Sailors especially and boaters in general know the difference between an anchor and a mooring. When a boat wishes to spend a quiet night away from a dock, there can be two options. The first is throwing out an anchor, a heavy and strong hook, which finds a soft spot in a sandy bottom, digs in and allows the occupants of the attached boat a quiet night’s rest with few worries about drifting unexpectedly into harm’s way. A mooring is a line attached usually to a concrete block set into place on the lake or ocean’s bottom whose top is attached to a boat. It is a help for security and if the line can be trusted, a mooring offers a good night’s sleep to those on board. For the Christian, Jesus Christ is the anchor and he is often shown in what appears to be hieroglyphics as an “anchor.” Attached to him we have stability, confidence, and hope. Mary is more of a mooring to which we attach our lives when the anchor seems some how out of reach. She and the saints to whom we also pray for help and assistance keep us attached to the bottom which is our faith.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to participate in two events which show how much the Blessed Mother can play a meaningful role in keeping us firmly attached to her Son. September 8, 2012 is the Feast of the Nativity (Birth) of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but for Cuban Catholics it is also the traditional day when they celebrate their patronal feast of la Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre (known as Our Lady of Charity in English). This day celebrates when Our Lady was seen by Cuban fishermen off the east coast of the island, holding her Son Jesus while rescuing the distressed.

Statue of la Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre in the newly renovated shrine located outside of Incarnation Catholic Church. I blessed the shrine before Mass began. Photo courtesy of Maria Mertens.

This year was the four-hundredth anniversary of that apparition and over 1,500 Cuban Catholics gathered last Saturday night at Incarnation Catholic Church in Tampa for a wonderful Eucharistic celebration. I’ve included a few photos below and more can be found by clicking here.

Starting to process in with a statue of la Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre at the beginning of Mass. Photo courtesy of Maria Mertens.

The Church was full. It was standing room only. Photo courtesy of Maria Mertens.

A young volunteer carried the Cuban coat of arms to be displayed in front of the altar after the homily. Photo courtesy of Maria Mertens.

Everyone applauded as the Cuban coat of arms was placed in front of the altar. Photo courtesy of Maria Mertens.

Through the recent challenging times of the last fifty-some years in Cuba, Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre has been a mooring for Cuban Catholics. When the Castro government attempted to all but shut out the Catholic faith, Our Lady was the “go to” person in prayers to her Son to keep the faith alive on that island and among the exile community and Cubans who have chosen to immigrate to other countries. The music was wonderful and while the homily was slightly over fifty minutes in length (not given by me, mind you), this annual occasion to acknowledge the role of the great woman of charity and love was a “not-to-be-missed” moment in the life of our local Church. I loved being a part of it.

The next morning (Sunday) I attended and preached at a Mass at St. Joseph’s Syro-Malabar parish in east Hillsborough county where their community of some 150 families gathered to also celebrate (a day later but allowed in their Rite) the same Feast of the Birth of Mary. Father George Malakial, a priest of the Syro-Malabar diocese of Chicago, was the principal celebrant of a lovely liturgy celebrated in the language of the Indian state of Kerala. Here is a photo from after the Mass, taken by Babu Thomas and graciously shared with us by Rajeev Phillip, a Syro-Malabar seminarian from the parish. More photos, taken by Shaji Joseph, can be seen by clicking here.

After the beautiful liturgy. Photo courtesy of Babu Thomas.

There are a number of “rites” in the Church which recognize the primacy of the Roman Pontiff who chooses their bishops. Perhaps the better known to the average Latin Rite Catholic would be the Byzantine Rite (Greeks and Turks mainly), the Maronite Rite (Lebanese and Syrian), the Melkite Rite (Syrian and Iraqi), and the Ukrainian Rite (Central and East European people). The Syro-Malabars trace their faith lineage to the Apostle Thomas who is known to have spent time in southern India. For we Latin Rite Catholics, the only part of their celebration of Eucharist which we would be likely to immediately recognize would be the elevation of the bread and wine at the words of Institution, the greeting of peace which occurs much earlier in their liturgy than in ours, and the communion rite which is like ours. The “Our Father” was prayed in English and the three readings were proclaimed in English and, no surprise, I preached on the Blessed Mother in English. There was a beauty to the liturgy, however, and though it was long (I was assured it was a “Low Mass” and therefore short – it lasted about one hour and forty-five minutes just for the liturgy), it was a second affirmation by a segment of the Church Universal of Mary as a “Mooring” and Christ as an “anchor.” There was a first communion which I was asked to do. Saint Joseph’s recently purchased a former Korean Church for their home and they have converted it to their many needs quite impressively. The liturgy was followed by a lunch which almost everyone stayed for. Congratulations to Father George and to his community.

I close with this thought. It probably is the Church of the East which is responsible, thank the Lord, for keeping the role and place of the Blessed Mother alive in the Church universal. For that we should all be grateful when at a stormy moment we are searching for a mooring in the safe harbor of our faith.

+RNL

“She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” [LK2:6]

At this "Inn" the Holy Family occupies the same kind of tent as those residing at Pinellas Hope.

 Two years ago this very night, literally wrapped not in swaddling clothes but rather three blankets covering those pitiful, ill fitting and impossible to wear with dignity hospital gowns, I was rolled in a wheel chair to St. Anthony Hospital Chapel for a Christmas Eve vigil Mass. I will readily admit to being an emotional wreck that night as my endocrinologist had visited my room within the hour before Mass to tell me that there was strong evidence that my kidneys may be failing, dialysis at least temporary, was a strong possibility and the reality of going home in two days as planned could be discarded. I was lonely, depressed, and fearful for the future, and weeks since offering or attending Mass. I was essentially spiritually homeless. At some point in the journey from hospital room and bed to the chapel, I had a moment to look out that evening on what was an unusually cold night here, and saw about ten homeless people along St. Petersburg’s Fifth Avenue, making their way slowly to their overnight accommodations outside and underneath the expressway adjacent to St. Vincent de Paul and across from the hospital. I thought to myself, “Lynch, you have little to complain about or to fear. You at least are being taken care of. Someone is watching over you.”

Before Christmas Eve dinner about 150 residents gathered for Carols, a reading from Luke's Infancy Narrative and some prayer and reflection which I felt privileged to lead.

Earlier this evening, I led an interfaith Christmas prayer service at Pinellas Hope. It was entirely optional for the 396 residents living there tonight, in tents and tiny wooden casitas and it preceded the annual Christmas eve dinner, which for five years have been the gift of one of my colleagues and his family. Two homeless people brought a small plastic replica of the baby Jesus seemingly out from nowhere and placed him into a manger scene consisting of, you guessed it, the same kind of tent they live in 24/7 at Pinellas Hope for however long they reside there. Those in attendance were proud that their baby Jesus had a place to stay, which they had erected and prepared. We fed 176 on this Christmas Eve and as two years ago, it is from the homeless I have learned a sense of gratitude and a deeper meaning of Christmas.

Homelessness is a central part of the Christmas story. The long awaited Messiah and King of Israel was born essentially homeless but still loved, longed for, and embraced. It is so often when we are encumbered by the stress especially of this season, that we lose as I did two years ago the sense that it is precisely in adversity that God works His best wonders. Someone historically anonymous made room for Mary and Joseph that night, gave them a place where a child could be born, and to which visitors, unlikely visitors at that, could come and pay their respect and their reverence.

Mrs. Kurci and Ed, the gardener who lovingly cares for "The Garden of Hope" where fresh vegetables are being grown for use in feeding the homeless housed there.

Those visitors, the shepherds were also homeless. Nomadic by nature and vocation, they had no way of knowing for sure where they might be the following year or what challenges might await them. Yet, they saw a star and heard the voices of ones sent by God and for a time left behind every worldly possession they owned to share this seismic moment in human history when God took on our human form and dwelt amongst us.

And while the Christmas story is so charming it is also challenging. Homelessness for Mary, Joseph and Jesus did not end when the new mother and her child were capable of travelling safely and securely back to their home in Nazareth, but rather because of jealousy they would soon flee and become illegal immigrants making their way to alien Egypt, living essentially homeless until it was safe to return home and begin again their life as a family.

The Kurci Family baked 30 sweet potato pies from sweet potatoes grown and harvested from the "Garden of Hope" inside of Pinellas Hope.

We come to Church tonight to sing ancient hymns of joy and happiness reminding us of that “holy night”, to hear again the story of the dear Savior’s birth. Tonight Christ is not born again in human history but Christ can be reborn in each of us. However, we cannot and must not leave him homeless but rather make a home for him within ourselves. The Christmas story can match every longing, fear and anxiety we have tonight and as in the game of poker, “raise it” as well. But the love of God, the trust and faith in God and the hope in God which marked the central figures of that first Christmas assures us that we need not be homeless but have found Him for whom generations longed to see, to experience, to know.

Every year for five years on Christmas Eve, the Murphy family and their neighbors have purchased and served the Christmas Eve dinner at Pinellas Hope. Here are just a few of them before the "rush" begins.

Spiritual and religious homelessness also means that all of us need to recommit to meeting Christ regularly in the sacraments of the Church. It is time for Catholics to Come Home. Sadly but realistically, we know that the second largest Christian body in the United States, behind practicing members of the Catholic faith, is to be found in Catholics who have left us or fallen away from their faith. Perhaps you have seen in recent days the invitations conveyed on television asking those who have been hurt, felt alienated, perhaps embarrassed by the patent sinfulness not of the Church but of some of its leaders and members, to return. We promise a better reception should you return than whatever the circumstances were which caused you to leave. Just as we want and work to alleviate the pain of homelessness in our society, county, city, and neighborhood, we want to alleviate also the pain of spiritual homelessness. Our priests, our deacons, our religious and our lay leaders have all been working to provide a genuine welcome. My two homeless friends at Pinellas Hope could only bring to the manger tent an image of Jesus. We want those who are spiritually homeless to receive the real thing, Jesus, body and blood in the Eucharist and other sacraments of the Church.

There is room within the “Inn of Christ’s Church” and we promise to do everything we can to make you feel at home again.

I cried two years ago at that Mass I described at the beginning, not knowing if I would ever see another Christmas. I now truly believe that God heard the prayers of many and of myself that night, for I was released the day after Christmas as planned and now wish to devote my remaining energy to spreading the truly good news of Christmas and Easter: Christ was born, Christ has died, Christ has Risen, and while Christ will come again, He is among us tonight and every day, just for the asking. In the name of the Word made flesh, I beg you to come home not just for Christmas but for the rest of your life.

Wishing all God’s people, Catholic and non-Catholic, the greatest of blessings this Christmas day and peace to all people of good will. Merry Christmas.

Bishop Robert N. Lynch

We arrived on the Turkish mainland this morning to bright blue, cloudless skies and a morning temperature in the mid-50s. During the day it warmed up to about 60 degrees but a strong wind began to blow off the sea. Tonight we may experience for the first time what Peter and Paul felt and experienced during a very windy night in the Adriatic and Mediterranean.

The two room house some believe to be where Mary lived until her death,. Photo kindness of John P. Christian

First, a few words about a destination of many tours today which is the house which legend has it that Mary lived with John the Apostle after the resurrection of Jesus, and as the locals would say until her Assumption into heaven following upon her death. The scriptures say little about Mary after the Ascension of her son so they are of little to no help in determining what happened to her. However, there is some support that John the Apostle who had been given the task of caring for Mary by Jesus on the cross came to Ephesus and lived here, and therefore if one follows the logic also with Mary. The Muslims respect Mary because they respect Jesus as a great prophet, not the greatest mind you (that honor belongs to Mohammed) and the mothers of all prophets are held in great esteem and reverence. Thus they are willing to stake their claim that Mary lived and died in Ephesus. In Jerusalem there is a church called the Church of the Dormition of Mary which also claims to be the place where she died and from which she was assumed into heaven. In the last century, a German nun and visionary had a vision that Mary spent most of her life on top of a tall mountain with a view of the sea and in a two room house. They found such a house here above Ephesus and I am including a picture. Where Mary died, in Ephesus or Jerusalem is not an article of faith. That she died and was assumed into heaven is.

We are fairly certain that Paul arrived in Ephesus around the year 52AD, from Corinth. Second in size to his hometown of Antioch in that part of the world, he arrives here with a greater knowledge of what works and what does not work in his preaching and evangelizing. We are also fairly certain that he traveled over 500 miles by land to reach Ephesus taking weeks as one might expect. There were few Christians to be found in Ephesus in a general population of 200,000 and it was a perfect place for him. He would end up spending three years in Ephesus, the longest time he would stay in any one place and when he left, he left everything to Timothy, his friend and early bishop.

Artemis was the Greek God of choice at Ephesus, which was a bustling port city. Today, the ancient ruins, which we visited, have seen the sea withdraw about six miles but in the time of Paul, one took a ship right up to the main street in the city. It was a place of great commerce and while not the capital city of the area it was classy, classical and clever.

It is said that there were some 10,000 Jews living in Ephesus at the time of Paul’s arrival. Initially as elsewhere, he enjoyed a brief period of honeymoon but then animosity and rejection. Paul cleverly found another site for his preaching, something that today we might call a “lecture hall.” Since the known world came to him in Ephesus, he did not need to leave and go elsewhere in the world in search of converts. Ephesus was an important place of congregation, gathering, debating and disputing, exactly his kind of town.

It is important for today’s Catholic to remember that Paul did not have access to what today we call the Gospels. He worked from stories about Jesus he was told after his conversion by people who either knew the Lord personally or had information from someone reliable and close to Christ. No where in his writings or in Acts do we have Paul quoting any Gospel but we do have one quotation in Acts by Paul from Jesus, words of Jesus, that appear in no Gospel: It is better to give than to receive. [Acts 20:35]. So his theology of Christianity developed apart from the Gospels themselves that to me is even more amazing. One of the best summaries of his time and teaching in Ephesus, I think, is to be found in his farewell speech to the community he had spent three years with which he delivered at Miletus (25 miles from ancient Ephesus) and which comes from Acts:

I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you, but have taught you publicly and from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. . . I must complete the task. . .of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace. . .[and] preaching the kingdom. I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. Acts 20:20-21,24-25,27,31.

One small section of the enormous Roman "theatre" where Paul preached at Ephesus. Photo kindness of Marc Barhonovich

Pretty simple it would seem but a lot for a hostile audience. How successful was he? Peter Walker in his excellent book  IN THE STEPS OF PAUL which I used for preparing for this trip and also for writing these Pauline entry blogs suggests that a community of perhaps 500 or 600 converts were won to the faith over his three years here. That is probably more than any one priest or bishop converts, instructs and baptizes in our lifetime today so do not let the numbers betray his real success.

When we visited the ancient city with its incredible excavations today, we saw the ancient theatre where Paul had a bad day or days. Something of a riot took place following his preaching and it centered on whose God was really God, Paul’s or the God Artemus of the Greeks/Romans. There was a huge brouhaha, which the Apostle desperately wished to engage in, but instead Paul was restrained from entering the theatre at that moment in time though he probably would have given his right arm to get into the debate. As the Jewish people began to become more vehement in their condemnation of Paul, he determined it was time to move on and set off for Jerusalem. As I mentioned earlier in this series, his letter to the Ephesians was written during his brief second visit to Corinth.

One final note about Ephesus. In 431, the third ecumenical council was held here to combat the heresy of Nestorianism which made two erroneous claims: first, that Jesus was not divine and second that Mary was not the mother of the Son of God since Jesus was merely human. Bishops from all around the ancient world gathered here to pray and discuss how to combat these theological errors. Of course, they reaffirmed that Jesus was both human and divine and they accorded to Mary the title of “theotokus” or “bearer [mother] of God.” No matter how one slices it, for Mary, for Paul, for John the Apostle, John the Evangelist, John of Patmos, St. Luke and for the Church, Ephesus played a major role in our first century church history. Most tourists visit it for its important ruins of the Greek and Roman eras but pilgrims visit it because they wish to walk in the footsteps of the apostles. As for Peter, Sunday through next Thursday is his day as we arrive in our final port, Civitavecchia, the port city for Rome.

+RNL

Mass in Jerusalem at the Church of St. Savior on St. Francis Street. Photo kindness of John P. Christian

A day in Jerusalem would be challenging enough but when the news came to the passengers that our ship would not be moving to the Port of Ashdod which is closer to Jerusalem but would instead remain in Haifa for a second night we knew we had a long day in store for us (we departed the dock by bus at 645am, arrived in Bethlehem Square at 1015am and returned to the ship at 800pm). Bethlehem is in what is euphemistically called the “west bank”. It is a euphemism because there is no river running through Jerusalem or many parts of the land, which would serve as a boundary, or line of demarcation. Nonetheless, we stopped the border, our Israeli guides got off, we then passed through the border and three Christian-Arab guides got on the buses and took us to the birthplace of the Lord. Unlike that first Christmas night there must have been at least 3000 people off cruise ships that descended upon the Church of the Nativity at the same time. The wait in the Orthodox part of the Church to descend to a small room and see the “spot” where Mary delivered was already two hours but our guide knew a back route which took is into what we could easily believe to have been a stable and we saw the same place from the rear. The guides were very good and we as a group had an opportunity to support some of the few Christian-Arabs who have remained in the area. It will be all-Muslim soon without a return of Christians to the area and there is no peace and a very unsettled situation, which makes any return almost illogical.

Our next stop was for Mass at the Church of St. Savior or as we would likely call it in the United States, Blessed Sacrament. We were running late at the time with the Way of the Cross-and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher remaining to be seen before dark, which came at 445pm. The visit to the tomb of Jesus, which also includes the ninth through the twelfth stations, and Golgotha took well over an hour but it was the central focus of our pilgrimage for that day. Because of the long bus rides, other places which I would have liked to have shown my fellow pilgrims were impossible: the Garden of Gethsemane in daylight (we saw it only after dark), the Upper Room and the birthplace and home of John the Baptist at Ein Karim were all impossible. The group returned to the bus by way of the “western wall” which as you the reader surely know is all our Jewish brothers and sisters have remaining of the great Temple which was destroyed in 70AD by the Romans putting down a revolt. It is always a moving place and this day was no exception and many of our own group approached to touch the wall and even slip a note inside it.

So our three-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land, to the land of the Lord and of the apostles Peter and Paul perhaps much too quickly came to an end. Just listening to those along with me, however, I knew that they had a great experience, loved Galilee and were moved by as much of Jerusalem as they could see. Had there not been an outbreak of violence between Hamas and Israel aimed at the port of Ashdod where we would have docked, we would have had more time in the holy city. We had terrific guides and drivers for the day and everyone appreciated that.

I will repeat for the final time hoping that you the reader will capture this reality, when one comes to the Holy Land to reconstruct the life of Jesus, it is the experience and not the specific geography that is important. All of us had an easy time visualizing Jesus walking the shores of the Sea of Galilee and all of us could easily imagine Peter, Andrew, James and John leaving their nets and following him. Since Jerusalem has been destroyed and rebuilt so many times since the death of the Lord, one has to work harder to make it credible and a place of faith. For example, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and Golgotha, which was, then outside of the city of Jerusalem is now inside what is wrongly called “the old city” but is really the “new city” of Jerusalem of antiquity. It takes imagination and extrapolation to make it work but I think for almost all of us it did. Finally, I have had a very challenging time sending this blog while enroute on the ship. Sorry about the delay.

Darkness falls on Jerusalem and all the earth. Photo kindness of John P. Christian

So we left the place where it all started and in a few days will pick up the trail of Paul in Ephesus and Peter and Paul in Rome. Shalom!

+RNL

The Basilica of the Annunciation at Nazareth

We have reached the land of Jesus’ birth and death. Today one hundred and one of us spent most of the day just north of the Sea of Galilee, starting where it all started in Nazareth, moving on to Cana, and ending on Mt. Tabor. With a group our size it takes time and while I had hoped to include the monastery of Mt. Carmel here in Haifa as a late afternoon stop, we did not make it back before their 500pm closing. Darkness comes quite early here in the Holy Land at this time of the year (445pm today) as it is about as far east in what is called the Central European time zone as one can get. On the other hand, sunrise tomorrow morning will be about 545am.

Everything and I do mean everything was closed on our arrival in the port of Haifa today. Because it was Jewish Sabbath, there were no workers loading or unloading the mammoth freighters in the harbor, no cars on the street and little noise anywhere. Haifa and this eastern part of Israel is heavily Arab, Muslim and quite productive. To witness it all so still was eerie.

It took about an hour to drive from the port to Nazareth which is a city built up and down several hillsides. Since Nazareth is today mostly Arab Muslim and Arab Christian (declining dramatically in number) and since it was Saturday there was considerably more activity to be found there, traffic jams and people on the non-existent sidewalks. Nazareth has throughout its history been something of a melting pot of people, even in biblical times, a biblical “Podunk” lacking any one religious or cultural identification. It was for this reason that Nathaniel could ask in the Gospel, “can anything good come from Nazareth.” Well for us it certainly did.

The angel Gabriel is said to have appeared to Mary at what today is called “Mary’s Well” of which there are two, one public and open to everyone on the streets and one under an Orthodox church. Which one it actually happened at is mostly irrelevant as the Holy Land is place where one experiences the Lord more than validating information or seeking specificity. The Franciscan fathers have built a magnificent basilica on the spot where legend days Mary and Joseph lived and raised Jesus and there is also almost attached a Church of St. Joseph which does not press the imagination as much. There was an American group celebrating Mass on the lower altar of the basilica, which is closer to Mary’s home. So what began with an angelic appearance to Mary then moves on to the Jerusalem area with Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth in Ein Karem (not on the West Bank) and eventually with Joseph to the birth of her child in Bethlehem, which we will visit on Monday.

Mary and Jesus would have walked down a steep hill and up another one on the five-mile walk to Cana and the famous wedding. We had Mass in the new chapel at Cana, again run beautifully by the Franciscans responsible for the holy places here. Monsignor Bosso gave a wonderful homily on “relationships” which centered somewhat on Mary’s relation with a “testy” Jesus in the famous Gospel where water was turned into wine. Then, all married couples present renewed their wedding vows and there were few dry eyes to be found. My group sang beautifully at this Mass and since we had the small space of this Church to ourselves, it was a wonderful liturgy. I think all married couples on this trip (and there are three whose marriages I have personally witnessed) would consider this the highlight at least of today and perhaps the whole trip.

Then on to Mt. Tabor, which at 1700 feet dominates the countryside of this Galilee region. Off to the east in the distance is to be seen Mt. Hermon which stands at about 5600 feet and which some of the Protestant churches have begun to say was the site of the Transfiguration, not Mt. Tabor. Whatever, the new basilica and surround grounds on a day with a high of perhaps 75 degrees, blue sky and delightful breeze captured our hearts and imagination. It was not hard to envision Jesus, Peter and James sharing that special moment of “epiphany.” Monsignor Bosso here pointed out that the transfiguration account in the Gospel immediately follows Jesus’ prediction of his impending death and resurrection and was meant to convince his two friends that they too needed to prepare themselves for the “cross” which would lead to resurrected life and transfiguration in the life, which is to come. He reminded us that moments of glory often precede or follow moments of challenge in life and we need to prepare ourselves for these moments in order to share the glory of eternal life.

To get to the top of Mt. Tabor, the busses can only take you about a third of the way and then you transfer to a ten person taxi which takes you the rest of the way up a spine-chilling crooked and an narrow road with many, many hairpin turns eliciting prayers from everyone in the cab. The saying around here is that the real reason the two apostles did not wish to leave the place was they didn’t want to take the taxi ride back down!

Mosaic of the Transfiguration at the Church on Mt. Tabor

Tomorrow we spend the whole day around the Sea of Galilee and Sunday Mass will be celebrated for all of you at the Church of the Primacy. Stayed tuned.

+RNL

Once a year the Hispanic Catholics come to the Cathedral of St. Jude to celebrate their faith as Hispanic Catholics. They always bring their culture and religious customs to the Mass and we honor each year the Blessed Mother under the patronage of whatever country is highlighted. Mexican Catholics have a special devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Puerto Ricans to Our Lady of Divine Providence, Dominican Republic to Our Lady of Alta Gratia, Cubans to Our Lady of Charity and so forth. This year we celebrated the Blessed Mother as native Honduran Catholics would, Nuestra Senora de Suyapa. I counted sixteen countries represented in this diocese at last Saturday”s Mass.

(more…)

Una vez al año los hispanos católicos se reúnen en la Catedral de St. Jude para celebrar su fe como católicos hispanos. Siempre participan en esta misa con sus vestimentas tradicionales y cada año honramos a nuestra Señora, pero en particular se destaca cada año a la Virgen de uno de los países. Los católicos de México tienen una devoción especial hacia la Virgen de Guadalupe, los portorriqueños hacia la Virgen de La Divina Providencia, los de la Republica Dominicana hacia Nuestra Señora de Alta Gracia, los cubanos hacia la Virgen de la Caridad, y así de esa forma cada país honra a la Santa Madre. Este año la celebración fue dedicada a la Virgen de Suyapa, a la cual los hondureños veneran. Conté en la misa de este sábado, dieciséis países, los que se encuentran representados en nuestra Diócesis. (more…)