The situation that the whole world is going through right now can bring the best or the worst out of each one of us. It all depends on the path that we take.

It’s almost two weeks since we attended the last celebration of the mass at El Paraíso, the neighbourhood where the Missionary Community of Saint Paul the Apostle has been working for over three years at the request of the Bishop of Xochimilco, Rt. Rev. Andrés Vargas. El Paraíso lies inside a cultivated area called Chinampas in the district of Xochimilco. Since the contagion rate has apparently been slower here, Mexicans are still carrying on with their normal lives. Some of the families that live in El Paraíso told us that there is no way that they can stop going out of their homes to work because they would not be able to get their basic necessities. Most of them are street peddlers who cannot stay home and have to go out into the streets because “there is no other way”.

How can you ask a population that lives from hand-to-mouth to stay indoors? How can you ask them to wear a mask when there are none left although the government says that there is no scarcity?

Being aware of this latent need and with the support of Bishop Andrés and Caritas Diocesana from the Xochimilco Diocese, we have started a campaign to help those in need. We are giving to each family of the poorest communities in the cultivation area of Xochimilco, food and cleaning products that could last for a month.

We have been able to do this with 70 families thanks to donations from many friends and acquaintances. The beneficiaries were very thankful for the help since many of them did not have any more food to eat. It is important to understand that a lot of these families survive on temporary jobs: cleaning houses, selling things in the streets etc. and many of them have family members with chronic diseases or who are disabled in various ways.

We have seen that donors have answered with a great amount of generosity, sharing what they have even if they do not know how long this whole situation may last, and letting faith guide their actions with the hope that there will be enough for everybody. Pope Francis said that “we are all in the same boat”. We can honestly say that, now more than ever, this quote make so much sense: what affects one person affects all of us.

This Holy Week will be about us all walking alongside a suffering Christ, recognizing that our humanity is what brings us together, rather than our place of origin. It is our time to decide whether we want to come together, making sure that everybody has what is necessary to stay home and safe, or if we wish to be carried away by fear, protecting only what is ours because the world outside apparently does not affect us.

We will keep trying to provide more and more families with food, gloves, mouth covers and workshops to prevent the spread of the virus. It is our mission to be able to say “stay home and leave only for the essentials, with a face mask and gloves” but for that, we are in need of generous hearts.