Good Friday Celebrations 2007 7/7

Death on the Cross.

Jesus is taken down from the Cross.

Jesus is placed in a borrowed tomb.

~~~~~~

Now that we have heard and reenacted the story of Jesus' Death The Ceremony continued in the main Church ~ Santo Antonio.

After the Prayers for the World, the Veneration of The Cross and Holy Communion. The Body of Jesus is brought into the church and the Joven {Youth} act out a small drama to finish the day's worship and prayer.

The final drama takes place among a silent crowd in our packed church. After three hours and fifteen minutes the Good Friday Ceremony concludes.

Holy Thursday Santo Antonio

Since I was to be away celebrating Mass in another community for Holy Thursday night, the pictures below are only of the preparations for the Mass of The Lord's Supper in the main church Santo Antonio.

The altar of Repose in the "Barracão" {Parish Hall}.

There was that many helping with the preparations that we had lunch provided for the helpers in the parish hall. The big pots hold, boiled rice, beans {yuck!} and a kind of a chicken stew, feet, gizzards, inners and all!!

After Mass tonight this bread and wine will be distributed to all. "The Eucharist ~ Life, Promise & Fraternity."

A view of the Sanctuary area.

The artist was a local man. "The Eucharist is a celebration of life."

Holy Thursday Santa Rita

Because we now have two priests in the parish, Derek celebrated the normal Holy Thursday night Mass in the Main Church of Santo Antonio, while I went to one of the small communities in town called Santa Rita. This was their first time to have "A Missa da Ceia do Senhor" {The Mass of The Lord's Supper}. The common name for this Mass was "The Mass of the Washing of The Feet." They were very excited to have this celebration and the community put a lot of effort into its preparation.

The altar at Santa Rita.

Its early still but the crowd starts to arrive. We had a packed house. The lady in white is their only trained Eucharistic Minister and because of her presence, this church and community has The Reservation of Holy Communion. So on the days when they have no priest she distributes Holy Communion.

The altar of repose outside the church. What you can't see is the lava lamp under the sheet which turned all kinds of colours during the hour of adoration after Mass. Sr. Cacilda came with me and led a very nice and prayerful Holy Hour. Thank God she was there, I could not talk for a whole hour. The Brazilians don't seem to like too much silence, so an hour of adoration must be filled with prayers, readings and singing!

The Altar of Repose and seats in the "Barracão" {Parish Shed / Hall}. The word "Barracão" means wooden shed and that is what the hall is. It has no walls because of the heat and is therefore subject to the rain and muck in the wet season and the dust in the dry season.

They had a novel idea of having a fully set dinner table beside the altar for all the disciples whose feet I washed and kissed. They sat at the table for the whole Mass. The bread and wine was distributed after Mass to all just before we had the procession to the Altar of Repose. It was lovely bread! The women make a very sugary yeast bread in a pot over the fire just like the women of old in Ireland using the skillet pot over the open fire.

Palm Sunday Procession 2007 1/7

This Palm Sunday I had my first experience of a Religious Procession, Brazilian Style! I was very impressed with it and it was a lovely religious experience. We started at 7.30 am in the poorest part of the town in "Bairro {District} Nossa Senhora Guadalupe" and processed through the bairros to the Matriz {Mother Church - Santo Antonio}. We sang the whole way, stopping at different stations along the way where we had prayers and readings. The children from the catechism classes did some drama, mostly on this years Lenten Theme "Save & respect The Amazon, its peoples, animals, land and water." The procession ended with a packed house for Mass. All other masses for the day were cancelled, which made our start of Holy Week a truly community celebration.

Church and hall at Nossa Senhora Guadalupe, decorated with local palm. Notice the shadows of the early morning sun, still it was hot!

Padre Derek Blessing the Palms before we set out.

The first Gospel was read and acted out with our very own Jesus, disciples, Pharisees and Donkey. Then Jesus and disciples lead the way.

So we started off on our procession, notice the dirt road.

Part of the crowd.

We picked up more people as we progressed. Different groups were waiting at the different stations along the route. Mind you, we lost a lot of youngsters as we passed by a football match in the local sports hall!!

Palm Sunday Procession 2007 2/7

At our first stop / station, before we left the bairro we had a drama from the kids about respecting The Amazon. Prayers and readings of the Mass took place here.

Local girls in Indian outfits.

Then comes the armed men who killed many of the local population so they could steal the land.

Then came the workers who levelled the forest.

" Fraternity for the Amazon"

Two "Gringo Priests". Do you like my hat and palm???

Palm Sunday Procession 2007 3/7

Here we are passing through bairro Santa Rita.

Note the obligatory water bottle.

Kids with more messages for us to respect The Amazon. This reminds me of the kids at home in Ireland learning in school about recycling and bringing what they have learned home to educate the parents and this seems to be happening here too.

Another station / stop. Notice the typical wooden house!

Umbrellas are not just for rain, shade is very important here too, even at this early hour of the morning. The Portuguese word for "umbrella" is "guarda-chuva" which literally means "protection from rain"!

Our new novice, Renata, is an excellent singer and here she is leading us in a hymn. We had a lorry up front with big "Boom Boxes". Not too many slept along our route that early Sunday morning. The guy playing the guitar is my barber. It was a mix up in communication with him that I lost my beard for a few weeks. I wanted it trimmed and he thought I wanted to take it off, and when he took a big "skelp" out if it I had no choice but to have it taken off. I grew it back in two weeks. He is a good friend to us. Needless to say I soon learned the words I needed when I go to get the hair cut.

Palm Sunday Procession 2007 4/7

And so the procession continues..

Another stop and more prayers and reflections. On thing for sure, this years Lenten Theme "Save The Amazon" has the caught the imagination of the youngsters, and possibly adults who were probably responsible in earlier years for the destruction of the local forest. The area I am in at the moment was all forest 30 years ago. The area here is bigger than the island of Ireland.

The Drama Continues ... I must say the kids were excellent and their catechists who prepared them. The catechist are unpaid religion teachers.

Some local lads and hats.

I don't know how many times I had my picture took! Do I really look that funny??

Turning another corner and still on the dirt roads. Thank God it was dry.

Palm Sunday Procession 2007 5/7

The procession continues...

A couple at their altar outside their house denoting a stop along the route for prayers and readings. I notice few people have decorations in their homes, such as pictures etc. Mostly to do with the fact they cost hard earned and scarce money. But every house here seems to have a well used bible, which is used here on this little altar.

If you remember back there were many houses in Ireland where the only decorations on the kitchen walls were John F. Kennedy & the Mrs, The Pope and The Sacred Heart. Here the decoration consists of a religious calendar, maybe even a previous years calendar if the picture is holy enough looking!

Another Drama by another catechism class.

Jesus is still on his Donkey leading us to the church, like he led the people of Jerusalem to the Temple and incurred the wrath and jealously of the Pharisees.

Two "meninas" {girls} happy to pose for a photo and display their message.

At this stage we are entering the main part of town leaving the dirt roads behind us for one of our two tarred roads.

Palm Sunday Procession 2007 6/7

The last stop / station before the church....

Here we reflected on the too many incidences of murder in our locality. A local man was shot dead by his neighbour just 4 days ago.

Three of our neighbouring parishes are the top three murder districts of Brazil per head of population according to statistic's released here a few weeks ago.

One of the readings of the Mass took place here.

Again the Amazon was part of the reflection.

Thank God for Shade. The sun is well up now and we have been walking for about and hour and a half. At this stage I ran out of water.

Three disciples.

All three are interested in furthering a vocation in the church. So keep them in your prayers.

A local couple who played the part of the Pharisees in the opening drama.

Palm Sunday Procession 2007 7/7

This years Palm Sunday Procession comes to an end as we arrive at the church to celebrate our Mass. All in all the morning celebrations were nearly four hours long...

I hopped up on to the sound lorry for this shot.

Cramming our way into the Main church "Santo Antonio".

A view of the crowd and the church and its decorations.

Another view of the crowd and the church and its decorations.

The Choir, at this stage they were still singing strong despite singing for the last two and a half hours.