Divina Providencia

That has been the theme of our Easter Pilgrimage thus far. God has provided to us so many little blessings we never would have accounted for on our own. We found a marvelous shuttle service from the airport; they charge very little, and they have seen us safely here and there. He provided friends who told us which bus routes take us here and there. He provided us friends who knew Yvonne, a woman who has been in El Salvador since the war, a woman who lives in the village of Ellacuria, which was our destination. She happened to be staying in the city a block away from the guesthouse where we have found lodging for the week; the lodging itself happened by chance to be available because another group of 6 people from the States cancelled! Yvonne met us and guided us through Ellacuria. She has lived and worked with the villagers for the past five years, so she knew all the social customs to maneuver- she knew who to ask and how to ask it. She got us connected to the people running a weeklong seminar on Romero at the Universidad Centroamericana (where the Jesuit priests were slain in 1989). Just yesterday, our first day back in the capital city after a Triduum spent with the villagers of Ellacuria, we went to the Chapel of Divine Providence, the very place where Romero was shot in the heart while offering Mass in 1980. It just so happened that a group of Pilgrims from North America were celebrating Mass only a few minutes after we had arrived. We got there just in time to participate in a concelebrated liturgy. The three concelebrating priests were from Mexico, Peru, and the USA. They were all three highly enthused to be celebrating Mass at the exact same spot where Romero had been martryed! Their enthusiasm overwhelmed us; it was perhaps the most sublime liturgy I have ever had the privelege of joining in prayer, and it was represented by citizens of the Three Americas, all of whom were there to honor this "Saint of the Americas". How appropriate that the Chapel should be named for the very Blessing which has accompanied us on this peregrinacion.

I wish you all an equally blessed and Happy Easter!!!!!