Blessed Trinity bursts with ‘evangelizing energy’

By Teresa Martinez - Florida Catholic

Photography: JONATHAN MARTINEZ | FC

VIRGINIA GARDENS | Song, prayer, and a burst of evangelizing energy consumed the community of Blessed Trinity during an Easter Mission April 30–May 8 led by a group of missionaries from Rome.

The young missionaries injected a dose of hope, love, and mercy into everyone they met at the parish and its surrounding neighborhoods — from the 2-year-olds at Blessed Trinity School to the elderly in area nursing homes to the hundreds who attended an outdoor Mass at the Circle in Miami Springs.

Blessed Trinity’s pastor, Father Jose Alfaro, decided to host the missionaries from theEmmanuel School of Mission in Rome after seeing their work first-hand, and reading Pope Francis’ words.

“Every Christian is challenged, here and now, to be actively engaged in evangelization,” the pope wrote in his 2013 apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium. “Indeed, anyone who has truly experienced God’s saving love does not need much time or lengthy training to go out and proclaim that love.”

Father Alfaro discovered the Emmanuel School of Mission while studying in Rome 2006 to 2009. Later, a former parishioner at St. John Neumann in Miami, where he had served as parochial vicar from 2003 to 2006, attended ESM and wrote in her blog about the group’s interest in reaching out to parishes in the United States.

“As soon as I read her blog, I immediately reached out to her to ask how I can get them to come here to Blessed Trinity,” said Father Alfaro. “She responded almost immediately to my email and put me in contact with the school’s director, Father Charles Rochas, and the rest as they say is history.”

Evangelization training

As Father Alfaro began planning the Easter Mission in 2015, another “God-incidence” took place. Blessed Trinity was one of nine archdiocesan parishes chosen for a year-long evangelization training.

“This meant a team of parishioners would go through trainings on how to best evangelize and how to reach out to those that aren’t practicing their faith. So when this came up it fell right in line with the archdiocesan synod and for parishes to become beacons of light for the world. The timing was perfect,” said Father Alfaro.

ESM is a nine-month program offering missionary, spiritual and doctrinal formation for young adults ages 18 to 30. The school is run by qualified members of the Emmanuel Community. Its students come from all corners of the world to live in community, receive academic formation and learn how to be missionaries.

The moment the team arrived from Rome, “their infectious humility and pure love for Christ” became evident to everyone, said Cynthia Gonzalez, a member of the organizing committee and teacher at Blessed Trinity. “They jumped head first into a very busy and packed week of activities and never for a moment complained. Instead they remained grateful and humbled and reminded all of us of the grace and love that is possible through Jesus Christ. I know that this mission has left a lasting impression. It certainly has on me personally.”

The mission’s theme, “God never tires of forgiving us,” stems from Pope Francis’ first Angelus, in which he reflected that God never tires of forgiving, rather it's people who get tired of asking for forgiveness.

“The theme ties in perfectly with this Jubilee Year of Mercy and the hope is that people are able to rekindle the fire in their heart to get to know Christ better,” said Mike Dominguez, a member of Blessed Trinity’s mission organizing committee. “Not only do we want to reignite the fire of faith in everyone’s hearts but we want to reach those that have strayed away from the Church to show them that God is merciful, healing, and loving. Eventually, we hope to pave a pathway for them to become evangelizers of the faith.”

“Our goal was to renew the missionary fire of the parish and to bring God’s mercy to the people through the various events of the mission,” said Louis-Marie Dallen, 22, an ESM missionary from France. “I was touched by the thirst to want to understand more about our faith from the youth, and the depth of their love for Christ.”

Something for everyone

The Parish Easter Mission included something for everyone. Missionaries visited religious education classes — both of children and adults —, spent time with every class at Blessed Trinity School, visited the local nursing home, led visits to the homebound, welcomed everyone to participate in daily adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and hosted praise and worship evening prayers.

The group also singled out teenagers and dedicated an evening to showing the youths that loving Jesus is cool and you should show off your faith every day.

The importance of a strong Christ-centered relationship was also highlighted during a night dedicated to couples.

“We really enjoyed our night and got to experience how other couples keep God at the center of their relationship,” said Angie Galleno, longtime parishioner. “Relationships were given a boost and couples were reminded through their faith they can overcome any obstacle put in their path.”

The pinnacle of the mission, however, was two events: Mercy Night May 6 and a Mass at the gazebo in the Miami Springs Circle May 7.

“Mercy Night was a night of healing, reconciliation, prayer, worship and deepening our relationship with the Lord.  It was a big highlight of the week for the parish,” said Father Alfaro. “The Mass at the Miami Springs Circle was a much a larger event in which people from all over the archdiocese were invited to attend.”

It was celebrated by Archbishop Thomas Wenski. In his homily, the archbishop reminded his listeners that, “As missionary disciples we are called to ‘hug the hurt,’ to ‘kiss the broken,’ to ‘befriend the lost’ and to ‘love the lonely.’”

Just like the apostles, he said, every Christian has to get moving. “Don’t just stand there,” he said. “You’ve got a mission to fulfill. Get to work!”

Motivated to confess

“Two missionaries stayed at my mom’s house and I felt the call to get to know them and participate in the mission,” said Pamela Zambrano, a Blessed Trinity parishioner for over 20 years. “Although raised Catholic, I hadn’t necessarily been active in my faith and hadn’t even gone to confession in probably 20 years.

“Something moved me. Their presence, their words, prayers and actions gave me the needed motivation to go to confession. I really believe if it wasn’t for their words and encouragement I wouldn’t have done that and I can’t tell you how grateful I am.”

Although they are leaving, she added, “I hope that we keep this kind of movement going and that the mission continues.”

“I love that we’ve been able to meet so many people and touch them in many different ways,” said Annabelle Awlime, 22, an ESM missionary from the United States. “Not necessarily spiritually but being able to show them love and most importantly God’s love, tenderness, and mercy has been a blessing. Being with the students at the school has greatly impacted me personally because the love was overwhelming. They opened their hearts to us and we felt it every day.” 

“It is our hope that through this mission our parishioners are ignited on fire with the zeal for evangelizing so that they assist the parish in evangelization,” said Father Alfaro.