With a warm greeting to the participants in the International Theological Symposium and to the ecclesiastical authorities of the Archdiocese of Quito, Cardinal Pedro Barreto presided over the Eucharist in the Middle of the World.

A solemn procession was previously held with all the concelebrants. It started at the chapel located in the city of Middle of the World and moved towards the altar prepared next to the imposing monument erected on the site determined by the French geodesic mission as the place where the 0 parallel of latitude, or equinoctial line, passes through.

In his initial greeting he stressed that we are in the “center of the earth, our “common home,” between the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere… And it is here that we celebrate the Eucharist, sacrament of “love to the extreme” that actualizes the Paschal Mystery of Christ.”

In his homily he stressed that the Eucharistic celebration takes place in the Middle of the World, to share that today Quito becomes the Eucharistic city, the center of humanity and of the world that suffers and awaits, as it is Christ, the “Bread of Life”, who unites us and integrates us as the Church, the People of God, that are on pilgrimage towards the Kingdom of God.

When commenting the request that Jesus made to his disciples before the Ascension, he asked them “not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which I have told you,” the Cardinal pointed out that it means for the Church to “return to the origins, to the foundation of our faith, to walk together, to celebrate the Passover of Jesus, which is actualized in each Eucharist.”

“In the difficult and complex moments that humanity and the Church are experiencing today, we are called to walk together, to listen to his Word, to nourish ourselves with his Body and Blood and to share our lives with others, especially with the poor and excluded. To do this we must wait and persevere in prayer to live in communion, participation and mission,” he said.

He also highlighted the mission of the Virgin Mary, taken from the reading of the book of the Acts of the Apostles which recalls that the first Christians “persevered in prayer, with Mary, the mother of Jesus.”

He said that “the holy Virgin became a caring mother of the ecclesial community, who knows how to share her hope and her full confidence in the fulfillment of God’s promise,” he said.

For the Cardinal, “Mary is there, faithfully present every time a candle must be lit in a place of mist and fog. We have all known the sufferings of mothers: strong women, who have faced many of the sufferings of their children!”

«In the blood and water that flows from Jesus ‘pierced side, the profound meaning of Christ’s entire existence is revealed. It reached its fullness at the moment of his death, when the graces -the Sacraments of the Church- are shown to us, especially the Eucharist, “source and summit of Christian life” that promotes fraternity to heal the world. And Mary was there, at the foot of the Cross, to listen to the cries of those who suffer poverty and the cries of the earth with many forest fires, with irrational exploitation of natural resources and the serious effects of climate change. »

«Let us learn from Mary to surrender ourselves to the will of God in everything we do, to trust even when all hope seems to have run out because we are not orphans or abandoned people: we have a Mother in the Church. She encourages us to walk together, strengthen our faith, keep hope alive and act with love every day and at every moment. May Mary, the Mother that Jesus gives all of us, always support our steps in times of difficulty. He stressed that she tells each one of us to “Get up! Look ahead, look at the horizon,” because She is the Mother of hope.”

In the final part of his homily, he said that “Mary is totally filled with the Holy Spirit! And this is what we ask of the Lord through her special intercession: that the Holy Spirit be the protagonist in our lives and in the ecclesial us with Pope Francis, to let ourselves be led by the Spirit to be a synodal Church in Mission.

May Saint Mariana of Jesus, Saint Narcisa of Jesus and Blessed Mercedes Molina intercede before the Lord for justice, peace and fraternity to heal the world.”

Moments before the final blessing, the Archbishop of Quito and Primate of Ecuador, Monsignor Alfredo José Espinoza Mateus, SDB, presented Cardinal Pedro Barreto with a pectoral with the logo of the International Eucharistic Congress.

Afterwards, the attendees were offered a cultural moment, with the participation of the Jacchigua folkloric ballet, that presented a set of traditional Ecuadorian choreographies. Later, the visitors took time to tour the facilities of the tourist complex and visit the ethnographic museum located inside the main monument.

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