Being the Body of Christ… together WHY ISABEL JONES VOLUNTEERS TO HELP WITH THE CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION BY RICHARD LUNA up, every town or village would have a procession in honor of the feast. But she didn’t give in. She asked her priest and friends who were working for the Church why there wasn’t a big public celebration - because it was paused for some years and substituted by parish celebrations. Her gentle nudging, together with others, finally had success – the revamp of the Corpus Christi celebration came together. When asked if she wanted to be part of the preparatory committee, her answer was affirmative: “I said, ‘Sure, yes, of course.’ We are blessed to have that name in our city. I think God does so much for us. Of course, he doesn’t need us to do anything for him. But I do love Him, and I want to show my gratitude. We should do something to celebrate him.” This was in 2019. Isabel participated in a few meetings and volunteered to prepare one altar on the way. Dreaming about the most beautiful paper flowers,
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Isabel Jones with her husband Lee, daughter Zoey and dog Max
as she remembered them f rom her childhood in Mexico, together with two
sabel Jones had some big expectations. She
I
friends she spent an entire day crafting
had always loved the feast of Corpus Christi,
colorful flowers. In the end, they prepared the
and when she moved to the town bearing its
altar in front of the county jail, remembering
name in 2000, she figured the feast would be even
St. Maximilian Kolbe, the Polish priest who
bigger and more elaborate than ever. The reality
volunteered to die in place of a family father in a
was quite different.
concentration camp.
“I was shocked to find out that there was
They tried to find the right place where both
no big celebration,” she said. No public procession,
the inmates and the participants of the procession
no flowers or blessings. In Mexico, where she grew
could see the altar. Yet, while they had found their
S O U T H T E X A S C AT H O L I C