Season of Renewal

Rows of flower-print dresses lined the quiet pews of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in downtown Brownsville on Sunday as congregants celebrated Easter, singing "this is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad."

Bishop Raymundo Peña encouraged parishioners to visit nursing homes, detention centers, and their neighbors to preach God's love.

"Go to the colonias and announce that the kingdom of God belongs to them as well," he said.

Peña also recounted parts of the story of Jesus Christ's resurrection to those gathered. Easter marks the third day after the crucifixion, when Christians believe that he rose again. For Catholics, Easter marks the end of the 40 days of Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday.

A light drizzle fell as congregants exited the church and shook hands with Peña, echoing the holy water that he had flicked on them half an hour earlier as he walked around the cathedral.

Outside, families wished one another a happy Easter, shaking hands and saying ‘peace be with you.'

Federico Cantu and his wife Gregoria commemorated 47 Easters together with their daughter Norma outside the church.

When Federico and Gregoria were young children, they both used to visit Ringgold Park, now Dean Porter Park, with their families after the Easter Mass.

"They had one of those things that went around and everyone was fighting for it," Gregoria said of the merry-go-round.

The couple might have been competing with one another to use the ride, but they never formally met until Gregoria was a 17-year-old working at a small grocery on International Boulevard.

"I was the milk man," Federico said.

"I told his boss I was going to marry him," Gregoria said. "For me it was love at first sight."

Today Norma is a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin. She returns to Brownsville for Easter almost every year.

"We're too old to go to the park now," Gregoria said. "We just eat and sit around at talk."

"It's wonderful to be here in the community I grew up in," Norma said.