Holy Week

As you may have noticed, I have been writing a lot on this blog since last Friday. I have had a lot more time to write and there has been a lot more happening that has moved me to write. Also, it's Holy Week, which for me began in earnest last Friday, often called the Friday of Our Lady of Sorrows.

In Honduras and other Latin American countries, many people have Holy Week off. Some go to the beaches, some just lounge at home. But there are many church activities all week, especially from Holy Thursday to the Easter Vigil on Saturday evening. In cities like Santa Rosa de Copán there are many processions where the faithful carry images from the church throughout the streets.

This year I'll be spending Wednesday through Sunday morning in the parish of Dulce Nombre de María, where I've been helping out. From Wednesday to Saturday I'll be in the town of San Agustín, accompanying the people for the first two days of the Triduum. I am looking forward to this chance to be with the people during these days. On Saturday I'll go to Dulce Nombre de Copán for the Easter Vigil.

Sister Nancy and Sister Brenda, two Dubuque Franciscans in Gracias, Lempira, have invited me to come for Easter Sunday to celebrate with them. If all goes well I'll probably take up their offer. It's always great to be with these good sisters.

In the meantime, today is a day for some quiet (after helping at the comedor de niños, the munch program for kids). It's a cool day and there was a brief rain this morning, which is quite a relief from the hot and dusty days we've been experiencing.

It's been up into the high 80s and low 90s for about a week and it's been so dry that dust covers everything in the house and I felt as if I was forever eating dust. And so the cool is a welcome change, though we should be back into the upper 80s the end of the week.

But I shouldn't complain. I hear that there was a snow storm in the Midwest in April!