The River of Mud in Columbia: “Mummy, I want to live!”

At a time when our world is in the clutches of drama, this text from Florin Callerand, written in 1985, may be of profound comfort. The day after the Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted, on 14th November 1985, unleashing enormous rivers of mud, Florin was troubled by the images broadcast on the television of a little girl, caught in the mud, screaming her desire to live, a cry from mankind, a cry from God!

In today's world, you cannot escape from the influx of mass media (in 1985). The cruel images on the television showed us this sea of mud after the eruption of the volcano in Columbia and the terrifying image of this little girl, caught in the mud, right in front of our eyes, shouting these troubling words: “Mummy, I know you can hear me! Mummy, I know you love me! Mummy, I want to live, I know you can hear me! I want to live, I want to walk, Mummy! Mummy!...”

But where was her mum? Where was she? In the mud, beneath her, dead! Her father? Dead! Her brother? Dead! She was the only one floating ! Where did her words come from, where did the cries come from? “I want to live! I know you love me!”

Poor little thing! No! Great little thing! Incredible little thing, inspired by the Holy Spirit! This was God’s prayer within her, God suffering with her, carrying with her the drama of the existence of the first creation, which is the route towards the second creation, towards the resurrection!

Where could God be? Except for in the mud! with the victims!

God suffers everything that happens to his creation in the first condition, but he does not abandon it, He does not leave it... And that is how all those who we believed to be dead are living...

When we speak of nature’s beauty, when we speak of the revelation of God, we say: “Your hand guides me, your right one holds me!” But we are threatened, all of us, at every moment.

So, it is of the utmost importance not to become disconnected with reality and to have a real feeling for who God is, throughout all of this: never consider the right side without the reverse, nor the reverse side without the right side. That is the biggest mistake. An atheist looks at the reverse side so much that they shout: “There’s no God in that story! The river of mud! All those children who drowned! God is a monster, or He does not exist, look at the catastrophe, there’s the proof!” Sure enough, if I’m on the reverse side, we’re done for.

On the other hand, if we are only on the right side, we look at the splendour of nature, the trees, the reflection of the burning shrubs in the evergreen and we stop there, running towards the disembodied spirit, and forgetting all the rest.

You have to take the totality and stick to this God who is revealed by both the right and reverse sides. So we discover a God who is not the “All-powerful” being that we make him to be, who does what He can, who accompanies us and who is troubled and distressed. If you look at it that way, the story of Columbia has its repercussions in heaven. That’s really something! However, in heaven, we are able to see the right side at the same time as the reverse. Why? Because there is a movement of evolution that ensures that God is with us and is sure of Himself, because of the love which is between divine persons. He is certain to pass and arrive and to take all the creatures on the reverse to enter into the splendour of love for eternity. So it is the path of the end, the limit, to infinity, unlimited. It is in the making.

God, to show us that this is really it, came in the condition of limitation, finiteness. And on the eve of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, he also had his river of mud!

How did he behave in that situation? He struggled, as the mud entered his nose, his mouth...All the suffocation in the river of mud! And Jesus on the cross lost his breath, shouted and passed to the resurrection, resurged by this Light which comes from deep within us and says: “My hand is holding you! I am with you! Don't be afraid! We’ll face it together!”

Eternity, is in the river of mud, there, on the banks of the River Magdalena. It is there within that God finds a way, not by rejoicing in the suffering (which would be terrible sadism), but by passing through and gathering all those who were submerged in the mud in the resurrection, like his Son was gathered in the resurrection, at the time when he was submerged by the mud at his passion and his agony on the cross.

Jesus on the cross is in a terrible situation of injustice, but not more than the people in Columbia! Do not tell us that Christ suffered more than certain men on earth it is not true! Do not tell us that Mary suffered more than certain women on earth it is not true at all! They have suffered, but some men and women have suffered more, at least physically. Morally, well, that’s is another question. Moral suffering is measured in the quality of perception of love, that’s something else! “Ah! you believe,” said Jesus, “that your father will not do justice to his loved ones...?” All those who are in the mud are his “loved ones.” Do you believe that He won’t do them justice, in the secret depths of the heart?

Faith is Jesus’ shout from the cross: “Father, my breath is in your hands, do what you can...” We say that for all mankind, in the name of all mankind. It’s the madness of our bearing witness, it’s an essential part of our mission...

If we don’t take on all these things, we are lost in the evils of the world. Faced with the war happening in Lebanon, everywhere... Do you believe your Father will hang around? Yes, of course, the final resurrection, but while waiting, one needs an immediate response!

The one who sows say: “But it’s crazy putting a seed into the earth, it will rot...!” But look: “Here is the harvest that will appear...” This is why God does not stop with the perspective of suffering, evils, wars, volcanic eruptions, shipwrecks, tidal waves etc.

So objection always says: “But in the end, couldn’t he find a better way to get there, something more economical, less painful and dramatic? Is it really worth coming into the world in Bethlehem only to finish on the cross!” God knows well what we are going to do to his son, independently of what we call his omniscience, simply because he saw that we treated every prophet before him so badly. So, if his son follows the way of the prophets, then he’ll suffer too, that’s for certain! If Jesus came under Persian rule, they would have impaled him on a stake... In the time of the Romans, he would definitely be crucified! God knew it well, and it didn't stop Him. There is no other pathway than the passage to resurrection with all the risks to personal freedom and all freedoms together.

“There’s no proportion between the world’s glory and its suffering...” This is what gives God the courage to go for it. This is why God’s justice, deep in the mud in Columbia, is in the making now.

Without the light of Christianity, no poetry can hold! Stepmother nature! No poetry can hold!

Suddenly, you return with a host of magnificent autumnal visions and then, on the television there is this multitude of horrors which are happening! This is where, without a “particular perspective”, without the revelation of a suffering God, a God taking us to the resurrection, there is only despair!

If God is “all-powerful”, then atheism is the correct response, healthy, dignified, noble, normal. If God is Love, then beyond the mud, there is the splendour of resurrection, because God is in the mud and He is suffering like his creatures and with them.

Whatever happens, the splendid autumn is agony in beauty. If there is no spring tomorrow, then it really isn’t worth living this splendid autumn, and then the summer and then the spring this year. We’re already there, we feel it. So, in the splendour of autumn, our poetry must be adjusted to the evolution, providing faith (“Courage, I have vanquished the world !” John 16, 33- “Our victory, is our faith !” 1 John 5, 4). Without this key to the reading: a God who evolves within and with, it is unbearable! The two sides of the medal, the right side and the reverse are both called for transfiguration.

Without this perspective, “the mud in Columbia” is utterly hopeless!

French to English translation by Debbie Garrick and Cécile Simon