Grand Opening of the Family Life Center in Guatemala City

Last week, scholars, families, team members, and friends celebrated the grand opening of the renovated Family Life Center in Guatemala City. Fr. Robert E. Karle, S.J., blessed the new space and delivered this homily in Spanish.

“There is an appointed time for everything,” Ecclesiastes tells us today. “A time to tear down, and a time to build… a time to weep, and a time to laugh… a time to mourn, and a time to dance.”

And as I hear those words today, I cannot help but think about the journey that has brought us to this moment.

There was a time, 32 years ago, when a group of young people and a Jesuit priest from Toledo, Ohio, first encountered this community in Guatemala. They were moved by what they saw and by the people they met, and they felt called not simply to observe from a distance, but to enter into relationship and solidarity. There was a time to begin—to work together, to build homes, and to form friendships.

And over these past 32 years, there have been many different times, many different seasons, and many different steps along the journey. There has been destruction, and there has been rebirth. There has been violence, and there has been reconciliation. There has been weeping, and there has been rejoicing.

For me personally, there was a time seventeen years ago, in 2009, when I first had the privilege of coming here. I remember visiting the jardín and the Francisco Coll school and beginning to encounter this community for myself.

Years passed, and then there was another time. I returned as a priest in 2023, and we had the opportunity to work alongside this community again. At that moment, our task was relatively simple: to make this place a little brighter and more welcoming. We painted walls. We painted some of the floors. We did what we could with the time, the people, and the resources we had.

And now we arrive at another moment. Now there has been a time to build.

To create this Family Life Center. To create a home for International Samaritan here in Guatemala, but more importantly, a home for this community—a place where people can gather, learn, grow, receive support, strengthen families, build relationships, and imagine new possibilities together.

And this is the time we have been given.

There are so many struggles in our lives and in our world. Ecclesiastes does not pretend otherwise. There is weeping and mourning. There is loss and uncertainty. There are things we wish were different.

But there is also this moment. And the present moment is the only moment we know that we have.

So today, perhaps God invites us simply to stop for a moment and recognize the gift of what is happening here.

This is a time to rejoice.
This is a time to give thanks.
This is a time to remember those who came before us.
This is a time to celebrate all those who made this possible.
And this is a time to build.

Not simply to build walls, classrooms, and offices, but to continue building something that began more than thirty years ago: relationships, solidarity, opportunity, dignity, community, and hope.

And perhaps that is one of the great gifts of this new Family Life Center. It gives us a place to keep building—together. 

And our Gospel today takes us one step deeper. Jesus asks his disciples a very simple but very important question: “Who do you say that I am?”

It is a question Jesus asks each one of us. Who is Jesus for me?

Perhaps a teacher. A companion. A guide. A friend. The one who gives us hope when life is difficult.

For me, I come to know Jesus through prayer and through the Eucharist. But I also encounter Jesus in other people. And today, I see the face of Jesus in each of you.

I see Christ in the joy on your faces as you walk through the doors of this new center. I see Christ in the families of this community. I see Christ in the young people and children, with their hopes and dreams. I see Christ in those who have worked and sacrificed to make this place possible. And I see Christ in the friendships that have grown over these 32 years.

And so perhaps each of us can hear Jesus asking us today: Who do you say that I am?

And perhaps another question follows: What are you inviting me to do, Jesus, with the time I have been given?

Perhaps he is inviting us to trust.
To receive his love, mercy, and compassion.
To persevere in hope and faith, even when life is difficult.
To recognize his presence in one another.
And to take our place in building the Kingdom of God.

And what is the Kingdom of God?

It is the world as God desires it to be: a world where every person can flourish, where every person is treated with dignity, where families have safe places to live, where children have opportunities to learn, where people have access to meaningful and dignified work, and where no one is forgotten or left behind.

That is the Kingdom we are helping to build.

And today, I invite you simply to look around. Look around this room. Look at one another. The Kingdom of God is here.

It is here in these friendships. It is here in this community. It is here in the love and generosity that have brought us together. It is here in the hopes and dreams of the families who will come through these doors.

Of course, the Kingdom is not here completely. We know that. There is still poverty. There is still suffering. There is still injustice. There are still people who do not have what they need to flourish.

And so there is still work to do. But that is precisely why places like this matter.

This Family Life Center can be a small sign of the Kingdom of God—a place where we can see, even if only imperfectly, the world God desires for us.

Today we celebrate this beautiful new center. But what we are really celebrating is something much greater than a building. We are celebrating what God can build when people come together in faith, friendship, solidarity, and love.

Thirty-two years ago, there was a time to begin.

Along the way, there have been times to learn, to struggle, to grow, to laugh, to mourn, to serve, and to dream.

And today, God has given us this time.
A time to rejoice.
A time to give thanks.
A time to hope.
And a time to build—together.

May God bless this Family Life Center and all who enter through its doors. And may it always be a place where we recognize the face of Christ in one another and together continue building the Kingdom of God.

Fr. Robert “Bobby” Karle, SJ

Fr. Robert “Bobby” Karle, SJ, LLMSW, is a Jesuit priest and social worker whose ministry integrates spirituality, mental health, and service to people on the margins. He currently serves as a case manager at the Pope Francis Center’s Bridge Housing Campus in Detroit, accompanying men transitioning from homelessness toward stability and permanent housing. Fr. Bobby first traveled with International Samaritan to Honduras in 2008 and has since visited the communities in Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia. He has served on the board since 2022.

At the grand opening celebration, our scholars, including Moisés (pictured right), recognized and thanked the Weingartz Family Foundation for making the new center possible. The foundation was represented by our International Samaritan Board chair, Dan Weingartz, and his wife, Kris, and Ron Weingartz and his wife, Peggy.