Patrimony

By: Rick Hernandez

“Cheo Crucifix and Grandmother Rafaela Qurindongo's Rosary” - Picture Courtesy of Rick Hernandez

Whenever I go to visit my hometown in Puerto Rico, I love spending time with my parents and sharing a bit in their day-to-day lives, whether it is just hanging out at home, visiting the sick and the lonely, or checking in with family and loved ones. My parents have been Catholic missionaries most of their adult lives, following in the footsteps of my maternal grandparents, who themselves were Catholic missionaries spreading the good news of Christ’s love to communities that had been growing ever more separated from the faith of our ancestors.  We do not tend to think of where our faith comes from, but for me, it is as easy as to look at the lives of those who preceded us. The lives of my ancestors, including my parents’ lives, show me what faith in action looks like and what active thanksgiving can do for the world. Their lives and others like them show a path we can use to connect back to God the Father.
 
When I come back from those cherished trips to visit my parents, I bring back whatever latest artifact I have collected from the lives of my ancestors, an old rosary, a well-used old book, some guidance notes from a talk, or an old and worn crucifix, or maybe a statue or a picture, or some recording from a mission long ago, and I regale my wife with the new stories that I have learned. Some of these are stories of great sacrifice, love, faith, and conversion, of much risked and much gained. A few are stories of courageous people staring evil in the face and standing their ground. Some stories are of great hurt and even greater mercy and forgiveness. Yet other stories are of great sadness over opportunities lost, of someone not able to accept God’s call. What all the stories depict is the openness of God’s people to put effort into their call, for that is all that we can guarantee when doing God’s work... I really get into the stories when I tell them, almost as if I can see us present there, and my dear wife laughs and cries with me. When I was done with the retelling of the stories from this last visit, she looked at my face, grabbed my hands, and said: "Rick, this is your patrimony, it is OUR patrimony", and I could feel my face lighting up.

The word patrimony means: “Inheritance from the father line. Directly from the Latin word patrimonium - a paternal estate, from pater – father + -monium, a suffix signifying action or state. It signifies the right or property inherited from a father or ancestors. In the figurative sense, it means ‘immaterial things handed down from the past, a heritage’.” (Etymology of the word “patrimony”)

​A heritage! And not just my heritage, but our heritage. And not just my inheritance but our inheritance, passed down through the generations by the life of our Mother Church, by the call to serve Him who loves us and His loved ones. This feels BIG and complicated, and probably hard to understand for the many, but for the faithful, we need only respond to the call with openness and a willingness to work within the call. From our heritage, the understanding will come.
 
When I think back to my grandparents’ lives, I have no grand understanding of how they came to be that way, other than knowing they understood clearly their call to live a life of love, faith, and hope. They received the call, accepted it, and acted upon it. My grandfather understood that we are, through Christ, the inheritors of the Father. Our call to live the life God wants us to is “inherited,” it is built into our very beings. In simpler words, who we are is meant to match who we were created to be…
 
We accomplish this “becoming who we were meant to be” by living the love and mercy we receive, and by using the gifts we are granted on this earth to love one another and glorify God with our thoughts and actions, with all our might and all our strength. These gifts that we receive, wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety, and awe, are there for us to share with our brethren, with those who need us, and with those who walk with us.  The gifts of the Holy Spirit are the tools in our toolbox, and these are part of our inheritance. Through baptism, we receive our status as inheritors of God the Father as His children.  Our status as inheritors, as well as our call to share in the Eucharistic Communion along with our access to His gifts for us, are all our patrimony.
 
Therefore, it is clear, that we are inheritors of our predecessors, physically, genetically, culturally, and spiritually. Notice that our inheritance is not just spiritual, there is also the physical, day-to-day component of our inheritance.
 
As children of the Mother Church, the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, we also have access to her patrimony. 

​“The Church's Patrimony are those items and artifacts that have been brought into existence through the gifts and sacrifices of the faithful for the devotional life of the people, the celebration of the Sacraments, and for the greater glory of God.” (Church Patrimony definition as stated by the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh)
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​Our patrimony is not of things that pass or end, but of things that persist, build us up, and are life-giving, generation after generation, until the end of the age. Our patrimony is our beautiful churches, cathedrals, and basilicas. It is our small, humble chapels. Our patrimony is our rosary beads as well-used reminders of our prayer offerings. It is our statues and images, recordings, and writings. It is our oral history, passed down through those who came before us and are now gone to share in Christ’s light. Our patrimony is our right to our Faith, Hope, and Love, it is alive in the trust, charity, and hopefulness that we espouse every day.
 
During my last visit to the island, I stopped to spend time with my youngest brother, Father Victor Manuel Hernandez, at his parish of Our Lady of Lourdes in Juana Diaz. While there, I stopped to look at his desk, and there among many other things was this beautiful “Cheo Crucifix”. A Cheo Crucifix is given to every person who finishes missionary formation and is inducted into the Lay Missionary Congregation of Saint John the Evangelist (better known as the “Hermanos Cheos”). This is the missionary congregation to which my grandfather, Marcelino, my grandmother, Gina, my father, Manuel, and my mother, Vicky, have belonged to for decades. The Cheos have been a central part of my family’s lives since long before I was born, and it brought me great amazement to see that crucifix on his desk, for I know my dear brother is not a “Cheo”. He smiled when I brought that up and told me to pick it up to take a good look.
 
The crucifix was made in Germany of wood and metal. It felt solidly built and had the inscribed metal plates quite faded from use, yet there, right in the middle where I expected it, was the number “4”. This was my grandfather Marcelino’s crucifix, one that had gone to every town on the island, a witness to a life of toil in the service of the greater, the holier, and the sacred. I stooped a bit because the weight of the history in my hands became apparent, and my heart swelled, remembering that towering and courageous man going out into the world trying to fulfill his mission. This IS patrimony, a reminder to us that we are all part of something greater, holier, and sacred. The weight of that crucifix on my hands reminded me that our mission to let God’s love for us be known to the whole world has been passed down to us, and we must strive to pass it down to others... This I pray for all of us, that our lives may act as a witness to God’s love for us. May we accept our call to mission, love, mercy, compassion, companionship, friendship, and active witness. May we recognize our patrimony and receive our inheritance, and may we make good use of it while on this earth.
 
Let us pray: Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name, may your Kingdom come, and may your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven! Help us this day to do your will. Help us to accept your call to serve. May we grow to be as You created us to be and pass our knowledge of You to all generations until the end of the age. Amen.

Rick Hernandez

Rick Hernandez is a commonsense Catholic, Lay Associate of the Blessed Sacrament, and a Director for Elisheba House. He lives in Trinity, Florida, with his wife Ivonne and their children. He also writes for the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament's Daily Eucharistic Reflections and for Catholicmom.com.