Under the title “Chepatz’aq re li Qaawa ‘, naq chinrosob’tesi taxaq”, which in Spanish means “ask the man to bless me”, Pope Francis sends an invitation to the devotees to continue praying for him, asking for strength, wisdom to discern and accompaniment in his mission of guiding the Church under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
The project of bringing the Pope’s message to the Guatemalans who speak q’eqchi ‘was born in 2019 with the aim of spreading the pontiff’s prayer intentions in the native languages of the country.
According to sources of the work, the inclusion of the Q’eqchi ‘arises as part of the commitment to bring Pope Francis’s message to the original peoples, fulfilling his promise to make the diffusion of his intentions of prayer more inclusive.
Diego Martínez, extraordinary minister of the Holy Eucharist and one of the pioneers of the Pope’s World Prayer Network in Guatemala, explained that this initiative seeks to bring the Pope’s message closer to the Q’Eqchi ‘communities, present not only in the Verapaces and Izabal, but also in some areas of Belize.
“The dissemination of the message is a global project in which the Holy Father participates and in which different situations of prayer are presented,” Martínez explained. “The project in Guatemala consisted of the translation of the Pope’s message to the Mayan language q’eqchi ‘, with the purpose of sharing it with the faithful who speak this language.”
Currently, this project has more than 50 videos of Pope messages widespread worldwide, which were translated into q’eqchi ‘. One of them is the message in which he asks the faithful to pray for their life and their mission as a representative of God before the Catholic Church.
Prayer message
In the translation channel of the papal message, words of hope for young and elderly are spread, as well as the intentions for which the world must pray.
One of the most prominent messages of this initiative is the time when the Pope asked the faithful to pray for his life. His prayer was for God to give him wisdom in his mission of guiding the Catholic Church, a message that takes relevance today, when his health is compromised due to a series of problems that led him to be admitted to a hospital in Rome since last February 14.
In that message, the Pope highlighted the following points:
- Prayer gives you strength: “Your prayer gives me strength and helps me to discern and accompany the Church, listening to the Holy Spirit.”
- Ostem the position of Pope does not make him lose his humanity: “Because they are Pope, one does not lose his humanity; On the contrary, my humanity grows more with the holy faithful people of God. ”
- Being Pope is also a process: “One is becoming aware of what it means to be a shepherd. In this way, you learn to be more charitable, more merciful and, above all, more patient, like our Father God, who is so patient. ”
- Popes also feel fear: “Can you imagine that all potatoes, when their pontificate began, felt that feeling of scare and vertigo knowing that they would be judged hard? Because the Lord will seriously ask the bishops. ”
- Judge with benevolence: “Please, I ask you to judge with benevolence, so that the Pope – who is, and today touches me – to receive the help of the Holy Spirit and be docile to that guide.”
The Pontiff concluded: “We pray for the Pope, so that in the exercise of his mission he will continue to accompany the Gray in faith that was entrusted to him by Jesus, always with the help of the Holy Spirit, and pray for me too ”.
Project in suspension for the health of the Pope
Currently, this project is waiting until Pope Francis improves his mood and can continue with the dissemination of his messages.
According to information on the official YouTube page, the videos are translated by Raúl Pacay, Mayan linguist team Q ‘Eqchi’, Rmop Alta Verapaz-Guatemala, which has the endorsement of the Mayan Linguistic Center Ak Kután and Diocese of the Verapaz.