ROMERO, SCRUTINIES, AND MORE

I am in San Pedro Sula today, preparing for my third round of chemotherapy treatments. But the last four days have been adventuresome.

MONSEÑOR ROMERO 

Friday was the feast of Saint Óscar Romero, bishop and martyr of El Salvador. This year there was a major celebration in the aldea of El Zapote Santa Rosa in our parish.

A young man in the community, Darling, is a grand devotee of Monseñor Romero and arranged the Mass with people in their village.

The church was packed. Darling and his brother Ronal provided the music.

We sang the Misa Popular Salvadoreña, a quite intense Mass composed by Guillermo Cuellar. We even sang the grand Gloria which Romero mentioned in his last Sunday homily, with these intense verses.

Pero los dioses del poder y del dinero 

se oponen a que haya transfiguración. 

Por eso ahora vos, Señor, sos el primero 

en levantar tu brazo contra la opresión. 

But the gods of power and wealth 

oppose the Transfiguration. 

Therefore, you, Lord, are now the first  

to lift up your arm against oppression.

This Gloria reflects the central role of the Transfiguration of the Lord in El Salvador, whose national feast day is August 6, the feast of the Transfiguration. 

I think that there is also a subtle – or not so subtle – reference to the statue of the Divine Savior in the Plaza El Salvador del Mundo in San Salvador...

... and perhaps a hint of the revolutionary raising of the fist against oppression. Note this image of Mary of the Magnificat.

It was a good afternoon and I even had the privilege to preach at the Mass.

PREGNANT WOMEN 

Saturday, Padre German had a Mass for pregnant women in Dulce Nombre. I had forgotten about this and so didn’t attend. This was probably for the best since Sunday was busy. In addition, I had to work on the material for our parish stations of the cross.

CATECHUMENS AND SCRUTINIES

Sunday was busy – but in a very positive way.

At 9 am I found myself in Vertientes, a mountain aldea.

They have nine young people preparing to be baptized at the Easter Vigil. It’s the largest group from a single village. Of these, five are eighteen or older.

This year we have permission from the bishop for the pastor to confirm those catechumens who are 18 or older at the Vigil. This is the tradition in most of the world, but until this year the catechumens only received the sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist at the Vigil. Of the 38 or so catechumens, about 12 will be confirmed at the Vigil this year.

Since we have the catechumens in scattered villages, we try to do the major rites in the main church but we celebrate the scrutinies in the villages. It was with great joy that I could do it in Vertientes. 

But there was another special reason to be there.

One of the catechumens had missed the rite of inscription (or election) in Dulce Nombre on the first Sunday of Lent. This young man and his brother are both preparing for their baptism. Both have some intellectual deficiencies and the younger one sometimes has difficulty focusing. With great affection, I call him our lost sheep.

He came with the group from Vertientes for the rite of election, but he got lost and didn’t arrive at the church until the end of Mass.

When I went to Vertientes the next Sunday, I met him on his way to Dulce Nombre; he seems to have had no sense that I would be there for the rite. In fact, the next day he showed up in Dulce Nombre for a meeting that had nothing to do with the catechumens.

This Sunday, though, he was there. His presence, and the efforts made to include him make real for me Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep.

After the Celebration, I headed home for a few hours before heading out to San Agustín for Mass. 

There also I celebrated the rite of election with a young man who had also missed the rite in Dulce Nombre. (Some liturgists might not approve of all this, but we have to respond to the pastoral needs of people of all types in all types of situations.) 

When I arrived, I found that Padre German was hearing confessions. He is trying to visit all the communities to offer them opportunities for confession during Lent. The lines are often long, as they were in San Agustín.

Mass was supposed to start at 2 o’clock and he was still hearing confessions at 3 pm. 

So, he started Mass, handed over the Liturgy of the Word and the Scrutinies to me, and returned to hear confessions.

It was a great privilege to be able to pray the scrutinies another time – after leading the San Agustín community in the Celebration of the Word and sharing a homily with them. 

I was moved as I prayed, laying my hands on the heads of the three catechumens there in San Agustín.

Padre German emerged at the Offertory (even though there were still a few people waiting for confessions) and he finished the Mass. He’ll return to San Agustín on the morning of Wednesday in Holy Week for confessions for the sick and others.

After Mass, he had a Mass in Plan Grande in thanksgiving for someone’s safe return from abroad. I opted out since I was rather tired. I also had to prepare the texts for our parish Stations of the Cross this coming Friday.

LAB TESTS AND EXPERIENCING VULNERABILITY

Monday morning, I had to get lab tests in Santa Rosa to prepare for another chemotherapy session on Wednesday. I got there late – fasting.

After the test I went to a café to have breakfast. Even after eating I felt a little off and, as I put my computer in my backpack, I fainted. I recovered a bit with two large glasses of water and then decided just to sit and rest. 

All of a sudden, Padre Elias, a priest of the dioceses and director of the radio station, dropped in. The owner of the café had called him to tell him of my fainting. I am moved by her concern and the effort of Padre Elias to accompany me. 

So life goes on with many surprise blessings. 

HOLY WEEK BEGINS

Our parish stations of the cross in the streets of Dulce Nombre is Friday. Next week is full of Holy Week activities. 

I have to evaluate carefully with the pastor what I can do. I don’t want to do either too much or too little.

I have a retreat with the catechumens and their sponsors on Tuesday of Holy Week, but I am already working to involve two other persons in the retreat. (I’m finally learning to share responsibility.) 

There are lots of processions during Holy Week. I won’t be walking in them, though I will probably ride in the car that has the sound equipment and participate in the Masses after the Stations on Friday and on Palm Sunday and the Easter Vigil. 

It’s a great temptation to try to do too much – but learning to recognize my fragility is one of the most important lessons for me this Lent.

Pray for us, especially for the catechumens who will be baptized at the Easter Vigil. May we be signs of hope and resurrection for our parish, our nation, and the world.

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Note: I refer to those who will be baptized at the Easter Vigil as "catechumens," even though they are, at this point really the "elect" - after the rite of election on the First Sunday of Lent.