They Received Us in Peace

“They received us in peace, thanks be to the Lord.” When Fray Juan Crespi wrote this in a letter to his superiors in 1769, he was describing the first encounters that Franciscan padres had with the native people of Alta California. Being received in peace was a great relief, I’m sure, since Spain’s whole plan to colonize this part of the new world depended on the hopes of being peacefully and hospitably received by the people who had lived there for thousands of years. In hindsight, it makes one aware of how vulnerable any group of people is when they nurture a culture of openness and trust. Remarkably, Spain only needed to send one to three padres and a few more soldiers to each of the twenty-one missions that were established in the late 18th century. At one of the missions, there was only one padre for the first fifteen years. Of course, he had to trust the people, as well. But, for the Spaniards, who were used to centuries of conflict over a multitude of social, political and religious differences, that trust had to grow over time. The same padre who expressed thanks in his letter for being received in peace went on to say: “So far there has been no trouble, but strict care is necessary, since they are great thieves.” As I start my pilgrim journey at Mission Buenaventura, I marvel at the fact that many descendants of those native Californians are present at the morning mass. After all that has happened to them over the last 230 years, they are here giving thanks to God at the start of the day along with a diverse group of people who seem to represent the modern city of Ventura. I suspect that the Church is no less dependent on their openness and trust than it was on the day when the first padres arrived. My guess, too, is that many things have had to happen over time in order to re-establish that trust when it was exploited and abused. In truth, I guess the same thing could be said of the Church everywhere in the world, and of all the relationships that matter to us. Being open and trusting will always be a vulnerable way of life, but it stands above all the alternatives!