Señor de los Milagros is a big deal in Peru and the entire month of October has been declared a 2nd Easter in honor of it, that’s how big of a deal it is. The story comes from way back when (not in a galaxy far, far away) when a slave painted a picture of Jesus, Mary and an angel on the inside of a cave. The painting has survived many natural disasters such as earthquakes which destroyed everything else, except the painting. Naturally, a devotion to this painting grew. Today, the entire month of October is dedicated to this painting. It is currently housed in a church in downtown Lima, Church of the Nazarenes (not sure on spelling). During the month of October, the painting leaves the church 3 times in procession. One of these times was October 18 and my community and I went to watch!
We left the house at 5 am to make the 630 mass. Just before the mass, the painting left the church in a solid gold frame that was carried by faithful men taking rather small steps. At the mass, there were numerous priests, seminarians, and the bishop. Communion was crazy and beautiful at the same time. There were so many people wanting to receive communion, but there was no organized manner of doing so, so there was a lot of pushing, yelling, and some people were using their elbows to push their way through, something my stomach didn’t appreciate too much. The crowd was ginormous. After the mass, the procession continued throughout the city streets, which has pictures made of flower petals decorating them. It was an interesting experience for sure but definitely worth the little sleep and bearing the crowds.
