Spirituality

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven// Matthew 5:3

We come to the Farm to encounter the person of Jesus Christ. The mission of the Farm as well as our community is established and remains firmly grounded in and through our relationship with Christ. We desire to grow in knowledge and practice of Gospel values. We attempt to make connections between our faith in God, life in community, and our commitments to service and simplicity. We model prayer and spirituality for our children, particularly through our full, active, and conscious participation in the established prayer structure of the Farm. We encourage the development of additional prayer opportunities based on the unique charisms and interests of our community members.

Community

Community is first of all a quality of the heart. It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for ourselves but for one another // Henri Nouwen

We unite ourselves in one spirit, as an intentional, Christian community. Community members not only work together, but they also live together, pray together, and share in each other's lives. The success of the community depends on each member's humble commitment to participate in community life. Community members share in household responsibilities- such as cooking and cleaning, and they participate in established group activities- including business meetings, weekly community nights, and community retreats & prayer times. Additional community activities may be decided upon by the group.

Service

man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself// Gaudium et spes, 24

Our primary service is our ministry of presence. We have the unique opportunity to live at our service site. This means that after a full day at the school or clinic or working in the office, service does not end. In the afternoons, children come by our home to borrow a board game, ask for homework help, or invite us to play soccer. We show up for evening holy hour, spend Saturday afternoons at a Farm-wide beach party, and drive the bus into town for Sunday mass. This type of self-gift is demanding but indescribably rewarding. Beyond a 9-5 job, we have the privileged opportunity to be older siblings, neighbors, and mentors to the children who live at the Farm. 

Our team are integral members of our community, engaging in a multicultural work environment with Honduran professionals. When frustrated with cultural differences, speaking Spanish, and the inconveniences of working in a rural and isolated setting, we recognize the distorted face of the suffering Christ and choose to love.

In these daily invitations to serve, we hold together the need for healthy boundaries and our unofficial fifth pillar of flexibility when unexpected needs arise. We commit to discerning our responses: is this a prideful, self-reliant, burnout response? Is this a lazy and inflexible response? Am I responding from a place rooted in spirituality and community, at peace with myself and others? The disposition of our self-gift is to unite ourselves to Jesus’ promise: “you did it to me” (Mt. 25:40).

Simplicity

Holiness consists simply in doing God’s will, and being just what God wants us to be.// st. therese of lisieux

St. Therese of Lisieux, patroness of our mission home, is the model for simplicity in our community. Her little way encourages us to seek first the kingdom of God and trust that all will be given to us (cf Mt 6:33).

Rooted in simplicity, we strive to be grateful for all things, especially all material comforts, personal liberties, and other privileges given to us. Our cold mountain water showers, chore chart responsibilities, and simple cooking schedule remind us of our commitment to simplicity. We encourage our community to fast from lavish self-indulgence in food or possessions while in Honduras. By this act of downward mobility, we look to decrease our dependence on material goods in order to live in greater solidarity with the poor and marginalized, as well as to awaken ourselves to the truth of our fundamental dependency and fulfillment in God. 

Simplicity informs how we engage with the three other pillars. In our time of prayer, we pray in trustful surrender to God’s providence and ask for peace in whatever the circumstances of the day may bring. We spend simple time together in community, playing cards and making crafts and delighting in each other’s presence. We reject the culture of busyness in our service and dare to leave our work at the end of the day, knowing there is always more we could do. We do not try to be saviors, leaving that work to Jesus Christ.