(Santa Cruz, Bolivia) Monsignor Sergio Gualberti, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Santa Cruz, has joined the jubilee celebration for the 25th anniversary of the Most Holy Redeemer Parish with the solemn Eucharist celebration of the Feast. He asked them to continue building the Church of living stones, a community of communities that are authentically missionary.
Father Estanislao, the current parish priest of the community, says that they prepared for about one year to celebrate the Jubilee of the Parish, praying the Jubilee prayer and carrying out 37 catechesis programs on the parish throughout the year.
The week before the feast, they prayed the rosary in the three pastoral zones of the parish, which began at 5:30 in the morning. They came together to pray going from one chapel to the other chapel by walk and ended with the celebration of the Eucharist.
Already in the triduum of the feast, different celebrations were held with specific themes. The celebration of the Eucharist was held in the square on Thursday, with the theme: “Community of Communities, let us walk together as a parish”. On Friday, the celebration revolved around the Redemptorist spirituality in relation to the celebration of the Jubilee: “25 years of announcing abundant redemption”.
On the day of the feast, 18th March Sunday, Monsignor Sergio Gualberti, Archbishop of Santa Cruz, came to this parish to join us in the Jubilee celebration. In his homily during the Holy Eucharist, Monsignor Sergio noted that everything that has been built, not only at the level of structures but at the level of community, as of living Church. In this sense, he recalled the beginning of this parish community first time when they met under a tent to celebrate the Eucharist until they achieved the living Church in which they have now become.
The Archbishop of Santa Cruz, asked to pay attention to the passage of events of the apostles where the experience of the first Christian communities is narrated, which should be taken as an example: A Church that meets to break the Word of God and the sharing of bread in the celebration of the Eucharist, a community that gathers for prayer, to be witnesses, to be missionaries of Christ the Redeemer. The Parish is animated by the community of Redemptorist priests, who have as their main charism the theme of the mission. He recalled that the Archdiocese is preparing to host its V American Missionary Congress because all the baptized are called to live our missionary vocation, he added.
Bishop Gualberti highlighted the fact that being such a large and dispersed parish with so many groups, they are still a dynamic community, a community of communities. In this sense, he recalled that this is precisely one of the fundamental tools of the pastoral work in the local Church, to work in communion.
Finally, he encouraged everyone to continue building this living church, to be a witnessing church, a missionary church and a church driven by the Holy Spirit that has to continue responding to the challenges of our society and the challenges that the Church presents to us today.
During universal prayer, Monsignor Sergio raised a prayer for eight people who lost their lives after the violent police intervention inside the Palmasola prison.
The Most Holy Redeemer Parish is located in the Los Tusequis neighbourhood, between the fifth and sixth ring of the north zone, from where it serves an approximate population of 60,000 inhabitants.
Source: http://campanas.iglesiasantacruz.org/?p=54875
Photos of the Celebration by: Fr. Boris Calzadilla, C.Ss.R.
