December 22, 1998
translation by Duane Ediger

Human blood, all human blood, always, is precious before God's heart. It contains and it means life itself, which God gives.

The perception of this truth is common among all cultures, at all times and in all places. For this reason, shed human blood hits like a hard blow to the gut of people and of God, even if it is the blood of a criminal who dies in the act of committing a crime.

If it is the blood of an honest and good person, it hits with special force. If the blood is shed as a consequence of an injustice suffered, it has an added quality. And if the blood has run through the veins of one actively struggling for freedom, justice and equality among men, then it is the blood of a hero.

But if that blood is the innocent blood of someone who, in the middle of a war, has decided to set out on the radical path of the Gospel, with no other arm than the force of love and truth; and it is offered generously, accompanied by prayers for the benefit of the one who sheds it, we have before us the precious blood of a martyr, a witness to the redeeming love of Christ, someone who has had the privilege of mixing their own blood with that of the Lamb of God.

And if we are speaking of 45 lives offered up in this way, including those of children, then we have reached a peak moment in the history of salvation.

This is Acteal.

And this is why we are here:

Because we are witnesses and beneficiaries of the fecundity of this blood that has saturated the earth here. So we should take our shoes off, because, truly, we are standing on the holy ground of Acteal.

What an abundant harvest of graces we will be able to gather from this furrow where the new Mexico is germinating, the peaceful, just and worthy Mexico we all long for, that has been so painfully watered!

The testimony of Antonio Gutiérrez tells us that one year ago, right here where we stand, during the massacre, when a bullet had already passed through the chest of the wife of our brother catechist, Alonso Vázquez Gómez, killing her together with the baby in her arms; he, upon seeing her fall, went to help her and said, "Woman, get up ... woman, get up," but she did not move. Then lifting his arms toward heaven he exclaimed: "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing...." Momentarily, two bullets passed through his head and he fell dead among them. (Cf. "Acteal, una herida abierta" ("Acteal: an open wound"), Iteso. p. 100).

This is how these men, women and children died: innocent, committed to the Gospel and forgiving; just like their Master.

Today it is incumbent upon us -- as it was 20 centuries ago upon Saint Peter -- to proclaim the scandalous message of the forgiveness that God offers even to the assassins of his Son, with the only prerequisite being a sincere conversion. Peter said, "this man... you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law..." (Acts 2:23). "This Jesus, whom you crucified... God has made both Lord and Messiah" (Cf. Acts 2:36). And when those thus confronted asked him, "What should we do?" the answer came: "Change your ways." (Cfr. Acts 2:38).

Paramilitaries, soldiers and complicit police, authorities at all levels who with your indolence obstruct the exercise of a healthy penal action in protection of society... criminal authors, direct and indirect, material and intellectual, near and far: all of you are invited to receive the divine amnesty availed you by the fact that your victims died forgiving you.

The way is not -- of course -- to unfurl a media campaign which presently promotes an image of not bearing responsibility; rather, it is to bravely own up to the facts and be willing to honorably face the consequences.

Hands stained with martyr's blood can only be washed with the blood of the Lamb. There are laudable examples of this in the history of the Church. And there is no human amnesty -- no matter how highly ranked the authority that decrees it -- that can achieve it. This amnesty will never be -- it cannot be -- impunity; much less, amnesia.

We are here to remember. We are here because memory calls us to celebrate a memorial. The martyrs of Acteal ask us not to forget, so that we never again allow any new Acteals to exist, not in Chiapas, not in Mexico, not in any forgotten corner of the world.

This Acteal in which we commemorate the first anniversary of what was a tragedy, no longer is that. This Acteal, nationally and internationally, is a monument to peace and to the hope of resurrection. This place is a gigantic shout convoking us to proclaim the joy of hope, through the blood of many other martyrs immolated in different places in Chiapas, blood that becomes redemptive because it is united with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, dead and resurrected.

We give thanks to God for the living testimony which all of you give, displaced brothers and sisters, with your patience, with your forgiveness, with your hope of return that symbolizes our walk toward the Father. Thanks for your faith, thanks for your suffering; thanks to you survivors, witnesses and family members of those who call us powerfully not to faint in our pilgrimage for God's Reign.

To you, O our Mother! Most Holy Mother of Guadalupe! We invoke you, that in those who plotted, perpetrated or covered up these acts, may the smoking wick not be extinguished; rather, may the bite of remorse be changed into repentance, conversion, and reparation of damages; may feelings of forgiveness grow, fomenting unity in these artificially divided communities; may the construction of that new society your Son announced -- nourished by justice, truth and love -- be indestructibly built upon the firm foundation of so much pain; may the angels' song intoned in Bethlehem be sung in every hidden corner of the world, with strong solidarity for the building of Peace.

+ Samuel Ruiz García Bishop of San Cristóbal de Las Casas
+ Fr. Raúl Vera López, O.P.
Coadjutor Bishop of San Cristóbal de Las Casas

Diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas
20 de Noviembre y 5 de Febrero 6
Tel (967) 8 00 53
Fax (967) 8 31 36
curiasc@laneta.apc.org