A torrent of mud catches parishioners by surprise during Eucharistic adoration in Spain | National Catholic Register

On the afternoon of October 29, between 40 and 50 people prayed the rosary at 6 p.m., and half an hour later the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament began when they were warned of impending flooding.

“We are not dead because a neighbor came looking for her mother (and warned us) while we were adoring the Blessed Sacrament,” Father Gustavo Riveira, pastor of St. George the Martyr Parish in Paiporta, Valencia province, said this week. Spain. ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. The city of Paiporta is considered the “ground zero” of the tragedy caused by the recent floods in Spain.

On the afternoon of October 29, between 40 and 50 people prayed the rosary at 6 p.m., and half an hour later the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament began when they were warned of impending flooding.

“We are not dead because a neighbor came looking for her mother. If it hadn’t been, we wouldn’t have lived to tell the story,” emphasized the Argentine priest, who criticized that the citizens were not informed ahead of time: “No one warned us of anything.”

The parish was flooded but, using buckets, about 60 youths managed to remove the remaining water after the flood receded, according to the parish priest.

Father Riveira described the Dantesque scene, where the streets and houses are still full of mud, with wrecked cars piled up and belongings destroyed by the flowing water.

“We have mountains of mud, reeds. People moved furniture outside to clean their homes. There is immense devastation that goes far beyond mud and mud,” he explained.

A few days after the floods, at least they no longer lack food or water, but the parish Caritas could not resume its normal activities, he said. “We had to throw away everything we had because everything was covered in mud. I had nothing left.”

They were unable to properly store the aid received, thanks to the generosity of thousands of Spaniards, because the Caritas facilities could not be cleaned yet.

Thus, what works is what the priest calls “hand-to-hand solidarity, which is not so structured,” but it reflects the exceptional work done on numerous occasions by parishioners who lost everything in the floods.

“They showed great solidarity, truly exemplary. People came to the fore that I have never seen before to this extent. It is very beautiful and opens the heart,” commented Father Riveira.

Looking to the future, the priest expressed the need to restore calm: “We must remain calm to start over. The law of life is to always start over. Woe to us on the day we give up on starting over and looking to tomorrow with hopeful eyes.”

This story was published for the first time by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language news partner. It was translated and adapted by CNA.