The Gospel of César Chávez: My Faith in Action
Edited by Mario T García
Sheed & Ward US £6.60

César Chávez is the most iconic Mexican figure in American history, a “Ghandi without an India” who created the fist recognised union for Californian farm workers during the second half of the 20th century. In these pages we see Chávez, the “Chicano Moses” at the head of a people people starving in the “golden state” of California. Thanks to his Catholicism, Chávez does not get lost in this irony – he turns his journey of emancipation into an exploration of the beauty of humility and the force of faith.

This book is a spiritual ride through Chávez’s quotes ranging on subjects from poverty and non-violence to fasting and self-sacrifice – all themes that greatly informed his struggle against the Californian labour contractors. The introduction describes the poignant situation of Mexicans in California: an unseated ruling caste who have seen their towns and pride reduced to rubble; untouchables working for “Mexican wages” in a land they used to preside over.

The roots of Chávez’s war-cry Sí Se Puede (famously copied by Barack Obama as his ‘Yes We Can’) are explored in the potted account of his life. We see the makings of the rebel, mirroring the actions of Rosa Parks by refusing to sit on the segregated side aisles of his local theatre. His faith is clear throughout his book: the ideology is as far away from Che Guevara and Sartre as it could be; his Catholic belief in the sanctity of human life made the use of violence intolerable to him, unlike the “ends justifies the means” idea that fired the violent glamour of 60s revolutionaries. “Time accomplishes for the poor what money does for the rich,” he once said.

One thing that Chávez’s words convey is the momentous rhythm of God’s justice. The mechanism of God is seen to work much slower than man’s, is rendered visible by Chávez’s belief that the downtrodden will get their due. We also get a sense of Chávez’s muscular spirituality, an ability to passively exert his will on situations. This is exemplified by his frequent fasting; his first 25-day fast was broken by Bobby Kennedy administering communion to him (pictured above).

However, the problem with this anthology of quotes on selected spiritual subjects is that too often the abstract terms used and their repetitious nature can seem like a monotonous barrage. His most beautiful passages are in the “On the Poor” chapter. At one stage he describes the torture of lettuce picking: “It’s just like being nailed to a cross. You have to walk twisted or stooped over.”

You sense that much of the wisdom of this man, who never went to high school, is a catharsis of his suffering. In this book we see the stubborn beauty of his accomplishment: of effecting a strange reversal of the Fall, giving dignity to those who lived by the sweat of their brow.

Got something constructive to say?