The Community of Tetuán, Madrid, in Home Confinement
Community of Tetuán (CRSD), April 2020
The community began Lent with an invitation to pray, every Monday in our house on the proposals of Pope Francis’ encyclical « Laudato Si ». The first prayer took place on March 2nd, and a good group of people took part in it, as well as on the 9th. However, from March 11th, because of the confinement related to the « state of alert » due to COVID19, we continued our programme with the only three sisters who were in our house.
We wanted to live this situation without losing sight of the meaning or the liturgical times that were before us or the reality that was unfolding. So, we decided to pray the Stations of the Cross every Friday, after the « applause ». We animated the prayer with several themes, including the coronavirus and the proposals of Pope Francis.
As we live in an apartment and, for reasons of space, there is no Stations of the Cross in the oratory, so we made a « home-made » one: we glued small wooden crosses on sheets of paper, with the number that corresponds to each station and its description, and we placed them throughout the house. In this way we went around the stations.
Holy Week arrived and we followed the celebrations broadcast through the various means of communication but adding our community touch. So, we celebrated Palm Sunday with homemade palm branches.
On Holy Wednesday we went to see “33 El Musical”, because they had opened so that those who wanted to enjoy it could do so; and that is what we did.
On Maundy Thursday we celebrated the services and later we had our « Jewish Supper» for which there was no lack of ritual and memory, and to conclude the day we made the « Holy Hour » in the chapel with the corresponding liturgical ornaments.
On Good Friday, after the services, we were able to do an « Adoration of the Cross » in our chapel, a common prayer after which each person extended this time of prayer as they wished.
On Holy Saturday, we marked it as « a Day of Silence and prayer » to be able to enter into the liturgical meaning of that day, in anticipation of the Resurrection.
For the Easter Vigil, after the broadcast celebration, we had our festive Easter dinner, in the joy of the Resurrection of the Lord!!! There was no lack of emotion or detail, and there were even some little surprises: a rabbit and Easter eggs, all made of chocolate and perfectly decorated for the occasion. Thus, we had a long and emotionally rich party.
On Easter Sunday we followed the liturgy from the Vatican, and we received the blessing « Urbi et Orbi », and then we had a festive meal: the Easter Paella!!!
We all think that « in spite of » or « thanks to » the confinement and the state of alert, we experienced a very different and unexpected Lent and Easter that left such a special feeling which will take us a long time to forget.