The Holy Relics of St. John Bosco come to Ji-Paraná

Hello friends and family, I hope you are all well and that this Lenten season brings you closer to God. Last week was an incredibly busy yet spiritually fulfilling time here in Ji-Paraná for our Salesian community and parish. We had such an amazing and blessed week and my soul is on fire with the Salesian Spirit!!
You might remember from my last update that we were preparing for the arrival of St. John Bosco’s holy relics here on the 15th of February. Brazil is the 6th stop of the pilgrimage celebrating the bicentennial of the birth of St. John Bosco, the founder of the Salesian order and champion of underprivileged children. The holy relics of St. John Bosco’s right arm and hand are inside a likeness of the Saint and contained in a beautiful and ornate crystal and aluminum urn. The urn weighs over a thousand pounds and is being transported in a specially converted van that will travel throughout South and Central America and then proceed into the United States and Canada. The urn's journey began in Turin, in northern Italy, on April 25, 2009 in a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Salesian order. The urn will travel to 5 continents over the next 5 years stopping at Salesian sites in more than 120 countries.
Apart from the thousands of people in Ji-Paraná gathering for this two day event there were also Salesian priests accompanying the urn from some of the Salesian sites I visited during my trip up the Amazon. It was good to see them again and find out how things were at their sites. We had fabulous meals together and many of the parishioners were dropping off food and desserts and catching up with some of the priests that had been stationed here in the past.
The urn arrived at our parish, São José, around 3:30 p.m. on the 15th. Shortly thereafter we started the “Carreata” or caravan throughout the city. I rode atop the sound vehicle with some of the choir and parish ministers, next was a pickup truck with the altar servers, followed by the vehicle with the urn and Padre Alberto. After that, parishioners on motorcycles, bicycles and cars followed in procession through the main streets of Ji-Paraná. When we arrived back at the parish the urn was off-loaded and brought into the church where everyone could finally get near and touch it. The priests celebrated mass to a packed church later on in the evening and then a vigil was held until midnight by the different parish groups.
On the 16th the outlying communities had their turn to pray and hold vigil before the urn. After lunch we had “Gincana” or youth games over at the center followed by theatrical presentations, songs and dances headed up by the young. The solemn mass that evening was presided by the Bishop of Ji-Paraná, Dom Bruno, an Italian Salesian. I had never seen the church that full, there was standing room only and everyone there was in great spirits. Immediately following the mass we had a “Procissão Luminosa” or lighted procession through the streets. We walked along with the urn carrying our candles, singing songs and praying. After the procession the Bishop gave his final blessing which included a plenary indulgence from Pope Benedict XVI to those who make a pilgrimage to see and pray before the urn in various locations around the world.
At 8:00 a.m. the next morning the urn was loaded into the specially converted van and parted for its next stop in Porto Velho. The urn will travel to Manaus for its final destination in Brazil and then move onto Bolivia.
I had the privilege of going to Turin, Italy in 2005 and seeing the urn there in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians but it was 100 times more powerful to experience it here surrounded by thousands of faithful Catholics devoted to St. John Bosco and the message of his life to the youth of the world. I am very proud to call myself a Salesian and to be a part of this wonderful family. I know my Salesian brothers and sisters throughout the world are anxiously awaiting the pilgrimage of the urn to come to their sites and I hope and pray that their experience is just as rewarding.
There was no time to rest and relax after the urn departed because the 17th was Ash Wednesday and we had more activities to come. At the request of Padre Alberto some weeks back, I was asked to teach my students from English class a song from this year’s “Campanha da Fraternidade Ecumênica” or Ecumenical Fraternity Campaign, which takes place every Lenten season. The song “Pelas Dores Deste Mundo” or “For the Sufferings of the World,” is half in Portuguese and the other half in English. So, for the past 4 weeks we would spend the first 5 to 10 minutes of each class listening to the song and learning the lyrics. Padre Alberto wanted us to sing it during Ash Wednesday’s mass after communion. Once again in front of a packed church me and about 30 of my brave students stood as a group in front of the altar and sang for the congregation in both Portuguese and English. It turned out really well and we received a rousing applause. After mass many people approached me and some of my students congratulating us on a job well done. The next time I had English class I told them of how proud I was of them and what other parishioners had said about our performance. I think they were excited when I suggested we learn another song to present during Holy Week.
On Thursday the 18th I went with Padre Alberto and two ladies from the choir, Petrona and Heliene, to a couple of our outstation chapels to have mass and distribute ashes. It took about an hour and a half of traveling down dirt roads to get to the first chapel. Outstations like these only have mass once a month and the people have to walk miles just to get to the chapel because their houses are so far apart. The majority are cattle and dairy farmers, good hardworking people, eking out an existence in rural Brazil. I am always amazed by the great faith of such people who have limited opportunities to receive Holy Eucharist. I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity of receiving daily Eucharist. The mass was nice and the ladies from the choir taught them one of the songs from the Campaign for them to use during their Celebrations of the Word.
We were invited for lunch by one of the ladies who lived on a farm nearby. She lived in a simple house with no electricity or amenities, just a propane stove in her small tidy kitchen where we ate a delicious meal of rice and beans, squash, home-made bread and home-made sausage from the pigs that she and her husband raise. The sausage was to die for and I helped myself to seconds on that. We chatted for awhile after lunch and looked at some of her photo albums. You could tell she was lonely, her children now grown up and married and her husband tending to the business of the farm all day. I was glad that we stopped there, she seemed so happy just to have company to talk with that day.
After we left we still had 4 hours to kill before the next outstation mass so we drove to the “Cachoeira dos Macacões” or Monkey falls to swim a bit and cool off. We left the truck and still had a 20 minute hike into the rain forest to get to the falls but it was definitely worth it. Within the first 5 minutes that we were there we saw a monkey high up in the trees eating some sort of seed from one of the indigenous plants. We explored around the falls and Petrona and I hiked up to the top of the largest fall to take pictures and get a better view. Down below there was a deeper pool where we could swim and dunk our heads under the rushing water. The water was actually warmer than what I take a shower with every day so that was nice. Later on we had some snacks and soda that we had brought along with us and just relaxed taking in the beautiful scenery and listening to the steady sound of the running water.
It was around dusk when the second mass finished and we headed back toward Ji-Paraná. I asked Padre Alberto to stop alongside a lagoon we passed hoping we might see a caiman or two. We didn’t see any alligators but there was a capybara in the water foraging for food. It was a great day and it gave me a chance to see more of rural Brazil in all its splendor.
Things are pretty much back to normal now that the urn has come and gone. My classes have resumed and we are now preparing for Holy Week activities. Padre Alberto asked me to participate in the “Passion of Christ” play that they put on every year so I told him that I would play Barabbas. It isn’t a big role but I am one of the few people here that can grow a full beard, as you’ll see in the pictures accompanying this email, so I got the part.

I hope you all have a profound and spiritual Lenten season, please keep us in your prayers as you all are in ours. God bless!!