Le daremos gracias a nuestro Tatita Dios, Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno, La Virgin Sagrada Maria de la Luz y al Glorioso y Milagroso San Antonio de Padua.
In this year of Our Lord 2015, June 13 the people of Cordova for the first time in many years had a great celebration to honor our patron saint, San Antonio. We started our day of prayer with the most Holy Rosary, prayed by Los Hermanos de la Fraterindad Piadosa de Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno (La Morada de Cordova). To start the day hearing the oracions passed down by our antepasados is always a blessing in it self. The spirit of hermanos from long ago accompany us as we offer our prayers. They join us in our devotion to Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I felt the antepasados next us as we prayed. I knew that we had honored their memory and brought back the devotions they left us, the devotions they so humbly prayed and taught us.
As is tradition in Cordova, we celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Fr. Julio Gonzales presided over the Mass. He offered words of inspiration. Telling us to keep in mind that San Antonio is the patron saint of lost things. Lost keys are some of the things we ask Antonio to help us find, but we must look to the Saint to much more then just our keys. To ask Antonio to help us find our faith. To look for the faith that has been given to us by out Lord Jesus Christ. The spirit of the great saint was around us. The church was full of people coming to honor their loved ones whom have made the journey to the other side. They came to honor the faith of their abuelos y abuelas. The church that has been the center piece of our community for 183 years.
Father Julio, at the end of Mass blessed our new Clavario. Hermano Jerry Pete Sandoval made a new cross for the court yard of our Iglesia. It was made of ceder from a tree at our Morada. to have a tree from our Morada. We now have our two holy places connected by the tree of the cross. The cross, the place where our Lord gave his life for us.
St. Anthony tells of the cross, `No man can better understand his own worth, than in the mirror of the Cross, which shows you how you should bring low your pride, mortify your unruly flesh, pray to the Father for those who persecute you, and commend your spirit into his hands.` (Sermon: The Finding of The Holy Cross)
What a beautiful day to bless our new calvario. What a beautiful quote by our beloved Patron Saint. The humility of our antepasados is always present in our iglesita.
June 13, 2015 will be remember as the day that the antepasados from El Huachin were honored on the Feast of St. Anthony. As our indigenous brothers and sisters from Kahpoo Owingeh and Ohkay Owingeh offered pray dance ceremonies, we in Cordova also offered prayers in the form of Danza Azteca. Los Concheros de La Mesa de Nuestra Senora de La Luz graced our Iglesia with the smell of copal and the beat of the drum. The spirit of our Indigenous antepasados was honored.. For the first time, in probably 375 years the beat of the drum was heard in Cordova. The Spirit of our antepasados was awakened. They blessed us with rain. As we offered the ceremonial prayers in the Danza tradition it called to the people of Cordova. The drum beat opened the hearts of many.
The mayordomos for 2014/15 were Mr. and Mrs. Jerry and Nancy Sandoval, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph and Denise Martinez and Debra Sandoval and son, Angelo Sandoval. It was great honor to be in the company of great community members and members of our faith community as well. We planned and had a great celebration. It was truly a humbling experience to be able to plan such a prayer filled day, a day in which the community came together in our traditional ways and also adding a new component to our prayers, which was La Danza Azteca.
St. Anthony blessed us with great blessings, blessings of community, of rain and of new found ways of prayer. Our antepasados, Hermanos, community members and indiginous were all honored in one great and peaceful day of prayer.
I end this entry with words of inspiration by our Beloved St. Anthony, `The Life of the body is the soul; the life of the soul is God.` `Charity is the soul of faith; it gives life; without love, faith dies.`
This is our old Calvario. It got smaller and small as the years have passed.
Here is our new Calvario. Made from a ceder tree that grew at our Morada.
Here is a replica of our beautiful church as it was originally built in 1832. Made my Her. Jerry P. Sandoval and his grandson Jesse Melendez.
El Razafotografista 