Chronicle from Ávila

Cardinal Baltazar Porras Cardozo

I receive as a special grace that Pope Francis has appointed me as Papal Legate for the 53rd International Eucharistic Congress to be held in Quito in the coming days. For many years, I have written brief chronicles to share with benevolent readers my concerns and hopes. I hope to meet the expectations of my dear Ecuadorian compatriots and those who journey from the four corners of the globe. The Congress coincides with the Holy Father’s pilgrimage to the antipodes, to the far East, as a bearer of the evangelical message of peace and fraternity.

To recall in prayer and study the history of Ecuador and the connections we share with those living in “the great house,” Latin America and the Caribbean, is a refreshing breath to “understand this historical moment of the Latin American man in the light of the Word who is Christ, in whom the mystery of man is manifested” (Medellín, Introduction, 1).

In the early years of Independence, the dream of consolidating a great country, with Bogotá as the capital and Quito and Caracas, as proposed by the Congress of Cúcuta in 1821, led Simón Bolívar to exclaim, as the chronicles say, that “Ecuador is a convent, Colombia a university, and Venezuela a barracks.” Analysts have provided various interpretations of this controversial motto, but in the context of the forthcoming Eucharistic Congress in Quito, the religious evocation of the Ecuadorian soul has elements of reality.

The magnificence of the churches and convents in the Ecuadorian capital is not simply the work of a few exceptionally gifted individuals. Temples like the majestic Church of the Society of Jesus, the Convent of San Francisco, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Church of the National Vow, or the Church of Santo Domingo, to name a few, did not appear by magic, although there are legends attributing the completion of the baroque jewel of the Jesuit temple to a pact between Cantuña and the devil. These buildings embody all times, from the colonial dawns, the early republican years of the 19th century, to the present day. Faith moves mountains, and the captivating beauty of following Jesus merged with mestizo art, blending all styles to give them that Creole stamp that is part of the Ecuadorian Christian soul.

Saint Mariana of Jesus, patroness of Ecuador, enjoys great popular devotion, and her spiritual daughters, the Marianist sisters, are present in several countries. And Saint Miguel Febres Cordero, Brother Miguel of the Christian Schools of La Salle, of Venezuelan descent, is present in the Merida Andes, where there is a parish named after him. Saint Narcisa of Jesus Martillo Morán; and several beatified figures such as Mercedes de Jesús Molina and Ayala, and Father Julio María Matovelle. We must also mention distinguished men and women, bishops, priests, religious, and lay people who, throughout time, have been a living testimony of faith initially sown by intrepid missionaries. The originality of the Ecuadorian being left the German scholar Alexander von Humboldt astonished, describing them as “rare and unique beings: they sleep peacefully amidst rumbling volcanoes, live in poverty amidst incomparable riches, and rejoice with sad music.” This still perplexes foreign visitors who measure well-being by different parameters. Once again, the Medellín document (1968) states that “we Christians cannot fail to sense the presence of God, actively present in our history, as a preview of His eschatological gesture not only in man’s impatient longing for total redemption but also in those achievements that, as predicting signs, man achieves through an activity carried out in love” (Introduction, n. 5).

In these September days, Quito becomes the largest convent in the world, with open doors from the fraternity gifted to us by the Eucharist to be builders of fraternity that generates peace, joy, and hope.

32.- 31-8-24 (4107)

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