Letter from Myanmar | “How to hope again?”
A letter by Father Piero Masolo (PIME) from his time as a missionary in Myanmar, among persecuted Christians
by father Piero Masolo (PIME)
Dear friends, dear friends,
here is a strong appeal for peace made by the Archbishop of Yangon, Cardinal Charles Bo:
“Together, let us kneel in solidarity, imploring the Almighty to dispel the darkness of conflict and usher in a new dawn of hope and harmony.”
“In our fervent prayers, let us not overlook the anguished cries of the innocent, the tears of the oppressed and the shattered dreams
of those caught in the crossfire of clashes, especially our youth.
“We stand with Pope Francis when he urges nations to renounce the false allure of violence and embrace the transformative power of peace.”
Today, as we witness the devastating toll of conflicts even in the land of Jesus, in Ukraine, and in our own land,
we raise our voices in fervent prayer for peace. We implore the Almighty to grant us the divine gift of peace infused in
justice, guiding us toward a brighter future.”
“Let us exalt the abundant human resources with which our land is endowed and cultivate them to flourish instead of letting them wither amid the turmoil of war. Investing in the next generation means investing in lasting peace. Shanthi, Shalom, Peace, Salaam.”
One image allows me, I think, to give you a sense of some of the complexity associated with the civil war we are experiencing.
It is this embroidery of bright fish on black fabric: each one carries a beauty, which stands out even more against the dark background.
Each person I met amazed me with the resilience they are capable of.
How did the water get so dark? Did the situation become so confusing, entangled, difficult?
“You’re dumb as a brick” is the custom, and incommunicability is one of the great travails of this situation: can I trust? Will I be monitored, spied on?
A war means not only dead and wounded, but so much trauma:
from the need to escape, to flee for survival, to separation from one’s family;
to the inability to work to the inability to continue one’s studies;
from the poverty created by galloping inflation to the devaluation of the currency,
to the lack of electricity for many hours a day;
from the difficulty of moving from one point to another in the country
not only because of the many war zones
but also because there is often a shortage of gasoline and people are left on foot… or on bikes!
How much fear one sees in people’s eyes, how much uncertainty about one’s future, especially in young people, and at the same time how much strength, simply in carrying on a normalcy of life on a daily basis.
How much hatred and anger at the many injustices suffered is sometimes discerned in people who are naturally kind and smiling.
The resurrection of Jesus has much to say in all this: how can we still hope?
I feel that we are asked for the fortitude of spirit to hope against all evidence of evil, to be able to glimpse every glimmer of light, no matter how small.
I have been helped in this attitude by a writing project that was proposed to me some time ago: to tell about the Italians who arrived in Burma and lived here over the past 800 years: from Marco Polo’s mythical voyage to the last century.
Among them most are missionaries: PIME of course, present since 1868, but before us the Oblates of Turin and the Barnabites.
The latter were true pioneers: to them we owe the first Burmese-Latin-Portuguese dictionary, the first books of the Bible translated into Burmese, the first catechism.
They faced all kinds of difficulties, very long journeys, wars, injustices and betrayals. Many died young, after only a few years of mission, some are martyrs. Yet they continued to sow and … the local Church is there today!
It gives me pause to know myself as a dwarf on the shoulders of giants, part of a story much bigger than me and us.
A story in which we take a few steps, relying on the Lord and letting Him accomplish all that He inspires us to do and fail to do.
Source and image
- spazio + spadoni
- Father Piero Masolo