First Sundays

First Sundays of each month here are exciting and are a little different than following Sundays.  I want to talk about the devotion to the Divine Child in one pueblo and I also want to talk about the beauty of the Baptisms in Yapacani.

There is a pueblo called Buen Retiro (Good Retreat). It is about 13 km (8 miles), a 4 hour walk, from San Carlos where I live. They have a church there named after the Divino Nino (Divine Child). Every first Sunday of the month people from all over Bolivia make a pilgrimage to the Church. If you are looking for a place to worship Baby Jesus in Bolivia, than this is the place you want to be. People arrive in mini buses and trufis. The major influx of people brings many food and memorabilia vendors. Its like an outdoor flee market. The inside of the church is packed with the faithful shoulder to shoulder. I am always happy to watch people pray in front of the giant baby Jesus statue. That might sound weird but I don’t care, I’m inspired by their faith and I pray for them while they pray to Jesus.

 The first time I went to this small pueblo for daily mass with Padre Carlos, I was wondering why the church was so big for such a small community. He told me that a lot of people come to mass on first Sundays. Further he told me that they are planning on building a larger church.  I remember taking a look around and seeing hundreds of pews inside and even outside the church. I was thinking you could fit the population of Buen Retiro into this church with room to spare….But that was before I ever experienced a first Sunday mass here.

The mini buses that people come in

 

 

Last week confirmation classes from Yapacani, Montero,and Buena Vista made an annual hike from San Carlos to Buen Retiro for Mass at the Divino Nino Temple.

There is no more room inside the church so there are pews outside the church.

 

A little shrine outside next to the church where people can pray to Baby Jesus

 

Who wants a Divine Child souvenir

 

 

One of the sisters blessing peoples' cars outside of church at the end of mass

 

Now, over the river and through the woods (literally), we are back in Yapacani. At the end of first Sunday masses we have baptisms of little children after Mass. We are not just talking about 3 or 4 babies receiving the sacrament of baptism; It’s more like 30 or 40 little children becoming little brothers and sisters in Christ. Baptisms take place at the end of Mass, its usually quite a sight. The babies are very cute in their outfits.

Babies certainly have the power to move and soften hearts. If babies are good at “wooing” hearts, than Baby Jesus who is perfect in His being will be able to “woo” your heart all the more. I’m finding myself more comfortable praying to Baby Jesus to soften my heart, asking the Lord to help me to love those that are difficult to love. Connor and I were joking that we prefer to pray to grown up Jesus when we pray. Ha! but we know our prayers to Baby Jesus will be heard and God’s will be carried out. To quote Tommy Pickles from Rugrats, “a baby’s gotta do what a baby’s gotta do.”

Baptisms can be a little disorganized inside the church in Yapacani.

 

 

One of the secretaries that we know in the sponsorship office had her daughter baptized. This is a photo from the dinner after mass at her home.