It’s not Pachamama, it’s our Apapacho

What I am about to say may seem scandalous, but I ask my reader to take a moment to first understand what it is that I am saying before making a judgment. La Pachamama is not a threat. If we are only discussing a force that is found flowing through nature that nurtures, sustains, protects and gives life. The Indigenous of the Americas believe they participate within this very force, and they recognize it as a “feminine energy” that offers “balance” so that life has a fighting chance to exist. Through eternal cycles, they observe this battle for existence by the continuous changes of birth, death, and rebirth. These ideas may seem foreign to many of my readers, but for anyone who works with soil, even the most simple of farmers found in the high hills of Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia who have not even attended a day in school can comprehend the simplicity and beauty of life’s forces moving in and out of nature through the seasons. The people and cultures whose life is immersed in these forces, and live in the Americas have come to call these movements Pachamama–Mother Earth, but for us Catholics, this name has become a total scandal, and we call it paganism, heresy and diabolical. We do however, acknowledge that La Pachamama is a movement, but a movement inside the Church that is a corrupting force. Well, is it? 

First, if we are going to discuss movements, there is no greater movement or force in this world than a soul being saved or being condemned. There is nothing more important or sorrowful than this. So the question is, does La Pacahamama, the force that acts on nature, condemn souls? If we are looking at it in the perspective of a condemning force like a will of an informed and reasonable entity who chooses against God, then not only does this not apply to La Pachamama, it is also important to point out here that La Pacahamama does not seek to save anyone’s soul either. Metaphysically, La Pachamama is not some loving eternal goddess that many are imagining. This energy does not desire to have an eternal relationship with its creation if we are, for example, looking at the philosophy/theology of the Aztecs. For them, there truly is no eternal, personal, loving and living God. There is only this sacred energy that has no beginning nor end, and all of life, including us, are just momentarily a gathered concentration of this living energy that has manifested into existence. This is not what our Faith teaches, and anything that is not found in the Church is to be condemned. Rightly so, but I would have the reader think about what is truly found in the Church. It is–the truth, but it is also love, and this truth and love are not trapped inside our walls. They are both infused into creation, the very thing that many might actually be condemning. 

Am I going to proceed by encouraging and supporting false beliefs and worship? I could only wish to come close to writing what one can read in the City of God. Its author, St. Augustine, in this great work confronts paganism, but he does so in a way that is not him strictly condemning his opponents. Rather, he is illuminating his readers who were the same pagans he was seeking to convert. He writes with compassion, although at times stern, but always with a heart seeking the conversion of the hearts that are far from the truth. This is how every Christian should approach false teaching, idolatry or with those who are lost. Not with outrage, hate, and grabbing a nearby stone to throw. Christians are called to be gentle, loving and forgiving. The pagans in the jungle understand this image of a Christian. In fact, they understand it very well. 

When I hear Catholics chitchating angrily about Pachamama, I immediately pull out of the Spanish speaking part of my brain the word “Apapachar” whose roots come from the indigenous language, Náhuatl. The word means “to hug with the soul through tender and emotional contact,” that is, a hug that one would especially want to receive in a time of deep pain and discomfort. How beautiful is this word? It is one of my favorites to use and say, and it is most appropriate today in a time when so many need to be consoled. Thinking of our Lord, I imagine that a hug that He would give to a sinner would be very similar to what is the healing concept of an “apapacho.” Since all of us are sinners, ALL OF US need this kind of loving embrace, making it a loving hug that truly transcends all cultures and times. 

There is absolutely an inherent danger of worshipping falsely and believing in gods that St. Augustine adamantly taught are demons. There is also a real danger in the pharisaical tendencies towards the sinner. Catholics are called by our Lord to love. He also taught for us to not be afraid and to go out into the world and be among the people. Catholics are called to find those who are lost and “apapachar” the lost sheep knowing that their sin is not going to contaminate a well prepared Christian who lives in the love that Christ teaches while at the same time maintaining a firm and correct faith. A prepared Christian also lives a sure hope which is why I ask, what are we truly afraid of? Is it really the idolatry of La Pachamama? Are there leaders in the Church who are truly idolizing or is it that they are evangelizing? Our current Pope, a missionary, in the jungle with the Indigenous watching a ritual. Is he a Christ figure sitting with sinners or is he a sinner seeking Christ?

If none of this really matters because one cannot let go of their disgust or anger of this scandal then how idolatrous. In the catechism of the Church it is written: 

Idolatry is the perversion of man’s innate religious sense. An idolater is someone who “transfers his indestructible notion of God to anything other than God.” 

Be misdirecting true worship which is in truth and love, then a person no longer seeks the face of God, even if they think they are defending the Faith. Very much like the scene found in John 8:1-11. I suggest to the reader to take time with this Gospel reading for a while.

How far is our God from the idea of what La Pachamama is? How far are those pagans truly seeing the face of God? I think an answer can be found when one looks at the largest and swiftest conversion over a short period of time to ever happen in the history of the Church. Our Blessed Mother, using the wisdom and knowledge of the Indigenous on the tilma (clock), converted close to 10 million souls in less than a decade. That is one million a year which translates into over two thousand souls daily being baptized out of the darkness and into the light. Not only did our Blessed Mother use indigenous symbols on herself to catechize to make this happen, our Lady appeared to Saint Juan Diego with characteristics which included her mestiza (mixed-race) appearance, and the cultural context of her clothing and posturing. Not to mention, she uses the stars which the Indigenous had an intimate relationship with. Is a Catholic going to condemn the Virgin? Well if a Catholic is going to be quick to condemn those involved in this so called scandal, remember that on the tilma over our Mother’s very womb, the very first tabernacle holding our Lord, we find the Nahui Ollin–an Indigenous symbol represented by a flower with four petals which expresses the force found in the cosmos through cycles, and balancing the movements of the four directions. How scandalous is our Mother or as I already have been saying, is this the sign of an “apapacho” of our Mother whose love for us is showing the true Creator and His Son who is the real center of the universe? How can it that she can bring a people who are so far to God, so close to her womb? It reminds me of how the Jews could not understand how Christ could allow Gentiles into the Kingdom. God himself brought foreigners, pagans, and sinners close to Him. Are we not to do the same?

For this article, I have briefly mentioned Indigenous philosophy, and theology. I have pointed out how a Saint approached pagans in his day. Looking to our Blessed Mother, I discussed how she approached the Indigenous, and then finally just very briefly discussing only a couple of moments in which Christ teaches us how to live out the truth and love of His Church. I have presented a very light and yes, very incomplete text on this subject. It may even feel like I am jumping from one topic to another with no bridges, but there is so much to discuss. Here at least with 1500 words I believe is a good beginning, and reflection for those who are interested.