An Ignatian contemplation of the Easter Vigil

Yesterday, at the end of the retreat with those who will be baptized at the Easer Vigil, I briefly explained the Vigil liturgy. 

2015

THE LITURGY OF THE LIGHT 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.

THE LITURGY OF THE WORD will follow with all the readings, with sung responses, culminating with the Gospel of the Resurrection.

THE LITURGY OF BAPTISM 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. 

THE LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST will follow with the first communion of the newly baptized. 

I didn’t try to explain everything because I wanted them to be surprised, delighted, awed by what we are experiencing in the Vigil. 

2014

But I did tell them to pay attention. I told them to be attentive with their whole being, to be especially attentive to their feelings. 

I used the questions suggested by Saint Ignatius: 

What do I see?

What do I hear?

What do I smell?

What do I taste?

What do I feel – with my body and with my spirit? 

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.

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.

What do I see in the Vigil? The Easter Fire, the Paschal Candle, the gathering space illuminated with the lighted candles of the faithful, and more.

What do I hear? The crackling of the fire, the Exultet, the readings, the songs, the Alleluia, and more. 

What do I smell? The burning wood and candles, the aromatic Chrism, and more. 

What do I taste? The Body and Blood of Christ, and more.

What do I feel? 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.

What do I sense with my spirit? A beginning, a new life, and more, especially the presence of God.

Simone Weil once wrote that. “[the] faculty of attention […when] directed toward God, is the very substance of prayer.” 

 I pray that those to be baptized and I may be attentive to God at the Vigil and throughout our lives.

Preparing the catechumens for the Easter Vigil

Yesterday we had a retreat for those who will be baptized in the Easter Vigil together with their godparents.

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.

Since I am trying to conserve my energy, I asked one of the Oblatas al Divino Amor (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.)

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. 

I also led the community in the rite of anointing the elect with the oil of the catechumens.

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.

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.

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. 

There is also a year-long baptismal preparation for children between 7 and 13, with all the formation done in the villages.

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.

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.

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.)

I am looking forward to the Easter Vigil – which is quite the liturgy here. (I include some photos from previous Easter Vigils.) 

We’ll begin with the blessing of the Easter Fire and the Paschal Candle, followed by a procession to the church.

2016

2019

This year, as last year, we’ll hold the vigil in our auditorium since not all those present will fit into the church.

2022

When we arrive at the vigil site, we’ll pray the Easter Song of the Exultet. If I am up to it, I’ll try to chant it.

After this, we’ll have all the readings with the sung responses.

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.

2023

After the baptisms, Father German will confirm those over eighteen.

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.

One tradition here is that those receiving their first Communion, gather around the altar with a lit candle during the Eucharistic Prayer.

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! 

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!

After the Easter Vigil liturgy, which will last at least five hours, there will be tamales and ticucos, as a way to celebrate together.

I look forward to the Vigil and hope and pray that I have the strength for the entire Vigil. 

I will take Sunday off, celebrating the Resurrection in the quiet of my home and garden. 

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.”

Life and death - Holy Week and Easter

This was a strange Holy Week for me. 

Perhaps this flowering rose bush is a good symbol. The bush has almost died a few times and has been devastated a few times by sompopos (cutter ants who eat all the leaves).But this year it bloomed with multiple roses on a single branch - the first time it has done this so extravagantly.

Last year I spent Holy Week as a hermit, alone at home. 

This year there are some activities, but we are trying to avoid major concentrations of people and urging people to take health safeguards. 

For many years we began Holy Week with a parish-wide stations of the Cross in Dulce Nombre on the Friday before Holy Week, traditionally celebrated in honor of Our Mother of Sorrows. Most years I wrote the Stations, usually with a specific local concern in mind. The texts were photocopied for the use of people in their villages on Good Friday. To avoid major concentrations of people, we cancelled this year’s parish Stations. 

Because we often had a number of catechumens baptized at the Easter Vigil, we usually had only one parish-wide vigil. This year there will be Vigil celebrations in many communities. The Dulce Nombre Vigil was smaller, since only people from a few communities will be invited. Fernando, a transitional deacon in our parish, led a celebration in San Agustín and I went to Vertientes for a Vigil with them and the nearby community of San José El Bosque. 

But there is more to the ministry of a deacon in Holy Week – and throughout the year. 

For me Holy Week began on the Saturday before Palm Sunday, helping guide a geologist and a civil engineer in the community of San Marcos Pavas, which suffered serious damages during the hurricanes last year.

The two men in their thirties (the guys in straw hats in the first photo) came from Santa Rosa and spent almost five hours going through the community and examining the terrain and the houses. Several community members accompanied them, showing them what had happened and giving a little history, since there have been problems of landslides and sinking soil for many years. 

 

The geologist will make a report that he’ll share with the community so that they can send it to various public authorities and other institutions to see what can be done to stabilize the situation of the community. 

It was a long and hot day, with lots of walking, and I forgot my hat. So, I found myself over-tired. 

Palm Sunday 

I went to Dulce Nombre to participate in the Palm Sunday procession and Mass. After Mass we sent about 14 parishioners as missionaries in several communities in the parish.

Monday, after getting the car washed in Dulce Nombre, I went to get some items in Santa Rosa de Copán. In the afternoon I went to Debajiados to preside at a Celebration of the end of the novenario for the young woman who died there and whom I mentioned in an earlier blog post. 

The custom here is to have nine days of prayer in the home after the death of a family member. The people often request a Mass at the end of the novenario, especially if they were not able to have a funeral Mass. Padre German couldn’t make it to the community for the Mass at the end of the novenario and so I went.

A small crowd gathered in the church. I used the daily readings, partly because it was Holy Week and partly because it was the Gospel of Mary of Bethany anointing Jesus. In think that like Mary, Maria Maricela was full of love and enthusiasm for her Lord.

the church in Debajiados 

Tuesday, I went to San Antonio Alto. 

In the morning we had the Lenten retreat It wasn’t well attended, partly because many people are still harvesting coffee in the fields. After the retreat, I went and visited the sick – eleven persons in a small village. I’ve gone there several times to visit the sick but there were never this many. 

I tried not to rush the visits, because it’s important to talk with them, to see how they are doing. I had decided to use the first verse of the Holy Thursday Gospel with them, to help them see the love that God has for them, accompanying them in their sickness.

He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.

Wednesday, I went to Granadillal. Again, I led the retreat in the morning and visited the sick afterwards. There were only two houses to visit, though I spent some time talking with a catechist about two persons with mental health problems. Thank God there is a psychiatrist who is willing to help these and other persons with serious problems. 

Thursday, one of the diocesan Chrism Masses was held in Santa Rosa de Copán. Many of the priests from this part of the diocese were there as well as the three transitional deacons who will be ordained to the presbyterate on May 1. 

Part of the Mass is procession of the oils at the offertory. The oils are brought to the bishop and then one of the deacons takes them to the table where they would later be blessed or consecrated. I ended up taking the Oil of the Sick, which seemed so fitting after visiting so many suffering people this week. 

In the afternoon, I presided at a Celebration of the Word with Communion in Concepción and later in the evening at Plan Grande. Washing the feet of the people is such a privilege. One of the persons whose foot I washed in Concepción is an older man who always walks around barefoot. His and others are not feet that are cushioned by good footwear. Many have rough feet as well as bunions caused by inadequate shoes. I caressed their feet with gentleness. I recalled this icon which I used on the prayer card for my ordination.

Good Friday, it was raining and so I didn’t go out to the Stations here in Plan Grande in the morning. I also felt a need for some quiet reflection. 

I was planning to go to Plan de Naranjo in the afternoon for the Celebration of the Office of the Passion. A half hour before I planned to leave, I got a phone call from someone there, advising me not to come since the roads were slippery with all the rain. I was glad that they called me because I was a bit concerned, remembering how slippery it was the last time I went there.

I ended up at the celebration in Dulce Nombre. This was the first time as a deacon that I served at a parish Good Friday liturgy. Usually, I’ve gone to remote villages that don’t have a Communion minister. I was moved, especially seeing the newly restored crucifix that belonged to Padre Juan Gennaro, the Italian missionary who built the church.

Holy Saturday, I spent at home, cleaning and baking. I made bread and cinnamon rolls to share with the Franciscan sisters at lunch on Easter in La Entrada. I also made enough cinnamon rolls to share some with the pastor who asked me for some.

EASTER VIGIL 

Saturday evening I presided at the Easter Vigil in Vertientes, which included participation from other nearby communities. We decided to celebrate in the unfinished church and so they put in some provisional lighting. The large church was filled!

We began in darkness outside the church with a great Easter Fire. Then we entered and proceeded with the Vigil. We didn’t use all the Old Testament readings but this let us have a careful reading of the creation and exodus passages. (I also could get home before 9:30 pm).

The planners did an excellent job with the liturgy and it was a time of rebirth.

Easter Sunday for me began with a Mass in Dulce Nombre. We welcomed back the missionaries who had spent the week in several communities. 

I ended up preaching. The liturgy was recorded by a local channel and I checked out my homily – with my grammatical errors at the end. The surprise – it was almost exactly 7 minutes.

After the Mass, I hurried to La Entrada for lunch with the Dubuque Franciscan Sisters and an associate who lives across from their house in Gracias. It was good to be with them, to share good food (including vegetarian quiche and pecan pie), and to catch up on life. I was quite tired and so I left earlier than the others. 

Easter Monday 

I intended to spend Monday as a day of rest. I got up late, spent a lot of time praying, and was about to begin doing some chores around the house as well as catch up on reading. Then I got a call. 

Cristina from Las Pavas couldn’t get through to the pastor and so tried me. She wanted to know if there were provisions to help a family that had suffered the death of a family member and would need some food for the all-night vigil as well as for the novenario. 

Providing food is an important part of the experience of sitting with those who have died and with their families. I arranged to get the food and proceeded there, only to find people outside the church, with several police cars. 

I soon learned that Carlos Arturo, 36 years old and suffering from epilepsy, had been killed and his body still lay in the coffee field across from the church. 

I found the mother and a brother of the murder victim and prayed with them. Later I approached the field and saw the body covered by a plastic tablecloth. I prayed and blessed the body. I spent a few hours there, speaking with people. 

More police came in about an hour to examine the site where the body was found as well as make an initial examination of the body. 

The carried the body up the hill and placed it on the ground outside the church. People gathered around.

It was not easy to watch, as they examined the four machete wounds. I can’t imagine how hard it was for the family. 

Then they took the body to the morgue in Santa Rosa de Copán and told the family they could come and get the body the next day. 

I stayed for a while and agreed to come the following morning to take some folks to bring the body back to Las Pavas. 

EASTER TUESDAY 

Tuesday was a long day – an hour from my house to get to Las Pavas and then two hours to the morgue in Santa Rosa. We were about three hours waiting at the morgue, though I went with a school teacher from Las Pavas to get lunch for those who came. Before we got lunch, she invited me to have a cup of coffee in a coffee with another woman from Las Pavas.

We got back to Las Pavas late in the afternoon. 

They had planned to wake the body – an all-night vigil, in the family home. The road was slippery from the rain and so they carried the body down the hill. 

I had visited the parents last year before the pandemic, bringing them communion, but I hardly recognized the father who had had a stroke and couldn’t speak. But when he saw me, he came up to me and I put my arm around him. We stood there for quite some time. I did not know how to comfort him – a few words, but most of all he rested his head on my shoulder.

Before I left, we had a short prayer around the casket, commending Carlos Arturo to God. The pastor is away, and I couldn’t return for the burial Wednesday morning since I had a catechists meeting. With a sad heart, I left. I’m hoping that the pastor can get to Las Pavas for a Mass at the end of the novenario. 

Wednesday I rested after the catechists meeting here in Plan Grande. Two of the catechists arrived early and so I showed them my garden, where they insisted on taking a few photos.

Today, Thursday, I intended to go to Santa Rosa for some supplies but I got a call from the parish secretary asking if I could preside at a funeral service at 1 pm this afternoon. Tomorrow, I have two couples who will be coming to the parish for the final pre-marriage interview. Life goes on and there are new beginnings, even in the face of death. And there are the surprises of flowering roses from bushes that seemed dead.

After Easter Sunday

Today, Easter Monday, I’m trying to recoup my energies after a good, but busy, Paschal Triduum – Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday.

Saturday we started the Easter Vigil at 5:30 pm about three blocks from the church. Padre German had asked me to give a short reflection on the theme inscribed on the Paschal Candle. Then we lit the Paschal Candle from the New Fire.

After we walked to the church we gathered outside in the park. I began by singing the Exultet, the Easter Proclamation. I didn’t do too badly, but I don’t think too many noticed it my errors. Then we had all the readings with sung psalm responses.

After the homily we had the baptisms of about forty, mostly young, people. It was a bit of a mob scene since they were baptized in the midst of the crowd (to avoid water flowing on the wires of the sound system). I had the job of transporting water from the font to the place of baptism.

What impressed me was the large number of young men – from sixteen to the early twenties – who were baptized. I had met a number of them, mostly when I went for the Scrutinies in three villages during Lent. I felt very hopeful seeing so many young men.

The Vigil ended about 10:30 pm, followed with tamales for everyone. 

I got home way after 11 pm and didn’t get to sleep until after midnight. Then up about 5 (to bak bread to take with me to lunch in the afternoon.)

Sunday morning I went to Debajiados, a poor remote village, for a 9 am Celebration of the Word with Communion. I have a deep place in my heart for this village. It was a most appropriate place to celebrate Easter.

Until about seven years ago they had no pastoral presence. Suddenly one woman was experienced what she described as visits of the Virgin Mary with requests for people to come together and pray. Padre Efraín, the pastor at that time, sent me to talk with the woman. I found her a very simple, honest woman, without pretensions; though some aspects of what she told me seemed a bit odd, I could not deny her experience. Whether it was an apparition of Mary or a projection of this woman's desire for a presence of the church in the village is beyond me. But the results tell a story of grace.

Soon after we began to visit the village regularly, the visits of the Virgin stopped. Since then the life of faith has grown. They have several catechists and regular Sunday Celebrations of the Word led by a local Delegate of the Word. The life of faith has experienced a resurrection there. It was a great place to celebrate the Risen Lord. 

I’ve gone there for Good Friday twice before and I was there for a Mass on their feast day, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, last July – the day after my ordination as a permanent deacon.

While there in July I and a visitor, Phil, went with Juan Ángel, a thirty-one-year old catechist, and his oldest son, Ever, to bring communion to his parents who lived quite a distance away from the church. It was a great way to celebrate being a deacon.

Juan Ángel, who was also preparing to become an extraordinary minister of Communion, died of pneumonia in September. The community came together to help the widow and her four children, including arranging to get them rights to the land where their house was.

In my homily on Easter, I spoke of the mystery of Easter, where the apparent failure of Good Friday is transformed into the victory of love of the risen Jesus.

I mentioned several ways how, in the midst of pain and suffering, we can find the victory of love of the Risen Jesus. I started to mention Juan Ángel and I filled up with tears and couldn’t speak. I finally was able to say, in the presence of his widow and children, how even though he has died his life is bearing fruit in the community.

After the Celebration, I stood around for a few minutes as several musicians sang two songs of the resurrection in a very popular, traditional style. You can find one of them here on You Tube

Then I visited and brought communion to a lucid, but weak, ninety-five-year old man.

Then I was off to Gracias, Lempira, to have lunch with the Dubuque Franciscan sisters. I arrived late, as they were finishing dessert – with the local pastor and a neighbor. What a way to refresh my body (with great food) and my spirit (with great conversation.)

I got home about 6:30 pm – tired from too little sleep and lots of driving in the past week. A little to eat, prayer, a glass of wine, and bed.

Where to look for the living God?

Last night I joined the parish community in Dulce Nombre for the Easter Vigil.

In his homily Padre German noted the question in the Gospel of the two young men at the tomb: “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” That question is guiding my reflection this morning.

Since I was involved in various aspects of the liturgy I found myself distracted – making sure that the readers were ready and that things went smoothly, providing the right places in the books for Padre German and the various readers. As we began the service I also found myself on the verge of responding all too brusquely to all the questions that were coming at me with a zillion questions and requests. 

There were a few glitches – for example, when two readers didn’t show up at the last minute (though they had been in the service earlier.) I’m learning to roll with the punches – I read one scripture reading and I asked one of the sisters to read the other.

There were 23 baptisms and two who were formally accepted into the church. 

One of the joys was seeing Adonay whom I had first met when I visited San Juan in November 2007. He was a curious first grader who picked up my Liturgia de las Horas  and started reading it. Last night he was baptized. 

I had asked two catechists to recommend two of the baptized to read the Prayers of the Faithful. Adonay was one of them. I was pleasantly surprised that both he and the other young woman read the petitions with great gusto.

The vigil began about 7 pm at the football field on the road to Concepción with the Easter bonfire! Padre German had asked me to do a short introduction, in which I recalled that the women and apostles experienced Holy Saturday as a day of darkness. We too an our world experience darkness – death, hunger, killings, insecurity, violence, and more. But the fire is a sign that Christ, our Light, illumines the darkness. But the mystery of the fire is that we can spread the light, being signs of the mystery that death is not the final word, that Christ has conquered death.

 

We then walked in procession to the church – about an hour walk. By the cemetery we stopped so that people could light their candles from the flames of the Easter Candle. 

In church, the readings, the baptisms, and the Eucharist didn’t seem to be long – though we didn’t end until 12:30 am.

People had come from various parts of the parish to celebrate. My guess is that most of the people in the church were not from the town of Dulce Nombre but had come in from the villages. Driving home I saw a pick up full of people (way over the legal limit of people in the bed of the truck!) What a willingness to come and celebrate.

Earlier Saturday I received a call from a leader in San Antonio El Alto who apologized that they would not get to the Easter Vigil. A young man in their community had died on Friday in a drowning accident and they had spent Friday night in vigil with the family. They had experienced the pain and desolation of Good Friday. I reassured them that they need not come the hour-long journey in car for the Vigil but that what they had done was important. I urged them to meet and listen to the Easter Vigil readings.

This morning, baking bread, I’m getting ready to go with Communion to Delicias Concepción for the morning Celebration of the Word. It will be good to be with these people on the side of a mountain, celebrating a living God.

After the celebration I am going to La Entrada for lunch with the Dubuque Franciscan sisters who are pretty much a family for me here.

The Lord is risen – and we can find him in the prayers and lives of God’s people – especially the poor.

We can find Him in the pain of a community that mourns the drowning of a young man but had come together to provide solace to the family.

We can find Him in the young men and women who made the commitment of their baptism.

We can find Him in the coming together for prayer and for Communion – letting the Bread of Life shine in their hearts.

We can find Him in the midst of the darkness – not denying it, but sharing with others the light we have received to help dispel the darkness.