The feast of Corpus
Christ, the celebration of Christ present in the Eucharist, is very important
for people here in our parish.
In several places in the parish,
where there are Extraordinary Ministers of Communion, the Eucharist is reserved
in the town or village church. Most of these churches celebrated the Forty Hours
devotion from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning. This devotion, recalling the
approximately forty hours between the death and resurrection of Jesus, used to
be common in the United States. I remember it from my youth. Here it Is much
more common even today. Usually a priest, deacon, or extraordinary minister
exposes the Eucharist in a monstrance and people in the town or village take
times to be present and pray. I passed by the church in Plan Grande several
times during the Forty Hours - to pray
in private the Liturgy of the Hours – and I always found people praying, often
in a profound silence.
Since the extraordinary
minister in neighboring Candelaria was gone, they asked me to expose the Eucharist
for adoration on Friday. I arrived at 3:00 pm in a pouring rain. After exposing
the Eucharist, we spent about thirty minutes in silence and in several prayers,
including a reading from the Gospel and prayers of Saint Francis and Blessed Charles
de Foucauld.
Saturday we had a meeting
of the parish pastoral council. During the meeting, Padre German gave an
extended catechesis on processions and the sacraments, especially the
Eucharist. Recalling the work of Saint Thomas Aquinas he noted that the
Eucharist brings, in Spanish, una gracia cibativa, which sustains,
increases, develops and repairs life. With this grace we live in Gdd, we let
ourselves be loved by God, and we love our neighbor. There was more, but I was
impressed, especially with his emphasis on the importance of receiving the
Eucharist often. Later, affirming my suspicions, I noted that the Latin word cibare
refers to feeding or, in the passive, being fed.
In the afternoon I was
going to go with Padre to the sector of San Isidro where they had planned a
procession from Yaruconte to Dolores, a walk over dirt roads of several
kilometers. But we had to suspend the procession, because of the strong rains
which would turn the road into mud – which would be especially difficult
ascending a hill. They had had such a procession a few years ago. Here are a
few photos, which concluded with Mass and First Communions in Dolores.
This year there was only
a Mass that evening in Dolores. Padre German had only four or five Masses planned
for Sunday.
Sunday morning I got to
Candelaria at 6:30 am to put the host in the tabernacle. As I drove over I
thought that maybe we should have a short Celebration of the Word with
Communion – even though I had to be in another village at 9:00 am. I thought
that it only seemed right that they should have the opportunity to receive the
Eucharist on the feast of Corpus Christi. When I arrived, I asked them if they’d
like an opportunity to receive Communion. Yes, they replied. So after prayers,
including the Canticle of the Three Young Men in Daniel, from Lauds, we had a
short Celebration with Communion.
I only used the Gospel in
the Celebration and gave a short homily, noting that the Eucharist is Jesus the
bread of Life come down from heaven which recalls that Jesus is God made flesh
who came down from heaven to be with us. The Eucharist is our food, given to
nourish us. The Eucharist is given to us
not only to look on and adore, but as food for our life in God.
I hurried to Bañaderos,
giving about eight people a ride in the truck. When I got there I was in my
worst “in-charge” mode, trying to make everything work well (as I understood
it).
There over seventy people
from the sector had gathered – from eight different villages. We began about a kilometer
from the church and walked in procession, singing hymns and praying the
glorious mysteries of the Rosary. We stopped at five altars where we prayed using
themes from the recent pastoral letter of our bishop.
- Deepening our encounter with God through the Word of God.
- Living the sacraments as encounters with God.
- Strengthening the family as “domestic church,’ gathered around the Table of the Eucharist.
- Caring for our “common Home” where God reveals his glory.
- Living the Eucharist in lives of charity and justice.
When we arrived at the
church, we had a Celebration of the Word with Communion, outside. I was
impressed at how well and prayerfully Erasmo read the long Sequence. After
Mass, I found out that he has only had three years formal education, but has
been reading the Bible and materials related to his ministry in the village
where he lives, San Isidro La Cueva.
After Mass, I left
quickly since I was planning to go to Mass in San Agustín. Of course, I had a
few people in the car.
As I was driving through
an Isidro la Cueva, after leaving off several people, I heard a loud noise in
the car. I stopped and opened the hood to survey the damage – one of the fan
belts was broken and wrapped around a part of the ventilator fan. I removed it
and as two young guys stopped to help we found another fan belt that had fallen
off. Luckily the car still worked and it wasn’t the ventilator fan belt – just the
hydraulic brake and air conditioning bands. So I got home, where I discovered
that I had a nearly flat tire – and what looked like a brake line leak. With the
help of a neighbor’s son-in-law, we got the tire changed.
Monday I got to Dulce Nombre where the tire was repaired and a
mechanic put in two new belts and also replaced two balineras (ball-bearings).
The leak y the tire was oil from the
differential which leaked out because of a broken balinera.
Though Sunday afternoon I
was a little worried about the car, there was a deeper cause for sadness.
I had been looking
forward to Mass on Corpus Christi. Even though I had received Christ in the Eucharist
two times, I still had a longing for the communal celebration of the Eucharist.
But what struck me in all this was my longing not just to be fed the Eucharist but
to pray in a full scale celebration of the Eucharist at a Mass with a community.
I wonder how many of the
people here also experience this longing. It is good to receive Christ in
Communion, but maybe something is lacking when people don’t have enough
opportunities to celebrate together – nourished by the Word of God and the
Eucharist around the Table of the Lord.
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