Despite the siege of the Ortega police patrols and the paramilitaries and fanatics of the dictatorship, the Catholic parishioners and above all the devotees of the Divine Child, punctually attended the diocesan sanctuary in the Fuente Pura community of Matagalpa to pay their sacred promises and renew their faith in the miraculous image.
Until last year, the pilgrimage of the Divine Child was headed by the bishop of Matagalpa, Monsignor Rolando Álvarez, and this year, the believers felt with great sadness the forced absence of their pastor.
“Monsignor Rolando is needed,” said Doña Santos, a housewife who came to the sanctuary with her family, as in previous years, and raised a prayer “so that this war that the devil wages against our faith and our bishop.”
Related news: Santa Ana is lowered from her altar and the dictatorship prohibits niquinohomeños from removing her from the temple
“We pray for Monsignor Rolando, for his health, for his freedom, it is not fair that an innocent continue to be nailed to the cross of injustice, while Barrabás walks free and sows terror among us,” prayed Doña Santos.
Much faith
For his part, the priest who officiated at the Eucharist commented in his homily that “the people of God have come full of overflowing joy at the Feast of the Divine Child, thanking God for another year that allowed us to spread devotion, for all the benefactors who contributed to this work and the support commission of the sanctuary, that is why we are here with faith and trust, humble and repentant, full of love and hope”.
Despite the siege, the believers did not fail the miraculous image of the Divine Child.
In previous years, as part of the celebrations of the Divine Child Jesus, confessions, holy rosary, holy mass and holy hour before Jesus in the sacrament were held days in advance in his sanctuary, all for nine days until mid-July, when he left in a caravan from the Cathedral to Fuente Pura.
However, this year, due to the persecution that the Sandinista dictatorship has undertaken against the Nicaraguan church, the solemnity of the Divine Child has been reduced to holy mass and the people spontaneously go on a walk on their own, without bishops or priests, but with police and civil patrols besieging the people and their faith.
Three years: nothing is normal
At the end of June, Father Jader Guido, vicar of the Cathedral, announced to the parishioners that this year 2023, there will be no pilgrimage to the Diocesan Sanctuary of the Divine Child Jesus, located in the Fuente Pura community, 13 kilometers north of the city of Matagalpa, on the old road to Jinotega.
He recalled that it is the third time that the activity that normally brought together more than 20,000 souls from all over Nicaragua has been suspended, first due to the Covid-19 pandemic and now due to the situation the country is suffering.
For the celebrations of the Divine Child, last year, the Bishop of Matagalpa called a great National Crusade of Prayer, weeks later his ordeal of kidnapping and captivity began, as well as that of other religious and collaborators, a tragedy that continues to this day. from today.
By: United Voices.
