I’m going to apologize in advance for the incoherent blog post that you’re about to read. It seems every day I learn more Spanish, I lose more English… I’m pulling that excuse today.
Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday the students walk a few blocks to the church at the center of town after dinner. Tuesday is mass, Wednesday is acción juvenil (youth group) and Thursday is holy hour and confession. Tonight was the first night of youth group, to kick off the start of Cauresma (Lent) tomorrow. I wasn’t sure what to expect, so I was excited to see what was in store. The Bachillerato students were welcomed into the church by calm music and dim lighting. The pews were filled with young faces and high energy, a nice change from the other days of the week.
Father Craig is from MA and has been with the parish for the past seven years. From what I’ve noticed, he is a great asset to the community. He is very involved with and respected by the people. (He also cooks some rockin meals: pizza, green beans, irreplaceable dinner rolls, and cheesecake!)
So anyway, Father started off the night and introduced the reading. Several young people emerged from out back, dressed in costume and ready to act out the reading. Sometimes it’s hard to understand the reading in Spanish, so I was grateful to see that there was some theater involved.
The reading was from Matthew, how we are to learn from the hypocrites (Don’t pray out in public because then you have gotten your reward. Rather, pray in the privacy of your own room and you will be rewarded from God). I enjoyed reflecting on this reading because it’s important for me to remember that we must be honest with ourselves and do the right thing simply because it’s the right thing to do. It seems like a simple lesson, something that I learned when I was a kid, but embracing it fully can be a challenge.
After the reading, Father gave a bit of a homily. He pointed out how easily we can pick out the faults of others without considering our own faults first. He asked that we reflect on ways to direct that criticism to our own lives instead of that of others.
We then were invited to go forward and pick a branch of a palm tree that parishioners had collected. It represented the things that we were to leave behind as we enter Lent. After a bit of silence we exited outside into the courtyard to burn the palms. We were each asked to place our palm in a metal basin to be used for tomorrow’s ashes.
The ambiance and sentiment of the time spent outside burning the ashes, clapping and signing (including the typical Our Father sung to Simon and Garfunkel's Sound of Silence), praying, and reflecting was quite refreshing. It felt like a cleansing of sorts, seeing the palms (representing our faults) burning and recognizing the commitment that we were making to further develop our personal spirituality. Just being outside with the cool breeze, under the clear sky, gathered around the fire with the students and youth from the parish was enough to make me quite content.
It was a neat change to have palms from people’s back yards and be involved in the creation of the ashes. The night was very ceremonial and meaningful, and a part of Cauresma that I’ve never experienced before.
To top it all off, we celebrated Fat Tuesday with cake and juice- Honduran style. No cake is complete without marshmallow/fluff/questionable frosting and pineapple filling. Delish.
I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of Lent looks like- especially Semana Santa!
PS Kate is here safe and sound. It’s been a joy to have her visiting and helping out with everything. She’s been learning a lot of Spanish and the girls are already giving her cards and poems. It’s been fun to put myself in her shoes and see things as if they were new again.
