5 Gold is tested by fire, and human character is tested in the furnace of humiliation.
It was too warm to wait outside, so from my car I decided to take a few photos. I got out of the vehicle to take a better picture, then from high on tower #4 came the blaring announcement, “You can’t take photos!” I waved my hand as a gesture to say, “Okay.”
Yellow pants, cream-colored shirt, sports bra, two bracelets, sandals with back straps, and the booking number – but I still got it wrong. The appointment was at 11 a.m., but I didn’t receive clearance for my visit until 12 p.m. At the first check point I was informed that my shirt was see-through.
From a far distance I could see the familiar building where I needed to change. The woman in charge was late, so three of us had to wait another 30 minutes for her arrival.
I started a conversation with a strikingly beautiful young lady dressed all in black. She was driving a Tesla and forgot to bring the card to unlock the vehicle, so she had to store her phone. We had been talking about whether we should have our visit outdoors or indoors, we both decided outdoors. I asked her who she was visiting, and she said a friend whom she had not seen in over a year. In the usual manner I was all up her business and from the looks of the visit this was her boyfriend!
Praise Report
The last time we visited, Mario shared with me that he was not comfortable in the cell he was in. The violence was at a high level due to so many young gang members. Blacks against Hispanics, it was a constant battle. Mario hated it there and prayed to be moved. Praise be to God, he was moved to a another building where there is more peace.
New Ministry
On the drive to visit Mario I called my sister Jo. She mentioned that I must have been very close to Mario because I was visiting him so often. “I’m close to a lot of my nephews,” I answered. But I really felt a calling to continue to visit Mario.
Our parish has a prison ministry but they minister in Tehachapi, which is a four-hour drive north of Orange. I could not wait for all the red tape and delays to get Catholic clergy to visit; so I answered the call.
The prison system does have Christian outreaches that serve Norco Rehabilitation Center, but Mario did not care for the recent message that a particular pastor was sharing. He felt that the pastor was out of the spirit. As a result of his spiritual need, we have Bible studies. These studies are enriching to both of us, and because of this we have developed a spiritual bond. This has become my new ministry.
The Meal (Spiritual)
As soon as I arrived the first priority was to get the Good News Bible. Then we start the visit with a meal. Mario did not want the fried chicken, so I purchased two sandwiches, chips and a Dr. Pepper to wash it down. Mario wanted to study the Book of Haggai.
Haggai
Haggai is a minor prophet with a powerful message: the Lord wanted to call the people of Judah back from the Babylonian exile and to re-establish them. Since we are the Temple of God, this message can apply to all of us who are living a godless life. Those who belong to the world and are thriving in every area of their lives but fail to give God the glory for His blessings are empty. You can have all that the world offers, but deep inside there is a huge void, an emptiness that only God can fill. For the glory of God to live within us, there must be a cleansing of our spirits. This is how we obtain peace.
Haggai 2:8-9 Good News Translation
8 All the silver and gold of the world is mine. 9 The new Temple will be more splendid than the old one, and there I will give my people prosperity and peace.” The Lord Almighty has spoken.
Sirach
We continued our study in the Book of Sirach. By the way this book is found in the Catholic Bible. The Book of Sirach is one of several books Martin Luther removed from the Protestant Bible. The words of how to attain wisdom are richly expressed in this book.
Sirach 1:6-10 Good News Translation
6 Has anyone ever been shown where Wisdom originates? Does anyone understand her subtle cleverness? 8 There is only one who is wise, and we must stand in awe before his throne. 9 The Lord himself created Wisdom; he saw her and recognized her value, and so he filled everything he made with Wisdom. 10 He gave some measure of Wisdom to everyone, but poured her out on those who love him.
Both Mario and I were astonished with these holy words. The most important part of this message is that wisdom is poured upon those who love Him! God wants us to ask Him for wisdom, and He will be faithful to those who continually seek to be in His Holy presence. This is my request for my life. When things are not going well, I go to my prayer closet and speak to my Heavenly Father, asking Him to fix what is wrong. If I still feel disillusioned about the concern, I pray a nine-day novena. Lately my novenas have been back to back. I have yet to see the fruit, but my trust is in the Lord. He will sort out all the tangled webs of my life.
Mario’s Prayer Time
Mario shared that he gets up at 5:00 a.m. and reads the Bible for an hour, then he has breakfast at 6:15 a.m. Through this trial, he has disciplined himself to look toward the future. He recently completed a Microsoft Word class and is looking forward to the next one. On July 8, he will start a class on Excel. He said that most of the incarcerated operate in a spirit of negativity. I told him to start praying the Hail Mary (Luke Chapter One) when he hears this.
Adios
As we held hands and prayed, I asked that the words spoken during the Bible study would remain in our hearts. I believe that God will watch over Mario as he continues to grow closer to Him.
My Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, I pray for all incarcerated individuals, especially those who do not know You. Lord, speak to them in dreams, bring peace to their troubled minds, and deliver them from the hands of the Evil One. Lord, protect Mario and let his days be filled with joy in knowing how much You love him. Amen.
In the years that I was away from the covering of the Catholic Church, the core Protestant message was ”The End Is Near.” I believe this ideology is about to be resurrected because in my 71 years I have never witnessed so much evil.
Social Media
I am active on Social Media to promote this Blog, but this is a portal for evil to enter. Being of sound mind does not protect me from scrolling through all the evil misinformation. This fake news is purposefully meant to lure us in. Before you realize it, you’ve entered into a dark abyss. This is a form of hardcore manipulation. My heart aches for those who do not have the discernment to filter out the lies. How do people fall through these cracks of society? It is quite evident that many will listen to the voices ruled by fame.
Bad Influencers
These influencers are paving a clear path to hell. It’s a mesmerizing, spiritual battle that sucks you in. In addition, attached to this fame are evil spirits. Any form of fame is a powerful weapon, and the Enemy uses it to influence weak souls. Any music artist who opens the door to Satan is in for an eye-opening adventure. It does not matter how on top of the world you are, God can bring you down in a microsecond. The only reason He is not doing it now is because God is giving them an opportunity to repent.
Being Accountable
We are all accountable for our actions and God is watching and listening to all the evil. This evil is a silent pandemic that is not only spreading, it’s thriving.
The Mini Retreat
This past Saturday I attended a retreat. Reluctantly I felt a tug in my heart to attend. I knew some of the people that were going to attend, but when I walked into the session, I wanted to leave. There were several persons there who made me feel uncomfortable. I had not talked to them in over a year. With these feelings came disdain. I listened and the message was about loving everyone. Within myself I knew that something was off. “Okay Lord, I love them but do I have to like them?”
I internalized this thought. For a minute I was fine with this warped decision. But the more I listened to the Word that was being shared, the more conviction came over me.
Making It Right
I was struggling with my thoughts of being fine with how I felt. As I was taking notes the Holy Spirit ordered me to get up and help the person who made me feel uncomfortable by setting up for the lunch. I did not hesitate! It was as if the Holy Spirit took over my being. I knew that this person was uncomfortable with me as well. The secular cliche; “out of sight, out of mind” was conveniently working for me. If I truly felt that I had forgiven this person, why did I have these uncomfortable feelings?
The Lord revealed that forgiveness is not only a thought but an action. Forgiveness frees the person from bondage. Though I have fully given this to the Lord, only time will tell if trust will once again be established. I thank God for this lesson because this will clearly allow me to move into another realm of my spiritual walk.
God’s Calling
We all have a calling, and I pray that mine remains on the right track and that God will continue to correct me every step of the way. We have a job to do; we need to form an army of warriors to fight the battle ahead of us. Bring out our shields of faith so that we can quench all the fiery darts of the Enemy. We can’t sit back and watch Satan take over the minds of our children and grandchildren. Our faith needs to be protected.
Ephesians 6:16
16 In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Fear Not
We can not operate in fear. God did not ask us to be strong. He commanded it!
Joshua 1:9 New American Bible (Revised Edition)
9 I command you: be strong and steadfast! Do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord, your God, is with you wherever you go.Jacob
My grandson, Jacob, was recently promoted from 6th grade. He is an outstanding young boy with good manners. He’s kind, considerate and received straight A’s throughout the year. One of his teachers took a dislike to him and embarrassed him in front of all his classmates. She punished him by placing his desk in the center of the classroom, like an island for all the other children to see. Jacob’s classmates referred to this as “Jacob’s island.” This teacher never contacted my daughter or son-in-law to inform them of her cruel decision or that Jacob had misbehaved. My grandson was left on that island for over a month! My daughter found out through a friend of hers. After a meeting with the teacher and the principal, the teacher remained indifferent, as if she had done nothing wrong. The teacher’s arrogant attitude caused the principal and another teacher to call my daughter and apologize for her bad behavior. I was very upset about the situation as well.
On the day of the promotion, I patiently waited for the mean teacher to have words with her. “Hi, are you Jacob’s teacher?” I asked. She answered, “Yes, yes I am.” Then I spoke my peace, “You were not nice to Jacob, and you need to know.” She looked at me and in a sarcastic voice said, “Okay.” I never raised my voice nor cursed at this horrible specimen of a human. I was indignant and addressed the manner in a calm tone and quietly walked away. Another one of Jacob’s teachers standing next to the mean teacher was left with her mouth wide open.
Standing Up For Justice
A grandmother’s role is to pray, but I may take it to another level. When there is injustice or if any of my family members are being mistreated, I am going to take it to the highest level in prayer. God will give me the direction or words that need to be spoken. I will never operate in fear, so don’t cross my path because it’s always on the way to heaven.
Stand up against those who constantly attack your beliefs. If it’s on Social Media, pray for God to judge them. Never engage in dialogue with the Enemy, because the Devil wants to shame you in a public forum. Pray and God will allow you to see His justice.
In closing I was thinking of all the cities in California that have saints’ names, then came another great revelation. Our state is surrounded by mountains with saints’ names as well. Santa Monica, San Bernardino, San Gabriel, Santa Susana, San Rafael, San Jacinto pray for us. The Victory belongs to the Lord!
My Prayer
Dear Lord, What a mess I would be without You in my life. Thank you, Gina and Linda, for all the hard work you put into making this retreat so successful. So many of us received a special blessing with this Spirit- filled message. May we always be yielded to Your voice. Amen.
We had reservations to stay at Santiago de Compostela, but we decided to continue on to Portugal. This would be one of our longest periods in the car; it was over a four-hour drive, instead we stopped in Tui to gas up and decided to stay there. This cut the trip by an hour and 30 minutes.
Tui, Spain
The sun sets very late in this area. This worked in our favor because the coastal drive on a crystal clear evening was another jewel added to the crown of this journey. Tui is the last stage of the Portuguese Camino de Santiago. From this city you can reach Santiago de Compostela in five to seven days. I pray that my grandchildren will experience this journey one day.
We settled into hotel Paradores de Tui, had soup for dinner, but by 9 o’clock it was still light. The following morning we woke up to one of the most beautiful scenes. Our hotel was situated in a perfect spot. Surrounded by the River Miño and the Monte Aloia, a summit in the mountains of Galicia, Spain, the view was spectacular.
The beautiful statues of the children of Fatima
Breathing in the air of this beautiful city brought calmness to my heart. We were so busy taking in the scenery and taking photos of ourselves that I overlooked the pilgrims. I forgot to take photos of them walking on the path to Santiago de Compostela.
Fatima
It took us an additional three hours to reach Fatima. The only one in our group who had visited Fatima was Sylvia. As a child her family made a pilgrimage there. To the rest of us it would be a grand adventure.
Sylvia and Florencio, FatimaMike, Fatima
Every city has roundabouts to get from one street to the next, and since this was our first time there we accidentally came upon the most beautiful statues of the children of Fatima. To have a better appreciation of Fatima, you must see the movie Fatima. These children were subjected to so much cruelty. The Catholic clergy, the people who lived in the village, and even their family members came against them. Nonetheless, these three children, Lucia Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Martos, never wavered in what they witnessed. Our Lady of the Rosary trusted these young children. Despite all the scrutiny, on October 13, 1917, before 70,000 people, they witnessed the miracle of the sun.
The Three Secrets of Fatima
Our Lady had given Lucia three secrets:
The children received a vision of Hell and the suffering of sinners;
The end of the “Great War” would soon be over, but a new war would start unless people converted and repented; and
There would be an attempt on the Pope’s life.
The Virgin Mary requested the consecration of Russia, a warning to stop the spreading of the atheistic ideology of communism.
There was an attempt on Pope John Paul II’s life on May 13 , 1981! This is the same month and day of the first apparition. Our Lady of the Rosary also told the children that people must amend their lives and ask pardon for their sins. She also said that people must not offend our Lord any longer, for He is already much offended. Imagine that, and what state of the world we are in now. To celebrate gay pride for an entire month? Our Lord is deeply offended.
The roasted pigsBefore dinnerWe cleaned our plates!
Fatima Sanctuaries
Once we entered the area there were so many different sanctuaries, I could not believe my eyes. This overwhelming site reminded me of the Vatican on a smaller scale. We attended Mass in a small chapel and prayed our special petitions. For several hours we made our way in and out of so many different sanctuaries and chapels. It was magnificent.
Mosterio Batalha
Batalha, Portugal
Now that it was time for dinner, Sylvia called a cousin, who instructed us to eat at Mosteiro do Leitoa in Batalha. Before dinner we visited the Mosteiro de Batalha, a beautiful cathedral off the main road. Something was not right and we could not figure out why this beautiful church was so neglected. Pigeons flying in and out of the broken stained glass windows was another indication that something was wrong.
Our dinner that evening was roasted pig; the meal was prepared in brick ovens and to say it was delicious is an understatement. On to Guadalupe.
Guadalupe, Spain
Our hotel in Fatima also served as a monastery, with two chapels to observe Mass. We got up early, attended Mass and were on our way. Guadalupe is four-and-a-half hours from Fatima; this drive was the longest. Through farmlands, winding roads led us to another remote village high on Sierra de Villurecas, also known as Sierra de Guadalupe.
Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, SpainErnesto and I praying at the Basilica, Guadalupe, Spain
The statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe
We arrived in Guadalupe in time for Mass. After Mass a Mexican priest and a group of pilgrims asked us to join them on the tour of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. We walked up several spiral steps to reach the statue and prayed.
Tradition holds that St Luke carved the statue of the Blessed Virgin from cypress wood. This statue was found in Saint Luke’s coffin. St. Gregory the Great, the pope from 590-640, gifted the statue to the city of Rome. From there the statue was given to Saint Leander in Seville.
In 714 the Muslim Moors invaded Seville. A group of Catholic priests took the statue to Northern Spain to protect it from being destroyed. They buried the statue near the Guadalupejo River. Centuries passed and no one knew where the statue was.
In 1300 a shepherd, Gil Cordero, started to have apparitions of The Blessed Virgin. The shepherd lost a cow, and when he found it Our Lady appeared to him and gave him a message. “Do not be afraid, I am the Mother of God, Savior of the human lineage.” She instructed him to take his cow and bring it to the rest of his herd. She then told him to go to the clerics and bring them back to this place. They were to dig and find the image of her. She instructed them not to remove the image but to build a little church right here and put the image in it.
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus made a pilgrimage to the site before going to the New World. When he returned in 1492, Columbus fulfilled a vow to give thanks to our Lady of Guadalupe.
Alfonso XI, King of Castile and Leon, was one of the first regular pilgrims to Guadalupe. He expanded the Chapel of Guadalupe into a church and monastery.
Guadalupe, Spain
This Basilica was so endearing to me because this is where Our Lady of Guadalupe from Mexico originated. I will never forget this experience.
My Prayer
Dear Lord, I thank You for pairing us with our wonderful Spanish friends. The history lessons of Our Lady draw us closer to Your Sacred Heart. I continue to pray for all those who do not understand Our Mother’s role and how She lovingly cares for us and always asks for Her Son’s intercession. Amen.
