Masses, marriages, meetings, and more

The pastor is taking a nuch-needed short vacation (before I head to Ames, Iowa, on October 21, for a week at our sister parish.) So, I have a few things to do.

WEEKEND CELEBRATIONS

First of all, the pastor asked me to be available for what might happen as well as to serve at several places each weekend. Last night I had a Celebration of the Word with Communion in Dolores, Copán, and today, I had three in Concepción, Dulce Nombre, and San Agustín, Copán. Next weekend I’ll probably only have three celebrations. 

A priest will probably come from Santa Rosa for the Sunday night Masses, but otherwise we'll have Celebrations of the Word with Communion.

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY

Last Wednesday was busy – and a bit stressful. For several years, a group of sisters in Tegucigalpa, las Hijas de María, have run what we might call boarding schools, for poor boys and girls from the countryside, to study for five years – completely free.

Though they have several hundred in each of the schools (one for boys, one for girls), there is a selection process, including examinations and interviews of the students with their parents or guardians. In the past, the sisters have gone out to various parishes, but this year it was all done virtually.

The pastor asked me to arrange the testing and interviews on Wednesday, the day the sisters had set. But I was still trying to figure out what to do while the kids were taking the exam – all 25 of them. I had to figure out how to arrange the interviews by Zoom.

Thanks be to God, the internet was working and I had brought my tablet as well as my computer and so we could have two interview sites (one for the 8 males and the other for the 17 girls).

It was stressful, since I had no idea exactly what I was supposed to be doing – and there were a few computer glitches.

I’m glad I had looked ahead and brought my printer/scanner so that I could scan the papers needed to be sent to the sisters. Otherwise, it would have been a near disaster. Luckily, I don’t have to worry about pulling out my hair – since there is so little of it. 

 PREPARING TO PREVENT DISASTERS 

 

Thursday, I had the last of six meetings in various sectors of the parish to help people think through how to respond to any natural disasters. 

Last year, two hurricanes in November seriously affected a number of towns. The people responded fairly well in many places, but it was all unplanned. So, we decided to help the people look ahead and get organized in case of future difficulties.

Over 120 people participated in the sessions, but I was disappointed that some communities who had major problems last year didn’t participate.

But all least four the sessions were, I believe, very good. I started asking people what they had experienced last year and what they had done. Several times I was pleasantly surprised by what they did – without planning. In one community, forty persons gathered to help a family move from their home which suffered from the rain and the landslides. Getting forty people together to help is quite an accomplishment.

I shared some ideas and organizing tools with them to help analyze the risks and possible responses, as well as to begin to organize. Some folks are really enthusiastic – knowing that it might not be needed this year, but that it is good to think about how they can respond when there are serious needs in the communities. (It’s also a good way to help them see their capabilities and to wean them from dependency on politicians who use aid to control the people.)

MATRIMONIES

I have mentioned in several blogs posts how I am involved in the final interviews for couples seeking to be married. I had one this Friday which was a blessing. 

I don’t serve as the church’s witness at many weddings, but this Saturday the pastor delegated me to be at a wedding, since he expected to be on vacation.

The wedding was at the main church in Dulce Nombre, even though the couple is from a distant aldea. There were less than thirty in attendance but it was such a joy to be with them. The couple had lived together for several years but decided to get married. Their two little sons had a part in the wedding.

BABIES

One tradition here is the presentation of babies at Masses or celebrations when the baby is forty days old. (Think of the biblical story of the presentation of Jesus in the temple.)

In our parish, the baby is brought forward after the prayer after Communion; a prayer is offered, the baby and mother (and father, if he’s there) are blessed. This Sunday I had one at each of the celebrations.

I also noted at the 7:00 am celebration today at least three little babies in the congregation – two held by their fathers. I knew one couple (who had recently been married) and went to see their baby – which was so tiny, even though it was four months old. The baby had been born prematurely (1 pound, 4 ounces at seven months), but was slowly growing, now weighing almost four pounds. I was reminded once again of the fragility of life here. 

COFFEE EXPORTATION

Friday afternoon I went out to El Zapote and spent time with one of the members of the coffee association that is exporting coffee to Ames, Iowa. I wrote about this in an earlier post. I left with mandarins that he had picked from tress in his coffee fields.

Adding these to oranges, bananas, and avocados that I had been given recently, as well as tomatoes I’m buying from a local grower, I am eating a little more locally than before.

CONFIRMATION

I returned from Saturday’s wedding and saw a group, mostly young people, working on a shelter near the church in Plan Grande.

An older man, a little mentally unstable, who is Nicaraguan, lives there. He may have been in the Nicaraguan army and probably suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress, since, every once in a while, he begins shouting loudly, as if yelling at troops. He wanders about the village, virtually harmless to himself and others; people give him food and drink. The place where he has been staying was falling down.

The confirmation class decided to help erect a more dignified place for him to sleep. It was great to see the young people helping.

CHANGING PLANS 

I had planned to spend Monday in Santa Rosa de Copán, getting medical exams (blood and urine tests) as well as a medical appointment.

I’ll do that, but it will be a bit complicated. I’ll go early for the tests and then go out to a rural community for a funeral. Then I’ll drive back to Santa Rosa for the doctor’s appointment. I know the community well and know some of the family; so it is important to be present. I should be able to do this easily.

And I’ll probably take part of Tuesday off to relax and recoup forces.

A VISIT TO AMES 

I spent about four weeks in Iowa in May and June – to renew my Iowa driver’s license, to get my Pfizer vaccinations, and for an eight day retreat. But I decided it would be good to get back when there are more people at St. Thomas Aquinas parish in Ames and, especially, when there are more students.

So, I leave for Iowa on Thursday, October 21, and return early Thursday, October 28. It’s a lightning visit, but it will be good to deepen connections and let the people know what is going on here.

FUTURE EXCURSIONS

I don’t need to work hard to find things to do, but I hope to make at least two trips outside of Honduras in early 2022.

The first is for the beatifications of four martyrs: Jesuit Father Rutilio Grande, two laypeople killed with Father Rutulio (Manuel Solorzano and Nelson Rutilio Lemus), and Franciscan Father Cosme Spessotto, on late January.

I’m also hoping to get to the East coast to visit friends and family whom I haven’t seen for more than two years.

Next year will mark my seventy-fifth birthday and my fifteenth year here in Honduras. I don’t have anything planned and I hope to be able to continue to do what I am doing. I have NO plans to leave. I’m here until God calls me somewhere else.

I should find some way to celebrate. I’m open to suggestions.

Death, life, and hope

Yesterday I presided at my third funeral in two weeks. Monday, I had interviews with two couples who will soon be married. Sunday morning, I visited a nearby village, brought communion to a 90 some year old woman and, in the afternoon, I baptized nine young children here in Plan Grande. Yesterday was the first of six workshops I’m facilitating in different parts of the parish to help the communities organize and prepare for any natural disasters. 

But yesterday’s funeral touched me in a different way. 

The woman died after a year of suffering. She had lived with her husband for 46 years and had six daughters. Last Thursday, Padre German married the couple in their home, On Sunday, I dropped off a communion minister to give her communion. Monday, she died.

One person noted that, after the marriage, she was in the grace of God after living in “union libre” for so many years. 

It is not uncommon for couple to live together for decades without getting married, either civilly or in the church. The causes are many – the costs of civil marriage, the expectations that a marriage involves a costly celebration, the lack of a culture of marriage, the lack of attention to remote villages by priests (except for those, who like our pastor, make an effort to visit them), unrealistic expectations of what marriage involves, overly strict church requirements (which are slowly changing), fear of commitment, machismo (why only one woman?), and more that I am not aware of.

But very often I come across people who have lived together for years and even for decades and are raising or have raised children with love and with a concern for their spiritual growth. So I have a very different approach.

At the funeral, I noted the 46 years of life together of the couple and the love they had shared with each other and with their children and grandchildren. I noted, with joy, that they had sanctified this love, explicitly inviting God into their life together, in the sacrament of matrimony which they had just shared.

I really need to do a little more study and reflection on this, since this happens so often.

Love between a couple and with their children is affirmed and brought into the life of God and the Church community through the sacrament of marriage. It’s God filling in what is lacking in our love and the community of faith present to witness this commitment and, hopefully, help them live their love together.

This becomes clear to me any number of times when I do pre-marriage interviews. There are some couples who have not lived together, but most often the couples preparing for marriage have lived together and have children. A good number of them have had their children baptized before their sacramental marriage.

Some of them I’ve known for a few years and I’ve encouraged them to consider sacramental marriage. I sometimes ask, with a mischievous gleam in my eye, when are you getting married in the church. It is a real joy when that happens.

And it is a joy when I baptize children, especially ones I know. This Sunday it was nine children under seven in Plan Grande. This is but part of my ministry here. 

In about half an hour I have another workshop to help different communities organize in the face of possible natural disasters - another part of my diaconal ministry. Yesterday’s workshop went very well.

Now, off to ministry.

Hope in the midst of a hurricane

Monday, in the midst of torrential rains, I went to Mass in the cemetery of distant community, as noted in a previous post. I sensed that there was something wrong with the car, since it was difficult to turn the steering wheel. 

On Tuesday, I decided to stay home – praying and reading. I had time to sit down and again read Henri Nouwen’s In the Name of Jesus: Reflections of Christian Leadership. I strongly recommend it especially to those who serve in the religious community. 

Wednesday morning, I took the car to be repaired in Santa Rosa de Copán. They replaced the power steering belt and a set of ball bearing – for the grand cost of 300 lempiras (less than $15, including parts.) 

I spent the afternoon at home, without water and without electricity, and thus without internet. The electricity in my section of Plan Grande was off from about 1:00 am Wedneday to about 3:00 pm Thursday.) 

I was able to do a little connecting through Facebook because I bought a smartphone a year ago and have a monthly plan that lets me access Facebook and the internet. But I don’t like trying to work on a phone and so I just did a minimal amount of digital connecting. 

I also didn’t try to follow the results of the US elections. This was a blessing. I was able to tune out the noise – and there probably was a lot – about the election. I was able to avoid having to deal with all the ramblings and rantings of people on the election results. It was good to be out of the Facebook frenzy for a day. 

Wednesday morning I did repost a post of a good friend who is an Episcopal monk which was much stronger and more pointed at the President than anything I had posted this year. But I think he had something to say, analyzing the pandemic of division, ill-will, and invective that has invaded the US. I am glad I did, it even though I got a response accusing me of passing on lies and being judgmental. So it goes. 

But what is really important is what is happening here around me. 

The winds and the rains have been fierce. Trees have fallen down and blocked the roads. In a few places there have been landslides and roads collapsing (deslizamientos y derrumbes). Here are just a few photos of what I’ve seen here. 

Wednesday

Wednesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Thursday

This morning, Friday, about 6:45, I got a call from a distant community that is isolated die to flooding. Two houses have fallen and others are in danger. Some of the persons affected have been given refuge in the village church. The person who called me asked me to go to the mayor since he wasn’t answering their phone calls. I went to his house and got him out of bed. He knew of their situation as well as of other cases of fallen houses in another community. 

But all this is nothing like what is happening in the north coast as well as in some parts of the department of Santa Barbara, Tegucigalpa, and other places. 

The flooding, the overflowing rivers, the collapse of bridges have made life even worse for the poorest among us, who often build their homes in the most vulnerable places. 

Thursday, Padre German mentioned a tragic case in Santa Barbara. A woman near flood waters dropped her baby who was swept away. The rescue workers did manage to quickly get the baby – but it had already died. How many more cases will we hear while this goes on?

But in the midst of this we need to see the signs of hope. 

Last Saturday I baptized a young man who has had serious health problems the result of an accident several years ago. Recently, in the first week of the pandemic, his situation deteriorated and he had to undergo three operations in Santa Rosa. The doctors at the hospital advised him to go to a public hospital in San Pedro Sula for another operation. He was reluctant to undergo the operation. 

 Earlier this year, he and his companion of more than ten years had decided that they wanted to get married and enrolled in the marriage preparation program in their village. But the pandemic hit and so the preparation was put off. 

But his situation deteriorated in the last month or so and he could hardly talk. Getting him the ENSURE that the hospital had prescribed helped and he is now able to talk a bit. During all this time his companion cared for him, feeding him, as well as caring for their two children. 

Thursday we celebrated their wedding. In the midst of a pandemic and a hurricane, two young people got married – with their children and scores of people from their village in attendance. As usual I brought along masks but ran out all the twenty-five I brought. 

There was much to give hope.

Waiting for the wedding Mass

*With help he walked from his house to the house of his parents-in-law up the hill.

*The couple celebrate the sacrament of matrimony after more than ten years together.

*He was baptized and received his first Communion last Saturday.

*We used the third form of the marriage vows so that he could just answer “Yes.” But he repeated the words when he put the ring on his wife’s finger. 

*After the prayer of the faithful, Father German celebrated the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. 

In the midst of all the evil, all the sickness, all the devastation of the pandemic and the hurricane, two people are manifesting their love sacramentally, showing the world that love is possible. They are sacraments of God’s love. 

These poor humble people are signs of hope.

Tomorrow, Saturday, I will go to San Agustín to baptize four little children. More signs of hope.

Seventy years and celebrating

A seventieth birthday should probably be celebrated for seventy days or at least seventy hours. One person suggested that I celebrate the whole week.

I do know that I have had over 200 birthday greetings today via e-mail and Facebook - and phone calls. I lost track since some people made remarks on some of the photos I posted.

The birthday celebration actually started last Monday when I was with the men working on the parish coffee fields. Padre German was telling them that Thursday was my birthday and proceeded to pour water over my head several times. Bañando the person celebrating a birthday is not uncommon here – especially with Padre German!

I started Wednesday, getting up early to bake bread for my guests. I know that the six Franciscan Sisters of the Holy Family (the Dubuque Franciscans) usually take Wednesday off and so I invited them to an early birthday celebration.

Knowing they like bread I decided to go all out and bake cinnamon rolls. They were barely out of the oven when they arrived and so, putting on a pot of coffee, we enjoyed them. They were the best cinnamon rolls I have made here in Honduras (and maybe ever). We also had eggplant parmigiana (one of my classic dishes), bread, salad brought by the sisters, and an incredible chocolate dessert brought by Sister Nancy.

But the real joy was the company. We spoke of many things. We prayed. They sang. It was a time to lift the spirits. I am really blessed to know these sisters – and be an associate of their community. They are signs of God’s presence here in a particularly Franciscan way, fully committed to the poor.

After they left, I rested since I knew my birthday would be busy.

At about 8 am I begin helping folks here move chairs, tables, and more to the site of the Mass this morning. I also sent and picked up the young woman who has been largely bed-ridden who was going to receive her first communion. I nearly backed the car into a ditch, but the ingenuity of my Honduran neighbors saved the day.

We got to the site of the Mass and I got a chance to greet the couple who were getting married. I jokingly greeted them as novios, which could be translated as the engaged or even as boyfriend and girlfriend. Smiles ensued.

Before Mass started Padre German heard the confessions of the couple who were to be married and the young woman who would receive her first communion.

The small yard was filled with people – friends, neighbors, family, grand kids, kids – and a music group. It was a real community celebration of life and love.

Mass went on and Padre German gave a pointed homily. As he spoke with the couple, Paulino, the husband, became very responsive, at one point saying, very appropriately, “Love triumphs.”

Padre German also addressed the young woman whom he was going to anoint, asking her to see her illness as a way to share with Christ. (Note that this was not a way to diminish her suffering but to help her give it meaning.)

 After the homily, Padre German turned to me and said, “You’re doing the marriage!” Now that’s real delegation of responsibilities to the deacon. All went well and they were wed to the great joy of all those there. (I made no mistakes I know of.)

I did change one of the questions that the couple are asked. Instead of asking them if they were willing to accept children as a gift of their marriage, I amended it to note that they had accepted children.

As I see it, their sacramental marriage is really a confirmation of the “sacrament” that they have been living, of the sign of God’s love they have shared.

The Mass concluded after they had signed the parish’s wedding book, which is done publicly at the end of the Mass, before the blessing.

At the end of Mass in the parish, there is the custom to celebrate birthdays. The cumpleañeros come forward. Las mañanitas are sung; they are blessed and sprinkled with water and then they have to blow out their candles. Padre German, though, likes to bañar, pour lots of water, on the birthday parties – especially me. There were five of us - Wilmer, 13 years old, and three young women of various ages, and me.

After Mass, the food came out. The base communities of Plan Grande had come out in full force with tamales, rice, tortillas, and juice. It was a real celebration.

I took the young woman back to her home and then, after helping take things back to the church and taking a short break, I headed out to Dulce Nombre by the back route. A mistake.

First of all, I thought I had changed the condados, the locks for the four-wheel drive. So when I got stuck in the mud, I had to get out and change them. Mud abounded.

After that I had to get the car washed. I think something might be wrong and I’ll have to take it to a mechanic tomorrow since there is a wire hanging down from the engine.

Tomorrow, I also have to prepare for the Pentecost Vigil. I have to preach, though I do have some ideas already. I’ll also see about making sure the car is in working condition.

But then I’ll be off to Gracias to join the sisters in a celebration of Sister Nancy’s fifty years as a Sister of St. Francis of the Holy Family. I feel really blest to have known Nancy for about twenty-five years – from the time I met and worked with her in Suchitoto, El Salvador. She is partly responsible for me being here in Honduras. But most of all she is a great sign of the presence of God and of the Franciscan charism in the world of the poor and the young.

Then there’s the Pentecost Vigil – 6 pm, Saturday to 6 am, Sunday – to conclude my birthday celebrations – almost a week!

Refrain from fornication

Today’s first reading from the Catholic lectionary is the early Christian community’s response to the presence of non-Jews in their community.

The big question was whether they should be circumcised.

The response was a compromise that opened the community to the presence of the Gentiles in the early church (Acts 15: 28-29):

For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication. (New Revised Standard Version)

‘It is the decision of the holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities, namely, to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meats of strangled animals, and from unlawful marriage. (New American Bible Revised Edition)

Yesterday I was took part in a meeting of one of the zones of the Dulce Nombre parish.

Padre German had gone to a village for Mass and a wedding. Professor Arnaldo, the parish coordinator, explained that there would be a new policy for infant baptisms. It would not be as limited as it was in the past. The parents would have to participate in five sessions and, possibly, a retreat. (I knew this since he had asked me to put together the materials for the pre-baptismal sessions.)

This surprised a few people and some asked whether this meant that single mothers or people “living in fornication” could have their children baptized.

I reacted strongly, objecting to the use of the word “fornication,” which for me has a strong sense of “living in sin,” “shacking up,” and promiscuous sexual behavior.

A dictionary definition of fornication is “sexual intercourse between people not married to each other.”

The Greek word, translated in several ways including “sexual immorality,” is derived from the word for prostitute.

I suggested that using this phrase was judgmental and that we should use a less “loaded” expression like “not married in the church.” I suggested that if we call all non-married couples “fornicators” that will not help us invite them into the Christian community and into marriage.

This doesn’t mean I am against marriage and would not encourage couples to get married. But I think we have to minister pastorally, with compassion and understanding.

I don’t know why there are many couples who, having several children, still haven’t gotten married by the church.

Is it the cost of a civil marriage, which is a precondition to church marriage?

Is it the sense that a church marriage should be accompanied by a costly celebration?

Some people have said that some don’t marry because they don’t want the commitment. That is probably true in some cases, but I wonder if that fits two interesting cases I know of.

Twice I accompanied the former pastor, Padre Efraín, to visit elderly couples who had not been married in the church. One woman was close to death. He asked them if they wanted to be married. In one case, the old guy – probably with a mind clouded by illness and old age – took some time to answer yes. The couples went to confession and were married by the church in their homes, with at least one grandchild present.

Were these couples fornicators? Did they not want the commitment of the sacrament of matrimony until they neared death?

I doubt it.

I suggest that we need to find ways to welcome unmarried couples into the community and  to encourage them to strengthen their relationships with the sacrament of matrimony.

But calling “fornicators” all couples living together but not married? I think that is too much and lacks pastoral sense

This comment of Father John Kavanaugh, S.J., in The Word Engaged,  p. 67, on today’s reading from Acts is pointed:

One of the most seductive temptations of the believer is to identify the will of God with the will of the believer, and not the other way around.

When the Spirit stirs

Today is Pentecost, the celebration of the outpouring of the Spirit on the followers of Jesus who were gathered, anxious and perhaps fearful.

The last two days I have been moved by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the parish of Dulce Nombre.

Friday: communion ministers and social ministry

Friday the parish had scheduled two events – a meeting of the representatives of the Social Ministry from the villages of the parish and a meeting of the extraordinary ministers of Communion.

I went to Dulce Nombre, planning to help where needed.

At first I went to the Social Ministry Assembly and was amazed at the number of new young participants in the ministry, especially from Zone 3 of the parish, which has some of the remotest villages. 

Social Ministry lunch break included a game of "futbol" (aka soccer)

 

I spoke with a young man from San Marcos Pavas, who left home about 4:30 am to walk to the village of Delicias to catch a bus to Dulce Nombre. We talked about his village that has had some real problems – a pastoral worker left because of threats due to inter-family quarrels. But they have reorganized the ministry in the village and he is the representative of the social ministry.

Padre Efraín worked with the Social Ministry representatives and, since the other priest hadn’t shown up, I went with the Communion ministers to meet.

Since I hadn’t known I’d be working with them, I had to improvise. We reflected on the Pentecost reading from the Acts of the Apostles and then I had them share their experiences in their ministry.

In many of the villages, but not all,  the presence of the Eucharist has actually renewed the life of the church. People come out, usually on Thursdays, for a Holy Hour.  In their visits to the sick, the ministers have seen some people recover their  spirits – if not, at least in some cases, their health.

We talked about what they might need for their ministry. A retreat was a top priority, though a visit to the Aguas Termales – the hot springs – in Gracias was also mentioned.

But they also talked of needing good written materials to help with planning Holy Hours and to help their visits to the sick.

We had to cut off the discussion for lunch, but they and I were glad that they had a chance to share, something they had not yet done as a group.

After lunch I gave a short introduction to the methodology of the Social Teaching booklet they are using in the base communities, emphasizing the participative nature that the booklet hopes to nurture.

I was about to end when Fernando spoke up. It’s time to let us go home, he said, since there’s a storm coming. We ended with a prayer and they went on their way, though I’m sure that some of them got soaked.

Saturday – to three corners of the parish - and five sacraments

Saturday, in El Zapote de Santa Rosa, one sector of the parish was having a gathering for the children and youth in religious education. More than 100 young people – with some catechists and parents squeezed into the meeting hall for songs, talks, and skits – one for each of the four villages on the zone.

Several of the skits were quite entertaining. Sadly, I missed what some of them were about since they went so fast and the amplification was poor. One was a marriage skit. 

Marriage skit in El Zapote

But the wildest skit featured a religious ed meeting that encountered six young people into “sex, drugs, and rock and roll.” Well, not exactly that, but it was drugs (marijuana and cocaine), alcohol, smoking, rap music, and dancing hip to hip. The young people played their parts well and, in the skit,  the religious ed class ended up converting the druggies. It was, of course, a little too facile, but entertaining. The real surprise was that the religious ed teachers – actually one of their real teachers, was a guy dressed up in a skirt with  a bra under the blouse.I never expected to see this here - especially since it was not done in a mocking way.

It was good to be there, but I had to leave before Mass started (an hour late) since I had to do a presentation on the Social Teaching booklet for the sector meeting in Dolores.

After that I went to Dulce Nombre to meet Padre Efraín to go with him to San Agustín.

I had not been there for some time and was surprised, first of all, at the good state of the dirt road. Later I found out that the mayor has also been doing a lot to try to improve the lot of the people, including taking over the costs of the Maestro en Casa, an alternative education program.

We met with Agüeda, an older woman who with her husband Horacio had moved to San Agustín a few ears ago after living in San Pedro Sula. These two Communion ministers have been active in preparing couples for matrimony, as well as encouraging couples living together to get married in the church. They also have an extensive ministry of bringing Communion to he sick – about 19 houses in San Agustín.

We met Agüeda near her house and visited five houses. The first three had women confined to their beds. The first was very poor. As we entered a granddaughter was mopping the floor because of the rain that had entered the house. Padre Efraín heard the woman’s confession and then, with us present, he anointed the old woman. Agüeda will later bring her communion.

The second house was even poorer – with an unconscious older woman, confined to bed. When we arrived there were at least six people gathered and several more joined us as the woman was anointed. As we prayed I noted that even the small children knew their prayers.

Seeing the poverty, I was near tears.

At the fourth house we expected to find a couple in their eighties confined to their beds. But they were up, even though very frail. Padre Efraín learned that they had not been married in the church! What to do? He asked them if they wanted to be married. It took quite a while for him to get through to them, but finally they agreed. Padre Efraín heard their confessions and then married them in a very simple ceremony, before anointing them with the anointing of the sick.

The marriage ceremony was touching. The old man sort of made up his own version of the marriage vows. “Yeah, I want to marry you.” Padre proceeded with the official marriage vows. A grandson present looked on, with a big smile.

Padre Efráin with the newly weds, with Agüeda looking on.

These signs of God’s love and grace touched my heart.

I was also moved by Agüeda’s ministry. As we drove and walked to the various houses, she mentioned how she had ministered in San Pedro Sula,  even going to ministering to a dying gang member, going where a priest was reluctant to go, out of fear.

After our visits, we had dinner with Horacio and Agüeda and the family of one of their sons who had come from San Pedro Sula for the Vigil. We ate in the fairly nice home of a coffee farmer whose three sons would be baptized that night.

The vigil was supposed to start at 7:00 pm and we started just a little bit late, mostly because the people were slow in arriving at the church, perhaps due to the rain.

The Mass was good – though the singing could have been better. The two women leading the songs at times started the songs without waiting for the musicians and so they sang in one key and the musicians played in another.

For me, the highlight was the baptismal ceremony, especially the reaction of the youngest boy, probably no more than five years old. He was so full of joy. It was a delight to see his enthusiasm at the prospect of being baptized. After he was baptized he was beaming. It’s amazing what the sacraments can do with people, including children, who are open to the Spirit. 

What joy - after being baptized.

After Mass ended about 9:15 pm, Padre Efraín and I returned to Dulce Nombre in rain and fog.

I tried to sleep but there were lots of mosquitoes and bugs. So, when I woke up about 5:30 I decided to head back to Santa Rosa early.

The Spirit stirred among these people and touched even me.