USA, Stockbridge<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div> Aug.\u00a08, 2015<\/p>\n<\/div> When more than 5,000 Latino pilgrims came to the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy on Aug.\u00a08 for the annual Encuentro Latino, they encountered a blessed opportunity to gain a renewed sense of trust in God.<\/p>\n The pilgrims, some of who drove all the way from California, were there to celebrate their culture and love for God and the Blessed Mother through music, activities, and prayer. Father Dante Aguero,\u00a0MIC, was the main celebrant of the 1:30\u00a0p.m. Spanish liturgy at the Mother of Mercy Outdoor Shrine on the south lawn of Eden Hill. He serves in the Marian mission at Santa Fe, Argentina, and he said this is his third year being the main celebrant of Encuentro Latino.<\/p>\n The Mass was lively. Umbrellas dotted the lawn like poppies as pilgrims shared their shade with friend and stranger alike. Throughout the Mass, pilgrims young and old sang hymns they knew by heart and laughed at Fr.\u00a0Dante’s sermon. Father Dante said he brought Latino culture into the Mass with his sense of humor.<\/p>\n “We like to have fun,” he said. “When I preach, I sing, I make jokes, I like to interact with the people, to make them feel joy.”<\/p>\n Father Dante said his homilies are rarely completely written before Mass. He usually starts with one idea and allows the Holy Spirit to guide him. The idea he settled on for this year’s Encuentro Latino Mass can be summed up in one word: trust.<\/p>\n “We need to trust God,” he said. “Even if we don’t see, even if we don’t know, even if we don’t understand. That is faith.”<\/p>\n He went on to explain that Mary trusted God even though her life could have been in danger when the angel of the Lord asked her to be the Mother of God.<\/p>\n “She could have been stoned to death or in trouble even though she had been faithful because she was engaged (to Joseph),” he said. “But she took a leap of faith. That is, I think, what everything is about in our path of life.”<\/p>\n<\/div>USA, Stockbridge, Mass.: Encuentro Latino Draws More than 5,000<\/h1><\/div>