by Rev. Dr. Mariano C. Apilado
The article last Sunday emphasized that “No matter how difficult, dangerous and dark the road may be, the hope of silver lining can be a light that guides one through Hellsgate and by the power of Hope City one can reach the Chilliwak City of joyous celebration.”
The international members of the team who have come to Vancouver to meet in the name of peace and peace building include one from Beijing and one from Macau, China, five pastors from Canada, Pastor Norman Naromal of Davao and myself.
The activities of the group from last Monday to Wednesday, October 4-6, included a visit to Gleaners, a program designed to glean whatever may have been left behind during regular harvest, gather these together and then process, dry and place in plastic bags for distribution to needy places in the world.
The group then went on a retreat to Squeah Camp, about forty-five minutes from Chilliwak. The retreat included a tour to Hellsgate, so named in memory of an entry in the diary of Simon Fraser, an intrepid Scottish explorer who negotiated the river from upper Canada to the Pacific Ocean in the early 1800s.
The entry in the diary in 1808 reads, “We had to travel where no human being should venture for surely we had encountered the gates of hell.”
The place is now a tourist destination with a Hell’s Gate airtram that brings people down to the river, now called Fraser River, reputed to be one of the strongest, if not the strongest river in the world.
There at the bottom of the airtram one can view the dangerous terrain that explorer Fraser negotiated.
Today, coming from eastern Canada, one goes through Hellsgate, then Squeah, then Hope City and finally to the Chiiliwak City of joy and celebration. Squeah is an Indian term meaning “refuge”.
The travel could be a parable of the journey of life through the dangers, pains and difficulties of hell; succeeding in getting past these pains and difficulties, a traveler would need a time for rest and that is what Squeah means, a city of rest and refuge.
Sustained and energized by hope, and that is what Hope City is, one can reach finally the City of Chilliwak and celebrate the joy and success of the journey.
The significance to me of the scenic drive from Chilliwak to Hellsgate is that it takes one’s breath seeing the beauty of the mountain ranges with stately trees like pines and cedars, pristine and majestic, and be reminded of the psalmist’s joyous exclamation, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.” (Psalm 1, 9).
But to be romantic about having gone to Hellsgate and having seen the dangerous terrain, and live to tell the story, I can approximate the statement, “To hell and back.”
More importantly, however, I remember Davao and the scenic drive through BUDA to Bukidnon and Cagayan de Oro and express a prayer that, indeed, the scenic drive could be restored with the stately trees swaying to the majesty of God.
I remember the many mountain ranges in Luzon, northeast and northwest Luzon now bald, victims of the ravenous greed of loggers and I cannot but offer a prayer that, indeed, the majesty of the mountains may be restored.
We can hope. And pray. And work our best to make our hopes come true. Can’t we?
