After the Quake: Near to the Cries

Fr. Bob Mosher

Following the earthquake, nearly all my close friends living in Chile wrote me through the internet via e-mail or Facebook to reassure me of their wellbeing and safety and tell me about their communities. This earthquake was more intense than the one I experienced in Santiago, Chile, on March 3, 1985.

Although I am currently living in the U.S., I feel connected to what’s going on in that faraway Andean nation. I don’t feel like

Damage from the 2010 earthquake in Chile

I’m really away from them, strangely, as though everything is happening a close distance away. The personal messages from friends augment this sensation.

And together with them, I cry out to God: Why did this have to happen? In this situation, we find a God that loves us even with all our upset poured out and embraces us anyway, to give us the peace and strength we need to reach out to others and rebuild together from the rubble of ruin.

Fr. Bob Mosher is living and working in St. Columbans, Nebraska, following many years on mission in Chile.