The faithful in Fillmore celebrate Holy Week

Intermountain Catholic

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Holy Family Mission celebrated Holy Friday with a reenactment of the Passion of Christ; shown are parishioners portraying Mary, Jesus and one of the criminals who was crucified with Jesus. See more photos on Facebook. IC photo/Laura Vallejo

FILLMORE – This is the third year that Holy Family Mission in Fillmore celebrated the Holy Week with two very special guests.

Sister Bertha Araceli Ibarra González and Sister Guadalupe Neri Hernández, Sisters of the Order of Santa Ana from Aguascalientes, Mexico, spent the Holy Week celebrations with the Catholic community of this mission in central Utah.

These visits have been possible through the help of Father Hernando Diaz, Holy Family pastor, and Angélica de León, a parishioner of the mission.

Both sisters supported, educated and refreshed Catholics’ spirits during the Holy Week celebrations.

"For me it’s a great joy to be able to share; coming here, being with the people and helping them remember their values, their culture, and the joy of belonging to the Catholic Church," said Sister Araceli, who has been visiting the mission for the past three years.

This was the first year that Sr. Guadalupe has come to Utah. The experience for her was a very enlightening and rich one, she said.

"To realize that in a population that is so dispersed as in Utah, a small group of Catholics defend their faith here [in Fillmore], that they evangelize and have this need of knowing more of God, is simply amazing," said Sr. Guadalupe.

She also said she was very surprised to see how a small group of families can encourage so many other families and gather them in their faith.

"This is a very beautiful experience, to see how the families want their own children to be evangelized. They are always searching for ways for their kids to be closer to God and to the Virgin Mary," said Sr. Guadalupe.

Good Friday was the perfect occasion for this, as kids from different families gathered to reenact the Passion of Christ around the grounds of the mission.

"I am very grateful to God for the opportunity of meeting these families. No matter all the suffering they are always keeping their faith alive with hope," said Sr. Guadalupe. "Our faith is like a small flame that gathers more and more people who have the need of living this Easter Mystery, this mystery of the love and resurrection of Christ."

These unique visits to the mission have happened with the help of De Leon, who together with Fr. Diaz works during the year to raise funds to be able to bring the sisters from Mexico.

Besides giving presentations, the sisters visited with the families of the mission. They also visited the sick and the people who don’t attend Mass frequently, inviting them to renew their faith and to continue their ministries.