Spain " "
An Easter focused on people’s real-life experiences today: that’s how the faithful are preparing to celebrate Easter in various areas of Spain. The particular Easter initiative focused on peace and reconciliation being promoted by the Jesuits in Barcelona is being announced with provocative posters: “Jesus, where shall we hold Easter? And Jesus replies: Place a table in the wall that divides Israelis and Palestinians, another on the roads of Baghdad, another on the beaches of the Strait of Gibraltar… and let us sit down together to raise a toast to life and hope”. Jesuit Father Francesc Riera explains the meaning of the poster to SIR as follows: “It will be neither the powerful nor the rich who save the world, as our self-satisfied neo-liberalist society claims. It’s the least of men who will be saved: it’s a turning upside down”. The Poor Clares of Vilobi d’Onyar, in the diocese of Girona, are similarly organizing an Easter focused on the actual experiences of immigration. They will present Elías Querejeta’s documentary “The Back of the World”, and hold a round table to understand how suffering is experienced through prayer in the various religions. Another diocese, Lleida, is holding the youth event “Easter of the Avellanes”, a meeting much appreciated by the young. According to Fra Valerià Simon, of the pastoral team of the Marist Brothers, “it is aimed at connecting Easter with the life of the young”. To this end, a good deal of attention is devoted to music “with melodies that deepen the meaning of the Word but that are at the same time close to the culture of the young”. Simón points out to SIR that “the readings, for example, are direct, because the young are used to addressing each other in the familiar tense. We aim at the participation of the young in the celebrations, the cultivation of silence and catechesis: all help to experience Easter in a better way”. Simón is convinced that Easter should be prepared through the whole year: “There is a sort of threshold catechesis, an attention to small details that makes possible people’s access to the death and resurrection of Christ”. Apart from diocesan events, many Spanish youngsters will go to Taizé in France, among the favourite goals to experience Easter in a youthful, ecumenical and international environment.
