On August 6, Monsignor Gerard Lopez, VG, congratulated the first group of Salvadoreans to gather in Colton and encouraged them to strengthen their faith and preserve the values that have characterized their culture.
He recognized the gifts that they have brought to the U.S., and he noted that the concelebrants were an example of the community’s fruit for the Church.
Msgr. Lopez encouraged everyone to note that this was the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, and it was in the Parish of San Salvador whose Pastor, Father Moises Henriquez, is Salvadorean. Father Nelson Bonilla, Father Bryant Rivas and Father Andres Rivera, also share Salvadorean roots, as well as Deacon Roberto Hernandez, Deacon Jose Serrano and Deacon Armando Hernandez, as well as newly-ordained deacons Manuel Vides and Hernan Calderon, all of whom are the fruit of the faith of the community.
Remembering the great pilgrimage with which this feast begins in El Salvador, the committee that organizes the celebration prepared the icons that represent the Divine Savior of the World, Our Lady of Peace and the Martyr, St. Oscar A. Romero.
The ambassador Manuel Flores carried the flag of El Salvador. The songs of the mass echoed the faith of a people who have suffered and who fight, a people that carries on and does not lose heart.
Deacon Manuel Vides invited the participants to find a way to acquire an image of the Divine Savior that would be able to stay permanently in the parish as a light for the whole community.
After the Holy Mass, the Salvadorean community shared in joyful fellowship in which they sang songs of their country with emotion accompanied by freshly made pupusas and aguas frescas. This is the beginning of a yearly celebration for a growing community blessed with the evangelization of the Church.