HOLY THURSDAY EUCHARISTIC MIRACLE IN GUATEMALA

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Semana Santa - Holy Week in Guatemala

In one church in the Diocese of Palmerston North, New Zealand, Father announced the Holy Thursday foot-washing ceremony as follows: "Ah, er, I don't know if anyone wants to volunteer to have their feet washed?" Nine people (a good proportion of the congregation) reluctantly came forward.

In a church in Guatemala, at the moment of Consecration on Holy Thursday the Host was suddenly illuminated as if from within and glowed with a miraculous brilliance. And not for the first time - the same miracle occurred in Guatemala in 2021.

See the image above of a Holy Week procession in Guatemala for a clue as to why Our Eucharistic Lord should honour that materially impoverished country in such a way. And reflect on the possible reason why no miracle has yet occurred in New Zealand to confirm Mother Mary Aubert's canonisation. https://international.la-croix.com/news/religion/sainthood-cause-for-pioneer-nun-in-new-zealand-falters-for-lack-of-miracle/15938

Simply put, it boils down to supernatural faith. Or the lack of it. Guatemala's  Holy Thursday event is described as "powerful confirmation of the original miracle of the shining Host that took place in the same church at Guatemala in 2021.

Again this Holy Thursday, 2022, to the amazement of the faithful, the same radiant host appeared in the hands of the priest after the consecration and elevation of the Eucharist!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2lQWS4HvOM

Somewhat surprisingly, we turn to National Geographic for a description of the faith shown in Christ and His Church in Holy Week in Guatemala.

In Antigua, a second procession of floats depicting the mourning Mother of Jesus

In the weeks leading up to Easter Sunday, Guatemala transforms.

From the heart of the dense capital city to remote Indigenous towns in the rural highlands, people flock to the streets, and the country is splashed with a medley of colors: plazas are adorned with flowers and intricate display; women and men draped in bright Mayan textiles hoist heavy wooden caskets to represent the death of Jesus Christ in the Catholic tradition of commemorating his death; and artwork dots the streets as communities gather to eat and take a rare moment to rest.

Known as Semana Santa or Semana Mayor—Holy Week or Major Week—the celebration has become a cultural staple, almost bigger than Christmas, explains Juan Manuel Castillo, a Guatemalan anthropologist. While the holiday highlights only one week of activities, smaller celebrations begin in February, reaching a climax on Good Friday, which commemorates the crucifixion of Christ, followed by his resurrection on Easter Sunday.

“It’s a space where the rich, the poor, university graduates, and those without an education, office workers and street vendors all fit,” Castillo says. “That’s why Semana Santa is so important for our national identity. It’s a public space where we all come together one time a year.”

Commemorating the "Fisher of Men"- another procession

 

Documenting a sense of unity

It was that coming together that first drew Saul Martinez, who worked as a news photographer in Guatemala for 10 years, to the holiday, which he has been documenting for a decade. The devotion exhibited by believers during the celebration, the sense of unity across the country, and the intensity that can be seen on the faces of those taking part in mock funeral processions encapsulates the strength of their faith and provides a respite from the country’s harsh realities.

“You just see the look on their faces and see that nothing else matters that week or that moment,” Martinez says. “The people are what make the images beautiful because they’re so dedicated to this."

“Crime goes down, you can walk the streets, which you often can’t do in the [capital] city, for example,” Martinez adds. “That week is just very festive. It’s an escape for everyone. [Guatemala is] a country with so many problems, but that week, everyone forgets.”

For Cristy Toj, taking part in this year’s festivities was “like returning to our lives.”

The 59-year-old Guatemalan, of the Mayan Indigenous people Quiché or (K'iche'), lives in the country’s western highlands in the city of Quetzaltenango. Before the pandemic, Toj would travel hours to the small town where she was born, Santa Cruz del Quiché, to celebrate the week with her family and community.

Each year, she makes traditional honey bread, pan de yemas, to share with relatives, friends, and neighbors. The food traces its history to the biblical story in which Christ broke bread and shared it among his worshipers. Dried fish is also eaten, another tradition coming from the same story.Toj has fond memories of the intricate alfombras, carpets made of flowers, sawdust and fruit, stretching along the streets of her hometown.

Each alfombra, sometimes as big as a house, depicts scenes from the Bible and Mayan traditions, as well as animals, fruits, and other designs in vivid color. Meanwhile, in Guatemala City, where a high level of crime affects the daily lives of its one million residents, Holy Week festivities allows worshippers to reclaim the streets of the capital, which normally empty out after the sun sets.

“For Guatemalans, Semana Santa is the biggest party of the year, and it’s almost contradictory because we’re associating this talk of death with this celebration,” says Castillo. “Why is that? It’s the only opportunity we have all year to reclaim our public spaces in Guatemala City.”

 

Holy Week celebrations outside Iglesia de La Merced in Antigua

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/how-holy-week-unites-guatemala?loggedin=true

On Holy Thursday in the PN Diocese church mentioned above, Father "processed" around the outer aisles of the church from the tabernacle to the altar of repose a few metres away as the crow flies - alone.  

"…Lord, increase my faith and help thou my unbelief.”

 

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

 

But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed (James 1:5-6).