Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! I hope that everyone was able to experience a fruitful Advent season and is now welcoming in 2013 with all of the good will, hope and energy necessary to make positive transformations in the communities where we live.
Tomorrow we leave for our mission trips with the high schoolers....my last official project that I have to complete as a Holy Cross missioner! For the past two weeks we have had preparation/formation meetings and have been busy organizing all of the materials. I will be in charge of the community Querelema, one of the three communities in which we will be missioning.
For now, I'm going to post the schedule of what we will be doing and ask that you pray for the different activities each day. Since it is our first year in the community, the theme of the mission is "Fe recibida" or "received Faith." The idea is to emphasize the fact that faith is a gift that we have to discover, cultivate, and bear witness to. The specific goals of the mission are:
1) Get to know the realities of the different families in the community.
2) Animate the faith in the communities and create spaces for community reflexion and prayer.
3) Motivate the celebration of the "Year of Faith" in the community.
4) Live and deepen the theme for this year "Received faith," accompanying the children, youth, and adults in their different processes of spiritual growth.
The next two years will have the following themes: "Shared faith" and "Proclaimed faith"
Here is a schedule of the different encounters and events that we will realize in the communities:
Jan. 3
- Missioners arrive at Paredones
Jan.4
- House visits all day in the different communities
Jan.5
- House visits in the morning
- 7:00 pm: First "Encuentro Familiar" (family gathering) to introduce the missioners and explain the objectives of the missions. Small group meetings with children, youth and adults.
Jan. 6
- House visits in the morning
- 3:30 pm: first day of camp/PSR for kids
- 6:00 Evening Rosary
- 7:00 Mass in memory of the deceased. Community prayer in the cemetery.
Jan.7
- House visits in the morning
- 3:30: PSR camp
- 7:00 Youth meeting
- 7:00 Adult meeting
Jan. 8
- House visits in the morning
- 3:30 PSR camp
- 7:00 Youth meeting
- 7:00 Adult meeting
Jan. 9
- House visits in the morning
- 3:30 PSR camp
- 6:30 Liturgy and Community Via Lucis (The Way of Light) (focused on the events after Jesus' resurrections...look it up online!)
Jan. 10
- House visits in Paredones
- 7:00 pm. Community procession and Mass celebration in honor of the Virgen de las palomas
Jan. 11
- House visits in the morning
- 3:30 PSR camp
- 7:00 Youth meeting
- 7:00 Adult meeting
Jan. 12
- House visits in the morning
- 5:30 pm Festival of the Three Kings (we put on a play of the Three Kings, hand out gifts to the kids, and put on different shows, dances, and skits)
Jan. 13
- Last house visits
- 5:00 pm: Closing Mass and First Communions
- 6:00 Closing Family gathering and party
Jan. 14
- Missioners return to Santiago
