As residents looked on in curiosity from their porches and windows in the Joseph Lee/Bayside neighborhood of East Baltimore March 13, a column of color and solemn music split the abandoned streets.
Coming farther down their steps, the neighbors saw a procession of row upon row of missionaries – young religious men in cassocks, nuns in veils, and lay persons marching with their families. Leading them all was the Blessed Sacrament, displayed solemnly beneath a canopy, the monstrance containing the Eucharist held high by Institute of the Incarnate Word Father Mariano Varela, pastor of the three-parish pastorate of Our Lady of Fatima, Sacred Heart of Mary in Graceland Park and St. Rita in Dundalk.
The remarkable procession was planned as the culmination of a weeklong mission in March undertaken by Father Mariano’s institute alongside its sister religious community, the Institute of the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará. They sought to follow the challenge of the New Evangelization “to go to those sheep who have strayed from the church,” according to Father Mariano, “to reach out them without coercion – to steer the Spirit of the Lord, as St. Paul said.”
The missioners included 17 sisters and 13 brothers. Starting March 9, their schedule began each morning with daily adoration and Mass, followed by visits to neighborhood homes, activities with children, songs and rosary processions. As the week continued and the coronavirus epidemic began to place restrictions on movement and social distancing became a practice, the mission took on a different tone.
The missioners scaled back their activities, sat one-per-pew during adoration, carefully purified surfaces, and ceased their home visits altogether.
The eucharistic procession was rededicated, and the prayers and songs they shared were redirected – to defy the claims of the coronavirus and all disease, and to lift the scourge of illness from their midst, to protect and heal the parish and the city. After dedicating a mission cross in front of Our Lady of Fatima March 15, the missioners headed home.
“From spiritual and bodily disease,” Father Mariano emphasized.
The procession, through a neighborhood that includes many working class immigrants, reminded them that Christ is still present among us.
The persistent presence of Christ goes beyond the mystery of the Eucharist for the IVE and SSVM. This is their calling, their charism. They vow to evangelize by extending the Incarnation of the Word – the presence of Christ – into modern times and society.
Sister Mary Mother of the Crucified, a young missioner from Frederick, spoke of the acceptance they had found visiting local homes.
“Many have been very happy to receive us,” she said. “It’s a moment to go out as Jesus the Good Shepherd and seek the souls that he is thirsting for. They ask us about Mass times and invite us to bless their houses.”
By March 13, however, the missioners had to step back and let the eucharistic procession speak for them.
Like the very idea of pandemic itself, the procession seemed lifted from another time – the waves of missioners in their veils and black cassocks confronting contagion with prayer. Despite the unease, joy radiated from the marchers.
Onlooking adults and children approached the column, and young nuns and brothers paused briefly to answer questions, pray with new friends, offer guidance and literature. They maintained distance but offered a warm invitation back to the church.
A statue of the East Baltimore parish’s patroness, Our Lady of Fatima, followed the Eucharist in the procession, recalling Mary’s apparition of 100 years prior – the Virgin again reaching out in times of unrest and upheaval.
The spirit of the missioners was undimmed.
“We respond to the invitation of the Holy Father to go to the periphery,” Father Mariano said. “We are soldiers for Christ and we hope to please him.”
This year, being a good soldier required restraint, and the healing touch of Christ transferred through a loving smile, a solemn song, a brief and kind word, and the mysterious radiance of the Eucharist throughout the community.
According to Xaverian Brother William Ciganek, pastoral associate for the pastorate, the brothers on the mission were housed at the Sacred Heart of Mary rectory, and the religious women stayed at the Sacred Heart of Mary and Our Lady of Fatima convents.
Parishioners donated food for the missioners during the week.
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