LIGHT ONE CANDLE By Father Ed Dougherty, M.M., The Christophers’ board of directors
January opens with the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, which serves as a joyous reminder that the Christmas season is still upon us. Celebrating Mary’s role in saying “yes” to God and the Incarnation of Christ is a wonderful way to keep the spirit of the season alive within our hearts. And what a relief it is to realize that we can and should still celebrate the Christmas season because the time we spend in preparation for that special day and the activities surrounding it can be so hectic.
Of course, our preparation and celebration of Christmas is intended to leave us with something that lasts throughout the year. It is a time to awaken our appreciation for God’s gift of His Son for the salvation of all humanity, and it is fitting that we pull out the stops on Christmas Day to allow the reality of that miracle to open our hearts to be transformed by God’s love for us.
But our Christmas celebration should continue beyond even January 1 for a much simpler reason. Our celebration should extend throughout the entirety of the Christmas season, a period that lasts until Epiphany Sunday, held this year on January 8.
Father Ed Dougherty
The most enduring way to keep Christmas alive within our hearts throughout the season is to attend Mass as often as possible. The Solemnity of Mary concludes the period of eight feast days known as an Octave that began with the Nativity of Our Lord, and this first week of January continues with great Christmas season feast days, with one of the highlights being the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus on January 3.
The Christmas season culminates with Epiphany Sunday on January 8, when we honor the recognition of Christ’s Divinity by the Wise Men who travelled from afar to reverence the Baby Jesus in Bethlehem. It is the perfect capstone to this festive time when we gather with family and community to heighten our own and everyone else’s awareness of the importance of Christ’s birth and His presence in our midst today.
So, if the whirlwind of preparing for Christmas Day has left you feeling like the whole thing has come and gone without giving you the chance to appreciate it, take heart in the fact that our celebration is ongoing. When considering the extended nature of this celebration, you might realize there’s a time and place for virtually everything. We have the hustle and bustle surrounding Christmas Day, the food and fun and time we share together, and the gift giving to show our appreciation for one another.
But as we approach Epiphany Sunday, when the realization of the meaning of Christ’s birth becomes clear, perhaps we might take some time to appreciate the season in a different way. Perhaps we might slow things down, do a bit more prayer and contemplation, take time with friends and family in quieter ways, ways that enable us to truly understand each other’s hopes and dreams and even fears and struggles as we embark upon this New Year together.
When we do these things, we will find ourselves growing in appreciation for the way Christ is present in each and every one of us, and we will allow that presence to flourish within our midst. In this way, we open our hearts to all the Christmas season has to offer so that we can be transformed throughout the year by the coming of Christ into our lives.
(For a free copy of The Christophers’ LIFT UP YOUR HEARTS, write: The Christophers, 5 Hanover Square, New York, NY 10004; or e-mail: mail@christophers.org)
The church deeply venerates the Holy Family and proposes it as the model of all families. Inserted directly in the mystery of the Incarnation, the Family of Nazareth has its own special mystery. And in this mystery, one finds true parenthood.
Joseph’s commitment to fatherhood is not one that derives from begetting offspring; but neither is it an apparent, nor merely, substitute fatherhood. Rather, it is one that fully shares in authentic human fatherhood and the mission of a father in the family.
The Holy Family, Bartolome Esteban Murillo, c. 1660-1670; Public Domain.
Mary’s suffering shows the full extent of her motherhood — not just bringing life forth but offering it to God. The Blessed Mother never forgot her Infant, and, therefore, we cannot fail to recall the fidelity of the Lord to His covenant with us.
The diagnosis of ‘family’ today is bleak. Sociocultural realities discourage the young from marrying, contributing to factors like ‘fear of commitment’ and ‘high divorce rates’. This disrespect for marriage belittles parenthood.
Commitment is a key characteristic of an everyday steward. The examples and commitment to parenthood by Joseph and Mary help us to be strong when it seems that life is hard. More importantly, reflecting on their lives can help us truly see the ways God moves in our lives and the gifts He has given us to use for His glory.
The Feast of the Holy Family prompts us to recognize the importance of the family. Indeed, Jesus is born in a family!
ST. LOUIS – Sister Olivia Maria Obregon, RSM, a native of Edinburgh, Texas, transitioned to eternal life on the evening of Dec. 1, 2022.
Sister was born July 10, 1937 to her beloved parents, Alfonso Obregon and Bernarda Cervantes. She is the sibling to Gilbert (Nancy) Obregon; Eligio (Irene) Obregon; Marta (Mickey) French; Robert (Ofelia) Obregon; Ana (Joe) Perez, Zita (Ron) Colvin; Francisca (Sylvestre) Garcia; Sister Bernard Mary Obregon, RSM; Mary (Gus) Sanchez; and Dominga Obregon. In addition, she is survived by a host of multi-generational nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her parents, several siblings and in-laws, and two nephews.
She entered the Sisters of Mercy Community in 1954 and has been a loving member for 68 faith-filled years. She studied nursing and served in various ministries throughout the former St. Louis Regional Community. Her service in healthcare was experienced predominantly in cities within the states of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi. She was a true South Texan who embraced the Mexican American culture with joy, dance and a fullness for all that life offers. Her spirituality encompassed the multiple issues rooted in the critical concerns of her sacred community, the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. She shared the community’s deep desire to empower others as Mercy Associates and co-workers always in service to God’s people. She will be dearly missed by family, loved ones and many whose lives she touched.
A funeral Mass was held on Wednesday, Dec. 7 and she is interred at Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis.
Celibacy is discerned alongside the priesthood. In the Roman Church celibacy is a discipline that is the norm for all ordained priests. This is distinct from various eastern Catholic Churches which allow for married priests while all bishops are celibate. The church venerates the celibate life for her priests because our high priest, Jesus Christ, was celibate. The tradition of the church also proclaims that all the apostles, the first bishops, lived celibately following their call from Christ, and that this is not simply a way for priests of the church to ‘have more time’ for ministry, but it is a call into a spousal relationship with the church itself.
Father Nick Adam
The longer I live my priesthood the more I appreciate the spousal aspect of my celibacy. Just as a husband lives for his wife and seeks to give himself to her in all that he does, the priest should do the same for the church. As the love between a husband and wife bears fruit through children and in the community, the priests’ love for the church and his care of protection of her brings forth spiritual fruit in the people of the parish and those that he encounters in the wider community.
Priesthood is most fruitfully lived by men who understand and ‘lean into’ their spousal identity. This means that priesthood is not reserved for men who otherwise would not desire marriage, or who simply want to ‘do good in the world.’ Priesthood is for men who are invited into a relationship with God through the church that brings out a not just a true fatherhood, but first a spousal union. Men are husbands before they are fathers, and so a priest has to be dedicated to giving himself fully to his bride, the church.
When a man is discerning the priesthood, he should pay close attention to the call to celibacy. There should be a discernable movement within the heart of a man as he progresses through the seminary that he is willing and able to give his life away for his bride. Our society has many roadblocks to maturity that sometimes need to be tackled outside the seminary system, and so it is my job and that of the formators at the seminary to help our men see those roadblocks and overcome them. In our day, the ability to commit to lifelong covenant relationship is inhibited by constant distractions, some more gravely immoral than others. Our understanding of our own manhood can be threatened by cultural movements that seek to limit the specific genius of masculinity and femininity. All of these issues are addressed within the seminary as men are encouraged and required to grow in maturity so they are able to be a leaven in society, not to simply go with the flow.
If he is not willing or able to grow in this identity, then he is may not called to priesthood, or he needs to step away in order to grow in maturity and an understanding of who he is as a man. The church needs husbands and fathers seeking to give themselves completely for the life of the church. The call to celibacy must be present if a man is to live out his priesthood as a true spouse of the church, and as he gives himself more and more to that life giving relationship, he will see the fruits of his labor through many spiritual children.
– Father Nick Adam
If you are interested in learning more about religious orders or vocations to the priesthood and religious life, email nick.adam@jacksondiocese.org.
By Joanna Puddister King JACKSON – Eight years ago (2015), the #iGiveCatholic campaign for #GivingTuesday took off as an initiative of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, raising over a million dollars in a 24-hour period for Catholic parishes, schools and ministries. Subsequently, this campaign spread to other dioceses throughout the nation, with participating dioceses increasing with each year. The 2022 #iGiveCatholic campaign had a great impact, with partnerships including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Catholic Educational Association, raising over $18.5 million for Catholic entities this year. The Diocese of Jackson joined the #iGiveCatholic campaign in 2016, making this year the seventh year of participation in the nationwide campaign, and generating a record $207,000 in gifts to a total of 43 parishes, schools and ministries within the diocese.
The success of each organization is based on the amount of effort put forth in publicizing their causes, or reason to raise funds, by reaching out to donors via social media (Facebook, Instagram, emails, websites, etc.) and print publications such as bulletins, posters and flyers.
The #iGiveCatholic campaign focuses on electronic giving and includes a specific website provided to the organizations at no cost, in hopes to encourage greater participation and help generate funds. Each year, the diocese receives a generous grant from Catholic Extension to cover half of the online giving platform fees.
Also included in the grant from Catholic Extension was additional money earmarked for training or prizes to aid in a successful campaign and help generate excitement. Five prizes were awarded in random drawings for entities who had online donors during specific time frames; and three prizes were awarded to the top three fundraisers. The grand prize winners this year were St. Richard Catholic School in Jackson; St. Jude Catholic Church in Pearl; and the Carmelite Monastery in Jackson. The National Sponsor of #iGiveCatholic this year was Our Sunday Visitor, a Catholic publisher that serves millions of Catholics globally through its publishing and communication services. For the past few years, Our Sunday Visitor has donated offertory envelopes at no cost to participating organizations, to encourage donors, who otherwise would not want to give electronically, helping to increase participation and overall total giving.
“Throughout history, Catholics have always been generous people. Our world and our society need to see and experience increased generosity, but more importantly, they need to see the joy Catholics have as we ‘give back’ out of gratitude in return for how we have been blessed,” said Julia Williams, assistant development director for the Diocese of Jackson and diocesan support contact for the #iGiveCatholic program.
“Each year, we are so grateful to the Catholic Community as they support various ministries as they continue to ‘Give Thanks – Give Back and Give Catholic.’”
By Mark Pattison WASHINGTON (CNS) – The commutation Dec. 13 of all condemned prisoners on Oregon’s death row was one key in the Death Penalty Information Center’s 2022 report on capital punishment in the United States.
Counterbalancing Oregon’s move was Oklahoma’s effort to execute 25 death-row inmates in a 29-month span.
Even though 2022 was another year with fewer than 30 executions, more than half of those were in just two states, Oklahoma and Texas.
By contrast, according to Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, there are 37 states that either do not issue death sentences or have not executed a prisoner in at least 10 years.
In its annual year-end report released Dec. 16, 2022, the Death Penalty Information Center says the use of capital punishment continued its long-term decline in the U.S. in 2022. (CNS screen grab/Death Penalty Information Center)
“That’s three-quarters of the country,” he told Catholic News Service in a Dec. 15 phone interview. Fewer than 50 new death sentences were issued, but getting from a death sentence to an execution has proven more challenging for governments trying to impose the ultimate sentence, as botched executions and protocol errors led to halts in Alabama and Tennessee, while Kentucky became the second state to pass an exemption for serious mental illness.
Further, two more people were exonerated outright last year, bringing the total of exonerees since 1973 to 190. Concerns about innocence attracted unlikely spokespeople to the abolitionist cause, including Republican state legislators and self-described supporters of capital punishment, according to the report.
The Death Penalty Information Center’s prosecutorial accountability project has identified more than 550 trials in which capital convictions or death sentences were overturned or wrongfully convicted death-row prisoners were exonerated as a result of prosecutorial misconduct.
Half of those executed had spent 20 years or more on death row, according to the report, in violation of international human rights norms. Executions took place despite objections from county prosecutors and the relatives of victims. And 83% of prisoners executed in 2022 had evidence of a significant impairment.
“At least 13 of the people executed in 2022 had one or more of the following impairments: serious mental illness (eight); brain injury, developmental brain damage, or an IQ in the intellectually disabled range (five); chronic serious childhood trauma, neglect, and/or abuse (12),” the report explained. “Three prisoners were executed for crimes committed in their teens,” it added. “At least four of the people executed this year were military veterans.”
The Supreme Court continued to withdraw the federal courts from regulation of death penalty cases, limiting access to federal habeas corpus review for death-row prisoners, vacating lower court rulings that had halted executions, and declining to review death-penalty cases that presented serious constitutional issues.
Public support for the death penalty is near its all-time low in the past 50 years. In a Gallup poll, support ticked up 1%, and opposition went down 1%, despite respondents’ concerns over a rise in violent crime.
Dunham said outgoing Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s mass commutation in Oregon was a big deal. The 17 whose sentences were commuted to life in prison without parole make up the second largest group in the past 50 years to receive a blanket pardon, next to Illinois Gov. George Ryan’s commutation of 160 death sentences in 2003.
“It is an irreversible punishment that does not allow for correction; is wasteful of taxpayer dollars; does not make communities safer; and cannot be and never has been administered fairly and equitably,” Brown said announcing the commutations.
The Death Penalty Information Center’s report said capital punishment continues to be applied discriminatorily. “Eight of the 18 prisoners executed were people of color: five were Black, one was Asian, one Native American and one Latino,” the report said.
One relatively unexamined result of November’s midterm elections was that prosecutors who support criminal legal reform were elected, and in some cases they succeeded death penalty advocates in the process.
In Shelby County, Tennessee, which includes Memphis, Attorney General Amy Weirich, a Republican, who had been investigated for prosecutorial misconduct, lost her reelection bid to Democrat Steve Mulroy, a law professor at the University of Memphis who had formerly been a civil rights prosecutor in the federal Department of Justice.
In Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, the incumbent prosecutor, a death penalty advocate, retired. “Oklahoma County carried out more executions than any state except the state of Texas,” Dunham said. The county, which includes Oklahoma City, “has had more wrongful death penalty convictions overturned than three other counties in the United States,” he added. “So who do they elect? The former director of the Innocence Project.”
Editor’s Note: The Death Penalty Information Center’s full report can be found online at https://bit.ly/3G20ssK.
NATION MENDOTA, Minn. (CNS) – A small article in a Christian magazine caught Bob O’Connell’s eye in 1982. It described a national program that provides Christmas presents to children who have a parent in prison. O’Connell was looking for a way to apply the Gospel message by serving the poor and suffering. “I had been in the charismatic movement … for seven, eight years,” said O’Connell, 78, a member of the Church of St. Peter in Mendota. “I was restless. I was itchy for doing something. I was just kind of bored. ‘OK, I’ve got a full-time job, but when it comes to doing some ministry, something for the Lord, I’m not doing anything.’ So, I thought, ‘What can I do?’” The article described a ministry called Project Angel Tree. It was started by a woman who had been incarcerated herself: Mary Kay Beard of Alabama. She had been hired by an organization called Prison Fellowship and was asked to come up with a Christmas project. She decided to erect Christmas trees at two local shopping malls and attach paper angels with the names of boys and girls who had a parent in prison. On the angels were gift ideas, and Beard coordinated a team of people to deliver gifts to these children of inmates. O’Connell started doing this in the Twin Cities that same year. He has done it every year since, coordinating the program from his Burnsville home. It has expanded to include northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and North and South Dakota. This year, Missouri was added to the list.
LANSING, Mich. (CNS) – A Catholic parish in the Diocese of Lansing has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court to protect its right to hire parish employees and staff for its grade school who uphold the tenets of the Catholic faith. The filing follows a July 28 ruling by the Michigan Supreme Court that reinterpreted a state civil rights statute’s definition of sex to include gender identity and sexual orientation without any exemption for religious organizations. Filed Dec. 5 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan-Southern Division, the suit names state Attorney General Dana Nessel, the Department of Civil Rights and the Civil Rights Commission. Becket, a Washington-based religious liberty law firm, is representing the plaintiff, St. Joseph Catholic Church in St. Johns, Michigan. Founded in 1857, it is the only Catholic parish in town. Its elementary school opened in 1924. The state Supreme Court’s “new understanding” of the civil rights statute “would make it illegal for St. Joseph to operate in accordance with the 2,000-year-old teachings of the Catholic Church on marriage and sexuality,” Becket said in a statement. “This threatens the school’s right to hire staff who will faithfully pass on the tenets of the faith to the next generation,” it said.
Bishop Jacinto Vera of Montevideo, Uruguay, who lived in the 1800s, will be beatified, Pope Francis announced in a series of decrees for sainthood causes released Dec. 17, 2022. (CNS photo/Archdiocese of Montevideo)
VATICAN VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Decrying what he described as “hostile times” when antisemitism and violence against Christians are on the rise, Pope Francis said a renewed commitment to Catholic-Jewish dialogue is needed. “The path we have traveled together is considerable,” but the work clearly is not done, the pope told members of the Amitié Judéo-Chrétienne de France, a dialogue and education group founded in 1948 by Jules Isaac, a French historian who worked to improve Christian-Jewish relations after World War II and met with Popes Pius XII and John XXIII. “We must give thanks to God” for the progress, the pope said, especially “given the weight of mutual prejudices and the sometimes-painful history that must be acknowledged. The task is not finished, and I encourage you to persevere on the path of dialogue, fraternity and joint initiatives. This beautiful work, which consists in creating bonds, is fragile, always to be resumed and consolidated, especially in these hostile times in which attitudes of closure and rejection of the other are becoming more numerous, including with the worrying reappearance of antisemitism, particularly in Europe, and of violence against Christians.”
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Celebrating Christmas is important and beautiful, Pope Francis said, but he asked people to spend less on their celebrations this year and donate the savings to help the people of Ukraine. As he has done at his general audiences since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the pope asked pilgrims and visitors Dec. 14 to express their “closeness to the martyred Ukrainian people, persevering in fervent prayer for these brothers and sisters of ours who are suffering so much. Brothers and sisters, I tell you, they are suffering so very, very much in Ukraine,” the pope said. “I want to draw your attention to Christmas, which is coming, and to the festivities,” he said. “It’s beautiful to celebrate Christmas and have parties, but let’s reduce the level of Christmas spending a bit; let’s have a simpler Christmas with more modest gifts.” And, the pope said, “let’s send what we save to the people of Ukraine, who are suffering so much.” People in the country are hungry and cold, he said.
WORLD MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (CNS) – Uruguay, South America’s most secular country, is poised to get its first homegrown saint. Bishop Jacinto Vera, the first bishop of Montevideo, was declared venerable in 2015 and on Dec. 17 the Vatican announced that he would be beatified, after Pope Francis formally signed off on a miracle attributed to the future saint. Bishop Vera’s path to sainthood not only reflects the country’s history, but also the new path for the church in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay under the stewardship of Pope Francis, an Argentine. “The image of a saint like Jacinto Vera, someone with such important meaning for our country and our history, is of great benefit for Catholics. He walked our country. There is not a place you go where he has not been,” said Father Gabriel González, a professor at the Catholic University of Uruguay who has written extensively about the life and work of Bishop Vera. Jacinto Vera was born at sea in 1813 to parents who set sail from Spain’s Canary Islands with the goal of reaching farmland in Uruguay, which was still a Spanish colony. He gravitated to the church early in life and studied with the Jesuits in neighboring Argentina until his ordination in 1841 as a diocesan priest. As bishop of Montevideo, he invited the Jesuits to return to Uruguay and brought in several congregations of women religious to reestablish order to a church on the fringes of the continent. González said the local church was in disarray, but that changed with Bishop Vera.
YANGON, Myanmar (CNS) – A Christmas of darkness, silence and fear awaits thousands of Christians in camps for internally displaced persons in Myanmar, where carols, decorations and illuminations are banned because of ongoing conflicts. The sounds of gunfire, fighter jets and artillery shelling have replaced those of carols and celebrations in predominantly Christian Kachin, Kayah, Karen and Chin states, reported ucanews.com. Thousands of Christians have been forced to take refuge in churches, makeshift camps and in forests following military attacks against civilians. Ucanews.com talked to some people in the camps, but, at their request, changed their names to protect their identities. Ucanews.com reported that Josephine Pho Mu, 42, said this is the second time since 1988 she has had to flee her home in Kayah state. “I thought we would be temporarily displaced and go back home. But we have been away from home and sheltering at this camp for 19 months,” said Pho Mu, who has taken refuge at a church-run camp in Loikaw, capital of Kayah state, after leaving her village in Demodo township in May 2021. The mother of three said this will be her second Christmas in the camp. “It is a mix of joy and sorrow when Christmas approaches. We are joyful about welcoming Jesus Christ’s birthday, but we are sorrowful as we are in the camp due to the conflict and don’t know when we will be able to return home.”
Por Monseñor Flannery MADISON – En el mundo de los indios aztecas, se examinaban los signos y símbolos y los relacionaban entre sí, de modo que los jeroglíficos contaban toda la historia cuando se juntaban. Se encuentran diferentes explicaciones, pero todas ellas son variaciones de un mismo tema.
PEARL – Como siempre, todos se esmeran en celebrar y adornar a “Lupe” con sus rosas características, ofrenda de los Guadalupanos. En esta foto, la Virgen de los parroquianos de St. Jude. Casi siempre las mujeres la adornan y los hombres la llevan en procesión (Foto Tereza Ma)JACKSON – Muchos jóvenes se unen a retomar las tradiciones de sus ancestros. La danza Azteca de la Catedral de San Pedro no es excepción. Este año muchas de las danzantes son niñas y adolescentes. (arriba) El niño Enmanuel Solano encabeza una de las filas. Por meses estuvo ensayando sin descanso a la par de los demás. Enmamuel es hijo de Miguel Solano, tamborero de la Danza y junto a Celia Alemán encargado de ésta por 10 años. (Foto de Berta Mexidor)
María está de pie sobre la luna creciente. En el mundo azteca, México era la tierra en medio de la luna. Por lo tanto, María era la reina de México.
La luna es negra. Esto significaba que María vencería la falsedad y conduciría a la verdad.
Su rodilla derecha está doblada. Esto significaba que ella está preparada para una danza litúrgica. Ella no es una diosa, pero da honor y gloria a Dios.
Hora de la aparición. Fue temprano en la mañana. Esto significaría la primera manifestación de Dios.
Hay nubes en los extremos de la imagen. Las nubes significaban la presencia de Dios. Los rayos: Su forma es elíptica, pequeños en los extremos y más grandes más cerca de la fuente. Los rectos indican la luz del sol y los ondulados indican la luz de Venus.
María está de pie frente al Sol y Venus. Esto indicaba que ella era más grande que el sol y Venus. El sol y Venus eran dos de las deidades importantes en el mundo azteca. Ella no se los iba a quitar a los aztecas.
Lleva un manto azul. Este es un color real, pero ella no es un dios. Hay 46 estrellas en su manto. Un cometa había predicho el fin de su civilización. Ahora las estrellas indican un nuevo comienzo. En tiempos recientes, los astrónomos han descubierto que esa era la ubicación exacta de las estrellas el 12 de diciembre de 1531.
Lleva una banda negra en la cintura. Esto significa que está embarazada de un niño. Tiene un broche con una cruz. Ella está embarazada de un niño y el niño es Jesús.
Su rostro y color. Ella no es una conquistadora. Ella es azteca, tiene una leve sonrisa tentadora, animando a la gente a acercarse a ella. Sus ojos son tiernos y suaves. Su cabello está peinado al estilo del indio azteca. Otro indicio es que ella no ha venido con los conquistadores.
Sus manos. Una mirada cercana a sus manos y uno puede ver las llaves. Ella tiene las llaves del reino de los cielos.
El Angel. Ella es sostenida por un ángel. El ángel tiene cejas oscuras. Es un ángel maduro y el mensaje de la dama es creíble. El ángel sostiene su túnica en una mano y su manto en la otra. Para los aztecas, esto significaba que ella unía el cielo y la tierra.
Habló náhuatl a Juan Diego. Este era el idioma de los aztecas. Se invierten los papeles. Es el conquistado ahora diciéndole al conquistador qué hacer para construir un templo para Nuestra Señora.
Las flores y la música eran las mejores formas de comunicarse con los dioses y tanto las flores como la música se utilizan a medida que se desarrolla el drama.
Su vestido. Es un rojo pálido. El color del sol naciente. Indicó que viene una nueva vida. La flor india: Justo en el centro de su vestido está la flor india. Esto indicaba el centro del cosmos. Para los aztecas, significaba que su hijo era el centro del universo. Este era el nuevo templo de la presencia de Dios y estaba en su vientre.
La J invertida. La J invertida del lado derecho de su vestido significaba la luz del mundo en la cultura azteca.
MADISON – El Padre Michael Flannery (arriba) da una charla sobre la Virgen de Guadalupe, a las miembros del grupo M&M de St. Francis Madison, donde hizo una reseña histórica de la aparición de la Virgen y de la vida de la cultura azteca durante ese tiempo. (debajo) Monseñor Flannery celebra Misa el lunes 12 y feligreses visten tradicionalmente. (Reporte y foto de Elsa Baughman)
Por Galey Holley NEW ALBANY – El susurro suave y musical del rosario fue interrumpido solo momentáneamente por el estridente y sentido grito de “¡Vive!” mientras los feligreses hispanos de la Iglesia Católica St. Francis of Assisi en New Albany daban la bienvenida al amanecer que se acercaba. Rezaron los Misterios Gozosos. El Santo Rosario es una bendición de la Virgen, y aunque todos los misterios describen episodios a lo largo de los evangelios, tal vez ninguno despliega más vibrantemente la vida femenina y maternal de María como lo hacen los Misterios Gozosos. Los feligreses comenzaron a las 4:30 a.m. Muchos tenían que estar en la de muebles de la fábrica a las 6 de la mañana.
NEW ALBANY – Alejandro Caballero y María Caballero posan frente a la estatua decorada de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe en la Iglesia Católica St. Francis of Assisi en New Albany en la madrugada del 12 de diciembre. (Foto de Galey Holley)
Aun así, se levantaron temprano, se pusieron al menos una prenda de vestir especial y encontraron un lugar en la pequeña iglesia, llena de gente, para arrodillarse y orar. Alejandro Caballero y su amiga María vistieron camisetas a juego con la imagen de la Virgen. Sus prendas estaban engalanadas con lentejuelas y muchas hechas a mano, con especial atención. Muchos de los fieles, como Bernie García y su familia, cuyo patriarca, Pablo, está estudiando para ser diácono. Otros caminaron del brazo con abuelos envejecidos, envueltos en chales para protegerse del aire húmedo de la mañana. “Ave, María”, susurraban todos, persignándose con agua bendita y sin dar nunca la espalda al Santísimo Sacramento. María, la madre de Jesús, ha sido representada de muchas maneras, la mayoría de las veces como una europea pálida y sonrojada. Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe es una imagen étnica de María, con rasgos oscuros claramente indígenas que ejemplifican la universalidad del Evangelio cristiano. En la aparición de Guadalupe, María tenía la piel oscura y hablaba en náhuatl. Su manto turquesa señalaba realeza a los indígenas; la faja negra alrededor de su cintura era su señal de embarazo. Estaba vestida de estrellas y se paró sobre la luna, signos que la conectaban a ambos. Conceptos indios de deidad y Apocalipsis 12:1. Hoy en día, la imagen de “Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe” es quizás la imagen religiosa más omnipresente en la cultura hispana, la parroquia de San Francisco de Asís demuestra a la comunidad circundante cómo llega el evangelio cristiano a través de divisiones raciales, étnicas y culturales.
PEARL – La danza Azteca de la Catedral de San Pedro hizo su primera presentación, el sábado 10 en St. Jude. (Foto de Tereza Ma)
Padre Jesu Raj Xaxier, nativo de la India, habla un inglés excelente y está aprendiendo español rápidamente. Pablo García ha sido durante mucho tiempo un líder en la comunidad hispana y ahora está haciendo un esfuerzo concentrado para mejorar su inglés. Los feligreses anglosajones e hispanos se sienten igual de cómodos en las misas de los domingos por la mañana. Juan Diego, el hombre nativo a quien se apareció la Virgen, fue canonizado como santo en la Iglesia Católica Romana en 2002. Su manto, con la imagen de María, cuelga en la Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe cerca de la Ciudad de México en el sitio del Cerro Tepeyac. La basílica es uno de los sitios más visitados de la cristiandad, solo superada por el Vaticano en el número de peregrinos anuales. La cultura sureña es aquella en la que las madres dan la bienvenida a los niños y sus amigos a la mesa. La abundancia de vida y alimento que se encuentra en los evangelios es el pan que nos alimenta a todos. El amor maternal de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, que los feligreses de San Francisco de Asís demuestran tan bien, es un símbolo de la vida disponible para todos nosotros a través de los sacramentos y en la unión amorosa de unos con otros.
HOUSTON – Para las festividades de la Virgen de Guadalupe, en la iglesia Inmaculado Corazón de María, la comunidad disfrutó de las presentaciones del grupo de danza de IHM y del grupo musical Sagrado Corazón de la iglesia Santa Ana de Carthage. (Foto de Danna Johnson)
