Blessings for Holy Week in El Norte

MY VIEW

We are now arrived at La Semana

Santa, or Holy Week, and the beginning of the three-day Paschal Triduum, or the three days of the Christ’s passion and then his death by crucifixion and then his resurrection on Easter Sunday. The 40-day Lenten spiritual season is nearly over.

Around the world, including El Norte, billions of Christian faith followers are sharing in devotional rites, exercises and reenactments commemorating the spiritually seismic events that happened over 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem.

This year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, many of those rites will be done virtually — online gatherings to watch Mass or pray.

There will be no Holy Week pilgrimage to El Santuario de Chimayó this year. Archbishop John Wester of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and the Rev. Julio Gonzales, who administers the santuario, have issued a notice of cancellation of this beloved annual Holy Week pilgrimage in light of the prevailing and worsening contagion threat of the potentially lethal COVID-19, caused by the coronavirus.

This is a dismaying but necessary development to protect the health and lives of the people. Yet, the inherent healing blessing continues to infuse our region whether or not we are physically present at our santuario and other holy sites, as the following story article illustrates. But please remember that the Holy Week pilgrimage to El Santuario will not take place this year.

Some, like pilgrimages or gatherings of different groups, will be postponed until it is safe for people to gather. Still, the prayers of Holy Week continue in hearts and homes.

That the Christ Jesus died on the cross, was buried and then resurrected from death to life is the central tenet of today’s 2 billion or so Catholic and related Christians. That belief and hope in the supernatural, divine life is what causes Christianity to flourish.

Christianity came to El Norte in the 1500s and clashed with the millennial Native religious traditions. By now there has occurred much spiritual accommodation among the diverse cultures and there is some blending of faithways and of familial bloodlines as well.

At El Santuario de Chimayó and other spiritual centers in El Norte, it is wonderful — during normal years — to see many thousands of faithful and pilgrims and seekers converge during Holy Week and other times to obtain peace and healing. El Santuario is famous for its healing earth and waters and clay. Many people have mixed the earth and waters from there and applied it as a healing clay salve.

Earth and water, combined as clay, are believed to have healing properties, in addition to being used as vessels and pots. And sometimes these clay vessels are used to convey prayers and blessings.

In early 2019, a friend of this writer was scheduled to attend a conference at Vatican City in Rome, where Pope Francis was also to be. I asked my friend to take a clay vessel, an“olla de barro,” from here to be prayed over and blessed by Francis and that it be brought back conveying his blessing to El Norte and our Fraternidades and Sociedades as a sign of our mutual spiritual solidarity. This was done and the blessed vessel is back with us. Wester and Gonzales of the santuario subsequently also have formally bestowed their own blessings upon the olla, which remains filled with santuario earth and is now used by hermanos at various devotional functions in El Norte.

The blessing request is: “Nuestro Padre Francisco, los miembros de los Fraternidades y los fieles del Norte del Suroeste en los Estados Unidos de America te bendicemos y te damos la promesa profunda y firme de trabajar sin cesar para ayudar, avanzar, augmentar, y llevar adelante en el mundo nuestro trabajo de la Fé; y que quedas asegurado de nuestra bendición, y nuestra promesa. Y Santo Padre Francisco, te pidemos, echanos tambien su Santa Bendición a dicho Fraternidad Piadosa y a todo El Nórte, la cual que la recibiremos en el Nombre del Padre, y el Hijo, y el Espiritu Santo. Y si gusta, concedenos una señal de tu gracia y favor de esta suplicación. Gracias, su Santidád.”

The blessing from Francis was part of the Holy Week activity at El Santuario in 2019, and the blessing will be invoked again now

during this Semana Santa in El Norte, even in different times and ways of celebrating.

Earth, water, fire of faith, past, present and future, are some of the elements that make up our experience in El Norte and in the world at large. We look ahead to those who are yet to be born and those of our company who have preceded us to this point from this life.

For those who are gone, we offer the Shroud of Christ prayer, El Sudario: “Señor Dios, que nos dejaste la señal de tu sagrada pasión y muerte, la sábana santa en que fue envuelto tu cuerpo santo, concedenos Señor salvador, que por tu muerte y sepultura santa has llevado las almas de nuestros antepasados fieles a descansar en la Gloria de tu Resurrección en donde tu vives, con el Padre y el Espíritu Santo, por todos los siglos.”

A blessed Easter to all, especially in this time of pandemic when we pray at home until that day when we can join again.

Davíd Fernández de Taos is a native Taoseño who is deeply involved in the spiritual and cultural life and heritage of El Norte.