tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-304088882024-02-19T00:53:24.609-06:00Hermano JuancitoJohn (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.comBlogger1326125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-70957063557238439392023-04-07T12:16:00.000-06:002023-04-07T12:16:00.200-06:00How can I preach the Passion among the poor?This afternoon I will go to an aldea where I have often spent Good Friday, Debajiados.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPyYzA4sevH58y2q3-7ONm7_MxJC4uXY_eV_Ru09jtr5O0H2exn--8qNB9o6XvHomGUkjazP0O1mv2RrvTzFacQRS8G2m8H8xsDebKcHOlFHcvj1jwJCWGjwpJ5bwkITwJ-uW5N9Jr2ycnoYMVBYeWeKfAeKPFZRxGa1xmprFibfgjt6Ub9Q/s2592/crossDebajiados.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2592" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPyYzA4sevH58y2q3-7ONm7_MxJC4uXY_eV_Ru09jtr5O0H2exn--8qNB9o6XvHomGUkjazP0O1mv2RrvTzFacQRS8G2m8H8xsDebKcHOlFHcvj1jwJCWGjwpJ5bwkITwJ-uW5N9Jr2ycnoYMVBYeWeKfAeKPFZRxGa1xmprFibfgjt6Ub9Q/s400/crossDebajiados.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
To get there you have to go up a mountain and then down the other side. It’s about 50 minutes from here in Plan Grande and so I asked a neighbor to help with the driving. <div><br /></div><div>It is a small poor remote community that at this point does not have a Delegate of the Word to lead celebrations (though there is one in formation.) There was a young man who was in formation to be a communion minister, but he died of pneumonia, leaving his wife and four kids. Recently, the only delegate suddenly left the community,</div><div><br /></div><div>But they are trying to live their faith. A young woman is in formation to become a catechist. Two young men (including the oldest son of the man who died of pneumonia) were confirmed this past February. </div><div><br /></div><div>I visited several times before I was ordained a deacon, the first time on a rainy December Sunday, going down to the church – on a “macho”. The second time, Good Friday, 2016, I took communion to a couple who lived far from the church, riding on a donkey.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnjFsW8QzNKiY8AlemPNiG7WYqoWCtFxkFz95db87HyZukMDyyxOUn6Ie3l0bZ3adXPOCG3TNJvPOdtNtY2PaiUdYAq8XTgdT5l6ONaBxea8SiHElVZDQ571Lik8XGiz99gM46M1cifT3vWnPyPTXhL0LEkV7XNadHkgMvuPCNxwS2eMD4ow/s2048/IMG_0141.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnjFsW8QzNKiY8AlemPNiG7WYqoWCtFxkFz95db87HyZukMDyyxOUn6Ie3l0bZ3adXPOCG3TNJvPOdtNtY2PaiUdYAq8XTgdT5l6ONaBxea8SiHElVZDQ571Lik8XGiz99gM46M1cifT3vWnPyPTXhL0LEkV7XNadHkgMvuPCNxwS2eMD4ow/s400/IMG_0141.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
I also helped with the funeral of a young girl from the community, accompanying the community to Mass and burial in a village the other side of the mountain. </div><div><br /></div><div>How to preach here is a serious question. </div><div><br /></div><div>As I prayed this morning one image came to me – suggested by the first two readings of the Good Friday Liturgy: the powerful fragility of Jesus crucified, the weakness of the Cross. </div><div><br /></div><div>Is there any image that better reflect the sad reality of the poor and that also give hope by reminding us of the transformative power of the Cross of Jesus and the resurrected Jesus, with his wounds?</div><div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ3DLnffQ6kv18Qhs5a0P2Z-trgcohj6ZdHB1SGSDfmov28MtcXjF79Y6wH1WknK41C8mFgCyTAvYk8CdDaiTJTweiIZXmTYifq6-A_RpWtNaJE77uvGpMJe3nGoZgTuo0bwZeZNiq-CJz4hNmZ4zRur7xlYAO_m37RzMP55-FJzv7Eiz7DA/s2048/DSC02899.JPG" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ3DLnffQ6kv18Qhs5a0P2Z-trgcohj6ZdHB1SGSDfmov28MtcXjF79Y6wH1WknK41C8mFgCyTAvYk8CdDaiTJTweiIZXmTYifq6-A_RpWtNaJE77uvGpMJe3nGoZgTuo0bwZeZNiq-CJz4hNmZ4zRur7xlYAO_m37RzMP55-FJzv7Eiz7DA/s400/DSC02899.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">from Esquipulas<br /><br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>
This image of the suffering God reminds us that Jesus identified himself with the suffering and when we look on the faces of the poor we are looking on the faces of Christ Jesus who suffered and died with and for us. </div><div><br /></div><div>Many years ago I learned a famous crucifixion retablo of Mathias Grüenwald in the chapel of a hospital of people suffering from a disease that felt pustules on the skin. Jesus on the cross bears the same wounds.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBA7_AONzV9tWHGnEYZDI4ZCHQAJpM5VEfbYYg2YLMGQW3pOAAVioLX4Nf8XrC9WAP8mnTstO9Hkp4N2apzGOEpmV9puHTxhAovlN_Fhu5TzdAWRnT8f8yWUG0EzZkMQjaA9w8TYT3TtnmPZ8ojlwuwR1BRyPcG-09-nJdxMmWbeeXOWoOAA/s988/crucifixion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="988" height="349" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBA7_AONzV9tWHGnEYZDI4ZCHQAJpM5VEfbYYg2YLMGQW3pOAAVioLX4Nf8XrC9WAP8mnTstO9Hkp4N2apzGOEpmV9puHTxhAovlN_Fhu5TzdAWRnT8f8yWUG0EzZkMQjaA9w8TYT3TtnmPZ8ojlwuwR1BRyPcG-09-nJdxMmWbeeXOWoOAA/w400-h349/crucifixion.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>There are other images of the crucified Christ identified with the suffering and persecuted. Most notable is Marc Chagall's the White Crucifixion where Jesus identifies with the Jews suffering pogroms in Russia. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuKvT0NYIBcBIKw1JPlU3EEFyUkNMMiLFjhbyFKD9wrlZ5DvtiYtyMAJpA3PpMcVD4rzYoZdIpNr1gPeZANSiAN2PcyPpK9XFLXgPRX9Ib2lsrKjaHabWQ6pOseCDWudT5mjANJr9LjGXX32abJr7zmRaLcFcB9Leq1J_sGVhLt_tBGLo9bg/s342/Marc%20Chagall%20White%20Crucifixion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="342" data-original-width="305" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuKvT0NYIBcBIKw1JPlU3EEFyUkNMMiLFjhbyFKD9wrlZ5DvtiYtyMAJpA3PpMcVD4rzYoZdIpNr1gPeZANSiAN2PcyPpK9XFLXgPRX9Ib2lsrKjaHabWQ6pOseCDWudT5mjANJr9LjGXX32abJr7zmRaLcFcB9Leq1J_sGVhLt_tBGLo9bg/w356-h400/Marc%20Chagall%20White%20Crucifixion.jpg" width="356" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>There is also Fritz Eichenberg's The Black Crucifixion</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfOMNyTL317A2l40MtE60lv5VCjSHKl3zeVniOd1G7ojVa5Xbe-wEyhujVsn7BQATc_mFrPC-QadThbdq3QdxOT8eiZFeJLWr2Yk-Xo-fnKCa2pez8SWTkp_3uHmXBNTkYJNxJcHdHG9tqljJAn7Jr8uErkTx2RUO8HBTTsHn1ALQo___wYg/s1773/blackcrucifixion001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1760" data-original-width="1773" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfOMNyTL317A2l40MtE60lv5VCjSHKl3zeVniOd1G7ojVa5Xbe-wEyhujVsn7BQATc_mFrPC-QadThbdq3QdxOT8eiZFeJLWr2Yk-Xo-fnKCa2pez8SWTkp_3uHmXBNTkYJNxJcHdHG9tqljJAn7Jr8uErkTx2RUO8HBTTsHn1ALQo___wYg/w400-h398/blackcrucifixion001.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>All these point to the reality of the identification of God with the suffering of this world.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is very clear in the Holy Week liturgies. </div><div><br /></div><div>As Saint Óscar Romero, reflecting on the Suffering Servant Songs in Isaiah that we have been hearing this week.<blockquote>The Servant of Yahweh is so closely identified with the people that biblical interpreters cannot really tell whether the Servant of Yahweh announced by Isaiah is the suffering people or the Christ who comes to redeem them.</blockquote>
Jon Sobrino, SJ, Salvadoran theologian and friend of Monseñor Romero, also notes this identification. of the crucified Christ and the crucified of this world.
<blockquote> The crucified peoples of the world are today’s Suffering Servant, innocent but hidden away, “though he had done no wrong nor spoken any falsehood.” If the Servant does not merit such treatment, then it means that we have unjustly inflicted it on him: “He was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins.”
The Suffering Servant proclaims the truth about the crucified people, and the truth about their executioners. In the crucified people, we can and must see ourselves. As in an inverted mirror, we can see who and what we truly are by looking at what we have produced.
Today the crucified people embody the scandalous and prophetic presence of Jesus among us.
</blockquote>
So, what can I do today but remind the people (and myself) that we have a God who suffers with us so that suffering can be transformed by the power of God – both in our personal lives and in our world.
</div><div><br /></div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-1478207301835959512023-04-05T15:47:00.003-06:002023-04-05T15:47:16.971-06:00An Ignatian contemplation of the Easter VigilYesterday, at the end of the retreat with those who will be baptized at the Easer Vigil, I briefly explained the Vigil liturgy. <div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn3NdF3Aw3mEF4IeB3yFsKsTIoV5uMf_Ex3zyWSTPO3X5EILDeZLHsvM3S3fcSYRbvjahKulUkQ8vxtuWyt8wU_cNj-ty8Y5oAYdv8hryuTeYwdawMeURFEyKgchHZ7lvzA_jJNpOyTxLpGBzoMY8IcIvTmblCKLi7qrT27wGEW3anoYNfTw/s2592/DSC04610.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2592" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn3NdF3Aw3mEF4IeB3yFsKsTIoV5uMf_Ex3zyWSTPO3X5EILDeZLHsvM3S3fcSYRbvjahKulUkQ8vxtuWyt8wU_cNj-ty8Y5oAYdv8hryuTeYwdawMeURFEyKgchHZ7lvzA_jJNpOyTxLpGBzoMY8IcIvTmblCKLi7qrT27wGEW3anoYNfTw/w400-h300/DSC04610.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2015</td></tr></tbody></table><div><div><br /></div><div><b>THE LITURGY OF THE LIGHT</b> will begin a few blocks from the church with the blessing of the Easter Fire and the Paschal candle. The community will then process to the church behind the candle, where we will hear the praise of God – in the prayer of the Paschal Candle.</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>THE LITURGY OF THE WORD</b> will follow with all the readings, with sung responses, culminating with the Gospel of the Resurrection.</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>THE LITURGY OF BAPTISM</b> will begin after the homily, with the Litany of the Saints, remembering how we are surrounded by millions of witnesses of the Risen Lord. Then the water will be blessed, the elect will renounce Satan profess their faith, and they will be baptized – bathed with the water of baptism. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>THE LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST</b> will follow with the first communion of the newly baptized. </div><div><br /></div><div>I didn’t try to explain everything because I wanted them to be surprised, delighted, awed by what we are experiencing in the Vigil. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbqAnVbv11p_0lhul8gKkll6kEIqbtHXQYpt2L5NId4apFlRW3BQsvtHtuZB1dzh1uG6Ttwq1VkdYPq3lH63XgT58rU4sBT0e0_A8vVNaQeqVRHBjw8dfJpcCO5vwAUzZ_y647z70pqNGtGLO5RvZvkIslbEoGBzWUV0cVMFHVcYxaBc88WQ/s2592/DSC01689.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2592" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbqAnVbv11p_0lhul8gKkll6kEIqbtHXQYpt2L5NId4apFlRW3BQsvtHtuZB1dzh1uG6Ttwq1VkdYPq3lH63XgT58rU4sBT0e0_A8vVNaQeqVRHBjw8dfJpcCO5vwAUzZ_y647z70pqNGtGLO5RvZvkIslbEoGBzWUV0cVMFHVcYxaBc88WQ/w400-h300/DSC01689.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2014<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div>But I did tell them to <i>pay attention</i>.
I told them to be attentive with their whole being, to be especially attentive to their feelings. </div><div><br /></div><div>I used the questions suggested by Saint Ignatius: </div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><i>What do I see?</i></div><div><i>What do I hear?
</i></div><div><i>What do I smell?
</i></div><div><i>What do I taste?
</i></div><div><i>What do I feel – with my body and with my spirit?</i> </div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>I did not tell them what to expect but told them to be present to what is happening in them, around them, and between them.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here are my first thoughts about what we might sense as we live through the Vigil, contemplating the presence of the Risen Lord in our midst.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBURWUI1gdCQVLGWKhNSNZwHAxj_nBwvr3ImwpRs6XcxeHwpQ9_YMh4WCmPtbWdLI8vuQ_gxzRb0FKDNIqr5OsZwFgs2movazgXEcLiBShc_E3SqoVEebs2aEN5X4n4e3L-3ZcGoVEK7Md2ORT_hhV_1fPKJYCCzIgQGf2Gq-K4N4AGF8aXA/s1440/vigilia2022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBURWUI1gdCQVLGWKhNSNZwHAxj_nBwvr3ImwpRs6XcxeHwpQ9_YMh4WCmPtbWdLI8vuQ_gxzRb0FKDNIqr5OsZwFgs2movazgXEcLiBShc_E3SqoVEebs2aEN5X4n4e3L-3ZcGoVEK7Md2ORT_hhV_1fPKJYCCzIgQGf2Gq-K4N4AGF8aXA/s320/vigilia2022.jpg" width="160" /></a></div><div><b>What do I see</b> in the Vigil? The Easter Fire, the Paschal Candle, the gathering space illuminated with the lighted candles of the faithful, and more.</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>What do I hear</b>? The crackling of the fire, the Exultet, the readings, the songs, the Alleluia, and more. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>What do I smell</b>? The burning wood and candles, the aromatic Chrism, and more. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>What do I taste</b>? The Body and Blood of Christ, and more.</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>What do I feel</b>? The water flowing over the bodies of the baptized, the anointing with the Chrism, the company of hundreds of people around the altar, and more.</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>What do I sense with my spiri</b>t? A beginning, a new life, and more, especially the presence of God.</div><div><br /></div><div>Simone Weil once wrote that. “[the] faculty of attention […when] directed toward God, is the very substance of prayer.” </div><div><br /></div><div> I pray that those to be baptized and I may be attentive to God at the Vigil and throughout our lives.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-40629679786156945952023-04-05T10:10:00.000-06:002023-04-05T10:10:18.970-06:00Preparing the catechumens for the Easter VigilYesterday we had a retreat for those who will be baptized in the Easter Vigil together with their godparents.<div><br /></div><div>In previous years, the “elect” – as the catechumens are “called” after the beginning of Lent – has their retreat in their villages. But in some places, there is only one person and I thought it would be better if we experienced the retreat as a community.</div><div><br /></div><div>Since I am trying to conserve my energy, I asked one of the <i>Oblatas al Divino Amor</i> (Oblates of the Divine Love) in our parish as well as a Dulce Nombre catechist who is also one of the parish secretaries. I was so glad to have Sister Gabi and Elias help (since I had moments during the retreat where I experienced my vulnerability and weakness.)</div><div><br /></div><div>In the retreat we reflected on baptism and the mercy of God as well as the Eucharist and Confirmation. I also did a short review of what would happen at the Vigil. </div><div><br /></div><div>I also led the community in the rite of anointing the elect with the oil of the catechumens.</div><div><br /></div><div>When we baptize infants and young children, we anoint them in the chest, by the heart. Since many are adolescent girls, I decided to anoint them in the palms, which is an option. There was at least one older man whose palms had been hardened by years of hard work in the fields. What a privilege to anoint his hands and the hands of the others, asking God to give them the strength to live the baptism they were going to receive.</div><div><br /></div><div>We have thirty-eight “elect,” including fourteen who are eighteen or older. But the majority are between fourteen and seventeen, young people who have decided to be baptized.</div><div><br /></div><div>We do have baptisms and baptismal preparation for children under seven. Parents and god-parents come together in groups in the villages for five sessions and a retreat. </div><div><br /></div><div>There is also a year-long baptismal preparation for children between 7 and 13, with all the formation done in the villages.</div><div><br /></div><div>We also have the catechumenate for those who are fourteen and older. We are one of a few parishes in our diocese who do this with all the rites.</div><div><br /></div><div>The custom here, until this year, was that those in the catechumenate would receive Baptism and Eucharist at the Vigil. Later they would incorporate into the preparation for confirmation with others in their community.</div><div><br /></div><div>I really wanted the Easter Vigil to be a celebration of the full Initiation of adults into the community of faith with all three sacraments – Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. Father German, our pastor, and I approached the bishop and asked him to allow Father German to confirm those over eighteen. He agreed. (Those under eighteen will join other adolescents in their communities to prepare for confirmation. My hope is that they’ll form youth groups after confirmation.)</div><div><br /></div><div>I am looking forward to the Easter Vigil – which is quite the liturgy here. (I include some photos from previous Easter Vigils.) </div><div><br /></div><div>We’ll begin with the blessing of the Easter Fire and the Paschal Candle, followed by a procession to the church.
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIAC0SdhcouvJnhWBcLG9mKtAZ_kA5Y1dbbsQYrwSKJkHj4nEQOq3_cH1-hpcziuYfoWXOMT0jIYgmmO5q9ZQWx6oEayK3cZS-7ThOiP6Xm5AofEL16hIWp6dFAo5PmbsJJLMvcgjxhkv5S_yLRkoeXbscW22I_pKnWRl9D3BbjHtfNMyAsw/s2592/DSC07340.jpeg" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2592" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIAC0SdhcouvJnhWBcLG9mKtAZ_kA5Y1dbbsQYrwSKJkHj4nEQOq3_cH1-hpcziuYfoWXOMT0jIYgmmO5q9ZQWx6oEayK3cZS-7ThOiP6Xm5AofEL16hIWp6dFAo5PmbsJJLMvcgjxhkv5S_yLRkoeXbscW22I_pKnWRl9D3BbjHtfNMyAsw/s400/DSC07340.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2016</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoGV4s9knu94_4WweakWoZ7wtUgcV-PCjhbzpq8ebCWlUJ4hZ-B3uzLMlbTphDwUPsvtncahkTM6NY6jxghwLEjcuraL8Pe7yz3b_4lR09mdSiPh6WXJRKK1AtNmWHE9FdfqkIs64_fUBJ-_3n2dqSa6AFzx1VjZ9FnEf53zKniIr-U2O1MQ/s3648/IMG_0102.JPG" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoGV4s9knu94_4WweakWoZ7wtUgcV-PCjhbzpq8ebCWlUJ4hZ-B3uzLMlbTphDwUPsvtncahkTM6NY6jxghwLEjcuraL8Pe7yz3b_4lR09mdSiPh6WXJRKK1AtNmWHE9FdfqkIs64_fUBJ-_3n2dqSa6AFzx1VjZ9FnEf53zKniIr-U2O1MQ/s400/IMG_0102.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2019<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>
This year, as last year, we’ll hold the vigil in our auditorium since not all those present will fit into the church.
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju6X2nNcL_bM54TEB3oRte1PVYcMbxTMuihL8ZFX0E3g63bfJgIWKixFGLdr-vloUNmNyzr0qx74hsurqkvR_EMoYDBBQHTAtkcAvmwdmePAUQnv2z2JAPv0kX4f9kTbdCPCDRnLImk1mH7AulUnjCIMj5raaUha9fqT-lW97l6YwtV0tlsA/s3648/DSC01504.JPG" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju6X2nNcL_bM54TEB3oRte1PVYcMbxTMuihL8ZFX0E3g63bfJgIWKixFGLdr-vloUNmNyzr0qx74hsurqkvR_EMoYDBBQHTAtkcAvmwdmePAUQnv2z2JAPv0kX4f9kTbdCPCDRnLImk1mH7AulUnjCIMj5raaUha9fqT-lW97l6YwtV0tlsA/s400/DSC01504.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2022<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>
When we arrive at the vigil site, we’ll pray the Easter Song of the <i>Exultet</i>. If I am up to it, I’ll try to chant it.</div><div><br /></div><div>After this, we’ll have all the readings with the sung responses.</div><div><br /></div><div>After the homily, we’ll celebrate the baptisms and the confirmations.
We believe in having adequate signs and so the elect will be baptized and so the pastor uses a lot of water in the baptisms.
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6HBMiRDGu9x3on0n8BEvpRUgJhadq2sAeFvK6N3cFwf2JyqQDwGogP1sVBCkPcB9sVka622IDyL5j3-KfhV0tYLYTYimp898acXwm3gSAWmF5-gVkpP3UN6VqQYFBxIRECzCMOwvlU7O6paetGtlO13Wff3rfgSa9l40uGPHaHeQuoDhRgA/s3648/DSC01492.JPG" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6HBMiRDGu9x3on0n8BEvpRUgJhadq2sAeFvK6N3cFwf2JyqQDwGogP1sVBCkPcB9sVka622IDyL5j3-KfhV0tYLYTYimp898acXwm3gSAWmF5-gVkpP3UN6VqQYFBxIRECzCMOwvlU7O6paetGtlO13Wff3rfgSa9l40uGPHaHeQuoDhRgA/s320/DSC01492.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2023<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>
After the baptisms, Father German will confirm those over eighteen.</div><div><br /></div><div>At the end of that liturgy, we will have the Prayers of the Faithful. Two of those baptized and confirmed will read the petitions, participating as full members of the community of faith.</div><div><br /></div><div>One tradition here is that those receiving their first Communion, gather around the altar with a lit candle during the Eucharistic Prayer.</div><div><br /></div><div>With Padre German, first communion includes reception under both species – the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ. The newly-baptized will drink the Blood of Christ from the Chalice! </div><div><br /></div><div>To prepare them for this experience, I told them not to be afraid to take a real drink: they won’t get drunk with the Blood of Christ!</div><div><br /></div><div>After the Easter Vigil liturgy, which will last at least five hours, there will be <i>tamales</i> and <i>ticucos</i>, as a way to celebrate together.</div><div><br /></div><div>I look forward to the Vigil and hope and pray that I have the strength for the entire Vigil. </div><div><br /></div><div>I will take Sunday off, celebrating the Resurrection in the quiet of my home and garden. </div><div><br /></div><div>In other years I have gone to a distant village for an Easter Sunday Celebration of the Word with Communion, but I think it’s best this year to have a real “Sabbath rest.”
</div><div><br /></div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-51753803883392638272023-04-01T09:44:00.000-06:002023-04-01T09:44:03.741-06:00Living the Holy Saturdays of our livesWednesday I had my third chemotherapy session. <div><br /></div><div>I got to the clinic about 7:15 am and began chemo at about 8 am. The transfusion was finished about 8 pm and I left the clinic at about 8:30 pm.
I was able to sleep a good bit this time during the chemo and our pastor, Padre German, arrived about 3: 45and stayed till the bitter end. We talked and we even did some parish work. He even brought me dinner!</div><div><br /></div><div>But I was also able to read.
God seems to be guiding my reading. (I also am grateful for Kindle.)
This month two books have sustained me and helped me to live my treatments and my live with cancer with faith, hope, and love. Tomáš Halík’s <i>Touch the Wounds: On Suffering, Trust, and Transformation</i>, was first published in 2003 but just now translated into English. Sheila Cassidy’s <i>Sharing the Darkness: The Spirituality of Caring</i>, was published in 1988. </div><div><br /></div><div>About a week ago, I opened <i>Seeing with the Heart: A Guide to Navigating Life's Adventures</i>, by Kevin O’ Brien, SJ, part of which I read that afternoon. </div><div><br /></div><div>O’Brien has a section entitled “Not Rushing Easter,” exploring the experience of Holy Saturday. It was exactly what I needed to read.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have been fascinated by Holy Saturday for almost all my adult years. </div><div><br /></div><div>In the Creed we profess that Jesus descended into Hell, a reference to his joining the faithful who had died before him. This is what many icons depict. But the moving image painted by Fra Angelico is found in the Saint Mark Monastery in Florence.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL8Soc_TbAqfzlYpCQTccQONwqeLiawyg07LUQ4pt9bCCk9LeC79J0ZOJL_G-W4iNfRCeLdpHdQUaOTYv0Au11YSkp0VpFRifpnrZ3tfOCSimM_8MYU3-oollxk-wzfWnQ-5f0xukCAkxZbbf7yqSHuk0Fb80tSeGn4CPSc50HOD0a723Ogw/s1143/AngelicoHell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="960" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL8Soc_TbAqfzlYpCQTccQONwqeLiawyg07LUQ4pt9bCCk9LeC79J0ZOJL_G-W4iNfRCeLdpHdQUaOTYv0Au11YSkp0VpFRifpnrZ3tfOCSimM_8MYU3-oollxk-wzfWnQ-5f0xukCAkxZbbf7yqSHuk0Fb80tSeGn4CPSc50HOD0a723Ogw/w371-h400/AngelicoHell.jpg" width="371" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>In 1955 Pope Pius XII restored the ancient tradition of celebrating the Easter Vigil after sunset on Holy Saturday.</div><div><br /></div><div>For centuries, the Easter Vigil had been celebrated on Holy Saturday morning, called in many parts of Latin America “Sábado de Gloria,” “The Saturday of the Gloria,” probably because this was the first time since Lent when the Gloria was sung except for feasts and the Holy Thursday Mass.</div><div><br /></div><div>Since 1955, Holy Saturday has been a day without Mass, a day with the church stripped bare (after the Good Friday liturgy), a time for morning and waiting.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is very appropriate, because after Jesus was buried without all the religious rites of his faith, the women waited out the Sabbath, the day of rest. They went to the tomb on Sunday morning and became messengers of the Risen Lord.</div><div><br /></div><div>Fr. Damasus Winzen, OSB, the founder of Mount Saviour, wrote a short pamphlet in 1957 on Holy Saturday, “The Great Sabbath Rest.”</div><div><br /></div><div>I have written on this essay several times, <a href="https://walktheway.wordpress.com/2020/04/04/living-holy-saturday-1/" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://walktheway.wordpress.com/2016/03/26/the-great-sabbath-silence/" target="_blank">here</a>, but Fr. Damasus points to the challenge of Holy Saturday in his first paragraph:</div><div><blockquote>Among the many blessings offered through the restoration of Holy Week is the pause of Holy Saturday. Since the Paschal Vigil has been moved back to its original place in the Easter night, Holy Saturday has become for the great majority a day without any liturgy. To people of the western hemisphere [rather, the northern hemisphere], always active and wanting to be kept busy, a day with nothing is a frightening prospect. Many may be inclined to consider a day without Mass and without communion a loss to their spiritual life.… </blockquote></div><div>Fr. Kevin O’Brien, SJ, reflecting on his personal experience, notes the importance of living the Holy Saturday moments of our lives:
<blockquote>Whether experienced after the death of a loved one or because of another loss, our suffering usually includes some form of loneliness or emptiness. Some years ago, I left a ministry I loved, and experienced a deep loneliness in the months of transition. Surely the loneliness was tied to the sadness of leaving friends I’d grown close to, but it was more than that. There was a stripping away of identity: a familiar role, a record of accomplishment, a comfortable routine—all those things we can rely on too heavily for a sense of self-worth. For me, this time in my life was a “Holy Saturday moment.” In the Catholic liturgy, Holy Saturday is the day after Good Friday and before Easter Sunday. Churches are left bare. No Mass is celebrated. Quiet pervades. (p. 144)</blockquote>
Sometimes I just want to jump over Good Friday and Holy Saturday to get to Easter. But, as Fr. O’Brien notes:
<blockquote>Enduring the pain of our Good Fridays or the emptiness of our Holy Saturdays is not easy. The temptation to run away, to anesthetize or insulate ourselves from the pain, is understandable but not helpful in the end. Although we should avoid unnecessary suffering, we do well to tend to, even befriend, our suffering. (p. 145)</blockquote>
Many times, I want the chemo to end as soon as possible so I can return to normal. (But then I remember Bruce Cockburn’s song, “The Trouble with Normal is that it always gets worse.”) </div><div><br /></div><div>How then to live in Holy Saturday? </div><div><br /></div><div>That may be my Holy Week question. </div><div><br /></div><div>Yet, God at times sends us messages to help us live in faith and hope. On March 30, the anniversary of the 1990 death of Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA, I encountered again his amazing quote – which now makes complete sense to me:
<blockquote>"When I first found out I had cancer, I didn’t know what to pray for. I didn’t know if I should pray for healing or life or death. Then I found peace in praying for what my folks call 'God’s perfect will.' As it evolved, my prayer has become, 'Lord, let me live until I die.' By that I mean I want to live, love, and serve fully until death comes. If that prayer is answered . . . how long really doesn’t matter. Whether it’s just a few months or a few years is really immaterial."</blockquote>
<b><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Lord, let me live until I die.</b></div></b></div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-8642319679011212712023-03-28T14:12:00.003-06:002023-03-28T14:12:52.728-06:00ROMERO, SCRUTINIES, AND MOREI am in San Pedro Sula today, preparing for my third round of chemotherapy treatments. But the last four days have been adventuresome.<div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>MONSEÑOR ROMERO</b> </div><div><br /></div><div>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.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnjw-nMHueJrA0jppZL-whSLeU4_m67bQZoNG4tgbCc91TI_B1d_SrbiQek5aTHhUnoT_UxEO44S8IPDoIg9MCKpsfoaCX5xV1J4vDPHQdceSyIqD0_NOBl2dImRKLX2XBs3-FfcLQ4XOIbqIkttpaOsBpYQA_ZR-zioXkk2By_oq5lAjejA/s3648/DSC02782.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnjw-nMHueJrA0jppZL-whSLeU4_m67bQZoNG4tgbCc91TI_B1d_SrbiQek5aTHhUnoT_UxEO44S8IPDoIg9MCKpsfoaCX5xV1J4vDPHQdceSyIqD0_NOBl2dImRKLX2XBs3-FfcLQ4XOIbqIkttpaOsBpYQA_ZR-zioXkk2By_oq5lAjejA/s400/DSC02782.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
A young man in the community, Darling, is a grand devotee of Monseñor Romero and arranged the Mass with people in their village.
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The church was packed. Darling and his brother Ronal provided the music.
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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.
<blockquote>Pero los dioses del poder y del dinero </blockquote><blockquote>se oponen a que haya transfiguración. </blockquote><blockquote>Por eso ahora vos, Señor, sos el primero </blockquote><blockquote>en levantar tu brazo contra la opresión. </blockquote><blockquote>
But the gods of power and wealth </blockquote><blockquote>oppose the Transfiguration. </blockquote><blockquote>
Therefore, you, Lord, are now the first </blockquote><blockquote>to lift up your arm against oppression.</blockquote>
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. </div><div><br /></div><div>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...<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxGxNFq-Yq0NFT706bhfCR5mj1GIJ3L7OL7ovmCbRC-UdXYCU36N0hx6oZjF-FHGC40rooeQwWkoEATuSKFRKtqFm-HRP-aSDl9fc8rwjPALpUyiqAfIHwxmTH88Mi4_c7jNHmE-Mc77e_zCQLOb7bD84fQTJQlTtk-DZUmEW0gAk3tbNKrg/s396/divinosalvador.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="287" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxGxNFq-Yq0NFT706bhfCR5mj1GIJ3L7OL7ovmCbRC-UdXYCU36N0hx6oZjF-FHGC40rooeQwWkoEATuSKFRKtqFm-HRP-aSDl9fc8rwjPALpUyiqAfIHwxmTH88Mi4_c7jNHmE-Mc77e_zCQLOb7bD84fQTJQlTtk-DZUmEW0gAk3tbNKrg/s400/divinosalvador.jpg" /></a></div>... and perhaps a hint of the revolutionary raising of the fist against oppression. Note this image of Mary of the Magnificat.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3bWACM1NKBUrS1ZsCVCj-JlINWwCNy0b3wrb4s5zBn5Gt_XJpJxscb45-oQZ-31SleIV87mNpJvADuV7fh6J5pKDSFG969geI1G2jye9oZaM7rWAatMCKwBLIA09lTTGST0iivXUS7SYSnQJFfMruNc8MrVzEUu78yWEzzOXpVwStdOaDGw/s584/mary-of-the-people-magnificat.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="584" data-original-width="584" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3bWACM1NKBUrS1ZsCVCj-JlINWwCNy0b3wrb4s5zBn5Gt_XJpJxscb45-oQZ-31SleIV87mNpJvADuV7fh6J5pKDSFG969geI1G2jye9oZaM7rWAatMCKwBLIA09lTTGST0iivXUS7SYSnQJFfMruNc8MrVzEUu78yWEzzOXpVwStdOaDGw/s400/mary-of-the-people-magnificat.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
It was a good afternoon and I even had the privilege to preach at the Mass.
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<b>PREGNANT WOMEN</b> </div><div><br /></div><div>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.</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>CATECHUMENS AND SCRUTINIES</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Sunday was busy – but in a very positive way.</div><div><br /></div><div>At 9 am I found myself in Vertientes, a mountain aldea.</div><div><br /></div><div>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.</div><div><br /></div><div>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.</div><div><br /></div><div>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. </div><div><br /></div><div>But there was another special reason to be there.</div><div><br /></div><div>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.</div><div><br /></div><div>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.</div><div><br /></div><div>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.</div><div><br /></div><div>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.</div><div><br /></div><div>After the Celebration, I headed home for a few hours before heading out to San Agustín for Mass. </div><div><br /></div><div>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.) </div><div><br /></div><div>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.</div><div><br /></div><div>Mass was supposed to start at 2 o’clock and he was still hearing confessions at 3 pm. </div><div><br /></div><div>So, he started Mass, handed over the Liturgy of the Word and the Scrutinies to me, and returned to hear confessions.</div><div><br /></div><div>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. </div><div><br /></div><div>I was moved as I prayed, laying my hands on the heads of the three catechumens there in San Agustín.
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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.</div><div><br /></div><div>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.</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>LAB TESTS AND EXPERIENCING VULNERABILITY</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Monday morning, I had to get lab tests in Santa Rosa to prepare for another chemotherapy session on Wednesday. I got there late – fasting.</div><div><br /></div><div>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. </div><div><br /></div><div>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. </div><div><br /></div><div>So life goes on with many surprise blessings. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>HOLY WEEK BEGINS</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Our parish stations of the cross in the streets of Dulce Nombre is Friday. Next week is full of Holy Week activities. </div><div><br /></div><div>I have to evaluate carefully with the pastor what I can do. I don’t want to do either too much or too little.</div><div><br /></div><div>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.) </div><div><br /></div><div>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. </div><div><br /></div><div>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.</div><div><br /></div><div>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.
</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>-------</div><div><br /></div><div>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. </div><div><br /></div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-40230499291284813072023-03-24T14:21:00.001-06:002023-03-24T14:21:28.302-06:00Deacons and collars - not again Returning Thursday from our diocesan clergy retreat, I spent some time going through e-mail and Facebook. On a Facebook page for permanent deacons, I came across <a href="https://www.the-deacon.com/2023/02/15/the-diaconate-and-the-collar/" target="_blank">a short article on deacons wearing clerical collars</a> by Deacon Dominic Cerrato. I found the article a little shallow, but what troubles me more were many of the comments.<div><br /></div><div>Almost five years ago I wrote on this topic (<a href="https://hermanojuancito.blogspot.com/2019/07/roman-collars-or-muddy-shoes.html" target="_blank">here </a>and <a href="https://hermanojuancito.blogspot.com/2019/07/deacons-and-roan-collars-part-2.html" target="_blank">here</a>) and was roundly castigated, even accused of not having a good diaconal formation. (I plead partly guilty to having a very different formation process. I can explain that later.)</div><div><br /></div><div>So it is with some trepidation, that I return to the subject. I want to open a serious discussion with a few key questions and a few of my initial reflections.
There are some initial questions that the collar controversy raises for me.
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<b>1 - What is the role, the ministry of the permanent deacon in the church? In particular, what does it mean to be a cleric?</b></div><div><br /></div><div>I think this question is basic and is essentially a question of ecclesiology.
I don’t deny that deacons are clergy – both those who will later be ordained priests and those who serve in the diaconate as a permanent state. But this does not make us above the other members of the church. </div><div><br /></div><div>Most of us don’t hold such an opinion. though Archbishop Crepaldi seems to advocate such, if this note is true. </div><div>A few weeks ago, a friend sent me this translated note from the Facebook page of Salvo Coco. I cannot attest to the translation but the note does indicate a rather separatist notion of the clergy and the deacon: </div><div><blockquote>A typical example of clerical doctrine can be found in these words of Giampaolo Crepaldi dated September 17, 2022. The deacon's ministry is intended as a sacred role that "separates" and constitutes an exclusion from the common, daily, existential dimension of the community. No trace of Jesus' secularism. The identity of the clergy suppresses the common baptismal dignity because it “separates” (or sacralizes) the so-called ordained ministries. In this perspective the deaconate and even more the presbyterate and the bishop are placed on an ontologically different and hierarchically superior level than the faithful. In this doctrine lies the doctrinal-clerical core that hinders any serious and profound church reform.</blockquote></div><div>
I much prefer the discussion of the Scott Detish in <i>Being Claimed by the Eucharist We Celebrate</i>, who writes of the <i>ontological claim</i>, rather o<i>ntological difference or change</i> as being a more appropriate way of speaking of this phenomenon.
Detisch also notes how this is not exclusive for sacred orders.
<blockquote>…being baptized and confirmed must also be recognized as involving an ontological change, yet church tradition rarely spoke of this and almost exclusively reserved the phrase for ordination. (p. 36)</blockquote>
Another way of looking at this is to note how the deacon is ordained to the ordering of the community and to be <b>a driving force</b> for the <i>diakonia</i> of the whole church. according to both Pope Saint Paul VI and Pope Saint John Paul II.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the early 1960s, Yves Congar, OP, wrote <i>Power and Poverty in the Church</i>. At several points I see him putting the sacrament of orders in a larger ecclesial perspective:
<blockquote>“St. Paul expressly says that ordained ministers organize the ministry of the saints, that is, of Christians, (Eph 4:23). They organize it, but they also invigorate and animate it and drive it forward. The are the drivers and governors of the Body in the condition of responsibility and universal service that is the Christian condition itself.” (p. 45)</blockquote>
With this understanding, one is ordained for the ordering of the People of God in its evangelization, its charity, and its prayer in common (the liturgy, the work [<i>ergon</i>] of the people [<i>laos</i>]).
Thus, the sacrament of orders is for ordering the community and assuring that the Church reflects who it is. It is not insignificant that the diaconate is called to be <b>the animator</b>, <b>the driving force</b> for <i>diakonia</i>, and, as Pope Francis puts it, the <b>custodian</b> of the <i>diakonia</i> of the People of God.</div><div><br /></div><div>But I think a very serious issue in this discussion is a question that is not addressed directly: what do we mean by "clergy"? </div><div><br /></div><div>In his article, Deacon Cerrato states “The absence of clerical attire by deacons sends the unspoken message that deacons aren’t clergy, diminishing not only the diaconate in the broader Catholic imagination but also an ecclesial presence.”</div><div><br /></div><div>I think that symbols are extremely important, even though they may distort the meaning of reality. Clericals do not make the clergy, even though they may indicate that one is clergy. I wonder if at time they might distort the message. Is there something more fundamental than clericals that should enable people to identify clergy?
In addition, the wearing of clericals, even though mandated for priests in canon law and often permitted for seminarians and transitional deacons is a custom that can be changed.</div><div> </div><div><b>2 - Where is the deacon to be found? With whom does he identify?</b> </div><div><br /></div><div>Pope Francis has been insistent that the place of the deacon is with those on the margins. the margins of society.</div><div><br /></div><div>I would suggest that the deacon should be in direct contact with the physically poor.
This does not only mean that people come to him but that he is a driving force for the church going out and immersing itself in the poor. </div><div><br /></div><div>I am writing this post on the feast of St. Oscar Romero. I believe his ministry can give us a hint of what might be important for us deacons.</div><div><br /></div><div>At first, he was somewhat of a closed cleric who did respond to the poor and even, at one point, gave away new pants that some had gifted him. But he was noted for his close contacts with people in power.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yet, when he became bishop of Santiago de María he began listen more closely to poor people who came to him.</div><div><br /></div><div>While archbishop of San Salvador, he did not wait for people to come to him, but went out to meet them, even eating in their homes. Images of him walking along the railroad tracks amid the shacks surrounded by sisters and the poor. He went out to be among the marginalized.
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So, where is the deacon to be found? Among the poor, the marginalized, those cast-aside by society.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yes, he is with the suffering middle class, but I believe he must be among the poor, the victims of a society in which we, the middle class, profit.</div><div><br /></div><div>I believe that if a deacon is not in direct contact with the physically poor, something might be missing in our ministry. As Thomas Halik writes in <i>Touch the Wounds</i>:
<blockquote>The painful wounds of our world are Christ’s wounds. If we ignore pain, poverty, and suffering in our world, if we turn a blind eye to them out of indifference or cowardice, if we are unwilling to acknowledge the injuries we inflict (including the injuries inflicted in our churches), and conceal them from others and ourselves with masks, cosmetics, or tranquilizing drugs, then we have no right to say to Christ, like Thomas the apostle when he touched Jesus’s wounds : “My Lord and my God.” (p 10)</blockquote>And so I continually ask myself, “When was the last time I was in the home of a poor person?” It’s harder for me now, since I’m in treatment for cancer, but I feel it’s a crucial question for a deacon. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>3 – How to be among the marginalized?</b> </div><div><br /></div><div>But how are we to be there? </div><div><br /></div><div>Not as one who comes from without, but as one to listen, to share, to be a brother to those who are poor, suffering, marginalized. </div><div><br /></div><div>For this we need a <i>kenotic</i> spirituality. We need to lower ourselves, become one with the poor and marginalized. We need to recognize that we don’t come as one with the answers, as the well or well-off person to rescue the poor. We come as brothers who share in the fragility of our human condition. </div><div><br /></div><div>Sheila Cassidy, a doctor who was tortured in Chile and who later became involved in care for the dying, writes in <i>Sharing the Darkness: The Spirituality of Caring</i>:
<blockquote>More than anything I have discovered that the world is not divided into the sick and those who care for them, but that we are all wounded and that we all contain within our hearts that love which is for the healing of the nations. What we lack is the courage to start giving it away. (p. 11)</blockquote>We are all wounded - and God can use our wounds and the wounds of others to heal all of us.</div><div><br /></div><div>Ann so we deacons need to offer a different spirituality, a different way of being and living. </div><div><br /></div><div>I would suggest that we need to move away from signs of power and privilege, to be servants of God and the poor. ;</div><div><br /></div><div>In an essay on the priesthood, “The Man with pierced heart,” Karl Rahner notes that, “Tomorrow's priests will not be those who derive their power from a socially powerful Church, but who have the courage to let the Church make them powerless.” </div><div><br /></div><div>This is also a challenge for us permanent deacons. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>4 – What is the right question? Who is the deacon to be?</b> </div><div><br /></div><div>I think we are asking the wrong question.</div><div><br /></div><div>Maybe we should not be spending so much time and energy asking if deacons can and should wear collars.</div><div><br /></div><div>Maybe we should be asking what is there in our life, our style of living, our ministry that brings us in contact with the marginalized and opens among us a place for grace</div><div><br /></div><div>I think that when we do this, the question of collars and clericals will become superfluous – or will be easily discerned in individual pastoral circumstances.
For the questions will be: </div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>How do we stand at the threshold of church and world? </li><li>How do we live so that the grace of the altar of the liturgy where we serve penetrates the lives of the poor?</li><li>How do we open the doors of the church, enabling the joys and griefs of the marginalized (<i>Gaudium et spes</i> 1) to penetrate the walls of the church gathered in prayer? </li></ul></div><div> The central question for me is this:
<blockquote>How do I become an icon of Christ Jesus the Servant, who came not to be served bur to serve and to give his life for the ransom of many? And how can I be this amidst the wretched of the earth?</blockquote><p> </p>
</div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-85591793257191148322023-03-24T04:54:00.002-06:002023-03-24T04:54:47.445-06:00I have no one<blockquote>“Do you want to be well?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.” </blockquote>
Monday, I went to the oncologist in San Pedro Sula. My defenses are good, though my platelets are a bit low. We scheduled the third chemotherapy for next Wednesday. <div><br /></div><div>I returned to Copán and joined the diocesan clergy retreat that had started that afternoon.
Tuesday morning at Mass, tears welled up within me as I read the Gospel of the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda. (The ruins of this pool are near the church of Saint Anne in Jerusalem.) </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9-iJfaa0F-ZPJBg77K3q8X9j49MTSyUu3XDoqISiu1rzneTA50GZUUcdjCuq85zOJ7TvlGwfxy5-BFjLfDO7JBuaTbezax_82zIyPjUuMjQoJ7uWcyOmBxWhKKg_iBIyk-flYYBUB4D6brPowbxFd4FevE94MrVCHpF46GUKlgYISjayTIQ/s2048/DSC00059.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9-iJfaa0F-ZPJBg77K3q8X9j49MTSyUu3XDoqISiu1rzneTA50GZUUcdjCuq85zOJ7TvlGwfxy5-BFjLfDO7JBuaTbezax_82zIyPjUuMjQoJ7uWcyOmBxWhKKg_iBIyk-flYYBUB4D6brPowbxFd4FevE94MrVCHpF46GUKlgYISjayTIQ/w300-h400/DSC00059.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo of the pool of Bethesda (November 2004)</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>The people believed that an angel would stir up the waters of this pool and those who arrived first would be healed, but this man was all alone, with no one to help him. So, he was waiting.
He had been ill for thirty-eight years. </div><div><br /></div><div>Jesus approaches him. The paralytic looks to Jesus to move him into the water, but he is in for a surprise. Jesus does not carry him to the waters, but the Living Water, Jesus, comes to him, to hear his plea and to heal him. </div><div><br /></div><div>It is interesting how our life experiences often shed a new light on the scriptural text.
What struck me that morning at Mass is how I feel surrounded by so many people, who are – in their way – carrying me to the water.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yes, it’s lonely, sitting for hours in chemotherapy. But Padre German, our pastor, has come twice to be with me for a few hours. Sure, it’s so uncertain, but people ask about my health.
How many people are ill, without someone to aid them, to accompany them! </div><div><br /></div><div>In his message for the World Day of the Sick this year, Pope Francis wrote pointedly,
<blockquote>Illness is part of our human condition. Yet, if illness is experienced in isolation and abandonment, unaccompanied by care and compassion, it can become inhumane.
When we go on a journey with others, it is not unusual for someone to feel sick, to have to stop because of fatigue or of some mishap along the way. It is precisely in such moments that we see how we are walking together: whether we are truly companions on the journey, or merely individuals on the same path, looking after our own interests and leaving others to “make do”.</blockquote>
How true and how sad!
One of the most challenging but fulfilling parts of my diaconal ministry has been visiting the sick.
At times I don’t have much to say and will use the ritual prayers as a starting point. At times, I find myself inspired and we talk for a while. When the person is disposed, I will share the Eucharist. It is always a joy when those who accompany me offer a hymn after the ill person has received.
I don’t know how much I can do this now. At least, I try to share this with the communion ministers (whose main ministry is to visit the sick.) And I can help others become more aware of the central need of the sick for that human touch, that touch of the hand of God, through our hands.
I recently finished a book that helps me reflect on my situation: Father Tomas Halik's <i>Touch the Wounds: On Suffering, Trust, and Transformation.</i></div><div><br /> Here are a few quotes that sustain me:
<blockquote>Jesus is everywhere that there are the needy — and for us they are everywhere (and he in them) as an “opportunity,” as an open gate to the Father. (p. 43) </blockquote><blockquote>
The first step to healing the world’s wounds is our conversion, repentance, humility — or in everyday language: the courage to be truthful about ourselves. (p. 146) </blockquote><blockquote>...when Christ comes and shows us his wounds it can rouse our “courage for the truth,” our courage to take off the “armor, masks, and makeup” that we use to conceal our wounds from others, and often from ourselves. (p.147)</blockquote></div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-17472535028744980682023-03-12T12:16:00.001-06:002023-03-12T12:16:06.749-06:00DisconcertingSo far, I’ve had two chemotherapy sessions to treat my prostate cancer. <div><br /></div><div>Both sessions have been long, almost eleven hours each. My oncologist explained that this is to diminish possible negative reactions.</div><div><br /></div><div>I’ve had few reactions, none really serious.</div><div><br /></div><div>The most difficult has been insomnia the night after the chemo. Both times I could not get to sleep. I don’t know if it was psychological, physiological (a reaction to the steroids), somatic (having slept a bit during the sessions), or a combination of these and other factors. But it only lasted one night. I could sleep on the drive back to Dulce Nombre.</div><div><br /></div><div>But the most disconcerting has been the persistence of an awful taste in my mouth. </div><div><br /></div><div>At times, it’s metallic.</div><div><br /></div><div>After the first session I had some sores in my mouth, but now the problem is with my taste buds. </div><div><br /></div><div>Eating has lost its attraction – though I am making sure I eat. In fact, yesterday, I made a really good lentil soup (which should last for several days). It smelled heavenly, though the taste was a bit off. </div><div><br /></div><div>Yet, every once in a while, the awful taste goes away. Yesterday, I had a few moments when my coffee was delectable.</div><div><br /></div><div>I guess I need to savor such moments and remember them – in hope.</div><div><br /></div><div>But, considering what others have experienced in chemo, I would say that I’ve been fortunate.
</div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-20662055782801671462023-02-27T17:17:00.003-06:002023-03-02T17:31:15.609-06:00Christian Initiation of Adults in the Dulce Nombre parishYesterday we celebrated the Rito of Election of the process Chrsitian Initiation of Adults, I decided it might be helpful to give an idea of what we do.
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKBQOVvyzMIvIayvI0m5aiRuVDw4cJCZiUvoRieG3BCcC8jbQ3kBBvmXIVAs1xexbktnXp6IDHmdb81rEyy5RLXztEBkFOnhJaI4Mr_PqwJlFTQASbxyV1jJGzNpaXcymECjgkr494VYRJ1FwcUeIOnpaBAll76e9D8PCCHArPtD1YrubRgQ/s3648/DSC02749.jpeg" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKBQOVvyzMIvIayvI0m5aiRuVDw4cJCZiUvoRieG3BCcC8jbQ3kBBvmXIVAs1xexbktnXp6IDHmdb81rEyy5RLXztEBkFOnhJaI4Mr_PqwJlFTQASbxyV1jJGzNpaXcymECjgkr494VYRJ1FwcUeIOnpaBAll76e9D8PCCHArPtD1YrubRgQ/s400/DSC02749.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2023 - election of catechumens<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>
When I was at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Ames, I got to learn a lot about the journey, observing the parish's practice. <div><br /></div><div>But our parish is so different.<br /><br /></div><div>The parish of Dulce Nombre de María includes about 45 widely scattered places of worship, in five municipalities. Four of these are the municipal seats – Dulce Nombre is the largest of these and has three churches.
Some of the <i>aldeas</i>, villages, are fairly large with more than 1000 people, including El Zapote Santa Rosa, Candelaria Concepción, Plan Grande Concepción. There are a few places that are more like hamlets, <i>caserios</i>, with a few families or even just one extended family. </div><div><br /></div><div>Religious formation takes place in the cities, villages, and hamlets. Sometimes there is only one catechist. Many of the catechists have limited formal education. This past year there have been several young people who are in formation to be catechists in their communities. In one, more than five are in formation; most of them were confirmed last year. </div><div><br /></div><div>The bishops’ conference and the diocese are promoting religious formation by levels. This is difficult for us because of the number of catechists we have. We were about to do pilot projects in three places when the pandemic changed our plans.</div><div><br /></div><div>Most of our formation is preparation for the sacraments. </div><div><br /></div><div>There are three different formal processes for the sacrament of baptism. </div><div><br /></div><div>For children under seven, the formation is for parents and godparents: six sessions and a retreat. Each year there are one or two celebrations of baptism of children in most communities.
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Ns8KnOZybAvjK8D_Lz4fR3amGRe0yg-AexjMVS40QVXfN_bSlsYLtXrFEZIeczC2DM5CUChr287x6RhWIS8HYSIbg8LPAUVooD_JspBPRZsp6h-kLNHRALiafJBot6plUyAkVxg7vnbjv9960RCKa5-hWEcsKRyqUTZTNJ3ZPgLErvKQ-g/s2272/DSCN0973.JPG" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1704" data-original-width="2272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Ns8KnOZybAvjK8D_Lz4fR3amGRe0yg-AexjMVS40QVXfN_bSlsYLtXrFEZIeczC2DM5CUChr287x6RhWIS8HYSIbg8LPAUVooD_JspBPRZsp6h-kLNHRALiafJBot6plUyAkVxg7vnbjv9960RCKa5-hWEcsKRyqUTZTNJ3ZPgLErvKQ-g/s400/DSCN0973.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A baptism in 2016 in Plan Grande<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>
There is a separate process for children between seven and thirteen. This is almost a year long and begins whenever the catechists on a village are ready to do the catechesis and have enough candidates. </div><div><br /></div><div>The third process is for those fourteen and older, the catechumenate. </div><div><br /></div><div>For a number of reasons, a fair number of young people are not baptized as babies and so there are a good number of children between 7 and 13 baptized in their communities. And there are also young people who wait until they are 14 or older.</div><div><br /></div><div>There is not a tradition of baptism soon after birth. I have baptized few babies less than a year old. I am not sure if there are cultural reasons or if this is merely a holdover from the time when the parents had to be married in the church and in a base community in order to have their children baptized. (Thanks be to God this ended in our parish in 2013 with the new pastor, Padre German.) </div><div><br /></div><div>There are usually a good number of children between 7 and 13 who are baptized each year. (There were more in the past when the regulations about married parents were in effect.) </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBxcFAu6Ih750owSdqrIoxknSF6uVZCy_bJMzgEHqTLYAZq0u8MZshgP1zOmSGsFgMHOPou7Z3h-RXS2KLZiOJYu6T4jrMpk8T4RUcSOk35K2g50baN6rThvbBjtOERrhYfqYbRx_PZIlR6QvOrjKiY3MslbjZREzOKlwWmpgG8XC4y3VUvg/s2592/DSC04186.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2592" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBxcFAu6Ih750owSdqrIoxknSF6uVZCy_bJMzgEHqTLYAZq0u8MZshgP1zOmSGsFgMHOPou7Z3h-RXS2KLZiOJYu6T4jrMpk8T4RUcSOk35K2g50baN6rThvbBjtOERrhYfqYbRx_PZIlR6QvOrjKiY3MslbjZREzOKlwWmpgG8XC4y3VUvg/w400-h300/DSC04186.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI9yK_pWeyN8YECHOIfy7JgHTPfRRIM1Hsu122Iis5I3a_GM4btNpfJPv4t63HVurzdf8L5y_JfMwPXX6rFUySqi3b53wzdazO2CJoJvYEoWy1wwH7DRIAHFXrt3GZae5habOY2TUyo2jtos9rSKds9mV4As8YsSEOxmZM4MpxcP-0mbH4Hg/s2592/DSC04187.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2592" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI9yK_pWeyN8YECHOIfy7JgHTPfRRIM1Hsu122Iis5I3a_GM4btNpfJPv4t63HVurzdf8L5y_JfMwPXX6rFUySqi3b53wzdazO2CJoJvYEoWy1wwH7DRIAHFXrt3GZae5habOY2TUyo2jtos9rSKds9mV4As8YsSEOxmZM4MpxcP-0mbH4Hg/w400-h300/DSC04187.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>This year we have about 37 catechumens who will, God willing, be baptized at the Easter Village. More than 12 of them are over 18, though the majority are between 14 and 18.</div><div><br /></div><div>We are probably one of the few parishes in the diocese who have a program for Christian initiation of adults.
Due to the expanse of the parish, we don’t have a centralized catequesis. Most of the formation goes on in the local community, even if there is only one candidate. I have tried to encourage neighboring communities to join together and this has happened in a few places. </div><div><br /></div><div>The formation normally begins 8 or 9 months before Easter. </div><div><br /></div><div> We do celebrate the major rites in the main parish church in Dulce Nombre. </div><div><br /></div><div>We celebrate the rite of acceptance into the <i>catechumenate</i> on the first or second Sunday of Advent.
This past December we celebrated the rite on December 4, since the first Sunday of December we had the visit of the image of Our Lady of Suyapa in our parish. There were 40 candidates. </div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBZ0Po4jCXp5N8xnsmkXmTTPp3sIcfbEGkS6GXGalnbL8ZJIDx_Qy9gMVnv7SsX8NnRXbKOnPCIIf_aBRNMukrKyvSnQWoduuKsGLbhLJRC-cHSweeB1CQxwBtcQsWvaf8vgt0H5x2swscipHVWeg-iKHAnuf9lcCu1aeS25X2tDPJIbAtsQ/s2592/DSC00443.JPG" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2592" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBZ0Po4jCXp5N8xnsmkXmTTPp3sIcfbEGkS6GXGalnbL8ZJIDx_Qy9gMVnv7SsX8NnRXbKOnPCIIf_aBRNMukrKyvSnQWoduuKsGLbhLJRC-cHSweeB1CQxwBtcQsWvaf8vgt0H5x2swscipHVWeg-iKHAnuf9lcCu1aeS25X2tDPJIbAtsQ/s400/DSC00443.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">welcoming the catechumens at the church entrance, December 2020</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div> We use the rites from Mexico, although I have added the signing of the feet from the US Spanish version. I think it is such a significant part of the rite that we have adapted it for our parish. How important it is to see godparents, priests, and even a deacon on their knees, signing the feet of the candidate!</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiok3auc-woq9O0_ERFXO2iv-WElwU_zz4QT41ObX67Vlj3FeQ28RmVcw1CoD6M-SMHuiVq2r9RKkO60VfqTFsLWuayz0mrFeGvW-fxaXk28IwLN2e6EtJUXtwaBaFXxx9cGLWfP0osi58vbGF6pZ9nMrXThju9OYLizwSgkFz6XI1lSDZxww/s2592/DSC00456.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2592" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiok3auc-woq9O0_ERFXO2iv-WElwU_zz4QT41ObX67Vlj3FeQ28RmVcw1CoD6M-SMHuiVq2r9RKkO60VfqTFsLWuayz0mrFeGvW-fxaXk28IwLN2e6EtJUXtwaBaFXxx9cGLWfP0osi58vbGF6pZ9nMrXThju9OYLizwSgkFz6XI1lSDZxww/w400-h300/DSC00456.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">signing of the hands</td></tr></tbody></table><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWSdw9tgnj1yGsGqdO0HQXWN-AF-mE1wYj3Ae7ERFN6yHR8SukYlFL7lGL2d4kGzw1LPOo-YwICiflwwP_n-Qn89zwW71h26pOwO3BAkKa5bfHo-gl74KtSqHTqh-Zbxl582wCZ8fG6KV7JMK-YiSQX4JkeZZZ_OFUPNgxXWt7QkwA6-UdQQ/s2592/DSC06355.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2592" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWSdw9tgnj1yGsGqdO0HQXWN-AF-mE1wYj3Ae7ERFN6yHR8SukYlFL7lGL2d4kGzw1LPOo-YwICiflwwP_n-Qn89zwW71h26pOwO3BAkKa5bfHo-gl74KtSqHTqh-Zbxl582wCZ8fG6KV7JMK-YiSQX4JkeZZZ_OFUPNgxXWt7QkwA6-UdQQ/w400-h300/DSC06355.JPG" width="400" /></a><br /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">signing of the eyes<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq1Ryxd6ke0_x0odb3kX1FplJm3DsTWKDWEKoa13SwAfDawjoU-EbtZjr9K7srvszL1bqhAR7R2sGkDQs_17HoWtMN8MJRbz9B30WwN_HpYFp7YBvgGAfYR34jIYacutbFNqsw4noyoN34nqI8e7NBCLIicRu2hVKKFdG7t-wPXZwwNob3qg/s2592/DSC06360.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2592" data-original-width="1944" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq1Ryxd6ke0_x0odb3kX1FplJm3DsTWKDWEKoa13SwAfDawjoU-EbtZjr9K7srvszL1bqhAR7R2sGkDQs_17HoWtMN8MJRbz9B30WwN_HpYFp7YBvgGAfYR34jIYacutbFNqsw4noyoN34nqI8e7NBCLIicRu2hVKKFdG7t-wPXZwwNob3qg/w300-h400/DSC06360.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">signing of the feet</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUKfF9ULn3i0LVpdnDrcMCh8s0mfqLXfPt7Wz2eaGN0_ZWjamniEqmN3KMbr1FkoPTAJYDZsnZ5hHOsKIkkecmAaFhdo32nHU9cK9bmJU_tKa8jqq_-vTvFG_9ekGKtL2EaAVu0wsRNvGlWUb1cl-h5StTE2Ri4AQyC-_uDxVZcRNoAnYYWw/s1600/DSCN4212.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUKfF9ULn3i0LVpdnDrcMCh8s0mfqLXfPt7Wz2eaGN0_ZWjamniEqmN3KMbr1FkoPTAJYDZsnZ5hHOsKIkkecmAaFhdo32nHU9cK9bmJU_tKa8jqq_-vTvFG_9ekGKtL2EaAVu0wsRNvGlWUb1cl-h5StTE2Ri4AQyC-_uDxVZcRNoAnYYWw/w400-h300/DSCN4212.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Signing the feet, San Agustín 2017</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><br /></div><div>This past Sunday we celebrated the Rite of Election in the church with 36. A few dropped out. One has Sunday morning classes and couldn’t get permission for the rite. Another didn’t get to the church on time – a longer story. The pastor or I will arrange for the rite in their communities. </div><div><br /></div><div>Since we don't have a book of the elect and because some of the catechumens can't write their names, we give each a card and have someone write their name. They sign or put their thumbprint on the card. In the rite we have them come forward, put the card in a bowl and say their name aloud. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh25yIezAEqoJl1JWI1KJP7CW4tI56_VSMbnGrDdKCYEtKqoAFPewAzem2cQzQhh7FCdanJvQgdOnlqL8qbGq6bhVWyue89mngeW2xl4J99kRjAjiuJnK1S35AngmDn-dUpoxG00gcjbm5VkzUA7XO2-6GU2Gd6mblZvp8sD7uy38sHd2ZkqQ/s2592/DSC01314.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2592" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh25yIezAEqoJl1JWI1KJP7CW4tI56_VSMbnGrDdKCYEtKqoAFPewAzem2cQzQhh7FCdanJvQgdOnlqL8qbGq6bhVWyue89mngeW2xl4J99kRjAjiuJnK1S35AngmDn-dUpoxG00gcjbm5VkzUA7XO2-6GU2Gd6mblZvp8sD7uy38sHd2ZkqQ/w400-h300/DSC01314.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I had enough energy to be able to help arrange the rite at a special Mass at 10 am in the parish. I even preached – very much inspired by the presence of so many catechumens. I reminded them that they were elected (<i>elegidos</i>) – not like the politicians, but “chosen” (<i>elegidos</i>) by the Church, the People of God.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7aWjoz5nVIWyBfZ8-mUSVCZx2c1aXnZsFLigKF8Z-R2MFUt2Z5ubAbASVO_FfROdVdpayOfQmovpf8yRhl2TgNpqFhxozZPZs0LYGiJqiEmH96vUboLcGnsm3DRPemT5bPhDJn1Fz1EspcBULHm9GxmQQbI_9qFWNHM_Ct5rmAXItrRug0w/s1600/332919765_920147042383055_3337692719426966534_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7aWjoz5nVIWyBfZ8-mUSVCZx2c1aXnZsFLigKF8Z-R2MFUt2Z5ubAbASVO_FfROdVdpayOfQmovpf8yRhl2TgNpqFhxozZPZs0LYGiJqiEmH96vUboLcGnsm3DRPemT5bPhDJn1Fz1EspcBULHm9GxmQQbI_9qFWNHM_Ct5rmAXItrRug0w/w360-h640/332919765_920147042383055_3337692719426966534_n.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>The diocesan radio station, Radio María, broadcasts Masses every Sunday and usually broadcasts a Mass from Dulce Nombre once a month. Yesterday’s Mass and Rite of Election were broadcast. I talked to the staff of the Radio who were unfamiliar with the Rites of the Christian Initiation process. </div><div><br /></div><div>In Lent, there are a number of rites and activities for the “elect.”</div><div><br /></div><div>There are three scrutinies which involve prayer and “exorcisms” as well as the handing on (entrega) of the Creed and of the Our Father.
We have designed our formation so that the Creed and the Our Father are handed to the elect during their weekly sessions. </div><div><br /></div><div>But I was concerned about the scrutinies. It would be a major burden (of time and money) to have them come to one of the Sunday Masses, if they lived far from the Mass sites.
Where there is a Mass nearby or where I could get to a Sunday morning celebration, we would use the scrutinies in the rite. </div><div><br /></div><div>The pastor usually celebrates Mass in five different sites – Saturday evening in Dolores, Sunday morning in Concepción and in the Saint Anthony Church in Dulce Nombre, Sunday evening in the main church in Dulce Nombre. He also usually has one or two Masses in other places in the afternoon – every other week in San Agustín. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQeEElL7fhuUhiPiO1EcUfdQ_YJWoBvLvzgrM8BbMtIg_KWmXCxsbxYfOhVDnKqSeTaqWvC0wAkcv2tKe_c0W6mMlbXzdc7jAzHz_4-N2cBiAQRX6mYUqNlAVeJZpUctWawCKP1J8h9EZLEYr-GycAZbXQ3agk333-Ds0wJAqwiu8TIJd8LQ/s1600/DSCN4455.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQeEElL7fhuUhiPiO1EcUfdQ_YJWoBvLvzgrM8BbMtIg_KWmXCxsbxYfOhVDnKqSeTaqWvC0wAkcv2tKe_c0W6mMlbXzdc7jAzHz_4-N2cBiAQRX6mYUqNlAVeJZpUctWawCKP1J8h9EZLEYr-GycAZbXQ3agk333-Ds0wJAqwiu8TIJd8LQ/w300-h400/DSCN4455.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scrutiny in San Agustín, 2018</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>I have tried to get to a village with “elect” for the rites on several Sunday mornings. It has been a real blessing, especially when a community has several “elect”. </div><div><br /></div><div>I spoke with Padre German about this yesterday and gave him the list of communities where there are “elect” as well as the scrutiny rites. He visits communities for Mass every day. His suggestion is that he could preside at the scrutinies at the Mass in the community during the week. For me, that seems great.</div><div><br /></div><div>My pastoral solution for the other communities was to do a minor re-write of the scrutinies so that they could be celebrated without a priest or deacon in the communities. The scrutinies of the “elect” would take place in a community Celebration of the Word, led by the local Delegate of the Word and Catechist</div><div><br /></div><div>In the past, the final preparation for the Easter Vigil was a retreat in their communities. But this often meant that there were only one or two in the retreat. This year we will have a retreat for all the “elect” on the Tuesday of Holy Week. This shouldn’t be a major problem since Holy Week (<i>Semana Santa</i>) is a major holiday. </div><div><br /></div><div>In our parish most local communities pray the Stations of the Cross in the streets of their villages on the Fridays of Lent. In addition, we have a parish wide Stations of the Cross on the Friday before Holy Week, traditionally the feast of Our Mother of Sorrows. We encourage our elect to take part in these as part of their preparation.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Easter Vigil is quite a celebration here. We begin in a field with the Easter Fire and then go in procession with the Paschal Candle to the Church. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvQqimJPodimbTmk4KlEhqy2GSU8l7uwiUjkZoOv9Mvl4HC7cXw3rzzhPQfasO325ajxDEh4ssYZgtoR9f2RRFNOLE6zZVW8uHIXAavVoIlx5vMOHEDIn6C6VCdj_KzWJMfQZujPB4uln9vzQ7OBVSWEXJd_vZQnVJQ2gYf48QTMj0COzQfg/s2592/DSC04610.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2592" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvQqimJPodimbTmk4KlEhqy2GSU8l7uwiUjkZoOv9Mvl4HC7cXw3rzzhPQfasO325ajxDEh4ssYZgtoR9f2RRFNOLE6zZVW8uHIXAavVoIlx5vMOHEDIn6C6VCdj_KzWJMfQZujPB4uln9vzQ7OBVSWEXJd_vZQnVJQ2gYf48QTMj0COzQfg/w400-h300/DSC04610.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2015</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSUn-MGMXFoo7braKKus61zKQg2ud4FYV2KmLpJXa8Z4-VH0mffddDFqpoMmtZ7xD6Osq6Wx-R06Gk8ANCgBq5U4LTE9rLNl-bKTe2xz2nW6og2mNfFUKfuv4hWJNmtE9bP7y0EkGMR1xa82o0pPf5tM8VPdqfIdSZ5jwqHcaSZZhx86UpZQ/s2592/DSC07340.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2592" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSUn-MGMXFoo7braKKus61zKQg2ud4FYV2KmLpJXa8Z4-VH0mffddDFqpoMmtZ7xD6Osq6Wx-R06Gk8ANCgBq5U4LTE9rLNl-bKTe2xz2nW6og2mNfFUKfuv4hWJNmtE9bP7y0EkGMR1xa82o0pPf5tM8VPdqfIdSZ5jwqHcaSZZhx86UpZQ/w400-h300/DSC07340.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7d-ueJfSPjcbYcZJTWM9Ql67QUhHqjCmFn6VpxPIdgQZ8gAfk9An-7J7deCTGGyRaiFtwcAZZ_ry-85lAXID-2YHGl60Gbo3OS22bagDE7wUR4wkffBPDFETqZy8tYlGXhkqbBLZ9EBKS4MpnpA8BQFqiaTiOrsg5VJwJXCxnuYEMSUk-yQ/s1440/vigilia2022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="720" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7d-ueJfSPjcbYcZJTWM9Ql67QUhHqjCmFn6VpxPIdgQZ8gAfk9An-7J7deCTGGyRaiFtwcAZZ_ry-85lAXID-2YHGl60Gbo3OS22bagDE7wUR4wkffBPDFETqZy8tYlGXhkqbBLZ9EBKS4MpnpA8BQFqiaTiOrsg5VJwJXCxnuYEMSUk-yQ/w320-h640/vigilia2022.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2022</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>Last year we used the auditorium to accommodate all the people who came. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeP0IsNbPQjRZn9O5M2om1KwfbmITW2Qeki0nqWz8V7OJ8mno8j3ttBD6uaL87gCNZFnRYLFdK8GHB74Puqn7s0hzRhAybr4xV_tea901psYtAaaLBW1L4xPmqqfRnrlJ8WzzCzbp_vT3AA9xYNBVreEWTK9JuAJoP6xJoI4rDNgQu9btoow/s3648/DSC01503.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeP0IsNbPQjRZn9O5M2om1KwfbmITW2Qeki0nqWz8V7OJ8mno8j3ttBD6uaL87gCNZFnRYLFdK8GHB74Puqn7s0hzRhAybr4xV_tea901psYtAaaLBW1L4xPmqqfRnrlJ8WzzCzbp_vT3AA9xYNBVreEWTK9JuAJoP6xJoI4rDNgQu9btoow/w400-h300/DSC01503.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2022</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>I’ve sung (or tried) to sing the <i>Exultet</i>, though I may not try this year, due to my health. We also use all the readings and sing all the psalm and canticle response. </div><div><br /></div><div>Baptism is not a simple pouring of a little bit of water. The elect are baptized in a bath of water! </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCnHhMDJUAufS0pIxzJIrid4vOw3gzBvI8tJ6kA_wKtAUASdzxOwJU1jBOh6WEGSLMHyU3LcgMi4PNxqs86gIPmVrCLS_yWA856z8GlEok0KiK2GN96ILQ6pUEq-gpjwNfXkgvG7P-_ytN9XJFT1BPqiwso6AlRlK5PT-bV8Z-83Zk-ZzddQ/s3648/DSC01492.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCnHhMDJUAufS0pIxzJIrid4vOw3gzBvI8tJ6kA_wKtAUASdzxOwJU1jBOh6WEGSLMHyU3LcgMi4PNxqs86gIPmVrCLS_yWA856z8GlEok0KiK2GN96ILQ6pUEq-gpjwNfXkgvG7P-_ytN9XJFT1BPqiwso6AlRlK5PT-bV8Z-83Zk-ZzddQ/w400-h300/DSC01492.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>In many parts of the world, the catechumens are fully initiated in the Church in the Easter Vigil receiving the three sacraments of initiation – Baptism, Eucharist, and Confirmation. </div><div><br /></div><div>I am not sure why, but in our diocese the catechumens have not been confirmed. I guess the bishops want to confirm them, probably to connect them with the universal church. I can see why those under eighteen might wait until they can be confirmed with other young people of their communities, forming a community in the preparation for confirmation. But those over eighteen? I am trying to get our bishop to permit our pastor to confirm those who are eighteen or older. </div><div><br /></div><div>With all the readings and baptisms, the Easter Vigil celebration can last from 5 to 6 hours. </div><div><br /></div><div>We are not very good with the <i>mystagogia</i> – the continuing formation after Easter, trying to incorporate the newly baptized into the community. </div><div><br /></div><div>This year I’ve asked the catechists to bring all the newly baptized to the Pentecost Vigil, which, for us, is an all-night vigil.
I need to think of other ways to involve the newly baptized in the life of the church, especially those who are adults, eighteen or older.
In the meantime, I look forward to the upcoming weeks, praying for strength.</div><div><br /></div><div>This Sunday, I’ll go to Vertientes for the Rite of Election for the catechumen who got lost (and arrived at the end of the Mass.) Does this sound like the parable of the lost sheep? Not my plan.</div><div><br /></div><div>If I have the strength, I’ll get to two or three villages for Sunday morning Celebration of the word with Scrutinies and Communion.
The big challenge is the retreat in Holy Week. I hope I can work on this with some catechists. </div><div><br /></div><div>But the big night will be the Easter Vigil. I hope I have the strength and stamina (and the wisdom to involved lots of catechists in the process.) I will probably not take part in the procession and try to take rest during the readings.</div><div><br /></div><div>But I want to be there for the baptisms and the First Communion of the elect. It’s a highlight – because I have seen the grace of God in the eyes and faces of so many.
Here are a few pictures from previous years.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH5Q0x7EgvutbYhA_OHxfek--1zqHUs1oX0aAb0z4utNsWaWcqbHkN6R0narPs2kuUUxHLXIMRjm5077JdNtjCEK0gG8PeEOytDLTmu6ebw54-029xv3s1OnfcdKCCvP-oWs0avjXbhXNODMyPNnSQJF4xqhrY_08Fq2Z6ypw4wGYI2hL1CQ/s2592/DSC04649.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2592" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH5Q0x7EgvutbYhA_OHxfek--1zqHUs1oX0aAb0z4utNsWaWcqbHkN6R0narPs2kuUUxHLXIMRjm5077JdNtjCEK0gG8PeEOytDLTmu6ebw54-029xv3s1OnfcdKCCvP-oWs0avjXbhXNODMyPNnSQJF4xqhrY_08Fq2Z6ypw4wGYI2hL1CQ/w400-h300/DSC04649.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2015</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMsrOWBKwEghBKb5lgcSHgBPYDJRetlj4NHeAIgCsC9L_kdMRKX9sSbZ7UDaGJ-EpR8IXRnte-93TsvNaRC9GRrUZAG9QX1eB3x-v7MuCLGNhLe5izLXSTFLYwpNiToO2UHiLPdF246Rk3NdYRyqM8GhNxhU_E6n59p5Y1LcxPw_xq7p6lMA/s3648/DSC01487.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3648" data-original-width="2736" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMsrOWBKwEghBKb5lgcSHgBPYDJRetlj4NHeAIgCsC9L_kdMRKX9sSbZ7UDaGJ-EpR8IXRnte-93TsvNaRC9GRrUZAG9QX1eB3x-v7MuCLGNhLe5izLXSTFLYwpNiToO2UHiLPdF246Rk3NdYRyqM8GhNxhU_E6n59p5Y1LcxPw_xq7p6lMA/w300-h400/DSC01487.jpeg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2022</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0WPKKFgBw-X7Se9NVGqbwTPHDeEtFoq6MaB0sonzxOpdJhhiTSXANPcm6Qy5Xv2euIIWO0rN5Ln16nOR_neC50__riQepSdLIpghBmHP_kav53aarAXTQ7DLLbY-fWYkuryHurXZdRGvY8snHxjIlYiQ3BFI3yYjTXVLzT8gSccutoHX6RA/s2592/DSC04652.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2592" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0WPKKFgBw-X7Se9NVGqbwTPHDeEtFoq6MaB0sonzxOpdJhhiTSXANPcm6Qy5Xv2euIIWO0rN5Ln16nOR_neC50__riQepSdLIpghBmHP_kav53aarAXTQ7DLLbY-fWYkuryHurXZdRGvY8snHxjIlYiQ3BFI3yYjTXVLzT8gSccutoHX6RA/w400-h300/DSC04652.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2015</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgINPLd8IhZP5marqs5CV-YAt8JBNOwXjB4gNqX-S5bz9ia3fTzeDFaRqUxvx-uf9I2ZepRCaYo0cWt2UUDt22rZoh-md9FCGngZ9IrQJQujH21PjwEu4lpt0nk_rJ0Gehd7o6tVolHpzY32HFa58N1d52pVKq0o6axGJ77YZSB9FyB2sFWqw/s1600/DSCN4553.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgINPLd8IhZP5marqs5CV-YAt8JBNOwXjB4gNqX-S5bz9ia3fTzeDFaRqUxvx-uf9I2ZepRCaYo0cWt2UUDt22rZoh-md9FCGngZ9IrQJQujH21PjwEu4lpt0nk_rJ0Gehd7o6tVolHpzY32HFa58N1d52pVKq0o6axGJ77YZSB9FyB2sFWqw/s320/DSCN4553.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we also have baptized persons preparing for matrimony who are not yet baptized. Besides receiving the pre-marriage formation, they receive a mini-catechesis on baptism and Eucharist. Either Padre German or I have baptized persons, sometimes in the mornng of their matrimony. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVl_IeE5zv4ACliVw0-sRhTbtIApO0MKouGXaPd1vt0aoo7lzOzIdzaZTxbyv19YdfPSZnZmHeCALUDTOW7N_96y5SyNJPAkoe7GxFEzlmU-Ww1_3lcuMzlNhCz1BF_WZNUcxgY1xFuq6035GU_GKYrRSr-suYp0AeYrZHeLTz-A93VPo7gw/s1600/DSCN3747.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVl_IeE5zv4ACliVw0-sRhTbtIApO0MKouGXaPd1vt0aoo7lzOzIdzaZTxbyv19YdfPSZnZmHeCALUDTOW7N_96y5SyNJPAkoe7GxFEzlmU-Ww1_3lcuMzlNhCz1BF_WZNUcxgY1xFuq6035GU_GKYrRSr-suYp0AeYrZHeLTz-A93VPo7gw/w400-h300/DSCN3747.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div>In 2020, I baptized three persons preparing for their matrimony - in the middle of the pandemic!</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-gxa4CIorsoK7JqVZdhlFL6OfG_VaRaXlZW8XsjUa7I1bpu78fTUSu5eGAK1ODiYauF-R7sQQWZvOvpDzmHdctGmuvd5vVjWFypfBzirVlii8D3jzNHHFqENdVLHDK0pIVBTrNGliOjQ1j4gcPftc__NLsnGJFtcz1Xa6nKJLasFspmpCww/s5184/IMG_1367.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-gxa4CIorsoK7JqVZdhlFL6OfG_VaRaXlZW8XsjUa7I1bpu78fTUSu5eGAK1ODiYauF-R7sQQWZvOvpDzmHdctGmuvd5vVjWFypfBzirVlii8D3jzNHHFqENdVLHDK0pIVBTrNGliOjQ1j4gcPftc__NLsnGJFtcz1Xa6nKJLasFspmpCww/w400-h300/IMG_1367.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>There's another sacramental story here - five couples from one distant community planned to get married before the pandemic struck. They continued and were married together on August 24, 2020, in a room in the classroom of their <i>aldea</i>, since the church was not finished. Here's a photo of one of hte couples.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM3dTkzI5Qlet2lTeLznWxRZXXeBaWQyDYJfccUxmME7nre0QdQluOD68hwYGytuB-pcuf7dHWPbPZ49HnBF35djVoqEbIr5d45GLmZx6G6ByIbc-WIPHoBXU_x7lfS72fmH1aFUW0qiVuOIqBRbIg-GyiU9G_bxd2s-DFJHNR6GOBKnSGuw/s5184/IMG_1547.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM3dTkzI5Qlet2lTeLznWxRZXXeBaWQyDYJfccUxmME7nre0QdQluOD68hwYGytuB-pcuf7dHWPbPZ49HnBF35djVoqEbIr5d45GLmZx6G6ByIbc-WIPHoBXU_x7lfS72fmH1aFUW0qiVuOIqBRbIg-GyiU9G_bxd2s-DFJHNR6GOBKnSGuw/s320/IMG_1547.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div> </div><div><br /></div></div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-84813425692753496322023-02-22T15:30:00.006-06:002023-02-22T15:30:57.842-06:00ASH WEDNESDAY IN DULCE NOMBREWhat do you do on Ash Wednesday when you have more than 45 places where people gather for worship in a parish?<div><br /></div><div>Padre German, our pastor, has five Masses in four different locations. But that leaves out more than forty communities.</div><div><br /></div><div>I was going to go to a distant village, but I thought it best not to go at this time, since my body’s defenses are low, due to last Thursday’s chemotherapy.</div><div><br /></div><div>So almost all the villages sent a Delegate of the Word or someone else to the 10 am Mass in the main parish church. Ashes were blessed and distributed to those attending.
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After Mass, little plastic cups of ashes were given to those who would distribute them at a Celebration of the Word in their communities. In some communities, where there is an extraordinary communion minister, they would have a Celebration of the Word with Communion.</div><div><br /></div><div>I attended the 10:00 am Mass in the parish and served as deacon, in a limited way. I did preach but I decided not to distribute the ashes, nor communion, nor purify the vessels.</div><div><br /></div><div>It was a blessing to be with the delegates and some others who came for Mass.</div><div><br /></div><div>After Mass, I went back into the church to pray – and was awed by the beauty around us.
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</div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-22944314375730372692023-02-22T14:44:00.006-06:002023-02-22T14:45:35.136-06:00The Gate of Heaven is everywhere<p>Thomas Merton had an epiphany on the corner of 4th and Walnut in Louisville, Kentucky, about March 18, 1958.
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What especially struck me was the head of the gnome at the base of the plaque. How very Mertonesque!<p></p><p>I visited there once, but didn't have my camera. </p><p>Two good friends, who were he in Honduras in December, just passed there and sent me a photo. I love it. Who cannot laugh seeing the gnome at this sacred spot. </p>
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<p>But there's even more. A woman passed by asking help for forty cents to pay for her bus fare.</p><p>"The Gate of Heaven is everywhere."</p>
Here's the text of Merton's encounter in <i>Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander</i>, pp. 141-142
<blockquote>In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world, the world of renunciation and supposed holiness. The whole illusion of a separate holy existence is a dream.... </blockquote><blockquote>
This sense of liberation from an illusory difference was such a relief and such a joy to me that I almost laughed out loud.... It is a glorious destiny to be a member of the human race, though it is a race dedicated to many absurdities and one which makes many terrible mistakes: yet, with all that, God Himself gloried in becoming a member of the human race. A member of the human race! To think that such a commonplace realization should suddenly seem like news that one holds the winning ticket in a cosmic sweepstake.... </blockquote><blockquote>There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.... There are no strangers! ... If only we could see each other [as we really are] all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed.... I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other.... </blockquote><blockquote>
At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us. It is so to speak His name written in us, as our poverty, as our indigence, as our dependence, as our sonship. It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely. </blockquote><blockquote>I have no program for this seeing. But the gate of heaven is everywhere.
</blockquote>
John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-58002400845969472142023-02-20T12:24:00.000-06:002023-02-20T12:24:15.404-06:00I was sick and you visited meAs I have mentioned before in this blog, visiting the sick has been one of the most profound aspects of my diaconal ministry. Being able to visit, to talk with the sick person and with the caretakes, and to be able to share the Eucharist are a great gift, a privilege.<div><br /></div><div>At times I don’t know what to say and so I just use the prayers in a book I have.
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I’ll make a little small talk before I begin, asking how they are, and will often given a short commentary on a scripture passage.</div><div><br /></div><div>Being present is the gift.</div><div><br /></div><div>But yesterday I was on the receiving end.</div><div><br /></div><div>I asked a neighbor, who is a communion minister, to bring me communion. She came with her young grandson; we prayed and I received communion. </div><div><br /></div><div>It was clear that she felt a little uncomfortable since she is accustomed to receiving communion from me or to accompanying me when I bring communion to others.</div><div><br /></div><div>But I suddenly realized the significance of this ministry.</div><div><br /></div><div>When we go to the sick, we bring Jesus in Communion, but we also come as the Church, the Body of Christ. Christ in the Eucharist is inseparable from Christ in His Body, the People of God.</div><div><br /></div><div>All too often I’ve felt that some Eucharistic practices are too individualistic – me and Jesus, Jesus coming to ME. </div><div><br /></div><div>We look at the Eucharist from outside – as a spectacle. We even look at the Eucharist as MY food, as a commodity. </div><div><br /></div><div>But receiving communion from the hands of a communion minister helped me see that communion is a communal practice, a communal encounter with Christ – in the Eucharist and the Church.</div><div><br /></div><div>We don’t give ourselves Communion; we receive it from the community of faith. </div><div><br /></div><div>This inspires me to re-envision how I will visit the sick in the future. </div><div><br /></div><div>We, both ordinary and extraordinary ministers of Communion, bring Jesus but we also bring the Church, the Body of Christ.
</div><div><br /></div><div>----</div><div><br /></div><div>NOTE: I just began reading Monika K. Hellwig's <i>The Eucharist and the Hunger of the World.</i> Second Edition, published in 1992. I am sure that the introduction opened me to this insight. She mentions how, even with the post-Vatican II changes, we feel as if we are coming to the Eucharist as a "spectacle." But, as she notes, </div><blockquote><div>To take part in a eucharistic celebration is always an act of allegiance, of self-identification and of commitment, however slight. </div></blockquote><div><br /></div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-18450851160561140262023-02-18T14:23:00.001-06:002023-02-18T14:36:25.362-06:00Thanks to Saint Thomas Church for help with educationThe school year in Honduras starts in February with classes lasting until November.<div><br /></div><div>For more than ten years St. Thomas has provided assistance to students in the parish of Dulce Nombre de María through funding partial scholarships for students enrolled in the programs of IHER – Honduran Institute of Education by Radio, commonly known as <i>Maestro en Casa</i> – Teachers at Home.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are various levels of public education. Most rural villages have kindergartens and primary schools (to the sixth grade.) A few larger towns have Básico, seventh to ninth grade (similar to middle school). The major municipal centers and some other large towns often have the Honduran equivalent of high school, colegios. These have different programs based on different career track. Most all high school have a few career track options. </div><div><br /></div><div>The IHER program offers other opportunities for middle school and high school The student have work books and are expected to listen to programs on the radio and then fill out the workbooks. Saturdays and Sundays teachers give are classes in the four centers.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are four centers of IHER within the parish: Dulce Nombre de María, El Prado de La Curz, and Bañaderos offer both high school and junior high. El Zapote Santa Rosa only offers junior high classes. </div><div><br /></div><div>This past year the IHER program in El Prado de la Cruz, worked to provide a career track in computation, but they needed to provide a computer lab. The faculty and students did several fundraising projects but also asked for assistance from St. Thomas Aquinas, The Honduras Committee designated $1100 for purchase of computers. Here are some photos the director of the center sent me.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC5mu5E6YOhJ0xt1Maoar5UrxG9wOHfa3TrNG6nf4jeM02P40bBM8hk-jjbiuti1l1mLs8DifxxIXLz0yIjEvlkuNdC9pVD4uRlykqdOyxStD7NhwsF9Y7oGsmwyhY4IJ1Dhx6uV1rRYsltvbQsXiFnS7y8NESIJVMfIMzaJoFshvSAs3Yrw/s351/WhatsApp%20Image%202022-11-01%20at%202.10.33%20PM%20%281%29.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="308" data-original-width="351" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC5mu5E6YOhJ0xt1Maoar5UrxG9wOHfa3TrNG6nf4jeM02P40bBM8hk-jjbiuti1l1mLs8DifxxIXLz0yIjEvlkuNdC9pVD4uRlykqdOyxStD7NhwsF9Y7oGsmwyhY4IJ1Dhx6uV1rRYsltvbQsXiFnS7y8NESIJVMfIMzaJoFshvSAs3Yrw/s400/WhatsApp%20Image%202022-11-01%20at%202.10.33%20PM%20%281%29.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir9xvei7vI4MH6IPNvQd46meQIrI-ARx2HB_ip0oNl2GzSIuZZrxJL7JLlOe8YhYHFw8O44WWj1R3BiYhO1P8eeTqqZFgahaTRPxTsa_frJAzIvIlJcEuPtc8RB0LxXnY-xDq013P-qyDy9tbBKaOF_nMikBgtEzhPFc1AP7ZFoiLyUPYoWA/s1600/WhatsApp%20Image%202022-11-01%20at%202.10.33%20PM.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir9xvei7vI4MH6IPNvQd46meQIrI-ARx2HB_ip0oNl2GzSIuZZrxJL7JLlOe8YhYHFw8O44WWj1R3BiYhO1P8eeTqqZFgahaTRPxTsa_frJAzIvIlJcEuPtc8RB0LxXnY-xDq013P-qyDy9tbBKaOF_nMikBgtEzhPFc1AP7ZFoiLyUPYoWA/s400/WhatsApp%20Image%202022-11-01%20at%202.10.33%20PM.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRGgBXYA-jduFSLQL-6jjOosQXRFg8GsxJruxkYRgO3e0EiyX8iiYWLtaNvqwmLy-kpkvKqfl_KxAkOcv0PZrQL8ikrcOkUYJQhoaDBi5YauqczmyabudpBlOjdPrV1k4LYTBKmLLDxBe5uq74Oe-XzQmN9t6M8EE4YahBzAqYZrbNNAlLIw/s1600/WhatsApp%20Image%202022-11-01%20at%202.10.38%20PM.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRGgBXYA-jduFSLQL-6jjOosQXRFg8GsxJruxkYRgO3e0EiyX8iiYWLtaNvqwmLy-kpkvKqfl_KxAkOcv0PZrQL8ikrcOkUYJQhoaDBi5YauqczmyabudpBlOjdPrV1k4LYTBKmLLDxBe5uq74Oe-XzQmN9t6M8EE4YahBzAqYZrbNNAlLIw/s400/WhatsApp%20Image%202022-11-01%20at%202.10.38%20PM.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqqreqvJIfWHcYqwzeeclmwSCQ0G5KwBz_LS3UaI7IF759-GLt3NUm4ZsNfpLE29MvQItj8_L4O4y2ei26wQkFAgWsWxvmqF4Pz_I3rKha2B1Uc9B97YDzvDDmOIgpy0ZumpYAtCsiXp9Jp04x4_r7rXhZZSehM3n8PuP1GANsScmyuqZZBA/s1600/WhatsApp%20Image%202022-11-01%20at%202.10.38%20PM%20%281%29.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqqreqvJIfWHcYqwzeeclmwSCQ0G5KwBz_LS3UaI7IF759-GLt3NUm4ZsNfpLE29MvQItj8_L4O4y2ei26wQkFAgWsWxvmqF4Pz_I3rKha2B1Uc9B97YDzvDDmOIgpy0ZumpYAtCsiXp9Jp04x4_r7rXhZZSehM3n8PuP1GANsScmyuqZZBA/s400/WhatsApp%20Image%202022-11-01%20at%202.10.38%20PM%20%281%29.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3W6PxbUVF-6eABQLR6GxiG2BHzJ45nn2SOgDGY8HjDBGXojJzCx0AoFaN00SRbRT4QP-Uqfy61bfv7w9YTggVRbwEXzIDjCfCbI3uZmERYup0nv22_onT9EL5SEeBiDvdLM2Tt8KHG91pK7fJLsfYycD4vnxyMdTGq_kKqv1EEshSkkHNXg/s1600/WhatsApp%20Image%202022-11-01%20at%202.10.40%20PM.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3W6PxbUVF-6eABQLR6GxiG2BHzJ45nn2SOgDGY8HjDBGXojJzCx0AoFaN00SRbRT4QP-Uqfy61bfv7w9YTggVRbwEXzIDjCfCbI3uZmERYup0nv22_onT9EL5SEeBiDvdLM2Tt8KHG91pK7fJLsfYycD4vnxyMdTGq_kKqv1EEshSkkHNXg/s400/WhatsApp%20Image%202022-11-01%20at%202.10.40%20PM.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
This year there were more applicants for scholarships than last year. 211 – 125 high school; 86 middle school. As a result, your gift of 234,840 lempiras – about $9483.75 – was a great help for many poor families.</div><div><br /></div><div>The scholarships cover part of the cost of the books. The students and their families will be paying for the other costs, including transportation. </div><div><br /></div><div> Thank you for your generosity. </div><div><br /></div><div>An investment in the youth here is so important.
</div><div><br /></div><div>Here are a few photos of the graduation from 9th grade (junior high) in Dulce Nombre. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc4lO6KwTCbnEvOLiMuiBPSrWvXmItv3jM5SQ5sw5NrfbeUcd6Y1mfd53sQDsiL30VrQBeoio2ms4IOrtqJbHK51XvcBiAk590tsnwWa_FHINMwnD7tqPHzQJ6Pp7VCTgxcdXQGf4ZqjDRSs2v_5F04mHx6st8qM7HOOu73Fn45mlRSVJhtw/s3648/DSC02509.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc4lO6KwTCbnEvOLiMuiBPSrWvXmItv3jM5SQ5sw5NrfbeUcd6Y1mfd53sQDsiL30VrQBeoio2ms4IOrtqJbHK51XvcBiAk590tsnwWa_FHINMwnD7tqPHzQJ6Pp7VCTgxcdXQGf4ZqjDRSs2v_5F04mHx6st8qM7HOOu73Fn45mlRSVJhtw/w400-h300/DSC02509.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPlvC1W8F0j4EBWGdZ1Sf0B79LS8GaNNMI11IV5DWlD0w-6yK4hEFnv3ZfA6ARuf4zQxz6TrXgWL7tM2X-k-3BCsLbgWe0fRcR_XHURr_d-KpTkQUSMERX08lt6RDZ1xd4NxDvI0XX18XY70vrW1MLRO6lTDqCCEMKKTvVurSrq4EzE6Qd3w/s3648/DSC02510.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPlvC1W8F0j4EBWGdZ1Sf0B79LS8GaNNMI11IV5DWlD0w-6yK4hEFnv3ZfA6ARuf4zQxz6TrXgWL7tM2X-k-3BCsLbgWe0fRcR_XHURr_d-KpTkQUSMERX08lt6RDZ1xd4NxDvI0XX18XY70vrW1MLRO6lTDqCCEMKKTvVurSrq4EzE6Qd3w/w400-h300/DSC02510.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Lastly, here's a letter of thanks from IHER El Prado:<div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFPpJVWpibHIbDQgTNNiIHfdWiE3et-QVdbVWN3ievyT5-L3hRSUoPoVAqhnBEwUVg_NOvrBkzoA1sHSsNvDxDs7Plhv6AgfP-lZuCfEXSU_QZ9ugg5LZ2f26ISl82UUzM7wd7bDn6U8VKT9JIzltKbf6WnmcwLr3prta8yiJRW0dCwYEO5A/s1599/WhatsApp%20Image%202022-11-01%20at%202.10.32%20PM.jpeg"><img border="0" data-original-height="1599" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFPpJVWpibHIbDQgTNNiIHfdWiE3et-QVdbVWN3ievyT5-L3hRSUoPoVAqhnBEwUVg_NOvrBkzoA1sHSsNvDxDs7Plhv6AgfP-lZuCfEXSU_QZ9ugg5LZ2f26ISl82UUzM7wd7bDn6U8VKT9JIzltKbf6WnmcwLr3prta8yiJRW0dCwYEO5A/w300-h400/WhatsApp%20Image%202022-11-01%20at%202.10.32%20PM.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><div><br /><div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-59528414087229288102023-02-17T11:21:00.003-06:002023-02-17T11:21:14.959-06:00Being Ill in PublicI had been a bit reluctant to make my prostate cancer known publicly – though the media.<div><br /></div><div>I don’t want to call attention to myself when there are so many needs around me and so many people really suffering.</div><div><br /></div><div>But sharing has been a blessed occasion.
People who have had cancer have shared with me their experiences or the experiences of family members.
A person who admits he rarely prays offered a prayer for me.
As of today, more than 225 persons wrote a note on a Facebook post of mine asking for prayers and there were more than 420 who responded with a care, a like or a love. </div><div><br /></div><div>It has been humbling.</div><div><br /></div><div>It also reminds of the net of connections and relations I have and the importance of these connections. As Pope Francis said to young people at a meeting in Skopje, North Macedonia in 2009 (Cited in <i>Fratelli Tutti</i>, 8):
<blockquote>“Here we have a splendid secret that shows us how to dream and to turn our life into a wonderful adventure. No one can face life in isolation… We need a community that supports and helps us, in which we can help one another to keep looking ahead. How important it is to dream together… By ourselves, we risk seeing mirages, things that are not there. Dreams, on the other hand, are built together.”</blockquote><div>And I also remember the scene in Mark 2: 1-12, where Jesus heals a paralytic, assisted by four friends:
<blockquote>Then some came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven.”</blockquote>Note that Jesus is touched by "their" faith, not the faith of the one who was ill. I tend to think that the man is healed because of the faith and prayers of his friends.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilMaPjzDd6uM4nJkLKZRjd1WPbxvwBcL0aM5iQ9gAdo9GUaLUXTaHtOJk9EA332EPzrhKxMRNyQKT_Y1kP-hnQJNkf4t-PuoKzser2sreOh_XbFN4dCOy22pIPmYSq51-5pumuq66_y_DDoOPj-3kc3M9GqZ0N6m9R_fifULk2ZClmbPikFA/s745/16ordinarioB7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="745" data-original-width="505" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilMaPjzDd6uM4nJkLKZRjd1WPbxvwBcL0aM5iQ9gAdo9GUaLUXTaHtOJk9EA332EPzrhKxMRNyQKT_Y1kP-hnQJNkf4t-PuoKzser2sreOh_XbFN4dCOy22pIPmYSq51-5pumuq66_y_DDoOPj-3kc3M9GqZ0N6m9R_fifULk2ZClmbPikFA/w271-h400/16ordinarioB7.jpg" width="271" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I don’t want to be the center of attention because I know that many others suffer in silence and without the support and resources I have. </div><div><br /></div><div>But …. </div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div>If being ill in public can help some people recognize the presence of God in their lives, it is worth it. </div><div>If my illness can open other to the illness of others – and open their hearts to accompany them, my being ill in public is not in vain. </div><div>If my illness can help others recognize the resources they have in God and in their families and communities, then my words and example may help becoming a more caring community which respects and recognizes the gifts of everyone, even the poorest and humblest.</div><div>If my illness can move others to accompany the sick, to be at their side, to help them, my words move people to open their hearts (and their bank accounts) even more (especially for the ones who are really poor and in need.) </div><div>If my illness can help others recognize our weakness, our fragility, then God may be using me to open others to His strength that is make complete in our weakness.</div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>The words of Pope Francis' message for this year’s day of the sick have strengthened me:
<blockquote>"...it is precisely through the experience of vulnerability and illness that we can learn to walk together according to the style of God, which is closeness, compassion, and tenderness."</blockquote>
May God awaken in me and in all of us a deep tenderness and compassion, giving us the courage to accompany and touch the poor and suffering.</div><div><br /></div><div>I will continue updates on what I’m experiencing in the hope that it may encourage those who are sick to live with peace and even joy in the midst of their suffering and to prod those who are well to accompany the poor – with funds, if they have them, but even more with their tender presence at the side of those who are ailing.</div><div><br /></div><div>Be there – where God is.
</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">---------------------------------------------</div><div style="text-align: center;">Graphic by Cerezo Barredo</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-14696959773938012462023-02-15T20:08:00.005-06:002023-02-17T03:18:51.396-06:00Recovering the real Padre Apla’s, Blessed Stanley RotherThese past few days, a martyr from the US is in the news. Blessed Stanley Rother – Padre Apla´s for the indigenous people of Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala, was killed in the rectory of the church, July 28, 1981. A native of Oklahoma, he was for thirteen years a missionary in a parish in rural Guatemala.<div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5lbLy1-N5aBVD6BqrdEPF1R1jfRklxqHH2qe9EiFGqf3hR45QZUUygGBBa7aOdxo3ugZLysZR3v7Nr0EaF5LXvTAajBPwm2S6mdCAFbFlJPW_0vgsnGLCkgWwaRFPUEkAfLQ_XbzfBQIRnZYmpS_hVSHTxZky5RQMXQgId3UsVd404DE3Sw/s1600/DSCN4330.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5lbLy1-N5aBVD6BqrdEPF1R1jfRklxqHH2qe9EiFGqf3hR45QZUUygGBBa7aOdxo3ugZLysZR3v7Nr0EaF5LXvTAajBPwm2S6mdCAFbFlJPW_0vgsnGLCkgWwaRFPUEkAfLQ_XbzfBQIRnZYmpS_hVSHTxZky5RQMXQgId3UsVd404DE3Sw/w400-h300/DSCN4330.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The church of Santiago Atitlan, photo taken in 2018</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgym04B27M-xaIAsgUkRbaxRRNHdVApsnZ9knFn7grAbYSlX_iNuRv3YEv-a6PUZEDvvHyCS_ayMZAFzzT6Q0ms3kWAb9bB9Ye2V68io8xOYIX6pzjB9n5VVGMnDrukdRKUxHU2zFkBmjbwcbMR4eMehvM57GdiWVJePhJgnFo41qN3u5Gpqw/s2896/church%201990s.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="2896" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgym04B27M-xaIAsgUkRbaxRRNHdVApsnZ9knFn7grAbYSlX_iNuRv3YEv-a6PUZEDvvHyCS_ayMZAFzzT6Q0ms3kWAb9bB9Ye2V68io8xOYIX6pzjB9n5VVGMnDrukdRKUxHU2zFkBmjbwcbMR4eMehvM57GdiWVJePhJgnFo41qN3u5Gpqw/w400-h276/church%201990s.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Interior, photo taken in the 1990s</td></tr></tbody></table><div><div><br /></div><div>This week a shrine in his name will be dedicated in Oklahoma. The shrine, which will also be a parish for the area, cost about forty million dollars.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have a devotion to Blessed Stanley and have been inspired by his life and ministry since I read several articles in the 1980s and then Henri Nouwen’s <i>Love in a Fearful Land</i>, first published in 1985. </div><div><br /></div><div>I visited Santiago Atitlan a few times in the 1990s.</div><div><br /></div><div>My devotion to him was deepened reading María Ruiz Scaperlanda’s <i>The Shepherd Who Didn't Run: Father Stanley Rother, Martyr from Oklahoma</i>, published in 2015. </div><div><br /></div><div> More recently, in January 2018, my pastor and I made a pilgrimage to Santiago Atitlán. We prayed in the church and in the room where he was martyred.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1LxuWl5ENsgENTcitE9KqrP8icwxB39065tc5cepykBGcQBGt7VR4mKpPvCCMy4yZ6t3Ti8fXdNpIp-zXZvhbB2zzJmXpm5o9SD8vt-graxSrHtrdVkhIgUNMWN26ehhSHobihZosG_KX0TfLVcrURPtbosWIc8CJhXXbMsxXr6tde7Ol7w/s1600/DSCN4299.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1LxuWl5ENsgENTcitE9KqrP8icwxB39065tc5cepykBGcQBGt7VR4mKpPvCCMy4yZ6t3Ti8fXdNpIp-zXZvhbB2zzJmXpm5o9SD8vt-graxSrHtrdVkhIgUNMWN26ehhSHobihZosG_KX0TfLVcrURPtbosWIc8CJhXXbMsxXr6tde7Ol7w/w400-h300/DSCN4299.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Our pastor concelebrated Mass in the church, and I had the privilege of serving as deacon at the Mass, reading the Gospel from the site where Blessed Padre Apla’a preached.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeV3AnHd_TNtyVQeYFKwEyIPwrkZsHRKQaOSlbM0YnWppYMg-mwvVDT76NmP3KUU3iKSFnelZvsTQ027_ie2lLM_AwxY-N7O6BmN_-2ritmgiiBOjhbK3IujQSVHmfRC87AVL0WcVRBM01q18vtMzCMfEb5kW3sqeX0UhnkQ_gYzWLXqvicw/s1600/DSCN4311.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeV3AnHd_TNtyVQeYFKwEyIPwrkZsHRKQaOSlbM0YnWppYMg-mwvVDT76NmP3KUU3iKSFnelZvsTQ027_ie2lLM_AwxY-N7O6BmN_-2ritmgiiBOjhbK3IujQSVHmfRC87AVL0WcVRBM01q18vtMzCMfEb5kW3sqeX0UhnkQ_gYzWLXqvicw/w300-h400/DSCN4311.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>When we first entered teh church that afternoon, the Eucharist was exposed on the main altar. But I noticed that under the altar is a vial containing the blood of Padre Aplas'.</div><div><br /></div><div>While we in Santiago Atitlán, we had time to speak with a few people and got a vision of a priest who truly served with the people, who had “the smell of the sheep” about him. I’m sure his upbringing in rural Oklahoma made him at home with the campesinos in the parish.</div><div><br /></div><div>He also had a deep sense of the dignity of the campesinos. One of his quotes that continues to move me: “To shake the hand of an Indian is a political act.”</div><div><br /></div><div>The body of Padre Apla´s was returned to Oklahoma, but, at the request of the people of the parish, his heart was entombed in the church.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz-g81fhJVWIq60KGcKKitn96Bcw_Eec2yU0OlowwocKbkoEbFp8b-i_Km2H3rfshP0BP0xZm2_MEMx8YvyNYrzhXB571fGzv_ocpcb-yJPgeXuahn8PBVHj8VV9t4J0nQW-orc1JItse7TGXPr1DsOBF85OIfZ6AX0mSvR2cL_IaVHT6vpw/s1600/DSCN4305.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz-g81fhJVWIq60KGcKKitn96Bcw_Eec2yU0OlowwocKbkoEbFp8b-i_Km2H3rfshP0BP0xZm2_MEMx8YvyNYrzhXB571fGzv_ocpcb-yJPgeXuahn8PBVHj8VV9t4J0nQW-orc1JItse7TGXPr1DsOBF85OIfZ6AX0mSvR2cL_IaVHT6vpw/w300-h400/DSCN4305.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>When I heard this story and stopped at the site of his heart, I could not help but remember the words of Jesus: “Where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” </div><div><br /></div><div>Our pastor, Padre German Navarro, also has a great devotion to Padre Apla’s and often mentions him by name in the Eucharistic Prayer.</div><div><br /></div><div>But a forty- or fifty-million-dollar shrine? </div><div><br /></div><div>I have a number of questions. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>Is this shrine a case of US triumphalism?</i> Or will this be an opportunity to awaken the US church to the church of the martyrs in Latin America and to the commitment of the church to accompany the poor in their struggles for life and justice?</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Is this shrine a case of promotion of an other-worldly vision of holiness?</i>
Pope Francis speaks of an incarnate holiness. </div><div><br /></div><div>Note the letter that Padre Apla's wrote the Christmas before he was martyred. This is no disincarnate holiness. </div><div><blockquote> “A nice compliment was given to me recently when a supposed leader in the Church and town was complaining that ‘Father is defending the people.’ He wants me deported for my sin.
<br />“This is one of the reasons I have for staying in the face of physical harm. The shepherd cannot run at the first sign of danger. Pray for us that we may be a sign of the love of Christ for our people, that our presence among them will fortify them to endure these sufferings in preparation for the coming of the Kingdom.”</blockquote><i>Is this shrine a case of a de-politization of martyrdom?</i> </div><div><br /></div><div>How many martyrs in Latin America were killed by dictatorial regimes, many of them supported by the US government?
How many will learn of the repression in Guatemala during the 1970s and 1980s and 1990s that resulted in thousands of church people killed.</div><div><br /></div><div>Padre Apla’s is one of scores who were killed in his parish. Near the room where he was martyred there are several metal frames with scores of crosses of those who were killed in Santiago Attilán. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq0WloRHlWsuiz2kHYGP1HyoUcPcBR9Ysjfeu-1kIN915FEIflnjcIgyO3KexKmlucz_FPT5XRHnUE-GKJv6qP8Frdv5aVtkmiT--1VFI_Gb8J-q9lto06nvD_eeqA_l5QOPBLczyo0lEsmFoF3OW5r3fp_mgHbWaOoLqUgLTIn2Hf9maUVA/s1600/DSCN4331.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq0WloRHlWsuiz2kHYGP1HyoUcPcBR9Ysjfeu-1kIN915FEIflnjcIgyO3KexKmlucz_FPT5XRHnUE-GKJv6qP8Frdv5aVtkmiT--1VFI_Gb8J-q9lto06nvD_eeqA_l5QOPBLczyo0lEsmFoF3OW5r3fp_mgHbWaOoLqUgLTIn2Hf9maUVA/w400-h300/DSCN4331.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Where I visited in the early 1990s, there were crosses by his shrine of those killed and wounded in a December 2, 1990 massacre by the military of campesinos who had come out to protest for their rights. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUfFOaXSHddYqB1eIhS8d5_kOqGqqodf6iexWIs374RqWIbAt_cATEzGH1XpZdxOJDIb0wiGP9Ogfz6zx7k3n0EG179NmwZCi2OF05YNFlNsIuPJXjgtdlw50Z6BDlQbERaD0vCCAM8h1_SPepyze5wkWLP4pZ9yAtUHCtEreuVw4N9mLcCw/s2872/img20210728_07491338.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2872" data-original-width="2064" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUfFOaXSHddYqB1eIhS8d5_kOqGqqodf6iexWIs374RqWIbAt_cATEzGH1XpZdxOJDIb0wiGP9Ogfz6zx7k3n0EG179NmwZCi2OF05YNFlNsIuPJXjgtdlw50Z6BDlQbERaD0vCCAM8h1_SPepyze5wkWLP4pZ9yAtUHCtEreuVw4N9mLcCw/w288-h400/img20210728_07491338.jpg" width="288" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I have come across the names of two lay church workers in Santiago Atitlán who were martyred: </div><div><br /></div><div> - Diego Quic Apuchan, Mayan Indian catechist, was disappeared and killed, Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala, January 3, 1981. He had earlier written this to Padre Apla´s:</div><div><div><blockquote>“I have never stolen, have never hurt anyone, have never eaten someone else’s food. Why, then, do they want to hurt me and kill me?” </blockquote><p>-Juan Sisay, painter, president of Catholic Action, was martyred in his home, Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala, April 21, 1989.</p>
It is also important to realize that Padre Apla’s is only one of 15 martyrs in Guatemala who have been beatified. Will their names and faces be visible at the shrine? I hope so. </div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li> Brother James Miller, A US Christian Brother
</li><li>Father Tulio Marruzo, ofm, an Italian Franciscan missionary</li><li>Lay Franciscan Luis Obdulio Arroyo Navarro.
</li><li>The Martyrs of Quiche: </li><li>Juan Barrera Méndez, Juanito, 12 year old catechist in Zacualpa</li><li>Rosalío Benito Ixchop, leader of Acción Católica in Chinique
</li><li>Reyes Us Hernández, catequist in Uspantán
</li><li>Domingo del Barrio Batz, sacristan and catechist in Ilom</li><li>Chajul
Nicolás Castor, catechist and extraordianry minister of Communion in Uspantán
</li><li>Tomás Ramírex Caba, mmember of Acción Católica in Chajul
</li><li>Miguel Tiu Imul, catechist in Sacapulas
</li><li>and three Spanish priest of the missionaries of the Sacred Heart: Padre José María Gran Cirera msc, Padre Faustino Villanueva msc, and Padre Juan Alonso msc.
</li></ul></div><div><br /> And then there are those church leaders, martyrs who have not been beatified:<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Bishop Juan Gerardi
</li><li>Father Bill Woods, MM
</li><li>Brother Moises Cisneros Rodríguez, Marist
</li><li>Sister Victoria de la Roca
</li><li>Fr. Conrado de la Cruz, CICM, Philippines
</li><li>Servant of God Fr. Hermógenes López
</li><li>Rick Julio Medrano, Franciscan
</li><li>Fr. Carlos Pérez Alonso, S.J.,
</li><li>Fr. Augusto Rafael Ramírez Monasterio, OFM,
</li><li>Fr. Alfonso Stessel, CICM</li></ul>In addition there were thousands of lay church workers- catechists, celebrators of the word who were killed, including two Spanish lay missionaries. </div><div><br /></div><div>In addition, a number of evangelical pastors and church workers -including one US Mennonite missionary, John Troyer.</div><div><br /></div><div>Will the shrine recognize these martyrs of the faith, martyrs of justice? Will they make any reference to the work of the commission of martyred Bishop Juan Gerardi, Recovery of Historical Memory Project. Will the bookstore stock <i>“Guatemala: Never Again! by the Recovery of Historical Memory Project (REMHI) Human Rights Office, Archdiocese of Guatemala</i>, published in English by Orbis Books?</div><div><br /></div><div>But at what cost do we evangelize?</div><div><br /></div><div>I don’t know all the details of the costs of the shrine. It may be a way to evangelize. But will it be an evangelization rooted in the vision of a Church incarnated in the world of the poor, which dares to shake the hands of the poor without drawing back because they don’t speak English or don’t have official papers. (One must remember how in the 1980s Guatemalans fleeing from the violence had almost no chance to obtain political asylum in the US, even if they had proof of persecution.) </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I don’t; have the answers, even though my heart is full of questions. </div><div><br /></div><div>I want to close this reflection with a quote from the Guatemalan Bishops on August 6, 1981, a few weeks after the martyrdom of Padre Apla´s.</div><div><blockquote>“The Church is suffering persecution as an historical verification of its fidelity in fulfilling its mission that Christ confided it — to save humanity from sin and from all its consequences, to announce redemption, and to denounce with vigor all that opposes its full realization. </blockquote><blockquote>“The faith causes us to understand that the Church in Guatemala is living an hour of grace and of certain hope. Persecution has always been a clear sign of faithfulness to Christ and to his gospel. The blood of our martyrs will be a seed of new and numerous Christians and the proof comforts us who are bearing our part of the suffering ‘which was lacking in the suffering of Christ’ for the redemption of the world."</blockquote>
Will the US church become a martyrial church, witnessing to the God of life, the God of justice, the God of peace? </div><div><br /></div><div>May the example of Blessed Padre Apla´s and the thousands of martyrs of the faith from Latin American move us to live the radical message of the Gospel, that calls us to lay down our lives for our sisters and brothers as we seek to live the Reign of God that Jesus preached and lived. </div><div><b><br /></b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRJaFRVu7K2xtBtANJP9wXJmAZDDpwlSeaB5PC-WoV9HpDP4mH6ywYPTXWqi-Vx0q45HuBQpqMPNLOIWXQSbzlZylFCZnj2vs6HfUpJB6Br-cBufgmV5VvDVBCxV-iLMf3tERP0_8Zffam8L5uz0EDu0KaoBb2Jtt2IeoquJecWqSmqliphw/s1600/DSCN4296.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRJaFRVu7K2xtBtANJP9wXJmAZDDpwlSeaB5PC-WoV9HpDP4mH6ywYPTXWqi-Vx0q45HuBQpqMPNLOIWXQSbzlZylFCZnj2vs6HfUpJB6Br-cBufgmV5VvDVBCxV-iLMf3tERP0_8Zffam8L5uz0EDu0KaoBb2Jtt2IeoquJecWqSmqliphw/s320/DSCN4296.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Blessed Padre Apla’s, pray for us.<i></i></b> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>On a very personal note, I have prayed to God, under the intercession of Padre Apla’s, as I face treatment of my prostate cancer.
</div></div></div></div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-68340913950904021612023-02-10T18:44:00.000-06:002023-02-10T18:44:08.918-06:00The World Day of the SickToday is the World Day of Prayer for the Sick, initiated by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1992. <div><br /></div><div>This year’s message from Pope Francis is particularly touching, perhaps because I have prostate cancer and will begin treatment next week, God willing. </div><div><br /></div><div>But this message is above all a profound statement on illness and what the sick need. </div><div><br /></div><div>Visiting the sick and the aged has become one of the most meaningful parts of my diaconal ministry.
I, like many, have not always been so open to visiting the sick and being with them. But I remember as a child going with my mother to visit her sister Ruth who was dying of cancer in a facility run by the Little Sister of the Poor. I also remember visiting my paternal grandmother is a home for the elderly in an old mansion in Philadelphia, where her bed was one of four or five in the same room.
I remember visiting my mother when she was suffering with cancer and was in her hospital room when she died.
I especially remember the last years of my dad’s life as he suffered several strokes and was finally bed-bound. I fed him, washed him, and cared for him – something not easy, but an experience I shall never forget.</div><div><br /></div><div>But I also remember something that helped me make my decision to care for my father at homea dn influences my ministry even today.</div><div><br /></div><div>I was in El Salvador in 1992 for a seven month-sabbatical, helping in the parish of Suchitoto, with five US sisters and a Salvadoran pastor.</div><div><br /></div><div>During Lent, we went to various communities for a Lenten mission. I went one week to Agua Caliente and visited the houses. I entered one house and, amid the comings and goings of the children and all the family, there was an elderly woman in a bed.
I still remember being awed that the people were caring for her at home. They may not have had much, but they were present to this elderly woman.</div><div><br /></div><div>One of the points of Pope Francis’ message this year for the World Day of the Sick is the importance of accompanying and being with the ill, walking together with them.
<blockquote>Illness is part of our human condition. Yet, if illness is experienced in isolation and abandonment, unaccompanied by care and compassion, it can become inhumane. When we go on a journey with others, it is not unusual for someone to feel sick, to have to stop because of fatigue or of some mishap along the way. It is precisely in such moments that we see how we are walking together: whether we are truly companions on the journey, or merely individuals on the same path, looking after our own interests and leaving others to “make do”. For this reason … I invite all of us to reflect on the fact that it is especially through the experience of vulnerability and illness that we can learn to walk together according to the style of God, which is closeness, compassion, and tenderness.</blockquote>
I have learned the importance of just being there, walking with the sick and the elderly. I may not know what to say and I definitely don’t have the medical savvy to help them get better, but I can be there.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbmbP279aAAC_lrSma9u-qT3TxGY8Kjhw6vX8BgQATHXnu63LetD_ZqHuIH_TpvibGvXgGCt6bZZQRF8VFpPvYpevhCJC_ToU_K2DxnpfgDzhoWKvr1OG93Z4SPqnq3_sbXkcsR_6QgJvNZdAh3GyLhf92sQHwD2kX5cnsedQdCfjh2EM9RA/s3648/DSC01055.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbmbP279aAAC_lrSma9u-qT3TxGY8Kjhw6vX8BgQATHXnu63LetD_ZqHuIH_TpvibGvXgGCt6bZZQRF8VFpPvYpevhCJC_ToU_K2DxnpfgDzhoWKvr1OG93Z4SPqnq3_sbXkcsR_6QgJvNZdAh3GyLhf92sQHwD2kX5cnsedQdCfjh2EM9RA/s400/DSC01055.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
At times I can bring something - as this time when I brought a wheelchair donated by Honduras AMIGAS. But often I come with empty hands - except for the Eucharist, which means I have my hands full!</div><div><br /></div><div>I usually bring Communion and so we have a very short prayer – with a Gospel reading, prayers for the sick person, the Lord’s prayer – and, if there’s someone there who can help, a song after the person has received communion.
The Lord is walking with us, and we are called to walk with other, to accompany them.</div><div><br /></div><div>If there is someone who has been taking care of the person, I normally talk with them and ask them how they are, recognizing how hard it must be to take care of someone who is ill. Sometimes, I’ll share that I know a bit of this since I took care of my dad.</div><div><br /></div><div>But I really want to let the caregiver know that God is with them and that, in one sense, they are the hands of Christ caring for their loved one.</div><div><br /></div><div>In this way, we can help people recognize their goodness and their dignity in the face of pain and suffering and we can open a space for hope and grace.
Isn’t that we are called to do?</div><div><br /></div><div>As Pope Francis goes on to say in his message:
<blockquote>It is crucial, … even in the midst of illness, that the whole Church measure herself against the Gospel example of the Good Samaritan, in order that she may become a true “field hospital”, for her mission is manifested in acts of care, particularly in the historical circumstances of our time. We are all fragile and vulnerable, and need that compassion which knows how to pause, approach, heal, and raise up.</blockquote>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikV7l4IoqWoRUQ2P5tg9gQ7FfQkBzB64yPKVNu49_SODNVp-e13qevgoBIsKJfyMAQvYgKHKrtnEnHw9ifgphYa31AxAm8eEDbVEa5cMBG6r9t318Zld6iGlch5kzLKIwy5RzILfmVaX4Nr0iWkBRscsDEMtWxt835DXmWrWiaAq37XXcTdg/s5184/IMG_2059.jpeg" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="5184" data-original-width="3888" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikV7l4IoqWoRUQ2P5tg9gQ7FfQkBzB64yPKVNu49_SODNVp-e13qevgoBIsKJfyMAQvYgKHKrtnEnHw9ifgphYa31AxAm8eEDbVEa5cMBG6r9t318Zld6iGlch5kzLKIwy5RzILfmVaX4Nr0iWkBRscsDEMtWxt835DXmWrWiaAq37XXcTdg/s400/IMG_2059.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saint Lawrence, deacon, friend of the poor </td></tr></tbody></table>
</div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-81885917751526474242023-02-10T16:27:00.007-06:002023-02-10T16:27:53.872-06:00Medical care here or in the USAs some of you may know, I have prostate cancer and will soon be undergoing chemotherapy.<div><br /></div><div>Before anyone asks, I'll be getting the treatments here in Honduras.</div><div><br /></div><div>Several times people I know as well as the doctors have asked me about going to the US for treatment. Usually, the question was breached by asking me if I have medical insurance in the US. I answer that I don’t have medical insurance in the US since I am in the US at most a few weeks a year. </div><div><br /></div><div>I don’t expect to just fly to the US and get medical care. I am seeking medical care here since this is my home.</div><div><br /></div><div>In a sense, this is a way to share with my neighbors, though I do have many privileges and advantages that they don’t have.</div><div><br /></div><div>First of all, I do have the economic resources to have high quality treatment here – I get Social Security payments and a tiny pension (from teaching at Iowa State University); I also have a decent amount set aside in an IRA (Individual Retirement Account). In addition, several persons have offered financial assistance. </div><div><br /></div><div> But I recall that most of my neighbors would not be able to get this type of care in a private clinic and would have to depend on the public hospitals or do some serious fundraising. How many times I have seen people collecting money, even stopping cars on the roads, to try to help someone with major medical expenses.</div><div><br /></div><div>But to just get up and fly off for medical care doesn’t seem right. I want to be here among the people I know and love.</div><div><br /></div><div>One relative on learning of my illness sent me an urgent message, telling me to come home. But this is my home. I didn’t respond to her in this way, respecting her real concern for me. But it’s what I think and feel. </div><div><br /></div><div>And I am at peace with this decision.
Of course, I may change my mind in the middle of the chemotherapies. But now I am at peace and want to stay here – where my heart is.</div><div><br /></div><div>I hope and pray that this experience may open me deeper to the needs of mys sisters and brothers here.
</div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-20728867277212521122023-02-06T18:06:00.001-06:002023-02-06T18:06:03.681-06:00Visiting the sick and being the one who is illVisiting the sick is one of the ministries that I’ve grown to love here in the parish of Dulce Nombre. <div><br /></div><div>I would often go to a community on a Sunday morning for a Celebration of the Word with Communion; after the celebration, I would go to visit the sick and the elderly. I tried to visit communities where there was no communion minister.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have also accompanied the communion ministers in their monthly meetings. </div><div><br /></div><div>February 11 is the World Day of the Sick, promoted by the popes, on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, whose shrine is a center for healing. </div><div><br /></div><div>The month before the pandemic, we had a special activity for the World Day of the Sick in San Agustín. A large group of communion ministers got together and visited the sick there and in a neighboring village, Descombros.</div><div><br /></div><div>At that time, there was only one communion minister and she visited the many sick, but it was hard for her to attend so many people. At that time, I would come several times and visit the sick.</div><div><br /></div><div>This was a special occasion. We met for prayer in the church. Several people from San Agustín served as guides and each communion minister visited two or three people. We got together afterwards for a reflection and a lunch together. It was a good experience.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW1vLbOdya32nNtlsfjS1hkhuYXC5J6puTZ0kOY-o_t6zZjq3JrPtBtUD070T7mAH6nT9eLgBB1dN2KhSCgYJZDrHFSjcGq709Flf6oxmAcetRdBwZmZvB5evI2Cd9VO2banhRlMuBIm6QnVGrE1Dwa4W--dV6dusb2JJzyZ4PlXvIK9sJ2w/s2432/IMG_1025.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="2432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW1vLbOdya32nNtlsfjS1hkhuYXC5J6puTZ0kOY-o_t6zZjq3JrPtBtUD070T7mAH6nT9eLgBB1dN2KhSCgYJZDrHFSjcGq709Flf6oxmAcetRdBwZmZvB5evI2Cd9VO2banhRlMuBIm6QnVGrE1Dwa4W--dV6dusb2JJzyZ4PlXvIK9sJ2w/s400/IMG_1025.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
This year, the communion ministers will visit the sick, the elderly, and those confined to their homes on February 11 and 12. I won’t be able to accompany them because I have two pre-marriage interviews on Saturday morning. I’ve had five so far since January 1. These couples want to receive the sacrament of matrimony before Lent! </div><div><br /></div><div>Last year, we also visited the sick in San Agustín as well as in other nearby communities.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the last months of 2022, I didn’t make many visits, partly because of a serious chest cold that took months to get over – even with visits to two doctors.</div><div><br /></div><div>This year, the day of the sick has special relevance for me, since I have been diagnosed with prostate cancer and hope to begin treatment shortly. </div><div><br /></div><div>The words of Pope Francis touch my heart.
Pope Francis begins noting the importance of accompanying the sick: </div><div><blockquote> Illness is part of our human condition. Yet, if illness is experienced in isolation and abandonment, unaccompanied by care and compassion, it can become inhumane.
When we go on a journey with others, it is not unusual for someone to feel sick, to have to stop because of fatigue or of some mishap along the way. It is precisely in such moments that we see how we are walking together: whether we are truly companions on the journey, or merely individuals on the same path, looking after our own interests and leaving others to “make do”. </blockquote></div><div> How many of the sick and the elderly live in isolation, with little care by their family and friends.</div><div><br /></div><div>But I have seen so many of the sick accompanied and cared for by family members. I recall the older woman cared for by her young grandson, the young man who fell and hurt his back who was cared for by his companion, the young man who cared for his future wife after she had a difficult birth, the family that cared for their ill grandfather, and so many more. I have felt so connected with them since I cared for my dad in the last years of his life. I have sometimes shared this with the caregivers, commending them for their care and reminding them that they are the hands of Christ caring for their sick or elderly relative.</div><div><br /></div><div>I was reluctant to share news of my cancer. But after sharing with a few people, I have been overwhelmed with prayers, offers of support, real solidarity. Some survivors of prostate cancer have told me of their experience.</div><div><br /></div><div>It’s overwhelming and gives me great consolation and, in some mysterious way, it has given me renewed strength to live my diaconal vocation.</div><div><br /></div><div>But it is important to face my vulnerability.
In his message, Pope Francis wrote:
<blockquote>…it is especially through the experience of vulnerability and illness that we can learn to walk together according to the style of God, which is closeness, compassion, and tenderness.</blockquote>
In the last year or so, I have become more conscious of my vulnerability and weakness; I am, after all, 75 years old.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now with this cancer, I am experiencing illness, though I have resources that most others here don’t. </div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks be to God, this has opened up depths of compassion that I didn’t realize that I had. When I drove to San Pedro Sula last week to meet with the urologist and the oncologist, I had a deep sense of connection and compassion to all the people I saw – especially the poor walking, working, and living at the side of the road.
I think of the experience of Thomas Merton at Fourth and Walnut in Louisville, Kentucky, on March 18, 1958, as related in <i>Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander,</i> pages 141-142.
<blockquote>In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world, the world of renunciation and supposed holiness. The whole illusion of a separate holy existence is a dream....</blockquote>
We are part of each other. We are all brothers and sisters, as Pope Francis wrote in his last encyclical <i>Fratelli Tutti</i>.
Our illness and vulnerability can open us to the sick and vulnerable around us – remembering that Jesus too shares our vulnerability.
</div><div><br /></div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-21367866512026244662023-02-06T11:16:00.004-06:002023-02-06T11:16:23.051-06:00Pope Francis in South SudanI don’t often write about world events that don’t directly affect me and the people I work with, but I have to write a few words about the Pope’s visit to South Sudan which has moved me deeply. <div><br /></div><div>It was truly an ecumenical pilgrimage with Church of England Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and with the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland Moderator Iain Greenshields. This gesture of ecumenism is so needed in our world. </div><div><br /></div><div>But what struck me even more personally was the site of the Mass, the mausoleum of John Garang, the “father of South Sudan.”</div><div><br /></div><div>When I was a campus minister at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Ames, Iowa, which was also the Catholic Student Center of Iowa State University, I was impressed by the number of students and families from South Sudan who were members of our parish. There are still many in Ames.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuohNecdqtAaZcR60UMhojs-08IlBYVLJtubbvx4WHgD_a8oO3kqBA_VlwvJZcdS2cFyrzxwvuZWa6BunyLaOIyHZvHwWSpn0HjcOJjjRn8TXOmi3YUfC5aEubOml9AsrjtJ99x8pSaO84kqxefcr3O5xWqcS2ij9B-r17FhpZBt1JQboO7g/s2048/DSC02684.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuohNecdqtAaZcR60UMhojs-08IlBYVLJtubbvx4WHgD_a8oO3kqBA_VlwvJZcdS2cFyrzxwvuZWa6BunyLaOIyHZvHwWSpn0HjcOJjjRn8TXOmi3YUfC5aEubOml9AsrjtJ99x8pSaO84kqxefcr3O5xWqcS2ij9B-r17FhpZBt1JQboO7g/s400/DSC02684.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
John Garang got a Ph.D. in Economics at Iowa State University in 1981, before I began ministry at St. Thomas.</div><div><br /></div><div>I pray that the visit of the pope and the other religious leaders further inspires the courageous people of South Sudan in their pursuit of peace with justice.
As Pope Francis said in his homily,
<blockquote>"Jesus knows your anguish and the hope you bear in your hearts, the joys and struggles that mark your lives, the darkness that assails you and the faith that, like a song in the night, you raise to heaven. Jesus knows you and loves you. If we remain in him, we must never fear, because for us too, every cross will turn into a resurrection, every sadness into hope, and every lament into dancing."</blockquote><p style="text-align: center;">----- </p>
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://aleteia.org/2023/02/05/let-us-refuse-to-repay-evil-with-evil-popes-homily-in-s-sudan-full-text/" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://aleteia.org/2023/02/05/let-us-refuse-to-repay-evil-with-evil-popes-homily-in-s-sudan-full-text/" target="_blank">Here</a> is the full text of the Pope’s homily. </div></div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-87760608698079744852023-02-04T20:53:00.003-06:002023-02-06T09:54:06.426-06:00Father Pedro Arrupe and the missionaryOn February 5, 1991, Father Pedro Arrupe, S.J., died.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimtGmS3pMWHTS7L2MZi8U9l7HvBfSxk2X3R8wzlvj7BIOF5WfrpQQlf6Bwi2mbhP2_sbNhP5Ii-4qXwDfMZePkNzoxBWc8q0QgO7xfeUq1s5-0AzQOjYF_OJ1NXLcsnhr3RXPS2BCjfPgRCW4dLFfrTtiMvUqrQdC4pKRPU6ZgjzExF2Yfdw/s687/arrupe-1.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="687" data-original-width="478" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimtGmS3pMWHTS7L2MZi8U9l7HvBfSxk2X3R8wzlvj7BIOF5WfrpQQlf6Bwi2mbhP2_sbNhP5Ii-4qXwDfMZePkNzoxBWc8q0QgO7xfeUq1s5-0AzQOjYF_OJ1NXLcsnhr3RXPS2BCjfPgRCW4dLFfrTtiMvUqrQdC4pKRPU6ZgjzExF2Yfdw/s400/arrupe-1.jpg" /></a></div>
A few days after arriving in Honduras in 2007, I came across this passage from Father Pedro Arrupe, SJ, who was for many years superior general of the Jesuits and had to suffer powerlessness after a stroke. (The full text is found in <i>Pedro Arrupe: Selected Writing</i>s, p. 83-86.)
<blockquote>…what a missionary must be ready to undergo in a foreign country is highly instructive. To find oneself alone in a great city, without a single friend or acquaintance, without provision of any kind, whether it be physical equipment or the support and security one derives from ordinary human relationships; to be poor even as far as language is concerned, unable to express oneself, to tell people what one is, what one knows; always to be in a position of inferiority, a child just learning to speak, contemptuously dismissed in every discussion, painfully aware of the poor impression one is always making, and of the pity, or else the hostility, with which one is regarded – all this brings home to a person better than empty theorizing what poverty, in the radical sense of dis-possession, really means. Not only does it take away external attachments, it makes one truly humble of heart; for to be poor is to be humiliated, and it is from being humiliated that one learns humility.</blockquote>
How true.
What we missionaries need above all is humility, the recognition that we are not the saviors of the world (nor even of the town we work in). We do not have all the answers, nor do we have the solutions to the problems around us.
If we are really honest, we will recognize that we live among others who are as good as we are and have many deficiencies as we do. We are brothers and sisters in grace and in sin. And we will find joy in sharing the sorrows and joys of the people around us. <div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq-OUsG7vDGR8-B7tKkXrGRGWxJp4f-ZjkNGDc0m9JX2SAVitcRaUendesvejKH0Xw5IRmJtCvtiNn0AZRhRLXG_rGBu0WB-_SLpj3qBuaem0F39LyUg3bYeKR4HwyGAwSue3vnXsVfU3TUahPfrfs6sO_WJpFTp443PplWAUuXXJWjWen9w/s2048/deacon012023.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1153" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq-OUsG7vDGR8-B7tKkXrGRGWxJp4f-ZjkNGDc0m9JX2SAVitcRaUendesvejKH0Xw5IRmJtCvtiNn0AZRhRLXG_rGBu0WB-_SLpj3qBuaem0F39LyUg3bYeKR4HwyGAwSue3vnXsVfU3TUahPfrfs6sO_WJpFTp443PplWAUuXXJWjWen9w/s400/deacon012023.jpg" /></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">---------</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The photo of Father Arrupe is taken from the page of the Jesuits in Argentina and Uruguay which has a good article on his life and witness in Spanish, found <a href="http://jesuitasaru.org/padre-pedro-arrupe/" target="_blank">here</a>.</div><div>The photo of me was taken before Mass in Dulce Nombre de María a few weeks ago.</div><div><br /></div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-461171475122113992023-01-29T14:02:00.007-06:002023-01-30T20:17:05.494-06:00Saint Charles de Foucauld, mission, friendship, and my cancer <p>The life of Charles de Foucauld and the communities which were inspired by his life have fascinated me since the early 1980s, especially when I met some Little Brothers on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and attended Mass there many Sundays. My diaconal stole for my ordination bears the heart and cross which he sewed on his habit.
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh186zsR-2utyf5tk-ZVzQ2zT8peURAPgdecDsoQ8w_JrqEytMUOCWevWbp8Ppanqg_QJV35dh2S3u5eyy8cpd4mcxfdDbBrFOL70cvPAh_oukLkHHwC6UqvFWC58WKuLC0ExiIqANso9wr-HBtcvZXgGXBvUomfmH8MbFOexJAGtAA4AHDPg/s2048/DSC06472.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh186zsR-2utyf5tk-ZVzQ2zT8peURAPgdecDsoQ8w_JrqEytMUOCWevWbp8Ppanqg_QJV35dh2S3u5eyy8cpd4mcxfdDbBrFOL70cvPAh_oukLkHHwC6UqvFWC58WKuLC0ExiIqANso9wr-HBtcvZXgGXBvUomfmH8MbFOexJAGtAA4AHDPg/s400/DSC06472.jpg" /></a></div>
Yet there was one aspect of the life of Saint Charles de Foucauld that I never knew until I recently read Little Sister Cathy Wright’s book, <i>Saint Charles de Foucauld: His Life and Spirituality.</i><div><br /></div><div>About 1907, a severe drought hit the Algerian Sahara, including Tamanrasset, where he was living. His life was in danger and his poor neighbors helped restore his life. As Sister Cathy writes:
<blockquote> Charles was at his lowest point, physically and as well as spiritually. He felt himself broken and a failure. Previously no matter how poor he was, he had always been the one who had something to give to others. True to the missionary customs of the day, he felt he should never receive anything from the people, never be beholden to them. Now, for the first time in his life, except possibly in Morocco, he had nothing left to give. </blockquote><blockquote> Brother Charles was now the one in need, and the Tuareg responded by scouring the countryside looking for a little bit of milk to nurse him back to health. Their sense of the sacred duty of hospitality moved them to care for the foreigner. Charles truly owed them his life. Weakness brought about a level of relationship that would not have been possible without this reciprocity. It was a conversion for him in terms of his own inner life — of accepting his weakness and need — and one that further transformed his theories about mission into a relationship of friendship. (pp. 92, 94)</blockquote>
This event in the life of Saint Charles de Foucauld has struck me deeply in the last few weeks. </div><div><br /></div><div>I've had some prostate problems since June last year. After some medication and later a blood test (PSA), my doctor in November sent me to a urologist. A young Honduran doctor whom I knew from his work with Honduras Amigas, a medical brigade that comes regularly to our area, arranged an appointment for me with a urologist in San Pedro Sula in December. </div><div><br /></div><div>After that appointment, it was clear to me that I had prostate cancer, though its extent was unclear. The urologist ordered a biopsy.</div><div><br /></div><div>Because of Christmas holidays, I was not able to schedule a biopsy until January. A Honduran friend whom I’ve known for 15 years gave me a ride to San Pedro and refused my offer to at least pay for the fuel. The young doctor arranged for a place for me to stay with a friend of his and then accompanied me to the hospital for the biopsy.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Saturday before the biopsy we had a meeting of the parish’s communion ministers. I asked our pastor, Padre German, for the anointing of the sick, which we celebrated at the meeting of the communion ministers.</div><div><br /></div><div>Last Friday I went to San Pedro to meet with the urologist and later with an oncologist. I have to get an MRI (a full body scan) in Santa Rosa this week and then I’ll go see the oncologist to determine what treatment will be best.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have been reluctant to share my medical situation publicly, partly because I did not fully know my medical situation and partly because I don’t like to call attention to myself, especially living in the midst of so much suffering. I shared information with some friends and family. I put a generic request for prayers for me on my Facebook page, but no more than that.</div><div><br /></div><div>Early on, I did share my medical situation with some close friends here and in the US, with my spiritual director, and my pastor and the bishop. But Friday, I decided to share more broadly – first with a detailed e-mail to some friends and family and then with a Facebook post restricted to friends. </div><div><br /></div><div>The responses have been overwhelming. Some friends have sent me e-mails or private messages, several sharing their experience with prostate cancer. But over 100 wrote comments on my Facebook post and there are, as of now, more than 160 likes – from Catholics, Episcopalians, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, and others, from all over the globe, including people here in Honduras whom I know. These signs of solidarity, love, and accompaniment give me strength and courage. </div><div><br /></div><div>After the biopsy, I had thought my situation might be worse and was, as Nouwen and Rolheiser have written, “befriending my death.” </div><div><br /></div><div>When I thought of offering to host a night of the Posadas next December, I noted to myself, “if I’m still alive.”
This was not a macabre fascination with death but, in the words of Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, “an acceptance of my vulnerability and mortality,” something which I have been struggling with for the past year or so. It has been a freeing experience.</div><div><br /></div><div>Last year I came across this quote of Ronald Rolheiser in <i>Essential Spiritual Writings</i>, p. 22:
<blockquote>Henri Nouwen suggests that at a certain point of our lives, the real question is no longer: What can I still do so that my life makes a contribution? Rather, the question becomes: How can I now live so that my death will be an optimal blessing for my family, my church, and the world? We must leave home a second time, and this time we face a much larger unknown. </blockquote>
About three months ago, I began considering if God might be calling me to something more.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are a lot of changes in my life: the Dubuque Franciscans left Honduras a few weeks ago; my pastor will probably be changed in April; I turned seventy-five last June. </div><div><br /></div><div>I feel a need or a call to not only be closer to the poor but also to devote myself to more quiet – for contemplation and for some writing projects I’d like to finish. I have even begun looking for places to make an eight-day Ignatian directed retreat.</div><div><br /></div><div>But now this comes along – provoking a change, though I have no idea where this will lead me.
But, as if to push me into unknown waters, earlier this week I came across these words of Patrick McGrath, SJ, in <i>An Ignatian Book of Days</i> (p.29):
<blockquote> Looking back on our lives, can any of us honestly say we knew exactly the path our lives would take? Isn’t it true that God has moved about in each of our lives and surprised us with all manner of twists and turns we could not have predicted or perhaps even desired?
Ignatius reminds us that we must remain ever open to the new ways God is inviting us to live our lives. If anything impedes our ability to remain open, then we must prayerfully consider what to do. When Ignatius instructs us not to fix our desires on health over sickness, for example, he prods us to consider whether our faith allows us to trust that God can be experienced even in frailty and sickness—and that good can come of it. </blockquote>
What are the new ways God is inviting me to live my life? </div><div><br /></div><div>I don’t know, but I feel surrounded by a community of love that is accompanying me into uncharted waters.
I also feel that these experiences are helping me move forward, becoming more open to the people around me. </div><div><br /></div><div>This is a blessing. </div><div><br /></div><div>I want to share two other thoughts, seemingly unconnected. </div><div><br /></div><div>First, in a meeting with Padre German, my pastor, a few days ago, as I brought him up to date on my situation, he told me what a Jesuit once told him. </div><div><br /></div><div>The Jesuit was talking of where one wants to be buried. He noted that these are the people whom we will see on the day of the resurrection of the dead and so we should ask to be buried where we will be surrounded by people we know and love.</div><div><br /></div><div>That touched me, because I have told people that, when I die, I want to be buried in the cemetery in the nearby aldea of Candelaria where I have assisted at the burial of people from Plan Grande and Candelaria – my neighbors. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyjyry56PJJZKHU34s7EV9rxBmrqDkcmOXwLbEbn5p-T9aS8_lPwNR1D2Gxes-vTpFaYis-6Fvc2lawPQUMmRGtep4Plb1n2-1EZdOjvgplAs0WjC0Xp-3yW23vBTSFsiU4Hey62hKiN5HxBJj9fBaOLfbgyrqw64pQ8EW3nr-N5zh4vUgUw/s2048/IMG_1106.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyjyry56PJJZKHU34s7EV9rxBmrqDkcmOXwLbEbn5p-T9aS8_lPwNR1D2Gxes-vTpFaYis-6Fvc2lawPQUMmRGtep4Plb1n2-1EZdOjvgplAs0WjC0Xp-3yW23vBTSFsiU4Hey62hKiN5HxBJj9fBaOLfbgyrqw64pQ8EW3nr-N5zh4vUgUw/w400-h300/IMG_1106.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Second, a few days ago, I was reflecting how I see my ministry as opening spaces for grace. Then, I remembered the ending of Georges Bernanos’s novel, <i>The Diary of a Country Priest</i>.</div><div><blockquote>A friend who had left the active priesthood and was married had given the country priest a place to stay for the night. His condition worsened, and he was vomiting blood. He asked his friend for absolution which his friend did with some trepidation: “Although I realized that I had no right to accede ever hastily to this request, it was quite impossible in the name of humanity and friendship, to refuse him.” </blockquote><blockquote>Afterwards, his friend sent for the parish priest and apologized for the “delay that threatened to deprive my colleague of the final consolations of the church.”
Shortly after, as this friend tells it, the country priest “put his hand over mine, and his eyes entreated me to draw closer to him. He then uttered these words, almost in my ear. And I am quite sure that I have recorded them accurately, for his voice, though halting, was strongly distinct. </blockquote><blockquote><span> </span>‘Does it matter? Grace is . . . everywhere.’ </blockquote><blockquote> I think he died just then.</blockquote>
Yes, grace is everywhere. It’s just that sometimes it’s hard to recognize.
<p></p></div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-20071863162775046452023-01-08T17:13:00.007-06:002023-01-08T17:16:50.929-06:00Quite a daySaturday was quite a day. <div><br /></div><div>I woke up early (5:20 am) to a chill morning (55 F on the terrace). After putting on the coffee and taking a warm shower, I sat down to pray in my prayer room. About 7:00 am, I had breakfast, washed some clothes and hung them up to dry, even though it’s cold and drizzly. I also did a bit of computer work. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivnif8rixQ-_HgZmEHi78481SWBIXJcpZCNQLP0BMuB3HQRe-DIRVMLQJwnC213Gd_w03lzza_Vqh0KMR_d_YoypwHmEAslkMjgPhDRVbzncZF0Do-xqzfHfIQlfcLcqrrTMDBJYRY1spetUlhWXoZ5ZX3i8SeVElbFB5NMy1MrfmN0bKJuQ/s3648/IMG_9612.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivnif8rixQ-_HgZmEHi78481SWBIXJcpZCNQLP0BMuB3HQRe-DIRVMLQJwnC213Gd_w03lzza_Vqh0KMR_d_YoypwHmEAslkMjgPhDRVbzncZF0Do-xqzfHfIQlfcLcqrrTMDBJYRY1spetUlhWXoZ5ZX3i8SeVElbFB5NMy1MrfmN0bKJuQ/w400-h300/IMG_9612.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From my house on the morning of January 1</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>At about 8 am, I headed out to Dulce Nombre.
I had an interview with a couple who will be married next week. These interviews are part of their final preparation – going through a number of questions with them and two witnesses to make sure there are no glitches and that they can freely and voluntarily share the sacrament of matrimony. </div><div><br /></div><div>Often these interviews are a gift for me, giving me a share in the lives of a couple who want to welcome God in their marriage in a special, sacramental way. Sometimes they are couples who have not been living together, but often these are couples who have lived together for several years and have children. In a culture where many couples just get together and have kids, it is a real sign of faith when a couple decides to share the sacrament. </div><div><br /></div><div> This time, the interview was especially significant. I’ve known the husband since my first years helping in the parish. He was involved in some of the youth group activities. I also had the privilege of baptizing their child two years ago. </div><div><br /></div><div>After the interview, I went to the meeting of the extraordinary ministers of communion in the parish. They meet every month and I usually accompany them. This time, though, they accompanied me. </div><div><br /></div><div>This week I’ll be going to San Pedro Sula for a biopsy of my prostate. I had asked our pastor, Padre German, if I could receive the sacrament of the anointing of the sick and I requested that we do this during the meeting of the ministers. </div><div><br /></div><div>So, after the meeting was finished, we gathered around and celebrated the sacrament. Before being anointed on the forehead and the hands, we prayed the penitential rite and Father German read the Gospel of the healing of the servant of the centurion. I found myself close to tears, surrounded by the love of God and of Padre German and the communion ministers. In some ways, I felt like the sick man let down by his friends into the house where Jesus was (Luke 5: 17-26), surrounded I was by those who were present and by others who have supported me in this time and who have offered to help me. </div><div><br /></div><div>After this, the ministers had a gift exchange and then lunch and a cake. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXutIXW9ObdBPJHcCggbrFHFtWUNvtwQ9u1XqIro7T60BU-hZxodbD4xmhfi8WZhurpqNd--_LlN0UcmlH2MPXAqp0f5tiYk3-JUzwseTnTBsHGRYso-KRxb6MU_y0C0HZW7z9XON8-bmr1FWY17ujypprL7_AxcrPXDMC49zLslkOiFhvXA/s3648/DSC02667.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXutIXW9ObdBPJHcCggbrFHFtWUNvtwQ9u1XqIro7T60BU-hZxodbD4xmhfi8WZhurpqNd--_LlN0UcmlH2MPXAqp0f5tiYk3-JUzwseTnTBsHGRYso-KRxb6MU_y0C0HZW7z9XON8-bmr1FWY17ujypprL7_AxcrPXDMC49zLslkOiFhvXA/w400-h300/DSC02667.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Rather than go back home, I stayed around the parish center since at 4:00 we celebrated the 17th anniversary of Father German’s priestly ordination.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbO4s7g53zUduQoyK7TzKYurvfAdfN1ZXBpClvZpdMo8wzWgzExQPDnzOkL6AS8rn5q4xd-zIijDdEQxBRRYrej7-wxpS4r3gXXqFekvl-OfRyACBATW7rSIjsT3fFzQo3XPSwbYRlaN82FBEt_fUJID8bXN1X4ERQtTN0sgvAjwdDDvBtMw/s3648/DSC02674.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbO4s7g53zUduQoyK7TzKYurvfAdfN1ZXBpClvZpdMo8wzWgzExQPDnzOkL6AS8rn5q4xd-zIijDdEQxBRRYrej7-wxpS4r3gXXqFekvl-OfRyACBATW7rSIjsT3fFzQo3XPSwbYRlaN82FBEt_fUJID8bXN1X4ERQtTN0sgvAjwdDDvBtMw/s400/DSC02674.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
I got home close to 7:00 pm, had dinner, read, and prayed. </div><div><br /></div><div>Sunday, I went to a rural village for a Celebration of the Word with Communion. In the afternoon, I went to San Agustín for Mass, serving as deacon and preaching.</div><div><br /></div><div>Tomorrow, I’ll be preparing for my trip to San Pedro on Tuesday. </div><div><br /></div><div>I’ll close with this rather amazing photo that someone took yesterday before the Mass to celebrate the anniversary of Father German’s ordination.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Nv-569TR_5wszJkru9DCaItNDIqxWnE5Np3eZM4gP3slHVE9yvNYJD3rUbFvxT14FwwTV-lIethX95eRMx_NQeVGD8IV0GhUF4Dj4uRsRJxpbImIcsvmp_174fCAlTUZubxp83vpj79DOIiTyDijapmMfohg3qP7e2qFH3mjWRJXN8DZ5g/s2048/323786800_885567176019433_8075786495608719341_n.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1153" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Nv-569TR_5wszJkru9DCaItNDIqxWnE5Np3eZM4gP3slHVE9yvNYJD3rUbFvxT14FwwTV-lIethX95eRMx_NQeVGD8IV0GhUF4Dj4uRsRJxpbImIcsvmp_174fCAlTUZubxp83vpj79DOIiTyDijapmMfohg3qP7e2qFH3mjWRJXN8DZ5g/s400/323786800_885567176019433_8075786495608719341_n.jpg" /></a></div></div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-57261419590765769752022-12-26T13:04:00.003-06:002022-12-26T13:13:52.468-06:00Saint Stephen, deacons, and the poorToday, the feast of Saint Stephen, deacon and martyr, I’ve been reflecting on my ordination as a deacon on July 15, 2016.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX1mF5mlUjLZf99qbPBP4LDFFOVmVc1-eZ0M2WQvAp05gpmQlIljLRruu8z3Zx56ZLxtil4AEN1L0F-EhJjFvp65bwOknfq4qwNcIt9RGVoaB3Pp0zE8DTjmNZDMCGgGAD3hZhrduiHXYqWBv2Y2xAlZ-8TNv6h6FXmEsIaK9zJ3BP9AOy4A/s569/Fra%20AngelicoStephen.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="463" data-original-width="569" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX1mF5mlUjLZf99qbPBP4LDFFOVmVc1-eZ0M2WQvAp05gpmQlIljLRruu8z3Zx56ZLxtil4AEN1L0F-EhJjFvp65bwOknfq4qwNcIt9RGVoaB3Pp0zE8DTjmNZDMCGgGAD3hZhrduiHXYqWBv2Y2xAlZ-8TNv6h6FXmEsIaK9zJ3BP9AOy4A/s400/Fra%20AngelicoStephen.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Stephen, “a man filled with faith and the holy Spirit,” was the first among the seven “reputable men” chosen by the apostles to serve the Greek-speaking followers of Jesus who complained that “their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.”<div><br /></div><div>There are some scholars who say that these seven were not really “deacons.” Yet, the prayer of ordination of a deacon refers to the naming of seven men by the apostles, as narrated in Acts of the Apostles 6: 1-6.
I remember that day, as the bishop prayed:
<blockquote><i>en los comienzos de la Iglesia, los apóstoles de tu Hijo, movidos por el Espíritu Santo, eligieron siete hombres de buena fama, como auxiliares suyos en el servicio cotidiano, mediante la oración e imposición de manos, los dedicaron al servicio de los pobres, para poder entregarse ellos, con mayor empeño, a la oración y a la predicación de la palabra.</i> </blockquote><blockquote>
"in the beginning of the Church, the apostles of your Son, moved by the Holy Spirit, chose seven men with a good reputation, as helpers in the daily service; by means of prayer and the laying on of hands, they dedicated them to the service of the poor, so that they [as apostles] could devote themselves with greater commitment to prayer and the preaching of the Word." (<i>My translation</i>)
</blockquote>
Though I had read and prayed over the prayer before that day, when I heard the words “<i>los dedicaron al servicio de los pobres</i>,” my body shook. It was as if all that I was trying to do in my life here as a missionary and all that I had tried to live in my life before coming here was being confirmed and indeed “ordered” as a public witness and ministry with the People of God. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcwOfweliLK_6SRK666O2_w2rTSgRVQzp2ZWcJDuAG-CcacNky9jPnPb4zJX_7-HHVC_XxydLl207KEKXd_4QDc9a83BVQLv3zKTnAGrZF9ShgJfVqCAcl7HgVktGakrXDFk6wroPxv7Z8ya4Zhs8F0E-KrKNPYul5URRHwcDwk-a-dwr9Ow/s2272/Ordenacio%CC%81ndiaconal.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1704" data-original-width="2272" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcwOfweliLK_6SRK666O2_w2rTSgRVQzp2ZWcJDuAG-CcacNky9jPnPb4zJX_7-HHVC_XxydLl207KEKXd_4QDc9a83BVQLv3zKTnAGrZF9ShgJfVqCAcl7HgVktGakrXDFk6wroPxv7Z8ya4Zhs8F0E-KrKNPYul5URRHwcDwk-a-dwr9Ow/w400-h300/Ordenacio%CC%81ndiaconal.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The English translation of the prayer of consecration is slightly different: “the apostles entrusted to those chosen men the ministry of serving at tables.” For me, the Spanish version has a fuller meaning: we are called to be at the service of the poor. </div><div><br /></div><div>The poor are at the center of my diaconal ministry, as they have been at many times of my life before coming here to Honduras, as they have been part of my missionary calling here in Honduras since I arrived in 2007.</div><div><br /></div><div>I am convinced that being with the poor, at their side, serving them and accompanying them is central to who I am and to what I have been called. </div><div><br /></div><div>This past year, especially the last few weeks, I have been remiss in this – partly due to emotional pressures and, more recently, a series of colds. But I am convinced that we deacons ought to include this question as we examine our consciences: “When was the last time I was in the house of a poor person?” – more specifically, a physically poor person. </div><div><br /></div><div>It is good to be an advocate of the poor; it is good to minister to those who are poor emotionally or in terms of their faith. But I am convinced, partly by my experience, partly by the words and witness of Pope Francis, that Jesus calls us to be with those who are impoverished physically and that this is a special call for us deacons. </div><div><br /></div><div>In his Mass on December 24, Pope Francis noted:
<blockquote>"...let us remember that it is not truly Christmas without the poor. Without the poor, we can celebrate Christmas, but not the birth of Jesus. Dear brothers, dear sisters, at Christmas God is poor: let charity be reborn!"</blockquote>
In that homily, Pope Francis cited the sainted archbishop Óscar Romero, who on Christmas 1978 preached these challenging words:
<blockquote>“No one can celebrate an authentic Christmas unless they are truly poor. The self-sufficient, the proud of heart, those who despise others because they do not possess the material goods of this earth, those who do not need or want God --- for these people there is no Christmas. Only the poor, the hungry, and those who need someone to come to them because they have need of someone, someone who is God, someone who is Emmanuel, God-with-us --- only these people are able to celebrate Christmas. Without the spirit of poverty, one is unable to be filled with God.”</blockquote>
Toward the end of his homily, Pope Francis said:
<blockquote>"He who lay naked in the manger and hung naked on the cross, asks us for truth, he asks us to go to the bare reality of things, and to lay at the foot of the manger all our excuses, our justifications and our hypocrisies. Tenderly wrapped in swaddling clothes by Mary, he wants us to be clothed in love. God does not want appearances but concreteness. Brothers and sisters, may we not let this Christmas pass without doing something good. Since it is his celebration, his birthday, let us give him the gifts he finds pleasing! At Christmas, God is concrete: in his name let us help a little hope to be born anew in those who feel hopeless!"</blockquote>
I believe that we ordained deacons need to show the love of God for the poor concretely, being at their side, listening to them, making their cause our own, suffering with them.
This is not easy. It takes us out of our comfort zones. It takes us where we sometimes done want to go. It may even get us into trouble. </div><div><br /></div><div>But it is where our Lord Jesus, the Servant of Yahweh, is.
<blockquote>“For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake he became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich." (2 Corinthians 8:9)</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv8vl968PNNQiR4cA0GngnqOmdMEQ0YiKIYYjYhw7TgIVKeSDrtfFwOGaoXw0DsI0RwqRnMqvi01WlshiUQR3A_97LqidsGuhViKGEpd2oprWshLSGBcTNcgWx1GBA9KatGYfQUfIrZaI0GdmN4F7WiQNM6Zusf3vmLnSVUWst82Zg6rJhHw/s3648/DSC01088.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv8vl968PNNQiR4cA0GngnqOmdMEQ0YiKIYYjYhw7TgIVKeSDrtfFwOGaoXw0DsI0RwqRnMqvi01WlshiUQR3A_97LqidsGuhViKGEpd2oprWshLSGBcTNcgWx1GBA9KatGYfQUfIrZaI0GdmN4F7WiQNM6Zusf3vmLnSVUWst82Zg6rJhHw/w400-h300/DSC01088.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p> One extra reminder of all this came in the early hours of Christmas. Just back from our Christmas Mass (our midnight Mass that began at 10 pm), I was doing a little computer work when a message arrived from a young man I know from one of our parish villages, with a Christmas greeting. In the course of our messaging back and forth, I found out that he was at the El Paso/Ciudad Juárez border, hoping to cross the bridge and get legally into the US. Jesus among the migrants.</p><p><br /></p>
</div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-67383359344881360582022-12-22T21:00:00.003-06:002022-12-23T17:14:52.590-06:00Advent 2022This has been quite a different Advent for me.<div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjxbtXfrBz3VIwTdkwmhYZmAVnaIidz2Q9V3OnJ5tksI8ehJTxUblH44ZAX-2lKWG2-3hwgjdqMrwxDGjz7tXg7OyAU7vEHPtmpCjEWk0gg_c01ylZJmZ9BemVlAr7WduDayyZOwbV2FNKBGaBommzeNiwigL_gkSogG8rV_FgQXACguLWCg/s960/IMG_0671.JPG" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjxbtXfrBz3VIwTdkwmhYZmAVnaIidz2Q9V3OnJ5tksI8ehJTxUblH44ZAX-2lKWG2-3hwgjdqMrwxDGjz7tXg7OyAU7vEHPtmpCjEWk0gg_c01ylZJmZ9BemVlAr7WduDayyZOwbV2FNKBGaBommzeNiwigL_gkSogG8rV_FgQXACguLWCg/s400/IMG_0671.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apse mural, Dulce Nombre<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>
Advent began with the visit of the image of the Virgin of Suyapa in the parish. This year, the tiny image of the Virgin of Suyapa has been visiting all the dioceses of Honduras. The image arrived in our parish on Saturday, November 26.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidiocCceSnxtw8PB7bl0ug1d7EYSzFwqLinDElunzs0PjQnyvYMa1pDGRgOzNbBiTrL5vnM6KKIPiP_2cv_7ESrVTz4hST30vkGp7_4Ja39c4FCZMdrit-LO52VB2D7Jtjk1HJIrjof1UddaEyu8hLf7o0bvBs_qtpG-LX3h7Rs7x9dCYAFA/s3648/DSC02459.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidiocCceSnxtw8PB7bl0ug1d7EYSzFwqLinDElunzs0PjQnyvYMa1pDGRgOzNbBiTrL5vnM6KKIPiP_2cv_7ESrVTz4hST30vkGp7_4Ja39c4FCZMdrit-LO52VB2D7Jtjk1HJIrjof1UddaEyu8hLf7o0bvBs_qtpG-LX3h7Rs7x9dCYAFA/s400/DSC02459.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
After a visit to the church in Concepción, we celebrated with an all-night vigil in the parish auditorium, attended by more than 1000 people.
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I took a few breaks and fell asleep for a short time before Mass at midnight as well as in the early morning. We also had a Mass for the first Sunday of Advent in the parish at 9 am – at which I preached. <div><br /></div><div>That week, I had the first of five pre-marriage interviews I've had in the last four weeks. The couple first meets with the pastor and then has a twelve session formation with leaders in their villages. Before the marriage date is set, I meet with the couple and two witnesses. For me, it is an honor to be able to be present and to help them in their final stages of preparing for the sacrament of matrimony. </div><div><br /></div><div>That week, Sister Nancy Meyerhofer, a Dubuque Franciscan sister who is a good friend and has been here in Honduras for 16 or so years, came over for a short visit. We had a two hour long lunch and a long supper and many hours of talk. She was very much responsible for enabling me to be able to come here to work in the diocese in 2007. She and the other Dubuque Franciscans will be leaving Honduras next month, which will leave an empty space in Honduras and also for me.</div><div><br /></div><div>The second Sunday of Advent the parish received forty into the catechumenate, who, if they persevere, will be baptized in the Easter Vigil. I work with the catechists and so I was glad to see them there with the new catechumens who were between 14 and 40 years old. I talked with them before the Mass and then I went with them after the Homily for a reflection period. I had a chance to speak with a number of them and it was a joy to hear of their desire to be baptized. One catechist, from a village that has 9 catechumens. introduced me to two young men in their twenties who have learning difficulties; they were so enthusiastic that I could not help but feel the hand of God in all this. A day later reflecting on this I was filled with tears of joy. </div><div><br /></div><div>Since I had not been at a complete Mass that Sunday morning and hadn’t had the chance to receive Communion, I went to Mass that afternoon in Dolores and preached. </div><div><br /></div><div>Monday through Wednesday we had a diocesan assembly, evaluating and looking toward the future. I found myself often just hanging around, sometimes with the priests and lay people. The last day I was standing around with a number of people. They asked me how long I had been there in Honduras. When I said 15 years, they said that I was in one sense a Honduran – one even saying that I was more <i>catracho</i> [Honduran] than <i>gringo</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Also, a number of them from the southern part of the diocese talked with me about Father Beto Gallagher, a US Capuchin priest who worked there for several years. (I wrote about him in part of the past found <a href="https://hermanojuancito.blogspot.com/2012/05/accompanying-caritas-workshops.html" target="_blank">here</a>.) He is buried in the church in San Marcos Ocotepeque. I find myself humbled and graced that I remind them of him. He was a priest who was really with the people. One man told how if Frey Beto was in a meeting and someone arrived and there were no chairs, he would give up his chair and sit on the floor. He was my type of missionary. </div><div><br /></div><div>Friday, I had a meeting for new catechists. The attendance was low, probably because many are working in the coffee harvest. Picking coffee is one of the few ways that many people in the countryside have to earn cash. I completely understand their absence. </div><div><br /></div><div>I used this session to help the new catechists understand the Mass. Previous sessions for the new catechists have included discussion of Baptism, grace and sin, and the Bible. The new catechists also are expected to attend the meetings every other month for all the catechists. In this way, I hope that they will be ready in about two years. </div><div><br /></div><div>Saturday, there was a get-together of people from the deanery in a rural ecotourism center outside of Corquín, which featured animals, including crocodiles.
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What was most interesting was the road to the center, which was by a river that had been diverted by the hurricanes of November 2020.
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The third Sunday of Advent I went to the early Mass in Dulce Nombre, where I preached again. Our pastor, Padre German Navarro, is very open to having me preach, which is a blessing that many deacons don't have. I think it is also a chance for him to rest, since he usually has four or five Masses each Sunday in different parts of the parish.</div><div><br /></div><div>I had been invited to attend the middle school graduation of the students in the IHER program in Dulce Nombre on Sunday afternoon. The student listen to radio programs during the week, fill out a work book, and have classes on Saturdays and Sundays. I was glad to see so many young people, including some I know, continuing to study after sixth grade, since most rural villages only have elementary schools. This program is an alternative to classes on Mondays through Fridays, which would be difficult for many from rural villages. About 150 students receive partial scholarships each year, thanks to our sister parish, St. Thomas Aquinas in Ames.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWLntklZZpBd6lRbVOTyWfVy5_9k2FYwnBokWE7XuQYe7EHAW-t5dN8gu4RS6GgkZSbE5f7v6dqcENOuuCReXHL-5ZqJpLKENsGbkiBWJAq5OpWkKkZWomAN8polaIcZOPQ1nnnMahfz4cPsi9iZTdhq5fyC7bv4nYy6wAafczt_Pxd8Pxuw/s3648/DSC02511.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWLntklZZpBd6lRbVOTyWfVy5_9k2FYwnBokWE7XuQYe7EHAW-t5dN8gu4RS6GgkZSbE5f7v6dqcENOuuCReXHL-5ZqJpLKENsGbkiBWJAq5OpWkKkZWomAN8polaIcZOPQ1nnnMahfz4cPsi9iZTdhq5fyC7bv4nYy6wAafczt_Pxd8Pxuw/s400/DSC02511.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><div>Monday there was Mass for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the small village of Torreras. Lo and behold, the Mass was held in the home of one of those who had graduated in Dulce Nombre the day before!</div><div><br /></div>
That Tuesday two good friends from Central Iowa, Gary and Nancy Guthrie, arrived and I picked them up at the airport. </div><div><br /></div><div>They had come mostly for a meeting of the Central American associates of the Dubuque Franciscans. They are associates in the US and it was good to have them here to know the Central American associates, who come from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. </div><div><br /></div><div>Gary and Nancy have been here before and speak Spanish (having been volunteers with the Mennonite Volunteers in Bolivia and El Salvador in the 1980s.) We had a great visit – mostly talking and eating a few simple meals before and after the meeting. They even got a chance to work a few hours on the parish coffee fields. I didn't get a picture of them, but here's my pickup loaded with people who helped with the coffee picking, going back to their villages.</div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi65wnR-lDhfNK7sTd8WZqiNa6mt2D233z9WfbqD3tw9HsA6PCcXd3KPw8wU6-5sS9lsXhpRPYtcW6hp-7vQ2Jza70GVklCE-KzMyITCVav6dYax1JvClzZ_GwcI_0wdTV3ke60hP4_myQZatqmgN301Aa8lDvGf3_rJgttFRohJS882g3P5g/s3648/DSC02518.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi65wnR-lDhfNK7sTd8WZqiNa6mt2D233z9WfbqD3tw9HsA6PCcXd3KPw8wU6-5sS9lsXhpRPYtcW6hp-7vQ2Jza70GVklCE-KzMyITCVav6dYax1JvClzZ_GwcI_0wdTV3ke60hP4_myQZatqmgN301Aa8lDvGf3_rJgttFRohJS882g3P5g/s400/DSC02518.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>Monday, their last night here, we went out to the El Zapote coffee association’s buildings and watched the machines at work.</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4CfMi3sSGR4ehxZmIaVByNXnKX6LnJpaLrQTBIQP8fNpqc3TiRuydMwSjdCF3-1P-E21oe5rudpQ-gf-VO_sAsWTRkrWlXBAYrS65dCIg0PWD5sF7pwJ3HLpqv_4DEVEAP0oP35nk8H0A6zICdcgs8VpVWi9sOHZUxnh9tBTGfJrGHNxbsg/s3648/DSC02628.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4CfMi3sSGR4ehxZmIaVByNXnKX6LnJpaLrQTBIQP8fNpqc3TiRuydMwSjdCF3-1P-E21oe5rudpQ-gf-VO_sAsWTRkrWlXBAYrS65dCIg0PWD5sF7pwJ3HLpqv_4DEVEAP0oP35nk8H0A6zICdcgs8VpVWi9sOHZUxnh9tBTGfJrGHNxbsg/s400/DSC02628.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZYlzbt9sYmcJmpKMBfaQvRGMSmUj_MyTFf-BoC9QGeBUqnKFSNW_3JH735XaRJAqTCf5Ih5UrVSayy2-MmVxjyyuCfw_U4Yqsn1rxJIvEVlXo-WvE24SNJGeOJqVqtgMzIgiD377YLRZjWzYPp03-n82GyEnhSqnaMzcKP7Z2-SS80w8zIg/s400/DSC02645.JPG" width="400" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikfABiGhC4R2tLSr7vkw51imoRyP6bEemklzpK5L2N97AfVL6I9J6-AcLKsMYrQZJsV3S5TXHHJU_az0b-4cs8m_aFsTLpvRvhDSeJuJpngfDdWNXE3tl9hpzNx5MYV8GUVwjVq81xSc8uPe3v83xurly8lutLyQZDQW9GYbD_ipsWIA6Swg/s3648/DSC02633.JPG" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikfABiGhC4R2tLSr7vkw51imoRyP6bEemklzpK5L2N97AfVL6I9J6-AcLKsMYrQZJsV3S5TXHHJU_az0b-4cs8m_aFsTLpvRvhDSeJuJpngfDdWNXE3tl9hpzNx5MYV8GUVwjVq81xSc8uPe3v83xurly8lutLyQZDQW9GYbD_ipsWIA6Swg/s400/DSC02633.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
The meeting of the associates was a good time to get to know a bit more the other Central American associates. Since the sisters are leaving, we have to find our way to live out the Franciscan charism and to keep a relationship with the sisters. This will be a challenge and we all have to work on this.</div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1gw9HgqRlmZVFDu9_QisiBjbwX8Z7Db5TK01CUASwR-I3xwBRNwl3AZ2zFPg7HTKwi8m3o3e2VJMQOzPZUbidaMfnb8rfcLApGRFJBQz6DmfDFadnaME3x7rJBRw7Jkmd2zp_VoXQKmTU3-8kkojDsB5NPoxevmU8vcbwRD0OraFfNvwcZw/s3648/DSC02563.jpeg" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1gw9HgqRlmZVFDu9_QisiBjbwX8Z7Db5TK01CUASwR-I3xwBRNwl3AZ2zFPg7HTKwi8m3o3e2VJMQOzPZUbidaMfnb8rfcLApGRFJBQz6DmfDFadnaME3x7rJBRw7Jkmd2zp_VoXQKmTU3-8kkojDsB5NPoxevmU8vcbwRD0OraFfNvwcZw/s400/DSC02563.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sisters and associates</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOGCLex9dJJBmkJR8W7CoAvGxKmkl-6Eo1d6126cOhuWO9yBE9SDWJS-gYBXIzb8OQQfsK12zvJdg19iVBvXg4UlkxJLIQI72wjNgMwjWEkj6iVIfOVRt3seDtfiQxlDtE0Tribz9XfxkuheWKE2X8-3RZrk9q3coR6KwHyZcwKzcc8UNuAg/s3648/DSC02600.jpeg" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOGCLex9dJJBmkJR8W7CoAvGxKmkl-6Eo1d6126cOhuWO9yBE9SDWJS-gYBXIzb8OQQfsK12zvJdg19iVBvXg4UlkxJLIQI72wjNgMwjWEkj6iVIfOVRt3seDtfiQxlDtE0Tribz9XfxkuheWKE2X8-3RZrk9q3coR6KwHyZcwKzcc8UNuAg/s400/DSC02600.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Padre Loncho celebrated Mass (and I served as deacon)</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1o7z8LWDX806wWde3fiwmL95aACP0pgyh6dXPzX5djTEEYl55g_yzvBW8RKI_q--gNPc9PXPxzwu021FwbjVUnxWHzTIgptvYVLgJllsWy17z6r7A926qcAjGgMx3xHcH274hvaxtlm69UUeqBU6EWVgoJZzvsWDilU-h-F65wLMPxD8N3g/s3648/DSC02618.JPG" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1o7z8LWDX806wWde3fiwmL95aACP0pgyh6dXPzX5djTEEYl55g_yzvBW8RKI_q--gNPc9PXPxzwu021FwbjVUnxWHzTIgptvYVLgJllsWy17z6r7A926qcAjGgMx3xHcH274hvaxtlm69UUeqBU6EWVgoJZzvsWDilU-h-F65wLMPxD8N3g/s400/DSC02618.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sister Brenda Whetstone who was visiting sharing bowls with Gary and Nancy.</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGege4e50gikiColy3sbXXmcntaVDN4AXGc-8Zx7BptGmj0RLrNe1giJH40l8Gjy9dNIdGgx7Q7hMzCC7_pH_GyWh6TgDijd9R9g3O2_hj8w3nzbGJHdGAUbjAg9BdJTcDwYW3FJyMJLZTv24KguoRhoJUyXlEFnYfpXwim1_wSyJbyWTRgw/s3648/DSC02610.JPG" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGege4e50gikiColy3sbXXmcntaVDN4AXGc-8Zx7BptGmj0RLrNe1giJH40l8Gjy9dNIdGgx7Q7hMzCC7_pH_GyWh6TgDijd9R9g3O2_hj8w3nzbGJHdGAUbjAg9BdJTcDwYW3FJyMJLZTv24KguoRhoJUyXlEFnYfpXwim1_wSyJbyWTRgw/s400/DSC02610.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New associates with Sister Pat Farrell<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>
On Monday, I made a visit to the parish center to talk with a muralist who is there to paint ten images of American saints in the church (above the columns in the nave.) These are the saints we plan to commemorate: Saint Martín de Porres, Santo Hermano Pedro de San José Betancourt, San Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin , Santa Kateri Tekakwitha, Santa Dulce Pontes, San Francisco Solano, San Toribio Romo González, San José Sánchez del Río, San Pedro Claver, and Santa Nazaria Ignacia March Mesa. (How many can you identify?) It was hard to make the choices and we didn’t include the many blessed from the Americas. We hope this helps people recognize sanctity in our continent.</div><div><br /></div><div>Wednesday, after leaving Gary and Nancy at the San Pedro Sula airport on Tuesday, I met with a urologist in San Pedro and tried to make an appointment for a test in January.</div><div><br /></div><div>On a personal level, I’ve had bronchitis and then a bad cold. Not fun. As a result, I haven’t got out to visit the sick. </div><div><br /></div><div> Tomorrow, there is a get together for the clergy of the diocese. </div><div><br /></div><div> In some ways this has not felt like Advent – and I don’t feel ready for Christmas. But it ‘s coming. </div><div><br /></div><div>Saturday Christmas eve, I’ll spend the morning and early afternoon baking – making cinnamon rolls and more.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then, I’ll be at a 6 pm Mass with baptisms in Plan Grande. I’ll also go to Dulce Nombre for the 10:00 pm "Midnight" Mass, which has been a custom.
Christmas morning I’ve been invited to a community for a Celebration of the Word with Communion.</div><div><br /></div><div>After that, I’ll head to La Entrada for the traditional Christmas lunch with the Dubuque Franciscan sisters. For me, it will be bitter-sweet since It’s the last time I’ll be at a holiday meal with the sisters. </div><div><br /></div><div>The week after Christmas I have two commitments, one will be working with several priests to develop materials for the weekly meeting of the base communities. But I’m hoping to take it easy, cleaning the house, preparing for the new year, and catching up on reading and correspondence. </div><div><br /></div><div>In the meantime, I ask you for your prayers for our parish and for me. I pray that your lives may be filled with hope. May <b>God-with-us</b> bless all of you who have read this.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30408888.post-57850984914817953282022-12-05T11:53:00.003-06:002022-12-05T11:53:19.566-06:00Forty catechumens in Dulce NombreSunday, December 4, our parish celebrated the Rite of Entry into the Catechumenate for forty persons, between 14 and 40 some years old.<div><br /></div><div>We usually celebrate the Rite on the first Sunday of Advent, but this year our parish hosted the image of the Virgin of Suyapa from noon Saturday, November 26, to about noon Sunday.
I need to write and post photos on the visit of the Virgin of Suyapa as well as the celebration of the feast of Christ the King on the previous Sunday, November 20.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have no photos from the Rite of Entry into the Catechumenate since I was in the middle of seeing to the details (and ended up preaching).</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRablyVgfGN51HwahzjBrff1iDDCJ1rNrP_aGuNvc42tXic4Hk6ukvFszCIaMed1Q1zX2yR43aDVRmTjpFcuogjnKF8BiSd8CqzRd81Zp0gdSc5_GL-eixZS-DZ0el7oGeBECPFnVUYAF8uwbItU9_medDopxEM-E3gNHLOxDmtdpzvvdJOA/s4896/DSC02052.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4896" data-original-width="3672" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRablyVgfGN51HwahzjBrff1iDDCJ1rNrP_aGuNvc42tXic4Hk6ukvFszCIaMed1Q1zX2yR43aDVRmTjpFcuogjnKF8BiSd8CqzRd81Zp0gdSc5_GL-eixZS-DZ0el7oGeBECPFnVUYAF8uwbItU9_medDopxEM-E3gNHLOxDmtdpzvvdJOA/w300-h400/DSC02052.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>This morning, Monday, I was moved close to tears remembering the rite.</div><div><br /></div><div>Before and after Mass, I had a chance to meet some of the new catechumens as well as their catechists. I talked with one 28-year-old who is single and is preparing for his baptism. There are other young men and women in their twenties and thirties preparing for baptism, though the majority are between 14 and 18. I also talked with two young men in their twenties who are intellectually disabled; they were full of enthusiasm, and we talked a bit about their lives – with the catechist of their village.</div><div><br /></div><div>After the rite and the Liturgy of the Word, I went with the catechumens when they were dismissed so that we could do some reflection together.</div><div><br /></div><div>Even though they were not very talkative, I found it a moving experience. The willingness of all these women and men to commit themselves gives me hope.
There is one part of the rite that touches me deeply – the signing of the senses with the sign of the cross. The catechumen is signed on the forehead, the ears, the eyes, the mouth, the heart, the shoulders, the hands, and the feet. (Although the signing of the feet is not found in the Mexican rite, I have added it, using the formulas found in the Spanish-language rite from the US.)
While the hands are being signed, the priest prays:
<blockquote>Reciban la señal de la cruz en las manos,
para que Cristo sea conocido por el trabajo que hagan. </blockquote><blockquote>Receive the sign of the Cross on your hands
so that Christ many be known by the work you do.</blockquote>
As Padre German introduced the signing of the hands, he mentioned that the catechumens’ hands were mostly rough from hard labor.</div><div><br /></div><div>When I was with them after the dismissal, I mentioned that their fingers were probably stained by the coffee berries that they had been picking in the coffee harvest (which began a few weeks ago).</div><div><br /></div><div>For me and for Padre German, the signing of the hands of a manual laborer are a sign of the holiness of daily work with one’s hands. What a way to affirm the dignity of the work of these poor women, men, and young people. </div><div><br /></div><div>I am reminded of a quote of Saint Charles de Foucauld which I recently read in Little Sister Cathy Wright’s <i>Saint Charles de Foucauld</i>:
<blockquote>"Have the greatest regard for the most humble and littlest of our brothers.... Let us mingle with them, be one of them. Woe to the one who, out of foolish pride, would look down on those to whom God has given the highest place. He descended in his incarnation, descended in becoming poor...in always taking the last place." </blockquote>
In a world that looks down on those who are poor and work with their hands, the signing of the hands reminds us of a God who also worked with his hands and works through ours.</div><div><br /></div><div>The other part of the rite of signing which touches me is the signing of the feet. </div><div><br /></div><div>As I mentioned, this is not in the Mexican ritual but I added it from the US ritual, because I think it is one of the most significant of the signings.
The sponsors go down on their knees and sign the feet of the catechumens. The sponsor is there to serve, to be a sign of a God who washed the feet of his disciples. It is a real sign of what being a Christian is. </div><div><br /></div><div>The priest prays:
<blockquote>Reciban la señal de la cruz en los pies,
para que puedan caminar siguiendo a Cristo.
Receive the sign of the Cross on your feet,
so that you can walk, following Christ.</blockquote>
In a society that does not value the poor, the young, the disabled, kneeling before them is the beginning of a new way of being – living as the Body of Christ.</div><div><br /></div><div>Today, I am off to the diocesan annual planning meeting. I hope that the witness of the new catechumens sustains us in our journey. It will definitely sustain and challenge me.
</div><div><br /></div>John (Juancito) Donaghyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12711543214465586727noreply@blogger.com0