Redemptorists in Mexico

See the video

>You can find the subtitles in your language next to the YouTube player controls.

Read

Redemptorists in  Mexico

Emmanuel: Hi! My name is Emmanuel García. I’m 21 years old. I’ve been part of the groups for young people of the redemptorist Congregation here in Mexico for 5 years. Living as a part of this family, I have had very pleasant experiences, a very deep approach to God, getting to know people who have encouraged me, who has brought God closer to me, a lot of joy and happiness.

Fr. Agustín Cantú Drauaillet CSsR: Hi everyone! My name is Agustín Cantú Drauaillet. I am a missionary redemptorist from Mexico. Now I find myself in the city of San Luis Potosí, in this beautiful shrine of the Perpetual Help. And I am here to show you what it is like to be a redemptorist in Mexico.

This is the inside of the Shrine of the Perpetual Help. It is located in the neighbourhood Tequisquiapan, in the centre of this city of San Luis Potosí. The main feasts we celebrate are the feast of our Lady of Perpetual Help, and also the feast of San Gerard, to which a lot of people from here attend.

Every adventure has a starting point. It was in 1908, when two redemptorists priest arrived in Mexico coming from the Province of Spain, precisely to the port of Veracruz. So started to spread the plentiful redemption from this redemptorists charisma.

After them, twelve other redemptorists, also from Spain, arrived and immediately started to preach missions in different places in Veracruz. More and more Redemptorists Missionaries kept on arriving. Pastoral work prospered in Mexico. They started with the foundation of communities, for example in Ciudad de México, Monterrey and in Puebla. But the arrival of the redemptorists in Mexico was at the time of a very difficult politic situation for the Church in Mexico. This caused that some of those who arrived in the country came back to Spain, or, due to the religious persecution lived here, they went into exile to other countries such as Cuba or Venezuela, or to other countries of Central America. And this gave as a result different foundations and the consolidation of different redemptorist projects in those countries.

In 1966, Mexico stopped being a Viceprovince of Spain and started to be the Redemptorist Province of Mexico. The redemptorist itinerant popular missions continued all over Mexico. In 1990 the missionary life received a new impulse due to the foundation of the permanent mission in the mountains of Tarahumara among the rarámuris indigens. This ministry ended in 2015. Nowadays, the Redemptorist Province of Mexico has ten canonically erected houses in the north and centre of the country.

Being a redemptorist in Mexico brings with it the sharing of this experience of redemption with other congregation of our family.

Sofía OssR: Mi name is María Sofía Palestina Rivera. I belong to the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer of the Mother María Celeste. What does it mean to me being part of the Redemptorist Family? It has given plenitude to my life.

Hilda MPS: My name is María Hilda Flores Colunga, Missionary of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. I want to share with you that living as a missionary, together with the redemptorist, has really been a great richness, both spiritually and personally. I am very thankful to God for being a part of this religious family.

Fr. Agustín Cantú Drauaillet CSsR: We know that the missionary work in this Mexican Province is not only carried out by the confreres, but also by all the lay people who have had this experience of Redemption in their lives and decided to share it with more people. We have a lot of them, a lot of engaged lay people in Mexico.

Enrique: Hi, my name is Enrique, from the Province of Mexico. Being with the redemptorist has taught me how to live in community, to be more empathic with the brothers, to take faith into my heart and my doing, to share my faith with the communities: missioning and taking the Word, taking the Gospel to them, sharing a live in community. I have also learned which is my service in the Church, both musically and liturgically. And at the same time, teaching other young people to love Jesus and bringing them to the path of faith.

Victoria: Good afternoon. I greet you from the parish of Our Lady of Juquila, a missionary redemptorist parish in the port of Veracruz. My name is Victoria Colunga Luna, and I am a lay missionary. I serve here in the parish as a catechist. I have learned great things from this Congregation. Above all, to take and make people know a Redeemer Jesus, an alive Jesus, a Jesus who always keeps an eye on the needs of others.

Ivette: Hi! How are you? My name is Ivette Robles. I belong to the Redemptorist Province of Mexico, where for 13 years I have been carrying out my service as a catechist. And, since I am inside this big family, I have felt very happy, very welcomed. And I have learned how to take this message of the plentiful redemption to all our brothers, without forgetting about the most in need, such as the indigents and the migrants. I have also learned to trust more in our Mother, our Lady of Perpetual Help, and to teamwork, to be always available to serve with much joy in order to take this message to so many people who need it today in this so wounded world. Hurray for the Redemptorist family!

Fr. Agustín Cantú Drauaillet CSsR: The Redemptorist Youth and Vocational Ministry is a service which is also carried out as a team with lay people.

Liz and Alejandro: Hi, good afternoon, good night. Mi name is Liz Nampula. Mi husband… Alejandro Martill. Both of us are from Puerto de Veracruz, and we collaborate with the Redemptorist Youth and Vocational Ministry. We are very pleased with the fact of being able to evangelize children, young people and young adults.

Gaby: Hi, my name is Gaby Pérez, from Ciudad de Mexico. I am an engaged redemptorist. I work with the Redemptorist Youth and Vocational Ministry. Apart from encouraging young people, I make the designs so that the youngest feel like following the redemptorists. From the redemptorists I have learned to be a missionary and to find a new mission for my life.

Fr. Agustín Cantú Drauaillet CSsR: One of the main points in the Youth Ministry is that all youths may have an encounter in their lives with Christ the Redeemer.

Ángel: Hi, my name is Ángel Antonio and I serve as an altar boy in this redemptorist community, that has shown me Jesus the Redeemer’s love.

Alma, Mia y Karim: My name is Alma Guadalupe Lozano Villa. My name is Mia Alejandra Sánchez Márquez. My name is Karim Alexis Núñez Olvera. And we belong to the Redemptorist Youth Ministry in San Luis Potosí.

Alma: What I have learned is to love God. And, besides that, to get closer to him not only by praying, but also through other things or activities.

Mia: What I have learned is to get closer to God. When you are connected with Him, you are also connected with more things in your life. He is a very good example for our lives.

Karim: I learned to believe more in God and to talk more with my collages.

Alma, Mia y Karim: Bye!

Fr. Agustín Cantú Drauaillet CSsR: These are just a few witnesses of the Redeemer in Mexico. A big family formed by religious, lay people, confreres… all of them announcing the Redeemer to their brothers.

Alejandra MPS: Hi, my name is Alejandra Flores Galván. I am Missionary of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Belonging to the Redemptorist Family is being part of an experience of shared love where I get closer to the other, knowing that he is my brother, where I can lend a hand to support him and also to let myself be surprised by his life. It consists of looking to the other as Jesus looked, knowing that we are all here a big family and that Jesus the Redeemer has brought us here together.

Author: Fr. Agustín Cantú Drauaillet CSsR

Translation: Carlos A. Diego Gutiérrez CSsR

This post is also available in: polski (Polish) Español (Spanish)