Apologies to all for not being able to update the blog for quite a long time. Not my fault, well actually it is. Anyway, forgive me and permit me to share a few words about my first Easter in Chontamarca in the mountains of Ecuador. It was a fantastic time of renewal and celebration for all of us. Easter fell, as it does, in the middle of our winter and as I have already mentioned, the winter was a tough one. But surprisingly, the weather came good, well dry at least. We started our Holy Week celebrations on Palm Sunday with a bang. To say that Holy Week is important in Latin America is gross understatment. It is incredible, believer and non-believer alike. Everyone comes out for Holy Week. It is also, as expected, a very emotional and graphic celebration. On Palm Sunday, we began with our procession, you might get some sense of it in the photos. People processed from all parts of the parish to meet in two meeting areas from which they precessed to the parish church. It is worth keeping in mind that some of these communities are more that seven hours walking distance. From the two meeting points we processed in prayer and song, donkeys and mules, palms in hand, in praise of a God who gave all for us. Exhausted and dusty, we gathered outside of the church, we had a short blessing ceremony where we blessed the palms and whatever else presented itself and then processed into the church. With the servers I entered the church last and was barely able to make it to the sanctuary. A more life-giving ceremony I have rarely experienced.
Every day of Holy Week was attended and participated in with much energy and enthusiasm. On Holy Thursday night we had 72 apostles in the parish, six celebrations of Mass, not possible without the help of another Irish priest, Fr. John Keane from the Cork/Waterford area, although he had trouble getting to some of the Masses because the pathways were so bad. The main celebration was a very moving ceremony in the village of Chontamarca at 9pm. that night.
Good Friday started with the celebration of the Way of the Cross which went on to last two and a half hours. Again, very beautiful, very moving and very graphic. There were some forty five adult volunteers, mostly soldiers, such was their enthusiasm. We had the crucifixion at the local graveyard, a place of crucifixion for most of us at one time or another. The celebration of the Passion was held in the church at 3pm. Later in the night we processed in candlelight for three miles, again, singing and praying to our crucified Saviour, what a beautiful experience. That finished with a remembrance of the Last Seven Words of the crucified Christ. We finished, rather exhausted, at 2am.
The next morning, early, we prayed the "Soledad de Maria", the "Loneliness of Mary", which again, was very moving. And we finished our Triduum celebrations with our Easter vigils, again, very similar to home with the possible exception of the tangible excitment of all who participated.
On Easter Sunday, we celebrated our dawn Mass of the Resurrection at 4.30am. and went on to celebrate seven more Easter Sunday celebrations before retiring at 8pm.
Quite simply, the overwhelming energy and enthusiasm was something to experience. You really did sense being in the presence of a community who really understood that the tomb was truly empty. To witness a community with such poverty, with such an obvious presence of the Cross amongst them, it is something that will always stay with me, Resurrection.
Sunset in the mountains of Ecuador
God in there somewhere.
A view of the famous "Salt Lake", the world's largest.
An active volcano on the Argentine border.
With the "Green Lake" in the foreground.
A typical home of the indigenous communities
This is the home of Carmen Saeteros. She has just turned ninty (she thinks). Very often they have difficulty remembering their date of birth. Her very simple house is typical of the indigenous community and made from clay and stray blocks (bloques de adobe) with the luxurious models having tin roofs, (many with stray). These homes are bitterly cold for a man from Belmullet used to the bit hearth full of good black turf. But these are a tougher people. Carmen sleeps on the floor on a large bag filled with animal coat. Inside it is just one room with a table at one end and her bag (bed) at the other. She survives on milk and eggs (dairy products in large quantities being bad and all that jazz, she must have missed that health supplement) With no shoes and no socks, the earthen floor can be well... Recently we have decided to "renovate" her local run-down chapel at a cost or between $2000-2500. She said it was the best New Year present she could have received. She (as the elder stateswoman), and the rest of the community of Rumiurco are very proud of their Christian Catholic faith. Say one for her, she is quite ill at this moment.
Our New Church at Cimientos
Ciemientos is a community in the wilds of the mountains of Ecuador, untouched until recently by the "outside" world. It is a community constituted entirely of indigenous peoples. They speak Kichwa and are intensely uncomfortable speaking in Spanish (as am I, so at least we have that in common). Thanks to the support of the people of my native Erris, Co Mayo, this chapel is nearing completion. Unfortunately because of the incredible effects of the "La Nina" and associated weather patterns, the inauguration will take place in the summer, probably September. But it is a beautiful chapel, built on the foundation of an old Inca structure. (Ciemientos means foundation) They do not rue the loss of the Inca relic because they are decendents of the Canari people who were subjugated by the Inca Empire in the thirteenth century. One back as it were, if not a little too late.
Here we are above the clouds at over 2800metres
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