To the Band of Brothers: March 23, 2022

Fr. Willie ‘87
Hello from the Dominican Republic. I have been here for the last couple of days scouting for the village the juniors and I will be working with this summer on Belen Youth Missions (BYM). We haven’t done the trip the last couple of summers for obvious reasons, but it will be great to get back in July. 
 
As I was driving around the Dominican countryside and seeing the vast number of villages, I kept thinking about the first reading at Mass last Sunday. The third Sunday of Lent gave us a chance to hear the awesome story of Moses and the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15).
 
While there is no doubt God speaking from a burning bush up on Mount Horeb is crazy enough, it wasn’t the detail that most struck me this time. What really caught my attention was when God ordered an approaching Moses to take off his sandals because he was standing on holy ground (v. 5).
 
At first, I figured he wanted Moses to remove them because they were dirty, similar to how Muslims remove their shoes when they enter a mosque. But, I realized there had to be more than that. I mean, they are on the ridge of a mountain in the middle of a desert. There is dirt everywhere. The removal of the sandals had to go beyond that.
 
The more I prayed about it, the more I understood what footwear, in general, provides… protection. Let me explain. When my Belen classmates and I turned 50, we went on the Camino de Santiago to celebrate the milestone. All of us made it a point to invest in very good hiking boots to protect our feet from the rough terrain. These shoes allowed us to comfortably walk on dirt roads, over rocks, and through rivers, all the while keeping us from getting the dreaded blisters that can ruin the experience. The boots gave us the ability and confidence to go as far and as long as we wanted.
 
Not having these boots meant our feet would be vulnerable to the rough terrain. And that’s when it clicked. I realized God ordered Moses to remove his sandals because when we approach Him we must do so humbly and vulnerably. We can’t approach God hiding behind those things that protect us or shield us. We have to leave our hearts, our minds and our very selves exposed. We have to approach Him as we are, with all our faults and sins and weaknesses.
 
This is actually true about any relationship. When we approach people covering ourselves up so no part of us is left vulnerable, we don’t allow others to see us for who we truly are. We do it as a self-defense mechanism because we are afraid of being rejected or taken advantage of. 
 
But, God doesn’t buy that. He wants us to approach him just as we are. Remove our masks, our pretenses, our pride, our shoes and approach Him humbly and vulnerable. It’s the only way we can ever truly have a loving relationship with Him.
 
This is exactly what He did in Jesus. When God became a man, He made Himself completely vulnerable. He not only revealed Himself completely, but also left Himself vulnerable to rejection, persecution, and even death. The greatest expression of God’s vulnerability is seen on the cross with Christ crucified. This is why the cross is the greatest expression of God’s love for us, it is vulnerability to the extreme.
 
As I met with the villagers in the various towns here in the DR, they very honestly expressed how vulnerable they are. Because of their poverty, they are vulnerable to a lack of water, food, and proper medical attention. They are vulnerable to those who take advantage of them. This is why Jesus was so close to the poor and sick, because they are so vulnerable.
 
The word “vulnerable” comes from the Latin “to wound.” That’s why no one likes to be vulnerable; no one likes to be wounded. But, love oftentimes entails us to be wounded. It is the risk we have to take. It’s the reason why the image of the Sacred Heart in our central patio shows a wounded heart. 
 
I encourage you to allow this Lent and the practices of fasting, abstinence, and almsgiving to leave you more vulnerable to the love of Jesus. I especially encourage you to go to confession. No Catholic practice requires more vulnerability than that. If you do, it will only bring you closer to God and leave your heart burning with love.
 
Auspice Maria
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BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba by Queen Isabel II of Spain.  The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline.  In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the School property and expelled the Jesuit faculty.  The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow.  Today, Belen Jesuit sits on a 30-acre site in western Dade County, only minutes away from downtown Miami.