Unusual Altars

In my recent travel to Cancun, Mexico I saw some unusual altars. The first was in Playa de Carmen where a small chapel is in the middle of a busy intersection. To get to the small chapel one has to cross a wooden bridge over restful sounding water. The Blessed Sacrament was exposed on the open air altar.

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In Xcaret, a large park, the giant statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe is above the altar that is in a cave-like area at the bottom of the large church. There are many steps that lead to the altar. The body of the Our Lady of Guadalupe is carved in a natural  39' tree trunk. The roots of the tree protrude above the altar.
I did not go down the steps but if I had I would have seen many Mexican artists and movie stars sitting at the bottom contemplating Our Lady.

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At the chapel of St. Francis of Assisi, there is a crucifix hanging that is carved out of the natural wood and Christ's arms are the branches of the tree. The pews are wood planks on limestone blocks. Everything in the chapel appears to be of natural materials.

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 Cristo Rey church has a crucifix into a cut-out where it is open to the outside. In the day time palm trees can be seen behind the crucifix. I saw statues of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Cristo Rey, Sacred Heart of Jesus and a large crucifix at eye level near a door. I noticed that as people walked past the crucifix they kissed or touched the figure. It is a large church and is attended by many persons. The ceiling is made of what looked like twigs. During mass people line up for confession and the custom of going to confession is well and thriving in Mexico.

At communion time everyone receives the host by having it placed in one's mouth. When I held out my hand the altar boy with the communion plate put it between my hand and the priest holding the host. The priest then tried to go under the plate and I had to stick my hand below the plate to get closer to the priest. We had a bit of a juggling act until the host was placed in my hand. Later, I was told that I was probably the only one that had taken communion in my hand. In Mexico there are some that receive communion in the hand but the majority receive communion by having the priest put it directly in a mouth. The thought of "when in Rome do as the Romans do" came to mind.

"A church's vitality is not measured

by how many people fill the pews,

but rather by how much those 

people are filled with Jesus."

Mark Wilson