"Pilar Ramos arrives at the Cathedral of Santiago, in Bilbao, with a smile that can be seen despite her mask. The mysterious recipe for spirituality has something of that joy that gives you to go back through the doors of the temple. «This week we were able to return to daily mass. I usually go to Begoña, but I come here on Sundays. I already have my daughter inside praying the rosary, ”she says. Faith is deeply ingrained in her family since she was a child.
«I lived in Mazuelo de Muñó, in Burgos, and my father gathered us together for the rosary. Looking up at the sky in the field, he knew it was twelve o'clock, and he prayed the Angelus. I am very much like my father », he confesses. So today, on the return from Sunday Masses after two months of watching them on television, he gets excited . Find a seat in the aisle, which is limited like the rest of the church to reduce its capacity to 130 people. About a hundred parishioners followed a religious rite officiated by the Bishop of Bilbao, Mario Iceta.
The dean of the Bilbao cathedral, Luis Alberto Loyo, who celebrated the service, recalled some brief instructions to the parishioners before beginning. “ Children can be with their parents on the pews , but they should not move around the church. After the offertory, there will be no collection and it will take place at the exit. They are things of these new times, but at least we can celebrate the Eucharist together , "he said.
There is an improvement introduced thanks to the experience of the daily masses. On Monday in El Carmen it was found that the greatest difficulty was maintaining distances when receiving communion. «We are going to do it without leaving the site. Whoever wants to receive communion remains standing and we will approach to give him communion, "he said. The new system works better. The rest remains the same, with the gel at the entrance and at the exit, limited spaces and the written recommendation to "arrive on time" to avoid crowds. The vast majority of the faithful came with a mask and only took it off to receive communion . Not the celebrants, but they kept their distance between them.
"See in a new way"
Iceta spoke in her homily about the Holy Spirit and recalled that the word from which it originates, paraclete, refers to "those who accompany, care for, strengthen, defend, protect," a task whose importance has been brought to the fore in these times of pandemic. The Bishop asked "to see in a new way" and recalled "the sick, the elderly, those who live without hope, those who now face a difficult future. Let us comfort them, let us help each other » . At the end of the ceremony, in which the average age was lower than usual because the elderly are exempt, he recalled that “those who cannot come and the sick can ask that communion be brought home. Do it in your parishes, that no one is left without receiving communion ».
Alberto, still recovering from an operation, was among the first to leave. "I like the Bishop very much, and I am also his friend." They no longer have to follow their homilies on television. " Everything is coming back, little by little.""
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