if he or she were family?  In response to these questions, I want to be very honest with you.  I think our children are spiritually delayed.  They grow up watching TV and playing video games.  True, they may go to church and even enjoy it, but they never are pushed or even expected to have a spiritual life.  Unfortunately, most of our children are busy with so many things all day, and then our parents think it enough that they spend five minutes before they go to bed saying a short prayer and reading a short biblical story.  Obviously, the emphasis is not on things spiritual when only 5 minutes at the end of each day are allotted.  Do not think that our children are too young to grow spiritually.  Please do not ever think that they will learn all they need in Sunday school and then become spiritual when they get older.  I have just shown you children who are spiritual!  Do not think that these children are special and that it is not realistic to expect much from our children for this is illogical.  Our children are given much more from God and should be surpassing these orphans.  Jesus says, “Let the children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 9:14).  Do not forbid your children to come to Jesus by not emphasizing spirituality.  Even our beloved St. John Chrysostom whom we quote so frequently has the same message for us.

  
  

   

  
  

  “For let no one tell me that our children ought not to be occupied with these things; they ought not only to be occupied with them, but to be zealous about them only….And yet when you take your children into the theaters, you allege neither their mathematical lessons, nor anything of the kind; but if it be required to gain or collect anything spiritual, you call the matter a waste of time. And how shall you not anger God, if you find leisure and assign a season for everything else, and yet think it a troublesome and unseasonable thing for your children to take in hand what relates to Him?” (Homily 1 on the Gospel of St. John)

  
  

   

  
  

  How do you think St. Abanoub, a 12 year old child, witnessed to many people including governors and finally obtained the crown of martyrdom in the era of the tyrant and persecutor Diocletian?  It is simply because his parents pushed him to understand and love Christ.  As for these Guatemalan orphans, I believe they are close to understanding and loving Christ.  As for our children, please do not get upset with me, they have not even begun to delve into things spiritual.  They have accumulated so many images and sounds from the media that they do not enjoy things spiritual.  This is why children in our country dread going to church.  Their soul has more of an affinity for media and video games than it does for God.  When they get older, and I pray they realize the importance of spirituality, they will have to shed all the bad habits they formed, all the sinful images they acquired from the media, and all the disturbing sounds and words they heard throughout their life and will inevitably be greatly delayed.  Just as I know you cannot stand to see your child delayed in education, you also should not stand to see your child delayed spiritually.  It would hurt you deeply if your child had to repeat the 1^st grade twice because you neglected to teach him or her how to think and speak when he or she was young.  What scares me is would you be hurt deeply if your child had to repeat the 1^st grade of spirituality until they reach the age of  25 because you neglected to emphasize spirituality every day and only emphasized it on Sunday?  Which is more important?  Picture a 25 year old man in 1^st grade trying desperately to learn.  If spirituality is more important, then how much more absurd a sight is a 25 year old man struggling to reach the 1^st grade of spirituality?

  
  

   

  
  

  To those of you who are not parents and are no longer children; if you are delayed like I am spiritually, I urge you to strive harder to make up for lost time.  Let us stop fooling ourselves and devote our whole life to growing spiritually.  We will continue to be delayed unless we rid ourselves of everything that holds us back.  Deep down, you know what exactly what sin is keeping you from God.  For some of us it is lust, some drinking, some laziness, some the people we hang around, and for some of us it is the desire to be the center of attention.  Be angry at this sin and ask God to destroy it.  Be jealous because these orphans feel God’s presence more than we do.  Be jealous because they hear God’s Word more than we do.  Be jealous because they do more prostrations than we do. Please be humbled by these orphans and realize you have not attained a spiritual level appropriate for the number of years you have been Christian.  Pray for me so that I may have the strength to strive along with you.

  
  

   

  
  

  As for my earlier question, “Could a few nuns show these children enough love and care so that the children could move beyond their dark past and start living a normal life?”  The answer is no.  A few people cannot accomplish such a transformation which I just described to you.  These children went from hell to heaven, from hate to love.  It is clearly the love of God that has caused this transformation.  It is this same transformation God wants to accomplish with all of us.  I have written about many sad things: orphans, abuse, and abandonment.  But now I ask you to rejoice with me.  Rejoice because God has dwelt among these orphans!  Rejoice because these orphans are learning to become strong spiritual soldiers!  Rejoice because these orphans are among nuns whom God works through! Rejoice because these children have returned to the image of God!  What a great service these nuns and others are doing for these children.  What is more important than loving God’s children and teaching them about Him? 

  
  

   

  
  

  If you would like to be a part of this service that has taught me so much and has placed God in the midst of Guatemala City orphans, you can donate to the address below or even go spend time with the children.  Whatever you decide to do, I urge you not to forget about this place in your prayers.

  
  

   

  
  

  Monetary Donation:

  
  

  Hogar Rafael Ayau

  
  

  Attention: Mother Ines

  
  

  P.O. Box 591828 D-012

  
  

  Miami, FL 33159-1828

  
  

  Make check payable to ICAOAG-Hogar Rafael Ayau

  
  

   

  
  

  Tel 502-2232-8916 or 502-2232-8917

  
  

  Email: homeayau@ufm.edu.gt

  
  

   

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  The above article was written , recently, by a student member of the OCF of Miami University of Ohio.  Fr. Christos is one of the OCF spiritual advisors. http://www.ocf.net/

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