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Written by Fr. Jim Michler
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Monday, 07 May 2012 |
Fr. Jim Michler is a St. Louis priest missionary serving in Bolivia, through our Latin America Apostolate.
 Dear Friends, I wish all of you a blessed Easter season with warm pleasant weather. In La Paz we seem to have finished the rainy season, although nearly every day it clouds up and takes away the warmth of the sun.
It seems that in every culture you can find something added to the celebration of Holy Week and Easter, and the Aymara people of La Paz are no exception. Every year big crowds are anticipated for Palm Sunday, to the point where it is necessary to plan Mass outside of the church during the later afternoon and evening hours. Mass was celebrated in the patio of the parish at 6:00 p.m. and then again at 7:30 p.m. During the 7:30 p.m. celebration a tent was set up above the altar, as there was a light drizzle. The Holy Eucharist was also celebrated in the temple itself at 7:00 p.m. Here at the end of Mass, the priest pronounces a blessing over the people with their palms, and then they go to the various stations where they can dip their palms in a basin of holy water. Otherwise, people start pushing and shoving to get to the priest with holy water.
The people have the tradition of visiting seven churches on Holy Thursday evening, and in Maria Reina Church the parishioners came for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament until midnight. On Holy Thursday and Good Friday there were celebrations in three zones apart from the main church. In one of the zones the chapel of Santa Barbara will be dedicated in July when Archbishop Carlson will come to visit us. In another zone, the rough structure of the chapel is being erected, which will include a roof, and then we will have to stop until there is more money available for this building.
The custom on Good Friday is to act out the Way of the Cross in the streets, and this year there was a police escort. The young man who played the part of Jesus was actually hung up on the cross (but not with nails). Good Friday is a holiday, and there were around 150 people who walked in this procession. There is an unfortunate interpretation to the popular religiosity of Good Friday, and that is that people can rob their neighbors since Jesus is in the tomb. This seems to be more prevalent in the rural areas. I am happy to report that 21 people received the sacraments of initiation on Holy Saturday, and five of the 21 were baptized. This was due to the organizational work of Fr. Bob Menner of our St. Louis group.
On Easter Sunday, I went to the town of Calamarca in the Altiplano for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, accompanied by a priest from Potosi, Bolivia, who is helping us in the parish for awhile. After Mass there was a procession around the plaza of the town. The sorrowful Virgin Mary, dressed in black, was carried in one direction, and Jesus in the sepulcher was carried in the other direction. Halfway around the plaza the two processions meet, and then Jesus rises as he meets his Mother. The popular tradition is that the image of the Virgin needs to arrive first in order to avoid bad things from happening. In this mentality, the people actually believe that they effect this historical event that is so important to us as believers in the resurrected Christ.
I thank you again for your generosity and prayers and I ask God to bless you for remembering the work of the Latin America Apostolate.
Sincerely, Fr. JIm
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