“I carry a cross on my chest and in my heart what Jesus says…” is the chorus of a song I have loved since the day I first heard it, when I was 8 years old, in religion class, in third grade. More than 35 years have passed, and one of my dreams has come true. Since then, I wanted to go to a jungle, with the Indians… and tell them how wonderful Jesus Christ is.” The speaker is Fr. Juan Ramón de Andrés, L.C., from Segovia, who currently works apostolically in Venezuela. We asked him to share his testimony about the missions of this Holy Week.

On Friday, March 27, I led a group of Missionary Family (96 missionaries in total, parents, young people, little children of 7 years…) from Caracas. Our destination: Canaima. We set out at night. 12 hours by bus. 1 hour and a half by small plane. And two days later, 39 of us woke up at 5:00 am. We had a mission ahead: to bring Christ to the Pemón Indians in Sarairaupa. 8 hours in a canoe and several more hours walking. We arrived at the place: only one church, a dining hall, and a small school with 3 classrooms. We camped. Tents and hammocks. Within minutes, Pemón Indians arrived, as they live dispersed throughout the forest. They had been waiting for us for a year, since the last time missionaries visited them during Holy Week. And word spread: “there is a priest

for confession”.

Confessions, weddings, baptisms… in Pemón language

And they began to arrive. They arrived barefoot. With what devotion, with what fervor, with what repentance they did it! It was several hours. Most of them I couldn’t understand, as they spoke Pemón… but I could see how their faces changed from deep pain to incomparable peace and joy…

We had Mass at 6:00 pm. Then we dined with them. They prepared a little soup with some fish – tumá -, and since they have no cutlery, we ate the soup with a kind of “bread,” like pizza dough but made from corn. Later, by the firelight (there’s no electricity, no cell phones, no Wi-Fi, no water…) they wanted to offer us the best to welcome us: with a cuatro (a small guitar with 4 strings) they started singing… they sing very well! It’s clear they love to sing and do it very, very well.

That night it rained heavily… and we could sleep little. Mass at 7. Two couples decided to marry (one with 7 children and another with 5), and I also baptized two little children. The couples prepared themselves with a good confession, and they were happy, barefoot! (…one of the young missionaries, knowing that one of the men was going to marry, gave him his sneakers “for his wedding”). In fact, the children walk – some up to an hour – barefoot every day to come to school. They only have a pair of shoes. They put them on before entering the small school, and when they leave, they take them off so they don’t wear out…

We had to return soon to avoid arriving at night. All the Indians helped us dismantle the camp and carry the things, an hour walk to the river. We boarded, and I will never forget what I saw from the canoe: there were the Indians, happy, barefoot, singing…

On the way back, another 8 hours. Rain, intense sun, thirst… but a spectacular landscape… The famous Tepuis accompanied us, we passed very close to Angel Falls… Absorbed in that paradisiacal beauty, I kept thinking inside: “it was worth leaving home at 11 years old, it was worth the 19 years of formation, and it was worth waiting 15 years as a priest… just for

those confessions, those marriages, and baptisms”.

Without a priest for a year

And I asked God to send more workers to His harvest. They will not see a priest again, until a year from now, with God’s grace. The entire area is currently guided by a single priest, Fr. Xavier, a Spanish priest from Barcelona. The extent he must cover is like the state of Texas, almost as large as Spain… And he is alone, as a few months ago, the Spanish priest Fr. Jaime, who accompanied him, passed away.

I learned so much from those Indians… I’ll share some details: one man traveled an entire day from his home for Sunday Mass. Another man, already blind, has been going to Mass every Sunday since the missionaries visited him last year. And now during Holy Week, he didn’t miss. Always in the front row, “to see better.” At the end of the Resurrection Mass, without any shame, he sang a wonderful prayer of thanksgiving to God at full lung. All of them know the act of contrition in Spanish, perfectly, for the end of confession. How they sing, how well, with what strength, with what intonation… as if it were to praise God!

And I thought of our big cities… how many Masses every Sunday… and sometimes, how poor, how sad, how empty…! We even arrive late to Mass without any remorse. Not to mention the sacrament of confession… These Indians, yes, with their struggles and difficulties, with their falls and problems, but how much they teach us to value the presence of Christ in the sacraments, how much they teach us to love God, to love others! And to do so with joy.

Yes, I want to return to Canaima next year, with a cross on my chest, with the Blessed Virgin Mary by my side, and with many, many more missionaries.

To those in Spain, I would ask two things: pray for vocations, there is so much to do in these countries! And second, if you can help us with 20 euros – or whatever you can – it will be very helpful to prepare the next mission: medicines, milk, etc. (In July I will go to Segovia for my brother’s wedding, and I could collect what is raised).

May God continue to bless you and do not stop valuing everything you have at your fingertips!

Source Lo+RC