A community of faith

By Ignacio Pinedo
October 2002

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One Sunday I attended a convivencia, a gathering of churches from all the indigenous communities in the Cacha area of Ecuador. The meeting place was a little town high in the mountains west of Riobamba. The people had set up a large tent for Mass and for a number of events that had begun the Thursday before.

Members of the community left the celebrations on Sunday morning to pick me up in Riobamba, as I was to give a talk on Church history. They drove for an hour each way on a dangerous dirt road through the mountains, happy to get me and to be able to contribute to the events. At no time did they expect payment, which I would have gladly given them, at least for gasoline. These were the first of many expressions of generosity and Christian joy that I would observe that day.

Upon my arrival, I entered the tent where the Mass was taking place and could immediately feel the strong expression of faith. About 120 people filled the tent, including babies, children, parents and the elderly. They were at a point in the Mass where they were going through their version of the penitential rite. They were kneeling, facing each other, and asking forgiveness for any grievance they may have caused each other in the past year.

Here and there throughout the tent, people spontaneously went to each other in an eager and joyous exercise of mutual forgiveness. I could feel the Spirit animating these people who were demonstrating true Christian love and the joy of being together.

The rest of the day, they sang songs and did theatrical presentations of bible passages. These people, who lead such a simple life, had made a great effort to prepare for these activities.

I could sense their beliefs and that everything they had prepared and were doing on that day was true to their heart-a simple, yet strong demonstration of their faith. Such unity of purpose and joy in community can only come from people who are united under the same solid faith.

For me, the convivencia demonstrated what the early Church communities were like. They were happy to share with each other. And they were joyful at sharing a common faith that kept them together and upheld them in difficult times. Most importantly, sharing their faith helped them live the true Christian joy, which goes beyond the circumstances of this life.

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