Between araucarias and coffee plantations
With different social activities, the youth of the Palogrande Cultural Center, a corporate work of Opus Dei in Manizales, organized the Social Project: 'Solidarity Holy Week', which consisted of developing a recreational and training space for the inhabitants of the Vereda El Lembo in the municipality of Santa Rosa de Cabal, Risaralda.
The program contemplated two phases, the first and the most important, the organization of the liturgical acts, with their processions, Holy Mass, blessing of Palms, Stations of the Cross, readings and other acts of the Holy Week and later, the creation of a championship of soccer for the children of the villages of Bajo San Juan and Alto San Juan and the visit to several older adults and vulnerable people in the community who would receive some help.
A brief overview...
On Holy Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the special concentration was in the preparatory training workshops for the children enrolled in the Pedro Uribe Mejía school in the village of El Lembo, in Santa Rosa de Cabal, in the same way, at the time of carrying out the activities of recreation, the sports championship and the gymkhana game, turned out to be the most fun.
Every morning, while stories of the Vereda were told, the inhabitants of the area shared a delicious and aromatic coffee from the region with their guests. One of the stories that caught our attention was the origin of the araucarias, huge and strong trees that can reach 30 meters in height and that are famous in Santa Rosa de Cabal and the Colombian Coffee Region.
Alfredo, Director of the Palogrande Cultural Center, also told the students that this plant has a special history for him and for Opus Dei in Colombia. Well, in 1983, in addition to giving an image of the Virgen del Carmen to the hermitage of Torreblanca, (retreat house located in Silvania, Cundinamarca), he also planted an araucaria tree in the garden next to the entrance door that receives all those who they seek training and attend the retreats and gatherings organized in this place. (casa de retiros ubicada en Silvania, Cundinamarca), también sembró una araucaria en el jardín contiguo a la puerta de ingreso que recibe a todos aquellos que buscan formación y asisten a los retiros y convivencias organizadas en este lugar.
During this week, outdoor workshops, games of skill and a sports championship were also held for the children and young people of the village, encouraging their ability to work as a team and be empathic with their peers. It was a moment full of emotions learning!
"Of course, it has been a gratifying experience for my life and my family was happy with this work that we carried out for these coffee lands”, said David Rivera.
holy week between araucarias and coffee plantations
In turn, the smell of coffee, cadmium and fruit trees stimulated community participation in all Holy Week celebrations, since both students and neighbors put on #ManosALaObra and gave their all to make this one very special. . Some prepared the processions, others the readings, some more the songs and others accompanied the Stations of the Cross with their prayer, supporting the requests of the participants and the intentions of Pope Francis.
Without a doubt, the inhabitants of the villages of El Lembo, Bajo and Alto San Juan lived those words of Saint Josemaría: “in the tragedy of the Passion, our own lives and the entire human history are consummated. Holy Week cannot be reduced to a mere memory, since it is the consideration of the mystery of Jesus Christ, which is prolonged in our souls; the Christian is obliged to be alter Christus, ipse Christus, another Christ, the same Christ. All of us, by Baptism, have been constituted priests of our own existence, to offer spiritual victims, who are pleasing to God through Jesus Christ, to carry out each of our actions in a spirit of obedience to the will of God, thus perpetuating the mission of the God-Man”.
“I learned a lot this Holy Week, I got to know Jesus better, I shared with many people who taught me to know God. I got to know new territories in Colombia and learned about the international value of our coffee,” said Andrés Felipe Sánchez, a volunteer at C.C Palogrande.
"We appreciate this work carried out by the people of Palogrande and we hope to continue with these celebrations in these lands of coffee plantations and good memories," added Gloria Rendón, one of the residents of the El Lembo village.
Thanks to the support of Colegio Horizontes, Father Jaime Naranjo who was in charge of officiating the Holy Week celebrations, the family of Mr. Faber Montoya and the participation of the students who volunteered their time and who decided to live a social experience in in the middle of lands of green mountains and coffee tradition.
