Diocesan Posada recalls the need to be welcoming

Intermountain Catholic

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Above, luminarias, a traditional Christmas decoration of the American southwest, decorate the steps to the Cathedral of the Madeleine for the Diocesan Posada. IC photos by Christopher Gray

SALT LAKE CITY — Only a few days after immigration raids in Hyrum and other towns around the nation left hundreds of Latin American families carelessly broken on Dec. 12, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Catholics gathered at the Cathedral of the Madeleine Dec. 16 for the Diocesan Celebration of La Posada, a ritual act of welcoming strangers.

"In the house of the Lord there can be no strangers," said Maria-Cruz Gray, director of Hispanic Ministry for the Diocese of Salt Lake City. Together with the diocesan celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Diocesan Office of Hispanic Ministry coordinates two of only a handful of diocesan celebrations throughout the year and ministers year round to the Hispanic Catholics of the diocese, which are estimated by the Office of Hispanic Ministry to number more than 200,000.

The tradition of the Posadas takes the form of a novena which recalls Joseph and Mary’s search for lodging as they were called to Bethlehem by the edict of Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus for the taking of the census.

Contrasting the message of segregation and punishment of the recent immigration roundup to the difficulty Mary and Joseph experienced in finding a shelter in Bethlehem, Father Omar Ontiveros, parochial vicar of the Cathedral of the Madeleine, told in his homily how pertinent the importance of welcoming continues to be.

"There are many reasons why we left our daily lives this evening to gather here. But at the end we have come to celebrate the story of the nativity and the traditions of our cultures. The Gospel shows us that it is a difficult path for the people mentioned in the Christmas story. Through everything, God does not leave us alone. After so much trouble, confusion, and suffering, God comes out victorious.

"For the community in Logan, it is a very difficult time: many children were left without parents, without love, without the sustaining efforts of their parents to survive. Christmas is not only a time to enjoy the holiday, but also to think hard on the pain and suffering of the consequences that many, both abroad and right here in our community, live through," he said.

Members of the prison ministry, the youth and young adult ministry, the charismatic groups, marriage encounter, and the Diocesan Hispanic Commission lead the gathering at the Cathedral in the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary, which was followed by a series of antiphons for each of the nine days before Christmas on which a Posada is celebrated.

Diego de Soria, an Augustinian monk, introduced this novena in 1578 to the people of Acolmán in Mexico in contrast to the pagan custom of the Aztecs to honor their god of war Huitztilopochtli during the winter solstice.