A light breeze accompanies this afternoon in late May. The sky is blue, with a few clouds here and there. It is 7:25 P.M. In a few minutes, the Mass in honor of the Virgen de la Luz, patroness of our neighborhood, will begin. It is an important moment. We entrust to Mary all the graces, miracles and even the pain we have experienced during this period of life. In the front rows, the children with the First Communion clothes they recently received, many families, young and old, the ladies of the Cofradía. In the side chapel, also full of people, are the fifteen anderos, the men who will carry the statue of the Virgin in procession through the streets of our parish in Fuenlabrada. In the Mass, Fr. Giuseppe remembers and entrusts in a special way the sick of our community who are offering their illness to the Lord and allowing silent fruits, graces and communion for all.
I think of Carlos, a historical figure of the parish, who for months offered up his illness and the excruciating pain of an important operation for so many other people who were suffering or going through a difficult time.
Then there is Pilar, one of our catechists who has an inoperable tumor in her brain. You all should see her faith, her certainty in Jesus. She wanted to be there, at the First Communion of the kids she teaches, a few weeks earlier; she who, due to her illness, was not able to be with them during this last year. And yet, walking with difficulty and swollen due to her treatment, she wanted to be there. It was moving to see how her students, each of them, after the Mass, were embraced in an affectionate hug by this woman who had been their catechist.
We too smile thinking of how much we feel loved and cared for
And then there is Diana, who received her Confirmation on Sunday during the triduum of celebrations in honor of the Virgin. She is 74 years old, blind and deaf. She told us how her physical situation made her feel unworthy to receive this sacrament. She told how the Lord instead went to touch her heart, recalling that phrase often encountered in the Old Testament and the Gospels: I will give sight to the blind, I who am the Light of the world. At the end of the celebration, Diana wanted to offer the Virgin a bouquet of flowers they had just given her: “They are for Mary.” The faith of the simple that changes the world.
There is Sandra who has returned to a life of faith after many years thanks to her son’s catechism. She, too, received her Confirmation on Sunday. She said movingly, “Sunday was not only the time of confirmation that was important but also the time when I received the body and blood of Christ. The last time had been when I had received my first communion.” The procession leaves the church with order and silence. We pray the rosary. Someone stops for a picture with Mary and others join the procession. From the windows of an eighth story, rose petals rain down: a beautiful moment! We return to the parish: before a vast number of people, Mary is lifted up to heaven. To the cry of, “To heaven with Her!”, the anderos lift the statue of the Virgin Mary higher than they are even capable of. Mary blesses from on high this people that has gathered around her. She smiles like a mother with her beloved children. And we too smile thinking of how much, despite everything, we feel loved and cared for.
