A multitude of parishioners participated this April 24 in the caravan of the “Route of Divine Mercy 2022” together with Monsignor Rolando Alvarezbishop of the diocese of Matagalpa and apostolic administrator of the diocese of Estelí, on the second Sunday of Easter.
The pilgrimage, which moved thousands of believers, began after the celebration of the Eucharist celebrated by Monsignor Álvarez in the San Pedro Apóstol Cathedral Church in Matagalpa, after a two-year break due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Peace is the fruit of the forgiveness of our sins” and “mercy itself is called patience,” said the religious leader in his Sunday homily, referring to the day’s Gospel that recounts Jesus’ greeting to his disciples: “Peace to you!”.
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“The peace of the Risen One is the fruit of the forgiveness that we offer to others, it is the fruit of the patience that, just as the Lord has had with us, so we must have with others,” he said.
He added that “each one of us is a bridge for others to come closer, so that they can meet, forgive, that our life is never a cause of division, never a cause of an obstacle because, in that sense, it would be a scandal. May our life make it possible for others to look each other in the eye without humiliating themselves, without feeling strange and communicating the most serious of their lives.
Once the holy mass was celebrated, the parishioners began the journey from the Cathedral Church to the Santa Faustina Kowalska parish in Solingalpawhere the Divine Mercy Chaplet was prayed, and continued to the San Juan Pablo ll parish in Chaguitillo where a crowd received, between gunpowder and applause, Monsignor Alvarez to make the consecration to the Divine Mercy that this year was entrusted to Nicaragua, Ukraine, Russia and the entire world.
«I want to thank you for all that love that, thanks to you, I have come to the conviction that is fully expressed in prayer: when a person loves someone, they pray for that someone. Thanks to your prayers, the Lord protects me and protects me, it is an infallible protection that never fails. Keep praying for me because I need it,” said the Catholic leader, a critical voice of the Nicaraguan dictatorship.
“We have a common need that is our Nicaragua, let us ask the Lord for the grace of Nicaragua, of what Nicaragua needs (…) We are here because we firmly believe that our Salvation comes from them (Jesus), the personal one, the graces we need and the salvation that Nicaragua also needs.
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The faithful continued their route by walking four kilometers to the Divina Misericordia parish in Sébaco. On the way, Monsignor Alvarez He took the opportunity to greet the older adults of the San Francisco de Asís Home for the Elderly. The caravan has been running since 2013.
