6 Masses in three days and 3 celebrations on Sunday

The last three days of August I spent a lot of time in Masses – six to be exact. Then on Sunday I was at one Mass and two Celebrations of the Word with Communion.

This is nothing like what our pastor does. He usually has at least four Masses every Sunday and at least two Masses at least four days during the week. Our parish is large – forty-eight places where Mass is celebrated: four municipal centers and over forty rural towns and villages. So I had a glimpse of what he does these past few days.

Wednesday, August 29, we had confirmations in San José El Bosque and in San Agustín.

When we have confirmations, I try to get to each place an hour before the Mass to help the catechists and others make sure that everything is ready. I also talk with those to be confirmed, making a fool of myself trying to get them to respond enthusiastically during the Mass.

The morning Mass was in San José El Bosque, up in the hills. The people had prepared the site very well. They had the altar prepared and seats for the confirmation candidates under sewn-together grain bags. They also had arches at the entryway with balloons.  

I noted one special touch: the youth had worked the day before to prepare little floral arrangements along the side of the road leading to the site.

Another little detail. Here the people like to have offertory processions on special occasions. Here they presented, besides the bread and wine for communion, symbols of their work: a hoe, a trowel, a grinding stone to make tortillas, and the book used for preparing the candidates for confirmation. 

The afternoon Mass was in San Agustín. I rushed to get there and we started a bit late. The church was packed, with people standing at the door. Here's a picture of me with our bishop and pastor. 

On Thursday, the diocese celebrated the feast of our patron, Saint Rose of Lima. I served as deacon at the Mass there, with the bishop presiding.

In the afternoon, the bishop returned to the parish for the Mass of the institution of fifteen new extraordinary ministers of Communion. They come from twelve different places in the parish and bring the number up to twenty-nine.

I was very pleasantly surprised when the church was filled to overflowing with people who came to accompany the new ministers. It was heartening to see this outpouring of faith.

Only some of the sites have a tabernacle prepared and so only some ministers took Communion to their communities. The villages planned to welcome the new ministers who would place the Eucharist in the tabernacle and then lead a short prayer.

In the next month I will visit some of the places where there is no tabernacle for Sunday celebrations, bringing the Eucharist so that the extraordinary ministers can distribute it during the celebration and afterwards take Communion to the sick in their village.

I didn’t get photos, since I was serving as deacon. But I took a few photos afterwards.

The two Communion ministers for San Antonio Dolores

Friday we had confirmations in two other parts of the parish. The morning celebration was in San Isidro La Cueva which was filled to overflowing. People were standing at the windows looking in. 

Lots of people had come out for the celebration. One of the newly instituted communion ministers was there. His granddaughter was there at his side and I could see the love and the pride she had for her grandfather. I was really touched.

In the afternoon the Confirmations were in Concepción, Copán. They held it in the town’s community center since the church is too small.

Saturday, I got to Dulce Nombre to interview a couple before their upcoming marriage. After that, I went to Santa Rosa for a few necessities.

Sunday, I got up early and went to the 7:00 am Mass in Concepción. As usual, Padre German had me preach (giving him a few minutes of respite).

Then I went to Vertientes, where there are two new Communion ministers. They don’t yet have a tabernacle and so they don’t have the Eucharist reserved in their little church. (I found out later that they are building a new church at a nearby site which I visited.)

Site of the new church to be built in Vertientes

I was very happy that the second reading, from James 1, offered me an opportunity to speak on the ministry of the communion ministers.

“Religion pure and undefiled consists in this: caring for the widows and orphans in their need and keeping oneself unspotted before a corrupted world.”

The main ministry of our communion ministers is to visit the sick and the aged – the widows and orphans of our time.

I also could speak a little about the corruption rampant here in Honduras.

After the celebration, we visited an older blind man who has been about six years in bed. A relative takes care of him and, as I usually do, I spoke with her and expressed my appreciation for what she does, mentioning that, as she cared for Don Gustavo, she was the hands of God.

After visiting the site of the new church, I went home for lunch and a bit of rest. But first of all, I cooked and ate the elote that the family of Don Gustavo had given me. 

It's not Iowa or Jersey sweet corn, but with salt and real butter it is a treat.

In the evening I visited San Juan, Concepcion, for a Celebration of the Word with Communion. The youth group there plays a major role in the celebration. Even though they have a celebration in the morning, they decided to have one in the evening, in part to offer an opportunity for the young people who studied.

After the celebration – it was about 8:15 pm – they offered me dinner. Regretfully, I said that I would put off their offer to another day since I wanted to get home. I also don’t like to drive at night.

Monday I slept to 6:45 am and spent most of the morning and afternoon washing clothes and making lentil soup. 

I was also fortunate to find two young guys who began to cut the grass around the house (with machetes) before the rain began. They’ll finish it today after work.

Today, Tuesday, I also slept in. But I spent this morning beginning work on the booklet two priests and I are preparing for base communities for next year.

So I try to be present to the people here, with the hope that what I do and who I am can help them open themselves even more to the God who loves us tenderly and who calls us to the freedom of God’s children.

And I am blest to live here in the midst of such beauty, in a country that is rich in people and resources, but impoverished by corruption and greed.

What's wrong with helping the poor?

“Let no attempt with small gifts of charity

to exempt himself from the great duties imposed by justice.” 

Pope Pius XI

The poor, or rather the impoverished, are around us. How to respond? What I saw yesterday leads me to ask, in the context of Honduras, “What in the world can be wrong about helping the poor?”

Here are my simplistic first thoughts:

• When they are manipulated by aid to vote for a particular party or candidate.
• 
  
• When they are aided only if they are members of one’s in group or political party.
   
• When they are not treated as people with specific needs and capabilities, but are treated as numbers to be helped.
   
• When the aid is given only to those of one religion or as a way to attract converts.
   
• When government aid is not considered as a governmental response to poverty or other needs but is presented in such a way that it seems like a gift from the government or a political party.
   
• When the aid is made to appear as a gift from a political leader.
   
• When the aid is given without looking at ways that the person can develop his or her own personal resources and qualities.
   
• When aid doesn’t respond to real needs, but is meant to show the largesse of a government or political party.
• 
  
• When basic human needs aren't met and injustice is not remedied.

This morning I saw scores of people packed in the back of pick-up trucks. I had no idea where they were going. I gave a ride to a young man on my way to the afternoon confirmations. I asked him why I was seeing so many people in groups walking with plastic bags. He told me that they were receiving a government “Bolsa Solidaria” - a solidarity bag.

We stopped and asked a woman if I could take a few pictures of her bag.

What did I see manteca (lard), spaghetti, maseca (commercially prepared corn flour to make tortillas), oats, sugar, white rice, and cheap coffee. This is for an area that produces corn and where there are a lot of people with coffee, even just a small plot. This doesn’t make sense to me.

I asked the young man about how much the bag was worth. He calculated about 115 lempiras. I would add about 25 lempiras more. That’s 140 lempiras – that’s a little less than six dollars. But, unless they walked – and there were a lot of people walking, they would probably have spent money on the ride in the pick-up or paid for a bus ride – between 15 and twenty lempiras each way. You do the math.

There was, however, a picture on the bag that makes sense: a photo of the president of Honduras. This seems to say that the “solidarity bag” is his personal gift to the people.

But the cost of living is going up, the country is being militarized, corruption and impunity flourish, and public hospitals and house centers often lack supplies. It the “bolsa solidaria” a way to cover injustice with the veneer of “charity”?

In my mind, this is not solidarity. This looks like manipulation of aid to seek political support. I don’t think this really helps the poor.

Real charity and real justice are what the impoverished people of Honduras need. Honduras is a rich country – but with the second highest poverty rate in the hemisphere. The poor suffer hile injustice flourishes.