My Catholic Roots are showing -

Lent Me Your Ear

March 7, 2017 2 Comments

In preparation for Easter, the greatest of all holy days in the Judeo-Christian calendar, we are to participate in the three acts in Lent: fasting, almsgiving, and prayer.

Prayer is personal time set aside to talk to God, but before we do this, it should be done with a pure and contrite heart. Lent is a time to examine and reflect on our spiritual walk. In order for God to answer our prayers we must first purge ourselves of any indiscretions.

The mighty cousins, Lucas, Will, Jacob, and Maddie…my grandchildren

When my grandchildren fight I make them apologize to one another. If the wound involves tears, forgiveness is more of a challenge, but eventually they will forget their transgressions and continue playing. If we shared the same attitude as that of a child with forgiveness, we could live more peacefully.

The two words “I’m sorry” are simple little words that can change the atmosphere, but yet we struggle with them passing though our lips. Ephesian 4:26-27 states: “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.” This means that not all anger is sinful or harmful. Sometimes when you are unfairly attacked you have the right to be angry; in this case we must make every effort to reconcile with the offender before the end of the day, or the anger will turn into bitterness. When we allow the sun to go down on our anger we are turning it into something that consumes us. When anger takes over our mind it all downhill from there. You become a slave to your injustice and it takes hold of your every thought. Sometimes for the sake of peace, the words “I’m sorry” are all it takes. Not “I’m sorry” with an explanation, but just “I’m sorry “will restore peace. “I’m sorry” means not to look back, not to replay the offense in your head, but to leave it at the foot of the Cross. We never need to defend ourselves because God is our best defense.

My Neighbor Marisa and the sixth graders of Nohl Canyon Elementary School making sandwiches for the homeless

Our ministry is an almsgiving one and for the past 20 years we have served the homeless on Skid Row in Los Angeles. We continue our efforts during Lent only with the understanding that we are entering the holy season. I make every effort to speak of the Resurrection and the forgiveness of sins. This subject matter to someone who is homeless is received with a hot or cold attitude, there are no lukewarm homeless people. We cannot change the circumstances of the homeless but we can restore faith and offer hope. Many of the homeless community are wounded souls with the inability to forgive. We only have a few minutes to make a difference in their hearts; we plant seed and God cultivates.

Prayer comes natural to me, and if someone ask me to pray for them I will do it until the Lord releases me from that obligation. What I struggle with is fasting. Several years ago it was effortless for me to fast for 10 days on just a protein drink, but now that I’m older it is not so easy. My fast for Lent is omitting sweets and white flour, the two food groups that I love, so this is a huge sacrifice.

Lenten Payer of St. Ephrem the Syrian

O Lord and Master of my life, keep from me the spirit of indifference and discouragement, lust of power and idle chatter. Instead, grant to me, Your servant, the spirit of wholeness of being, humble-mindedness, patience, and love, O Lord and King, grant me the grace to be aware of my sins and not to judge my brother; for You are blessed now and ever and forever, Amen

My Heart of the Matter

Sisters

February 28, 2017 18 Comments

We both arrived in Pheonix at the same time. I was coming from Orange County and my sister Jo from New Orleans. We were getting together to celebrate the birthday of our youngest sister Norma, who lives in Mesa, AZ.

We picked up the rental car and headed east towards Mesa. Jo was in charge of navigation while I drove. What was to be a 30 minute drive turned out to be 2 ½ hours. Getting on and off the freeway several times, and reentering the address did not help either. Calling Norma just added to the confussion. I still do not understand two things: 1. How did we get lost? 2. How did we make it to Norma’s house?

Once we arrived we started the planning of our adventurous weekend. Norma had a great idea, that Jo should watch a mini series from Spain which had English subtitles. So going straight to Netflix,and it did not take long for Jo to get hooked. I had just finished season 3 the day before arriving, so I understood why Jo was so enthralled with “Velvet.” I rarely watch secular TV, but this is different, as I neglected many of my daily obligations to binge on this Spanish love story. I got caught up in the romance of fast-talking Spaniards.

My sister Norma may as well run a petting zoo. She always has so many animals, consisting of two dogs, two cats and a rabbit. These pets usually end up in bed with you. Foof, the rabbit, suffered trauma by an overzealous playtime with Frankie, an American Bull Terrier. The poor bunny had to be put down. It was Bella, my 11 year-old niece, that discovered the wounded hare. In our entire family Bella can certainly rank top ten in the drama department, and after a trip to the vet she and her brother Jacob were inconsolable. Foof was mourned the two days while I was there and certainly many more. This was Bella’s pet and she loved her Foof.

The following day we went hiking and I racked up 7,000 steps on my Fitbit. The weather was beautiful and the scenery of the different types of cacti in this desert region was an education and new appreciation of this group of plant species.

Funny Stuff

Ski Diaries

February 20, 2017 1 Comment

From the time our children Mikos and Sonja were in early grammar school, they were skiing. I have never liked this sport or any sport for that matter, so my experience with skiing was always a new adventure. Before Mike and I were married we went on a skiing date. I wore jeans and borrowed a pair of my mother’s leather gloves to protect my hands. As I was a novice, this experience was a series of falls, wet jeans and freezing hands. This sports trauma never changed; year after year we skied, and year after year I was still a beginner.

We had this fully loaded blue van that we named Vanna. Vanna weathered many annual trips to Utah and Mammoth Lakes. Utah was our base for skiing. Deer Valley was our favorite and back in the 90’s the lift tickets cost was a whopping $35. We worked hard selling Christmas masa (raw corn flour for making tamales) from our tortilla factory, and used this money to supplement our ski trips.

We stayed in Salt Lake City and drove the half hour up the hill to ski. Skiing was like getting ready for work, Mike and Mikos loaded up all the ski gear while Sonja and I got ready. Once we arrived, Mike handed over my heavy skis. I would lift the K-2’s over my shoulder and they would always split apart. I was a hazard even before putting on my skis. As I kept forgetting how long skis were, people would dodge my approach when I turned.

Mike purchased the tickets, making sure that we fastened them to our jackets, and then he had to deal with me. I could never buckle my boots and this became part of Mike’s daily ski routine. The boots were so bulky and uncomfortable that when the last buckle around my ankle was secured, I wanted to scream. It took several attempts to get this right and Mike was always the one to do it. It was no wonder that he was in a solemn mood by the time he got on the lifts.

The chair lifts were another hazard, and I was always in prayer that my ride up the hill would be safe. One time, the chair lift operator helped me on, he accidentally stepped on my ski and it fell off. As the chair went up I looked back in horror as my right ski was at the bottom by the chair lift. Getting off a chair lift was already a challenge and now having only one ski added to my stress. It was the longest lift ride so I had plenty of time to plan the exit strategies off the chair. I remembered that it was a snowy day but I was was sweating profusely. Setting next to a stranger filled with useless advice just added to my impending fall. “Is it my balance that makes me fall?” I asked myself. My mind was running wild with ways to get off the chair without causing a dog pile. Finally the last jerk on the lift before the exit, and I told the stranger to steer clear of me (at that point I had not decided if I was going right, left or straight). With my left foot securely in the boot attached to the ski, and poles in my left hand, I scooted to the edge of chair lift. As if a pair of winged angels gently guided me in slow motion, I made it off safely and then I fell. A few chair lifts behind was a man carrying the lone ski, I quickly put it on and skied to the lodge for some much deserved hot chocolate.

Back in the 90’s the tickets were punched to see how many runs you accomplished. To me, it was a bragging right and I wanted nothing to do with it. Mike on the other hand saw this as an investment, and he was going to make sure that we were getting our money’s worth. A stern reprimand followed when he found out that by lunch time I had only two runs. I reluctantly agreed to ski the rest of the afternoon.

Sonja was my ski partner but she quickly advanced, so I was the lonely skier of the family. Mikos and Mike were advanced skiers and never had the patience for me. My family would ride up with me on the chair lifts and then disappear. I once took a wrong turn on a pretty steep hill and the only way down was to ski. Remember the MC Hammer song, “That’s Why We Pray”? Remembering the song is the reason I am still alive today. Traverse, snow plow across the wide mountain, fall, get up and repeat while singing MC Hammer’s song. This was my biggest ski accomplishment on a black diamond run (most difficult) and it was done without a single family member witnessing. This story will forever go down as a rumor industriously spread by none other than myself, but God is my witness, and it took almost half of the afternoon to get back to the lodge.

In the 20 years of skiing I have so many fond memories of family bonding. Both Mikos and Sonja have continued with the family tradition of skiing and believe it or not, Mike is still a great skier. Not me, I gave it up.

“He says to the snow, Fall on the earth,” and to the rain shower, “Be mighty and downpour.” Job 37:6

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