Mission Essay

 

            After the Papal Delegate told the Jesuits that they must leave the missions or else they will be ex-communicated, Rodrigo and Fr. Gabriel made very different decisions.  However, I think that both of them were men of faith because they took a risk to stand up for what they believed.  They both risked being ex-communicated and ended up giving their lives to stay at the mission to help the indigenous people.   Rodrigo thought that the right thing to do was to fight for the people.  He probably thought this because he spent most of his life fighting as a mercenary.  Fr. Gabriel, however chose to lead the children of the village in prayer.            

            Both men’s decisions had their advantages.  Rodrigo’s decision may seem to make more sense at first than Fr. Gabriel’s.  He figured that the best way to help a group of people who are at war is to help them fight.  His decision could have helped to protect the indigenous people, although in the end most of them were killed anyway.  Fr. Gabriel’s decision is much different than Rodrigo’s because he is not physically fighting, but he is still helping the indigenous people.  Leading the children of the village in song certainly made Spanish and Portuguese at least hesitate before killing them.  When the Spanish and Portuguese first saw the village from the beach across the river, you could tell by their expressions that they were touched by the peaceful sounds of Fr. Gabriel’s church choir.  This also made the battle seem like more of a slaughter because not only did the Spanish and Portuguese have more guns, but also they were killing children as they sung beautiful church songs.

            Rodrigo and Fr. Gabriel both have strong faith that the right the Jesuits need to help protect these indigenous people from being taken into slavery.  Therefore, both of the men decide to risk their membership to the Church and eventually their lives to defend these people.  They are so certain that that is the right thing to do that they are willing to get hurt rather than letting these people be taken as slaves.

I have had an experience in my own life when I had the option of violence.  I chose violence, but I regret it.  When I was in second grade, I used to play soccer during recess with my friends.  We were very competitive and we often argued about the score.  Because we played on the parking lot, we used the lines painted on the pavement as goal posts.  It was not always easy to determine if the ball rolled inside the line, over it, or outside of it.  One day I was arguing with the other team about whether or not a goal they scored went in or not.  In rage, I punched one of my very close friends in the eye.  As soon as it happened, I wished that I hadn’t done it.  I realized that the score of a second grade recess soccer game was not that important and that we would probably all forget the score by the next week.  I should have just accepted the score, to protect my friendship.  Ever since that day, I feel very uncomfortable whenever I think about what I did.  I apologized many times to my friend and he forgave me, but I know that I hurt our relationship when I punched him.