“Hide Well”

Even if some don’t understand it, we Venezuelans are living as if in a war. Today many of us can say with authority that the armed motorcycle colectivos are not a dream or an online illusion. They are a tragic reality, and they have existed for quite some time.

In various parts of the country these motorcycle gangs have been threatening people and shooting near churches, schools, buildings, offices and neighborhoods, and several people have died in these attacks. And there is no way to get these people disarmed. The Church has repeatedly called for the immediate disarmament of these colectivos, but we have seen no solution.

So what can we do in the face of so much lawlessness and the actions of these groups? I put that question to my spiritual director. I also told him: “Father, we feel completely unprotected. Tell me, what do we do if the armed colectivos come to attack us? Do we just let them kill us?” And his answer was: “No! You hide very well.” That night I asked my husband: “And where are we going to hide? With six kids?” My husband had no answer.

People write to me from many parts of the world. Today I want to ask those who have lived through a war, or a situation like the one we are living through, to please write and tell me what they did to survive. I hope you can give me practical advice, but peaceful advice, mind you, because shooting, killing, hating and the like are not for me. If they kill me, they will kill me on my knees, praying. But that is on whoever shoots me, or shoots my husband, a child, a relative, a friend or a fellow Venezuelan, because that poor person will have a great deal to answer for before God.

Nothing is going to take away our Peace. We are not afraid of anything or anyone, because we are at Peace with God and with our neighbor. That said, I am asking for advice, to see if I can lengthen my family’s life a little and follow my spiritual director’s advice to hide very well.

In the meantime, I am preparing the ground to carry on with my life as a wife and mother in this homeland I love with all my heart. Last Saturday, after a family lunch with my husband, me and five of our children, I stood up from my chair and asked them to listen very carefully to what I was about to say. I told them we were living through very hard times and that this could get much worse. That they had to take advantage of this time to study as never before, and that they could not waste a single second. That every day we had to be better children of God and bring joy and hope to others. That they had to pray a great deal in order to be very strong. And then I said: “And if they kill us, it doesn’t matter!”

They answered at once: “Yes, Mom!” “And why doesn’t it matter?” I asked them. And they replied in unison: “Because we’re going to Heaven.” At that point my heart was in my throat, and without a tear in my eyes! I told them: “And there we will see each other again.”

About an hour later I got a call from my eldest son, who lives in Valencia and had not been at the lunch. Right away he said: “Mom, I’ve been thinking, and I think it’s no problem for us if they kill us, because we know we’re going to Heaven.” I couldn’t believe what he was saying! Then he went on: “But what I do think, Mom, is that we have to make the most of this time we’ve been given to live, to ‘grow a lot on the inside,’ and above all so that my brothers and sisters and I study and prepare ourselves as well as we can. Because if we manage to survive this, we’ll have very hard work ahead of us to rebuild this country.”

What more can I tell you? That whoever acts before God always lives in Peace, even in the worst circumstances. That if we live close to Him and to the Blessed Virgin, we draw strength from places we never imagined.

Today, since it is his feast day, I ask Saint Joseph to help so many Venezuelan fathers and mothers who are living through truly hard times, so that we can protect our children just as he protected the Child Jesus when God asked him to.

May God have mercy on us, and may the Blessed Virgin of Coromoto cover us with her mantle and allow no more violence in our Land of Grace! May she enlighten our authorities, and all who support them (in one way or another), so that an end may come to this tragedy we are living through!