I recently had the opportunity to participate in a Redemptorist mission at Holy Family Parish in El Mante, Tamaulipas, about five hours straight south of Brownsville, TX. If you remember the weather in June, El Mante was broiling. The thermometer topped 110 degrees every day, and in the evening the temperature dropped to a cool 90 degrees. This was made worse by the fact that no one has air conditioning, and most travel is by foot.

Missions in Mexico are different from any missions I have experienced. A typical mission is a three-year commitment. Up to five times per year, confreres of the Province of Mexico evangelize a parish with home visits and help create small faith communities. Redemptorist communities are asked to send one confrere to the mission, and several lay missionaries join us. During the first two weeks of June, nine professed confreres and 12 Lay Missionaries of the Most Holy Redeemer met in El Mante.

We were divided into nine sectors: one professed confrere and one or two lay missionaries in each sector. We lived with a family and ate our meals in different houses every day. During the two weeks I ate in 44 different homes, which presented a great opportunity to evangelize and to eat good Mexican food. The mission began at 5:45 a.m. with reciting the rosary in the neighborhood streets, followed by celebrating Mass in the local center. My center was the front yard of a home, but others had chapels and one was in the parish church. Days are dedicated to visiting homes, and afternoons are devoted to a mission for children at 4:00 p.m., a youth mission at 5:00 p.m., and small faith communities beginning at 6:00 p.m. There were six faith communities in my sector. The local people are trained as leaders and run the meetings; we simply accompany the people.

We celebrated penance services, communal anointing of the sick, youth and children’s pilgrimages and even enjoyed a soccer tournament. My playing days are long gone, but I had little desire to play in weather exceeding 100 degrees.

During this first event, the themes of the small groups were evangelization and coming to know Jesus. The next phase is scheduled on October 5-13, with the theme of the Church. Unlike missions in the United States, these are not a way to obtain financial support. All the collections at services were given to the Church, and each missionary was given a stipend of 1000 pesos, or about $50. My roundtrip bus fare was 850 pesos, so I came out about $10 ahead. Despite the hardships, it is a wonderful opportunity to minister together in a community with other Redemptorists and Redemptorist lay missionaries.