Certainly, the image shows several spelling mistakes, but the words written by a young man express how “the cry of the Andes” continues to resound. A cry that our Father Federico heard one day, which is why he founded his Congregation of Missionary Sisters of Jesus, Word and Victim. During Holy Week, we went to San Juan, a small village belonging to Lucanas, Ayacucho. For Mother Leonela and Mother Teresia, who are twins, it was their first mission, so they were full of enthusiasm.
The district of San Juan is very poor, but it has a church that is a cultural heritage site of Peru because of its antiquity. The people live from what their farms produce, in the mornings they go to work and to see the animals. The only people that can be found in the daytime are those who work in the municipality, in the post office, in the schools: kindergarten, primary and secondary and the odd shop. These were the places where we started visiting them and blessing each one with holy water. And we were inviting them to all the activities we were going to do for Holy Week.
In the afternoon we did the catechesis with the children and young people. Mother Teresia and Mother Leonela were in charge of making the children play, and they were very happy and made a big noise in the square. The mayor of the district was very happy because usually you don’t see the children playing all together, but each one wants to do what he likes, but with the little mothers, they all played happily.
When we arrived in San Juan, we did the Palm Sunday procession, a boy dressed in white, riding on a donkey, played the role of the Lord. And the people with their palms gave the Hosana, answering “Viva Cristo Rey”, when they were asked to do so.
On Monday, Tuesday and Holy Wednesday we made many home visits, and we imposed the Gospel, because we wanted to make the most of the opportunity to pass on these graces to them. On the evening of Holy Wednesday there was the procession of the encounter, the procession of the Lord and the procession of Our Lady of Sorrows. Many people took part in the procession until late in the evening, in spite of the day’s work.
Holy Thursday has a special tinge because it is: the day of the Priest, the Institution of the Eucharist, and the commandment of Love. When Father arrived, the children sang “I want to be a priest forever” at the entrance of the Church, and they threw flowers on his head. After the solemn Holy Mass and the washing of the feet, the Lord was transferred to the monument. The young people from the secondary school prepared the Passion Clock. When Father went to the sacristy to change, the young people were waiting for him to dedicate a song to him, a young man played on the quena: Eucharist, Miracle of Love. They gave him his little greeting card and presented him with a small gift.
On the other hand, several people remained in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. This lasted until 12 pm. One young man was there from three o’clock in the afternoon, the time of confession, until twelve o’clock. He had understood very well in the catechesis that at this time we should accompany our Lord in his Passion, and when his mother signalled to him to leave, he shook his head and said “no”. After the repositioning of the Blessed Sacrament, the young man asked, “What next, Mother? As in the past the people had gone to adoration, we had the intention of going to adoration, but as there were not many people, we kept the Blessed Sacrament, but the young man wanted to continue. It was sad for us to tell him that he could go and rest, but we were also happy to know that he had grasped from his heart what he had received in the catechesis.
Good Friday, a day of universal mourning for the Church. We could not miss the film of the Passion by Mel Gibson, which was shown in the town hall thanks to the collaboration of the Mayor. In the evening, we had the paraliturgy. Then the so-called “holy men” did the unbinding of the Lord, in a solemn ceremony. Everything began in darkness, and at the door of the church, a man was beaten with whips. We were also impressed by the fact that the people approached the adoration of the Cross on their knees, and when they left, they did it in the same way. The piety of our faithful in these areas is undoubtedly due to the Evangelisation of the first missionaries. But we are also aware of the ignorance and lack of catechesis, for those who take the Lord down from the cross should be called Joseph of Arimathea, St. John, St. Peter or others. However, the holy men were called “Caiaphas, Judas and Pilate”. We had not noticed this, if we had known this, we would have prepared them earlier. Then followed the procession of the Lord in his coffin, together with the Virgin of Sorrows, which also lasted until twelve o’clock.
Saturday was the preparation for the Easter Vigil. Everything was to be festive. The most enthusiastic were the children. We prepared the bonfire, the candle, everything was ready. And we had our Vigil. We tried to make it as solemn as possible, because our faithful had to understand why this night is the holiest of all nights. At the end, we had a sharing, celebrating first of all the triumph of our Lord over death and sin.
The next day, the solemn Holy Mass of Resurrection. And ………………… the farewells of our faithful, as we had to leave San Juan on the same day. People get attached to the mothers very quickly. It is painful that we only go for Holy Week, and they would like to have us all year round, but …… we had to leave.
M. J. MJVV
