On the occasion of Christmas, the Archbishop of Montevideo (Uruguay), Cardinal Daniel Sturla, presided on Friday, December 20, a Misa in prison for more than 50 women deprived of their liberty.
In a small room of Penitentiary Unit No. 5 decorated with religious images and a balcony with the message “Christmas with Jesus”, with a wooden table serving as an altar, the Mass took place, with the collaboration of agents of the Penitentiary Pastoral. of Montevideo, and the inmates themselves who helped prepare the place.
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On this occasion, the more than 50 women who voluntarily decided to attend the celebration have a firm sentence.
For this celebration, Cardinal Sturla used a methodology that has a lot of catechesis, since he chose to explain the meaning of each moment of the Mass, ensuring that “this is a place of meeting and connection between Earth and Heaven.”
Deacon Luis Emilio Rodríguez was in charge of serving at the altar and animating the songs with his guitar and, songbook in hand, the prisoners joined the choirs.
In his homily, Cardinal Sturla highlighted the joy of Christmas, but acknowledged that it also brings “a certain sadness, because we are far from home, from our family, from the people we love.”
However, he considered, “the fact of being able to celebrate the Holy Mass elevates us.”
“In the word of God and on the altar we find the Lord who makes himself present,” he said.
Next, he asked the women a question: “Why did Jesus come into the world?”, and stated: “The Son of God made man came to save us. We are all sinners, we need God’s forgiveness, his love and his mercy. Therefore, even if we are sad or hurt by what has happened, we trust that the Lord gives each of us his embrace of peace.”
Taking one of the candles from the altar, the cardinal pointed out: “The light of Christ never goes out, it is the sign of his presence among us,” and encouraged people to sing “this is the light of Christ.”
At the end of the sermon, the archbishop called on the women to raise their intentions to God: “For our families,” “for our children,” “for health,” “for freedom,” “for our colleagues who are pregnant.” , “for those who are no longer with us,” they asked one by one.
A special intention was for Victoria, one of the women who had committed suicide the day before.
After praying the Hail Mary and the final blessing, the inmates thanked the ecclesiastical leaders with applause. As their exit song, they chose “Color Esperanza,” popularized by Argentine singer Diego Torres.
After the Eucharist, they shared a snack prepared by the pastoral agents, who also distributed images of the Holy Family.
Juliet Villar
I am a journalist, with a degree in communication from the National University of La Matanza in Argentina. I have work experience in non-governmental organizations. Since 2016 I have been dedicated to Catholic journalism, first at the Argentine Catholic Information Agency (AICA) and, since 2022, as ACI Prensa correspondent for Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Bolivia.