{"id":2521,"date":"2012-12-01T22:25:25","date_gmt":"2012-12-01T22:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/74.220.215.242\/~standrf3\/risen\/?page_id=2521"},"modified":"2020-09-24T10:49:10","modified_gmt":"2020-09-24T14:49:10","slug":"how-the-cross-of-matara-tells-its-story","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ssvmusa.org\/index.php\/about-us\/cross-of-matara\/how-the-cross-of-matara-tells-its-story\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Cross of Matar\u00e1 Tells Its Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Servants of the Lord & the Virgin of Matar\u00e1<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

About Us<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

How the Cross of Matar\u00e1 Tells a Story<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\"\"<\/p>

The words in bold correspond to those numerals, letters or images which appear on the Cross following from top to bottom.<\/em><\/p>

With the discovery of America, a new phase of Evangelization was initiated in history. Thanks to the missionary work of many courageous people that left their own countries to preach the Gospel in foreign lands, the message of Jesus Christ was at last able to reach a large part of humanity to whom it had been previously unknown.<\/p>

Around the year\u00a01594<\/strong>, a group of Jesuit missionaries arrived to the territory today known as Santiago del Estero, where they met a tribe of indigenous people called\u00a0Matar\u00e1<\/strong>\u00a0by the banks of the Salado River.<\/p>

First they sought to gain the confidence of the people in order to make way for Jesus to conquer their hearts. It became necessary to understand their language in order to communicate with them and speak of Jesus Christ. But, how would these people be able to retain the Message, if they did not know how to read or write? It was here that the idea was born to carve into wood the Good News which they had come to announce. Little by little their catechetical efforts were compiled by a member of the tribe to make the “Cross of Matar\u00e1.”<\/p>

\"\"They said that they came to speak about Him who is the First and the Last of everything, the Alpha<\/strong>\u00a0and the\u00a0Omega<\/strong>. They came to speak about God, the One who had created all things. He created the\u00a0sun<\/strong>\u00a0and the\u00a0moon<\/strong>\u00a0and placed the\u00a0stars<\/strong>\u00a0in the heavens.<\/p>

They told how Man had been estranged from God, and how for this reason had come His only son, Jesus Christ, in order to save us. They told them how\u00a0Jesus Christ\u00a0<\/strong>had passed through the world doing good works and miracles.<\/p>

In addition they spoke about the Last Supper, and how Jesus had given us the great gift of His Body and Blood, changing\u00a0bread<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0wine<\/strong>\u00a0into the\u00a0Eucharist<\/strong>, the night before He was taken prisoner. They spoke about Peter, and how he had denied Him three times before the\u00a0cock<\/strong>\u00a0crowed.<\/p>

They told them how Jesus Christ was condemned before Pilate who sent Him to be\u00a0flogged<\/strong>, and how the soldiers divided His clothing and cast\u00a0lots (dice)<\/strong>\u00a0for His cloak.<\/p>

They told them that He was condemned to die on a\u00a0cross<\/strong>, and how with\u00a0hammer<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0nails<\/strong>, they pierced His hands and His feet, afixing Him to the cross. \"\"They also spoke about His Mother, the\u00a0Virgin Mary<\/strong>\u00a0who had faithfully accompanied Him until the end of all His sufferings. They told them how when Jesus had fulfilled the whole plan of God, He gave up His spirit and died.<\/p>

They told them how only a few moments later a soldier pierced His side with a\u00a0lance<\/strong>\u00a0in order to verify that He actually had died and how they\u00a0lowered (with a ladder)<\/strong>\u00a0His body from the cross and placed it in a sepulcher.<\/p>

They also spoke with them about how three days later Jesus Christ rose gloriously from the dead in order to open Heaven and to free all humanity from the fires of Hell. They told them how they, the people of Matar\u00e1, could be saved by honoring and accepting Jesus Christ as God and Savior, and prostrating themselves before Him in order to adore Him.<\/p>

<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Servants of the Lord & the Virgin of Matar\u00e1 About Us How the Cross of Matar\u00e1 Tells a Story The words in bold correspond to those numerals, letters or images which appear on the Cross following from top to bottom. With the discovery of America, a new phase of Evangelization was initiated in history. Thanks… <\/p>\n

Read MoreHow the Cross of Matar\u00e1 Tells Its Story<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8333,"parent":838,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"on","neve_meta_reading_time":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2521","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ssvmusa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ssvmusa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ssvmusa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ssvmusa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ssvmusa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2521"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ssvmusa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18980,"href":"https:\/\/ssvmusa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2521\/revisions\/18980"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ssvmusa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/838"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ssvmusa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ssvmusa.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}