The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Las Nieves reopened its doors after a year of pandemic on Friday afternoon to begin the festivities. The hermitage hosted the reading of the proclamation that this year fell on the neighbor of the town of Guatiza, Miguel Ángel Sosa González.
The act was presented by the parish priest of Teguise, Matías Gula, who made a biographical sketch of the herald, spoke especially of his commitment to pastoral tasks with young people, in liturgy. Working and supporting Manos Unidas, in catechesis, in the Department of Church History of the Theological Center of Las Palmas, in health ministry. He has also participated in a theater group in Guatiza with annual performances, with Padis Canarias at the pastoral level in the Diocese, with the Secretariat of Health Ministry and in the process of completing the Master of Health Ministry. Miguel Ángel Sosa has a degree in Geography and History, specializing in Art History from the University of La Laguna and in Theological Sciences from the Pontifical University of Burgos.
Miguel Ángel for his proclamation had the collaboration of the young violinist, Diego Fajardo, who was interspersing compositions of classical music such as "Schubert's Ave Maria" "Maurice Ravel's Bolero de Ravel" "Johann Strauss' Radetzky March" ending with "Beethoven's Ode to Joy".
At the end of the proclamation, the parish priest Matías Gula presented him with a gift and the mayor of Teguise Oswaldo Betancort presented him with a commemorative plaque. The herald was very supported by family and friends on a very special day.
Proclamation
Good afternoon! First of all, thank you to everyone who wanted to be here this afternoon!
Before starting this proclamation, I would like to thank those who thought of me to do this task that for me has a special relevance, especially at a personal level.
When Matías invited me, by phone, I was at home, cooking. I had to stop cooking because my skin crawled, and it was a privilege to say yes to this invitation. Really, thank you very much!
Making this proclamation, the process of elaboration, and sharing it with all of you is and has been a challenge, a journey to the memories, a confirmation of many emotions that have surfaced. Every time I sat down to write, I had many and very clear memories of what this sanctuary has meant and means to me, this invocation of the Virgen de Las Nieves, which I learned to love through a person who has been fundamental in my life and the foundation of my faith, and to whom I dedicate especially the words that I pronounce this afternoon, and that I know from faith that she is always with me: my aunt Manuela González Elvira, better known as Manuela "the lame", and that I know that God has welcomed her with Him.
Since my childhood, which I shared with her, whenever Saturday afternoon arrived and she brought me with her to this sanctuary to celebrate the Eucharist. Every Saturday that someone with a car invited her to come, because every Saturday there was always someone who brought us, especially María and Marcelino, well, here we showed up.
At the feet of the Virgen de Las Nieves I learned to pray the Rosary, here I met many people who were regulars to Las Nieves, who came to greet my aunt, here I made my first readings of the Word of God at 11 or 12 years old, here I helped for the first time to give communion and here I preached for the first time at the invitation of the parish priest Clemente, in the time when I was a seminarian. And here my father and I prayed in the first mass we asked for my mother and my aunt when God called them to his side 14 years ago.
I have also come here to fulfill many promises, my own and others'. And almost always in summer, with its festival. Because the festival of Las Nieves is summer, and there is no summer that I do not plan my vacations without forgetting that the first days of August I never travel.
Returning to the promises, I have presented some before this image, and I have fulfilled mine and, above all, my aunt's, many of them for me. And we fulfilled the promise she made when I finished high school, and when I passed the selectivity, when I finished my degree, or when I passed my driving license, or when we had to pray for health problems... And, the truth is, no promise was ever left unfulfilled, including that together with her we put an image of the Virgen de Las Nieves on the day of her burial. The promises have been, neither more nor less, than the closeness of an invocation in my life, and the gratitude to God for making way with me and with those who accompany me on the way, a way that has not always been easy.
The path of life is very similar to the pilgrimage path that I have done a few times from my house, in Guatiza, to here. A couple of hours of ascent, especially, with company or alone, with more or less effort depending on the sections. Pilgrimage to this sanctuary requires the five senses, requires desire and illusion, like life. And we are joining others on the road, and we all have a common goal, a same meeting point.
For me, the personal pilgrimage begins with the view set on the mountain, with a clear and clear vision that is sometimes limited by the sweat that falls on the forehead or by the sun that is dazzling. But the meaning of life announces a look that wants to go further, because when we look at the other pilgrims we try to look further, we scrutinize tiredness or reasons to go to the sanctuary, to come to see the Virgin. And I think the biggest reason is still faith, and that is hope.
Another sense that awakens and becomes important is the smell, the smell of dry earth of the road or the ravine, the smell of blackberries to fruit of some trees of the road, the smell of sugar pine when you approach the hermitage, the smell of coffee of some stalls. You can smell the joy of arrival and the joy of each section.
And the taste, above all, the taste of fresh water freshly hung when we arrived at some houses in Los Valles. Taste of thirst that is quenched, taste of closeness to the end, taste of the water of the porrón that was in the cistern of this hermitage. That water tasted different from the others!.
The ear became especially relevant when the Eucharist was shared, when we listened with special devotion to the mass as part of that pilgrimage to the temple. When I came walking, the 10 o'clock mass was the objective, without taking away that later I came to the afternoon mass. In recent years I came directly to the 8 o'clock mass, also full the hermitage but somewhat less. And when you were in that atmosphere of celebration, even, the ear was able to listen to the word of God in another way, with another rhythm, with another attitude, with another cadence. And something that I have always liked in those celebrations has been that the voices that participated were from different places of the island that came to Las Nieves, a faithful reflection of the insular character of this pilgrimage to Las Nieves.
Las Nieves has always been, since I remember, a place of arrival for many people whose objective was to present themselves before the Virgin, to present what they bring in their hearts, to make their promise... Coming to Las Nieves has always been a pilgrimage of intimate faith, more linked to silence and prayer than to bustle and revelry. Las Nieves is the invocation to which we express what we want in a calmer environment, more in personal dialogue, more in intimacy, and I would like and wish it to continue to be so. Nothing justifies a change in this aspect, because this sanctuary does not stop being a place of peace and prayer in the mountains, as did the religious traditions of many centuries ago, who sought God on high, and in the soft breeze was God, and not in the storm or the loud noise.
And I have only one sense left, the touch, because coming to Las Nieves is also touch, although it is the sense that we can use the least in these moments of health crisis. Arriving here was synonymous with encounters with people you did not see often, and that became a greeting, a handshake, a hug... The meeting of many children around a common mother. We are called to be measured and hygienic in our treatment of others, but that touch can be transmitted from the distant closeness of the distance we must respect.
I come to the end of this proclamation feeling accompanied every day of my life by those who are no longer there, and that I feel so close, especially my parents, my aunt, my friend Jose ... I come to the end feeling grateful to Our Lady of Las Nieves for those who are on the path of my life, for them who are part of my family, to whom I put in her mother's hands: my brothers, my nephews and, especially to my next great-niece and goddaughter who will arrive, God willing, in December.
I put in the hands of Mary the lives of my friends, who are part of my own family, the one that is built outside the bonds of blood. I put in her hands those who walk with me and let me walk with them in the pastoral projects in which I am immersed and excited. I put in a special way, the elderly and sick that I visit in the pastoral task that gives me the most love, the health ministry. I put, this afternoon, in a special way, Pedro Núñez, in his fragility. And I put, in a more intense way, the projects of Padis Canarias that are doing so much good and my companions on the road is that task.
And, finally, I put at the feet of the sweet, smiling Virgin who guides us to her Son Jesus, to whom she entrusts us, my own life, in which she has been and is so present, to be "her instrument in the midst of the world". And I ask her to fill me with the joy that is always so necessary in this task.
Thank you to Diego for accompanying me in this proclamation and preparing the musical themes that have sounded and will sound. Thank you, God of Life; thank you, Mother of Las Nieves; thank you, thank you, infinite. Thank you.
Miguel Ángel Sosa González.