By Ariel Presbitero

The Fiesta of Señor de los Milagros is a very popular devotion in Peru. Every year, Peru is celebrating it like Lent so you could see people wearing purple, rich or poor, to commemorate this great devotion to a painting made by a black Peruvian slave. It is a painting of Jesus on the cross with the Blessed Mother, Mary and Mary Magdalene on both sides, God the Father on top of the cross with a dove, which symbolizes the Holy Spirit. This painting survived the big earthquake inPeru and people believed that many were healed through this painting. They even said that it is still making miracles up to the present.

This year’s celebration of the Fiesta of Señor de los Milagros went well. It was a day of praise and thanksgiving. We were able to visit all the eight communities where we had evening novenas from house to house. It culminated with the Mass and the procession.

We all enjoyed walking and singing for half a day. At 12:00 noon, right after the Mass, we left the chapel and went up to the farthest end of the parish. We went through stones and dust; people carried the image of Señor de los Milagros while I played the guitar.

Energy drain

Going up and down the rocky and dusty hills was tiring. But the energy and enthusiasm of the people were like drops of rain during summer for me. I saw a young mother who didn’t even mind carrying her baby all throughout the procession – this gave me the energy to go on myself. It was also a great satisfaction when we reached the top of the hill and looked down and saw the whole place, the long and winding, uphill road we had passed.

Peruvian hospitality

The reception of the people was very welcoming and appreciative. In each stop they offered some drink like “chica”, a corn wine, or the local softdrink called Inca Cola.

We finished at 7:00 pm and we had a very nice meal prepared by the mayordoma this year. They were “papa de huancaina”, potato with a very special cream, “escabeche de pato”, then rice, of course for me, and “carapulcra”, a very common food during fiesta because it is easy to prepare, with potatoes sliced in small pieces and mixed with tomato sauce and meat.

Church’s presence

In this event, I got to know more of the people. And they got to feel more comfortable with my presence. Since it is in the farthest hillside of the parish, the people in this new community seldom get a visit from the parish priest or ministers. I hope that in some way my presence here could enliven their faith.

Where I start

I’m already more than one year in the parish now. I’m slowly getting to know the people and getting things organized according to their phase. The challenge here is how to get them to attend meetings or liturgies because what most people here worry about is how to provide for their children. What I do is always visit them in their homes to get to know them and check how they are doing. For me this is one way of building the Church – starting from the basic unit of the society which is the family.