EUROPE/LITHUANIA - “50 years of atheism failed to extinguish the flame of the faith among these people”: Father Marco Mikalonis, missionary from Argentina shares with Fides his first Easter in Lithuania.

Pumpenai (Fides Service) - “It was deeply moving to see the Easter sun rise on a land where 50 years of atheism failed to extinguish the flame of the people’s faith” Father Marco Mikalonis a young missionary from Argentina told Fides with regard to his first Easter in Pumpenai, Lithuania which was also his first Easter as a priest.
“With God’s grace we have achieved much more than we expected in these first three months in Pumpenai: visits to the sick, catechism, celebrating Mass” said Father Marco who was impressed by Lithuania’s colourful Easter traditions which combine customs, culture and art.
“For example, as well as the Altar of Repose for the Blessed Sacrament after the Holy Thursday Mass, every church sets aside a chapel to be the “tomb of Jesus”, a sort of spiritual visit to the Holy Sepulchre. Since the Gospel says the Lord’s tomb was in a garden, the chapel is adorned with flowers that in fact in our church it looked like a garden. In this chapel the Blessed Sacrament is preserved after the Adoration of the Cross liturgy on Good Friday afternoon.” Another tradition is the Easter Sunday procession. Before the mass the priest goes to the “Sepulchre” chapel and comes out carrying the Blessed Sacrament accompanied by all the people. The procession goes around the church three times in a special order: “At the head there is a statue of the Risen Christ followed by people in traditional costumes bearing banners of Our Lady and patron saints. Then come the altar boys and little girls who throw leaves along the path to make a carpet for the Blessed Sacrament. Then comes the priest carrying the Blessed Sacrament and then the rest of the people.”
“There were so many people that the head of the procession caught up with the end as it circled the church. The procession was greeted by the chiming church bells and Easter hymns. All this faith and the rising Easter sun made the celebration deeply moving. ‘This is the army of Jesus! said one old lady enraptured after taking part in the procession”.
In Lithuania Easter eggs are an important tradition. “When the people heard that we do not have Easter eggs in Argentina they were very surprised - Father Marco told Fides -. Some of their Easter eggs are works of art. The eggs are boiled and painted on Holy Saturday, each family has its own style and methods according to traditions handed on from one generation to the next. Everything is very natural, the paints are made from onions and leaves. The eggs are distributed and eaten after Easter Sunday Mass. These Easter eggs, a symbol of life and so beautifully decorated, are a marvellous sign of the Risen Lord, the source of all life and beauty ”.
Father Marco concludes his story of Easter in Pumpenai with a prayer that these people will never again experience the suffering of those times when the banners of the Lord were outlawed and to have a cross in the porch of your house, the custom here, was to ask for martyrdom or at best ,a ticket for Siberia… Our young missionary asks for prayers for Lithuania at this historic time when it has just become a new member of the European Union. A Europe which he hopes will be as John Paul II desires it to be: “a Europe in which conquests of science, economy and social wellbeing are directed not to consumerism but to serve every person”. (R.Z.) (Agenzia Fides 14/5/2004 - Righe 44; Parole 648).

Pumpenai (Fides Service) - “It was deeply moving to see the Easter sun rise on a land where 50 years of atheism failed to extinguish the flame of the people’s faith” Father Marco Mikalonis a young missionary from Argentina told Fides with regard to his first Easter in Pumpenai, Lithuania which was also his first Easter as a priest.
“With God’s grace we have achieved much more than we expected in these first three months in Pumpenai: visits to the sick, catechism, celebrating Mass” said Father Marco who was impressed by Lithuania’s colourful Easter traditions which combine customs, culture and art.
“For example, as well as the Altar of Repose for the Blessed Sacrament after the Holy Thursday Mass, every church sets aside a chapel to be the “tomb of Jesus”, a sort of spiritual visit to the Holy Sepulchre. Since the Gospel says the Lord’s tomb was in a garden, the chapel is adorned with flowers that in fact in our church it looked like a garden. In this chapel the Blessed Sacrament is preserved after the Adoration of the Cross liturgy on Good Friday afternoon.” Another tradition is the Easter Sunday procession. Before the mass the priest goes to the “Sepulchre” chapel and comes out carrying the Blessed Sacrament accompanied by all the people. The procession goes around the church three times in a special order: “At the head there is a statue of the Risen Christ followed by people in traditional costumes bearing banners of Our Lady and patron saints. Then come the altar boys and little girls who throw leaves along the path to make a carpet for the Blessed Sacrament. Then comes the priest carrying the Blessed Sacrament and then the rest of the people.”
“There were so many people that the head of the procession caught up with the end as it circled the church. The procession was greeted by the chiming church bells and Easter hymns. All this faith and the rising Easter sun made the celebration deeply moving. ‘This is the army of Jesus! said one old lady enraptured after taking part in the procession”.
In Lithuania Easter eggs are an important tradition. “When the people heard that we do not have Easter eggs in Argentina they were very surprised - Father Marco told Fides -. Some of their Easter eggs are works of art. The eggs are boiled and painted on Holy Saturday, each family has its own style and methods according to traditions handed on from one generation to the next. Everything is very natural, the paints are made from onions and leaves. The eggs are distributed and eaten after Easter Sunday Mass. These Easter eggs, a symbol of life and so beautifully decorated, are a marvellous sign of the Risen Lord, the source of all life and beauty ”.
Father Marco concludes his story of Easter in Pumpenai with a prayer that these people will never again experience the suffering of those times when the banners of the Lord were outlawed and to have a cross in the porch of your house, the custom here, was to ask for martyrdom or at best ,a ticket for Siberia… Our young missionary asks for prayers for Lithuania at this historic time when it has just become a new member of the European Union. A Europe which he hopes will be as John Paul II desires it to be: “a Europe in which conquests of science, economy and social wellbeing are directed not to consumerism but to serve every person”. (R.Z.) (Agenzia Fides 14/5/2004 - Righe 44; Parole 648).