November 1, 2000

CHIAPAS: Pray with the Pilgrims. Jubilee Pilgrimage 2000

"The Civil Society of the Bees, the organization Xi'nich' [the Ants],
and some brothers and sisters from our communities & villages, have
decided to carry our prayers to the House of Our Lady of Guadalupe,
to ask that she might make our hearts larger, that we might have
greater spirit to keep struggling for a just peace and a life with dignity
for our people."

-- from the Jubilee Pilgrimage 2000 flyer

On October 14, over 250 Mayan peasants from all parts of Chiapas left
the highland village of Acteal and began a sixty-day walking
pilgrimage to the Basilica of Santa Maria of Guadalupe in Mexico City.
Their starting point, Acteal, commemorates the massacre that
occurred there in 1997, when 45 Bees were gunned down by
government- supported paramilitaries while praying and fasting in
their church.

CPTer Scott Kerr accompanied the pilgrims on the first two days of
their walk, and last week CPTers Anne Herman and Carl Meyer
traveled by bus to meet the pilgrimage in the tiny pueblo of Rizo de
Oro, Chiapas. Meyer and Herman walked two days and almost 50
kilometers with the pilgrims, entering the state of Oaxaca on the first
day. At the state border, the pickup truck of heavily armed Chiapas
Public Security police that had been following the pilgrims through
Chiapas turned back.

Each day the pilgrims walk 20 to 30 kilometers, beginning at 7 a.m. and
ending in the early afternoon. Each night a Catholic church in a
community along their route provides food and a place to sleep
(usually on the church floor or outside on the ground). Each evening
Oscar Salinas, vicar of the diocese of San Cristobal and a pilgrim,
celebrates mass with the pilgrims and their hosts. The gospel reading
during the mass is read not only in Spanish, but also in the indigenous
Mayan languages of Tzotzil, Tzeltal, and Ch'ol, since most of the
pilgrims speak Spanish only as a second language, if at all.

On the second evening CPTers were with the pilgrimage, Salinas
offered a reflection on the text of Luke 3:31-33, reminding the pilgrims
that even as they carry their prayers to the Basilica of Santa Maria of
Guadalupe, mother of Jesus, they themselves are the mother and
brothers of Jesus as they sacrifice themselves to follow God's call to
be peacemakers.

The full prayer of the pilgrims, translated by CPT, is included below.
Please pray for strength and endurance for the pilgrims, as the daily
walk in the hot sun is difficult, tiring, and often painful. Please also
adapt portions of this prayer to accomodate to your own religious
tradition and continue to pray with the pilgrims for peace in Chiapas
as they continue their journey to Mexico City and the Basilica, where
they will arrive Dec 9.

Prayers for the Jubilee Pilgrimage 2000 from Acteal to Basilica of the
Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico City

Leader: We ask Santa Maria of Guadalupe, Queen of Peace, for her
maternal intercession for our needs.

Response (follows each prayer): Santa Maria of Guadalupe, intercede
for the indigenous people.

For an end to the paramilitary groups acting in Chiapas.

For the demilitarization of Chiapas and all of Mexico.

For a return for the displaced of Tila, Chenalho, Sabanilla, Tumbala,
Las Margaritas and Venustiano Carranza to their homes.

For reconciliation in our communities.

For liberty for indigenous political prisoners.

That all women, men, and children in our indigenous communities
enjoy conditions for our full human development.

That we might see our mother earth freed from the profanation of the
market.

That we might overcome all forms of racism and discrimination
between the peoples and cultures that form our Mexican nation.

For the fulfillment, on the part of all its signers, of the San Andres
Accords.

That Congress pass a Law on Indigenous Rights and Culture that
satisfies the real needs of the 56 indigenous groups in this country.

That a way might be found to continue the dialogue between the
EZLN and the government.

That our Zapatista brothers and sisters be taken seriously, so that
without abandoning the just causes of their struggle, they might be
able to lay down their weapons.

That in this period of social change in Mexico:

   - the people might not fall into the temptation of violent insurrection;
and

   - the government might not return to the temptation of violent
repression.

That the Mexican people learn and practice ethical and pacifist
methods of social change:

   - nonviolence

   - noncooperation

   - conscientious objection

   - active resistance

   - civil disobedience

For a peaceful transition to democracy.

That we might achieve a peace with justice and dignity for all Mexico.

   - in the hearts of the people

   - in the environment

   - in the social structures

Father of Mercy, who has put these your people under the special
protection of the always Virgin Maria of Guadalupe, Mother of your
Son, allow us by her intercession to deepen our faith and to seek the
progress of our nation in paths of justice and peace. By our Lord
Jesus Christ, Santa Maria de Guadalupe, intercede for the indigenous
people. Amen.