‘We all believe in the same truth’

By Cristina Cabrera Jarro -

Photography: CRISTINA CABRERA JARRO | FC

DORAL| As a young Catholic in college, when many tend to wander away from the faith, Annette Howard pointed out that you don’t need a checklist of things to stay Catholic.

“It sounds cheesy, and over said, but Jesus comes to us. We only go so far, though, so we have to put in that effort for sure to reach out and meet him and choose him. But he’s always waiting for us,” she said.

With a few college friends from Catholic Campus Ministry in Jacksonville (CCM Jax), Howard made that effort to meet Jesus when they drove down to Miami in June for a few days of mission work and spiritual formation with the Miami-based Sisters of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

They were invited to the Great Vigil in honor of the Two Hearts, many attending for the first time.

The experience included to help the religious brothers and sisters to sell religious articles prior to the service.

They watched in amazement as hundreds of people arrived for the vigil.

“We used to do a smaller version of this in Jacksonville with the sisters when I started college,” said Melissa Molano, a fellow college student.

For Molano, experiencing her faith in community has helped her to remaining an active Catholic. A few sisters and priests on campus have also helped.

“Having a group of people that all share something in common, even though we’re all at different levels of how deep and involved in our faith we are, we all believe in the same thing,” said Molano adding “People are searching for truth, and that’s something that can bring us together as we all believe in the same truth.”

That truth united more than 1,200 faithful who filled Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Doral to celebrate this year’s Great Vigil in honor of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary on the evening of June 27, concluding in the early morning of June 28.

Since 1997, the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary have organized the vigil.

The bilingual celebration began with a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Thomas Wenski and several archdiocesan priests, as well as visiting priests from Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.

In his homily, delivered in English and Spanish, Archbishop Wenski explained how devotion fosters a deeper and richer revelation of God, who represents love, and because of that love, He remains close to us. The archbishop also reminded us that God created us in His image and likeness so that we may know His love and mercy, and so that we may live for bigger things than our sins and failures.

“As we gaze in silent wonder at the image of Jesus’ pierced heart—his Most Sacred Heart—and that of Mary’s Immaculate Heart, we can sense how God is offering us a ‘better way.’ In acknowledging their love for us, represented by their pierced hearts, we wish to renew our hearts, so that we might think, speak, work, and love as they do,” said Archbishop Wenski.

At the conclusion of Mass, Mother Adela Galindo, the foundress and mother general of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary, thanked Archbishop Wenski for his guidance over the years.

“We have been really blessed, and continue to be blessed, to have an archbishop that has really chosen to take his mission to lead us to Christ, to give us Christ, to lead us to the truth that makes us free, to lead us to the pure waters and the green pastures. And that is something that we need to be grateful for,” Mother Adela said.

She also thanked the priests present at the vigil who committed their lives to care and guide “the flock of Jesus Christ.”

“Sometimes we say ‘the priests,’ and it is the time to say ‘our priests’ because we are their family and they are our family,” Mother Adela said.

After the Mass, all were invited to consecrate themselves to the Sacred Heart. Led by Archbishop Wenski, the multitude recited the prayer first in English, then in Spanish. Then, three hours of adoration with the Blessed Sacrament followed. The first hour was dedicated to the consolation and reparation of the Sacred Heart and to pray for priests, bishops, and the Holy Father. The second hour was dedicated to praying for peace. The third hour was dedicated to meditating on the calls of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

At 1 a.m., a Mass was celebrated in honor of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. A procession was held beforehand with an image of the Blessed Mother leading the way, greeted with the waving of white handkerchiefs by the faithful who had kept vigil through the night.

 

‘My God, why do I worry if you are here?’

“It’s such a beautiful devotion. I have been waiting for this day,” said Joana Caldas, a first-time participant at the Great Vigil.

The evening was additionally special for her as it coincided with her son, David’s 30th birthday.

Caldas, a parishioner of St. Lawrence Parish in North Miami, is a survivor of cancer. Prior to her diagnosis, her mother was sick in Peru. One evening as her mother lay in bed experiencing difficulty breathing, Caldas felt helpless. Crying, she asked the Lord, “How will my mother sleep tonight?”

Caldas looked up and saw above her mother’s headboard images that she had not really paid attention to, but that she had hung up herself: an image of the Divine Mercy, and a crucifix from the church in her town in Peru.

“I said ‘My God, why do I worry if you are here?’”

That night, her mother slept “like an angel.” From then on, she said many other things happened. Even so, Caldas explained that it took her 10 years, and a cancer diagnosis, to really get close to the Lord.

“I would say ‘My God, how have I wasted so much time when you are here with me always?’” she said.

Around that time, a hunger for knowledge and a deeper faith awakened in her. She turned to devotions like the Divine Mercy, and now, she also counts on the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

“It wasn’t just about praying the rosary. I became interested in attending cenacles, encountering Marian groups, and going anywhere I could. It’s been truly marvelous,” she said.