Two functions will be held in Mar del Plata, on the nights of January 6 and 7. A light, sound and image show, with more than 160 young people on stage from different parts of the country.
After two years without face-to-face, the traditional Catholic night show returns to Mar del Plata
After two years without face-to-face, the Catholic show “Christmas by the Lake” returns to Mar del Plata. There, some 160 young people from different parts of the country will participate on January 6 and 7 in the traditional night show, which for more than 30 years has offered a proposal for the whole family according to the teachings of Father Luis María Etcheverry Boneo.
It is a proposal of light, sound and image that takes place in a natural setting and, year after year, summons thousands of spectators to remember the life of Jesus and how his passage through the world changed humanity.
This year the park, the houses, the workshops, the dining room, the masses, show “new” faces for this community, but also the “return” of “some old ones” that they bring with them – in their families, their children, their choices. and vocational processes – the fruits of this experience.
“Without a doubt, the 2022-2023 edition of Christmas by the lake is special”, highlights Naty Báez, from the Christmas by the lake Communication team, adding that “those who have the blessing of participating in it as witnesses and those who do as spectators you will be able to observe that the essence of that special note is given by the fruits of 35 years of history in the lives of so many young people”.
The performance will take place twenty minutes from the Buenos Aires spa, at the Santa María de la Armonía ranch (kilometer 382.5 of highway 2), headquarters of the Argentine Cultural Foundation. Although the show will begin at dusk, the space will be open from 6:00 p.m., so that you can enjoy the park, the historical gallery, the handicrafts sector, and the gastronomy service.
In fact, for those people who are interested in attending but who do not have their own mobility, the Foundation will make buses available that will leave at 7:15 p.m. from Colón and Tucumán.
As every year, the production -through which it seeks to channel a message of spirituality and hope from the youth to society- will be in charge of young people between the ages of 15 and 25, who will live in the place during the ten days prior.
During this time, they will be able to experience a special climate and spirituality, a way of embodying values and cultivating bonds, of manifesting joy, of committing to common work, of sharing and integrating with the same goal: to evangelize through beauty, wanting to reach the public not so much as actors but as “witnesses” of what they believe in and what they want to live.
This experience, sustained in spirituality, lays the foundations for comprehensive vocational processes that contemplate not only the radical dedication of one’s life in the priesthood and consecrated life; but the commitment to a committed laity where God has placed us.
This is how those who are part of this community express it in their testimonies. “Christmas by the Lake in my life was a before and after,” remarks Josefina, 27, from Gualeguaychú. “5 years ago they invited me to come, I met many people from Buenos Aires, and they are the ones who invited my current parish and community.”
She chooses to return because, just as she visits her blood family in Entre Ríos, she returns to La Armonía to visit the great family of Navidad Junto al Lago, to continue knowing the love that God has for her and “reaffirm that love in order to be witness of it, both in the show and in my life in the year that begins.”
A similar testimony is that of Josefina and Federico, who after 15 Christmases by the Lake, experience their first camp as a family with their 8-month-old daughter Lucia. “Here we met, we got engaged. Christmas gradually became a family, a meeting: with each other, with friends and with God. That meeting and how valuable it is, makes us choose to keep coming, gather energy and organize ourselves to come”.
In the same way, Juli, my servant, expresses: “Christmas by the Lake is an experience that marked my Christian life, a profound encounter with Jesus Christ that captivated my heart to the point of wanting to give him my whole life.”
Lucia, also a servant, remembers that “encouraging me to come was encouraging me to something different and realizing that it is worth risking. Christmas to Christmas I realized that what lived 10 days in the summer, I did not want it to stay there; I wanted to live it all year long and all my life”.
These are some of the hundreds of stories that, after 35 years, fill the park and natural setting of La Armonía; that give meaning to everything that is Christmas by the Lake.
The particularity of this work is that both the assembly and the staging are carried out by the young people themselves: Christmas by the Lake is built each year with the abilities and talents that each of the participants can contribute; every gift that is possessed and shared brings life to this show.
It is suggested that the public bring beach chairs, a coat, and insect repellent. Admission is free, but you can collaborate through a contribution voucher.
Email: navidadjlago@gmail.com. Facebook: facebook.com/navidadjl. Twitter: twitter.com/infonjl. Instagram: Instagram.com/navidadjuntoallago.+