Villa La Paz Newsletter September 2025

Joy: a very glad feeling; happiness; great pleasure; delight
2 anything causing such a feeling
3 the expression or showing of such a feeling
Webster’s New World Dictionary
Third College Edition

Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God.
Paul Claudel

At first sight, joy seems to be connected with being different. When you receive a compliment or win an award you experience the joy of not being the same as others. You are faster, smarter or more beautiful, and it is that difference that brings you joy. But such joy is very temporary. True joy is hidden where we are the same as other people: fragile and mortal. It is the joy of beloging to the human race. It is the joy of being with others as a friend, companion, a fellow traveler. This is the joy of Jesus Who is Emmanuel: God-with-us.
Henri J.M. Nouwen

The best way to show our gratitude to God and people is to accept everything with joy….We may not be able to give much but we can always give the joy that springs from a heart that is in love with God. All over the world people are hungry and thirsty for God’s love. We can meet that hunger by spreading joy.
Saint Teresa of Calcutta

In the present time, with wars raging, widespread poverty, etchnic conflicts, and unbridled persecution of the marginalized and persons who some consider of no value to society, where do we find joy, how could we possibly radiate joy? I personally find joy in the most unlikely circumstances. I find joy in Blanca, one of our children. Blanca came to us when she was 3 years old with a very rare condition called amyoplasia which translates to a complete lack of muscle tissue. She has very limited control of her neck and shoulders but cannot sit without support or walk and requires total 24 hour care. She is now 13 years old and a happy, joyful teenager, always with a ready smile, despite her severe disability. She engages and banters readily with anyone who enters her room and is grateful to those who care for her.

I find joy in Brandon, a child with osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease). He has endured painful fractures of his legs even while casted. He cannot walk and is confined to a special apparatus in a wheelchair but he is happy and radiates joy. He is extremely bright, at the top of his class in school, and is being tutored in English so that, hopefully, he can be employed as a translator and be able to sustain himself economically in the future.

I find joy in Jhosh who came to us 11 years ago with a diagnosis of Möbius syndrome, which consists of congenital facial paralysis, clubbed feet, and clawlike hands. He cannot speak but understands everything and takes delight in going to school and walking with his special walker. Whenever he sees one of our nurses he blows her a kiss with his hand and extends his arms to anyone in his purview, asking for a hug.

Why are these children with such severe disabilities happy and joyful? I think it is because they know God’s love. They see God’s love in those who care for them, in the visitors who come to our home and engage with them, in the volunteers who come from other countries and take them to their medical appointments and to the local park. Their disabilities, paradoxically, are gifts through which they have come to know the benevolent love of their God. We all have disabilities, physical, emotional or both. May we also see them as gifts which lead us to God’s love.

I want to end this newsletter with a plea from the Reverend Jacqui Lewis who enjoins us to see Christ in one another as the only way to shield ourselves from the current crisis of contention and divisiveness that is rending our society and the world.

I have seen the crucified Body of Christ in all those places: in indigenous people, in the broken heart of Mama Earth, in the brown bodies on the border, in the black bodies languishing in prison. I have seen the Lord in the struggling transwoman coming out. I have seen the Lord in the teen who doesn’t know how to tell his pastor that he is queer. I’ve seen the Lord in divorcing couples. I’ve seen the Lord in the troubled ones all over my life. I’ve seen the Lord and I am going to tell you about it. My job is to speak the truth to power. That’s your calling and mine: to listen deeply to the hearts of those who are languishing, to listen for their hopes, dreams, passions, fears, to love the hell out of them and to speak the truth. Christ is everywhere. Christ is in all things. We are all one. When you are hungry, my stomach growls. When someone chops down a tree, I’m cut. When the oceans are being poisoned I feel thirsty for something different. This is our calling because we’ve been ordained, just like Mary, by the One who knows all about us. I’m inviting you to look in the mirror and see yourself. Recognize yourself as deputized by the living God.
Reverend Jaqui Lewis

God’s peace and love to you and yours. Please keep us in your prayers.