Past
We thank you, Lord, for we were conquered but not defeated.We thank you, they have taken from us the rivers,
but we continue to be the rivers and veins of our people.
We thank you, they have thrown us down,
but they haven’t overcome us.
We thank you, they have squeezed us like oranges,
but we are the containers of sweet water.
We thank you, for they have brought us the Gospel,
but we are evangelizing them.
Present
We thank you, they continue to persecute us but they cannot reach us.We thank you, Lord, for they take the Bible from us and clean themselves with it,
they burn it, but your Word is not soiled.
We thank you, Lord; they imprison us in deep holes,
but our ”Nahual”, our spirit comes out.
We thank you, Lord, for they let us sleep over pools,
but we scare them in their dreams.
We thank you, Lord, they tear out our eyes,
but we still look at them.
We thank you, Lord, they cut us up like chickens,
but we still remain whole.
We thank you, they disfigure us, drive us crazy, pull the skin from our faces,
and yet we shine like stars in the night.
We thank you, Lord, because they kill us,
but they never come to an end with us.
We thank you, for they bury us alive,
but we rise.
We thank you, Lord, because they scatter us among other peoples,
but we become their salt.
Gratitude
Thank you for your presence as a secret among us!
We are the poor of the poor, but we are also the burning thorn bush
which never burns up.
For one reason or other, they study and study us,
and despite that they can’t decipher us.
Your presence in us is like the Mayan letter which no one understands.
Poor, but rich, pushed to the margin but yet in the centre, dead,
but rose from the dead.
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