Door opens just a crack

While Luz Maria and I can no longer operate our preschool in the same cooperative relationship with public educational agencies, the door is not completely shut. It opened a crack on October 27, when I led a closing devotion for Early Education Week at Rafael Urdaneta public preschool in La Caramuca. In recent years, Venezuela has faced severe economic challenges, which have affected the operation of public and private education. The government’s ability to allocate resources has diminished, leading to overcrowded public classrooms, a lack of essential teaching materials, and deteriorating infrastructure in many public schools. Additionally, salary cuts and inflation have prompted many qualified educators to leave the profession or seek opportunities abroad. Families who once could afford private schooling have found their options limited as economic hardships continue. Furthermore, changing government regulations on tuition fees and operational standards create additional obstacles for private institutions, ultimately affecting their sustainability.

Religious freedom is written into Venezuela’s Constitution. Various faiths can hold regular rites and services. But although there is no declared policy of discrimination against faith-based organizations, those whose beliefs do not completely conform to current public policy, may face challenges. Yet, unlike in the United States, there is no ban on prayer in public schools. Thus our opportunity to continue influencing education beyond the walls of our mission.

I walked the children through the Apostle’s Creed, especially the Second Article. This, I said, is the reason why we have Christmas and Easter. (Because public Christmas displays are already being set up and the merchandising of decorations and gifts for the home is underway.)

Communion of the saints

We celebrated one long festival of the Reformation and All Saints from Sunday, October 26, when we distributed medicines sent by Global Lutheran Outreach Chile and studied the 95 Theses at our afternoon youth Bible study, to Sunday, November 2, when we celebrate the Reformation and All Saints Day in the morning at Epiphany Lutheran Church of La Caramuca, and in the afternoon at Corpus Christi Lutheran Church in Barinas. In La Caramuca, we not only distributed the medicine to those who needed it, but also homemade soap and food items that we had collected as part of the regular Sunday offering to everyone who attended.

The feasts of the Reformation and All Saints are closely linked. Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses on October 31, 1517, All Saints Eve, on the doors of All Saints Church in Wittenberg, Germany. In his theses, Luther raised questions about Roman ideas of penance, purgatory, the value of good works, the authority of the Pope over the souls of the departed, and the definition of a “saint.” These questions resonate to this day, for we celebrated the Reformation in the midst of a national celebration across Venezuela of the canonization of the first two Venezuelan “saints”: José Gregorio Hernández Cisneros and María del Carmen Rendiles Martínez.

On Sunday, October 19 (which happens to be my birthday) Pope Leo XIV proclaimed seven new saints on before an estimated 70,000 people in St. Peter’s Square, including the first saints from Papua New Guinea as well as Venezuela. The canonization Mass unfolded with Venezuelan flags waving across the square. The canonization was followed in real time from different parts of Venezuela, with gatherings in squares, temples, and homes.

It was an opportunity for us to celebrate the true “communion of the saints”, which is the whole church on earth and heaven. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (as it says in the epistle for Reformation Day, Romans 3:19-28. But we are all saints who have been clothed with the righteiousness of Christ in baptism. We all have the promise of eternal life with HIm immediately upon leaving this world.