Life hasn’t always been easy for Manuel Zamorano, and there are no guarantees it will get any easier, but he has hope.Zamorano, 36, never set foot in church or talked about God.
His life was absent of religion.
That changed three months ago.
Tired of the direction of his life, Zamorano walked into to St. Luke Catholic Church looking for answers.
“My life has been hard,” Zamorano said. “Everywhere I turn, there are problems. I’m trying to find out what (religion) is about. So far, it’s been real nice.”
Zamorano regularly attends church with his three children and wife, but this Sunday is special.
Today, Palm Sunday, is the beginning of holy week. Palm branches are blessed and carried in procession to mark Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
According to the Gospel, Jesus was welcomed by an enthusiastic crowd, crying hosanna to the son of David, king of Israel. The practice of carrying palm branches in procession dates back to the fifth century, and by the year 600, Palm Sunday had become common place.
Blessing the palm branches didn’t become custom until the middle of the eighth century.
Today, the palms are a reminder of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem and his death and resurrection.
For Zamorano and 561 others in the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville, Palm Sunday is the final phase of his symbolic journey, culminating with his initiation into the church.
Hellen Vargas is a coordinator of religious education at St. Luke. She has been working long nights, but she finds her energy in people like Zamorano and 7-year-old Michael Rojas.
Typically, people going through Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults meet for a couple years, but during the Lenten season, the church has them sit in on disciples in mission class.
On a recent Wednesday evening, Zamorano and Michael attended such a class. A fragrant candle burned in the middle of the room to symbolize the light of Christ. Students sat in a circle around the candle.
Michael is precocious and bubbly. He couldn’t stop himself from fidgeting, but Hellen managed to keep him in his seat with a biblical questions. “Why are we baptized with water?” Hellen asked. “To wash away our sins,” Michael answered, bouncing in his chair.
Michael and Zamorano will be baptized on Holy Saturday, or the Easter Vigil, when the church celebrates the Paschal Mystery. Michael told his parents he wanted to be a minister since then he has been attending Rite of Christian Initiation for Children.
Michael and Zamorano are a microcosm of Catholicism’s newest initiates.
In an adjacent room, Zamorano sat with his hands folded in his lap. His presence is a stark contrast to the others. His arms are covered in tattoos, his appearance coarse, but he feels welcome.
The students discussed the priest’s most recent homily. Zamorano was asked to if he had ever felt that God couldn’t or wouldn’t love him.
A difficult question, but Zamorano answered without hesitation. “When my parents died, I felt buried, like he didn’t love me,” he said.
Vargas is excited for Zamorano and Michael. This is the last Sunday before their baptism, and they have a lot to look forward to.
“They feel all the joy and excitement of beginning to enter the final stages of sin of being welcomed into the faith,” Vargas said. “But, there is a deep sadness, too.”
Vargas explained that amid the excitement of the newly initiated, there is the recognition Christ’s fate. The only way for mankind to have communion, she said, was through Christ’s death.
“The church is leading them to know that people might fail them, but Jesus won’t,” Vargas said.
“That’s really underlying what the church is saying.”
Michael can hardly wait for the process to begin. He asked Vargas a dozen times to see where he will be baptized. Zamorano is more cautious.
“Yeah, I guess you could say I’m nervous,” he said.
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