On May 19th, Christians all over the world will be celebrating Pentecost Sunday. I have visited the  Upper Room in the Old City of Jerusalem many times on this special day

The Upper Room In Jerusalem is entered through the Zion Gate. As you walk past the Jerusalem stone walls you are met by street vendors selling goods made of sesame, honey bars, and other products indigenous to the Holy Land. When the path splits into two, the walk continues toward the left until you reach a statue of David. The Jews frown upon this statue because they believe that it is an offense; Jewish culture does not venerate idols and considers this a graven image. Of the many times that I have visited, poor David has suffered amputated toes from the hands of Jews and, on several occasions, his nose has been broken

King David’s statueThis area of the Upper Room is considered the Jewish section of the Old City. The Muslims consider this to be a mosque, but the Israelis believe the lower level of the old structure is the Tomb of David. As Christians we remain neutral; we visit both the Tomb of David but spend most of our time in the Upper Room. This is one of my five favorites sites to visit in the Holy Land.

The Upper Room

The Upper Room, also referred to as the Cenacle, is located in the southern part of the Old City of Jerusalem. In this room many historic occurrences took place that changed the course of Christianity: Jesus washed the feet of His disciples,  the Last Supper, the post-Resurrection and Resurrection of the Risen Christ, Pentecost, and the introduction of the Holy Spirit.

The Last Supper

I’m sure many of you have a picture of the Last Supper in your homes. This image is etched in our hearts. The apostles were too spiritually immature to receive the powerful message that Jesus shared about His death. Their eyes were clouded with the inability to comprehend this mystical phenomenon. These chosen few were not stand out people; they would go unnoticed to the world. Yet they were hand picked by Jesus.

The Institution of the Eucharist

This also took place during the Last Supper. This is our true communion with God. The Eucharist is what brought me back to the Catholic Church. In the 15 years of wandering from one Protestant  church to another, nothing was more evident than the lack of Holy Communion. I had completed my religious journey by finding Christ in the Eucharist once again.

When I visit the Upper Room, I imagine Jesus holding up the bread and wine and consecrating it with His Holy Hands, I imagine the stillness in the room while our Lord spoke these words:

Our Upper Room

Our Upper Room is a time spent in communion with God. We seek to draw closer to Him from the same place where Jesus poured out His spirit.  Jesus chose this room. He wants us to go up and visit, to stay and experience what His disciples felt, to be in complete union with Him. As I make my way up the spiritual steps to the Upper Room, sometimes I feel like Thomas, doubting  yet  desiring this emotion for growth to rise up within me. I want this encounter that the  disciples experienced, the pure love of Christ. Jesus knows we are all human and fall short. He knew that Judas would betray Him. He knew that Peter would deny Him not once, but three times. Our Lord also knew that Thomas would doubt His Resurrection. We all suffer conflicting guilt for not serving the Lord as we should. Even though I’m in constant prayer throughout the day,  I always feel that I should go deeper into prayer. The distractions of the world bring me out of the Upper Room, so this makes the climbing more laborious as I make my way up again. My desire is to reach the Upper Room void of all my daily burdens.  I aspire to be in the presence of our Lord and receive what He has in store for me through contemplative prayer.

Contemplative Prayer

Contemplative prayer is the prayer of the quiet. You become one with God through emptying yourself so that the Holy Spirit can fill you. You rest in His holy presence by relaxing and breathing out all distractions. Your breathing must come naturally, not too slow, not too fast. Many times when I attempted to practice contemplative prayer in my home, my cat Prudie jumped on my belly. I can’t tell if she wants affection or if she wants to share this holy experience with me. It takes a lot of discipline to get into this spiritual zone. Believe me, many times I have attempted to reach this zenith but I failed miserably. I will not surrender to my shortcomings and will continue to attempt mastering this type of prayer.

Contemplation is a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus. “I look at him and he looks at me”: this is what a certain peasant of Ars used to say to his holy cure about his prayer before the tabernacle…[Jesus’ gaze] …teaches us to see everything in the light of his truth and his compassion for all men [and women]  (Catechism of the Catholic Church No 2715)

The Holy Spirit

I mentioned earlier about the apostles not fully understanding Jesus’ powerful message in the Upper Room. Only after Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit on them were their eyes fully opened. This is considered the Sacrament of Holy Communion. This all took place after the Resurrection, in the Upper Room. After Jesus’ Ascension, the fire of the Holy Spirit fell upon them. From that day on, the apostles went forth  sharing the Good News with boldness. When we are filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit, we, too, can change the world by witnessing the love of Christ.

My Prayer

May we all encounter You, Lord, in the Upper Room. Close all distractions, especially those of social media. Allow us in Your Holy Presence. Meet us on the way up, so that we can see Your beautiful, nail-scarred hands extended toward us. Jesus, touch our hearts to become more like You. Amen.

I decided to visit my nephew Mario this past Friday.

Norco Rehabilitation Center is a little less than a half-hour from my home so I decided to make an unplanned visit.  I arrived at 10:15 a.m. for a 12:00 noon visit. You do not have to make an appointment, just show up voila’ you’re in. I was greatly mistaken! There were already about 20 people ahead of me and, for the most part, they had appointments.

Since I consider myself  an expert small-talker, I struck up a conversation with two women ahead of me. One tall black lady with the most beautiful smile was sharing how she learned the hard way about the strict dress code for visitors. “No way, I wasn’t taking any chances this time.” She wore a long, gray dress with the words “Black and Smart” written over her chest area. Another lady arrived; she had flown in from Idaho to visit with her son. She was nervous because she forgot to wear her sports bra. Not me, I made a special effort to invest in a wireless bra.

The Bra

“As long as the bra is wireless, you should be fine,” I counseled her. She replied that she was wearing a wireless bra but with metal hooks. Again, I assured her that she was fine.  After all, this was not my first rodeo.

When the officers started to check in the visitors, two women with heavy Indian accents did not pass the magic wand test (metal detectors). They were  instructed to go to the infamous shed to purchase sports bras. Believe it or not, the prison provides sports bra dispensers! I kept a watchful eye on them and felt their pain for being delayed in their visit. Thank God I was in a better prepared state of mind.

The two women came back to announce that the dispenser was not taking their money. Turns out that these sports bras are bartered with one-dollar bills. They turned to the officers and said, “Now what! We came all the way from Poway, what are we to do?” The officer smugly looked at them and  told them to go to Target. I was quickly checked in, but because I had forgotten Mario’s booking number, I had to wait for all the other people who had appointments to go ahead of me.

Then I did the most stupid thing ever! I went to the officer and asked her if my wireless bra was permitted. “Not if it has metal hooks,” she answered. By this time 25 more people  needed to be cleared for their visits, so I decided to take a run to Target to avoid the red tape of the bra bureaucracy. The two Indian women offered me a ride to Target, but I was not about to get in a car with two strangers with whom I had only one thing in common: stupid bras!

Target

I have been boycotting Target for over a year, but in this case I made an exception. I ran in and picked out a sky blue sports bra, used the self-checkout, then ran back to the dressing room to change. When I put it on, it had some type of coffee stain spatters! In the meantime Mario called me because I was so delayed. I reassured him that I was on my way. By the time I arrived back at the prison, I was the only one left to be processed.

Two Young Men

Maybe it’s not my business, but I noticed two young men who arrived in a Tesla. I, too, was driving my husband’s Tesla, so perhaps that was why I was all up in their business. More on them later.

The Visit

Mario was already sitting at bench 34 when I arrived. An inmate wearing an orange mess vest came up to me and said, “I’m Mario’s friend Turkey, let me help you.” I was flustered because there was only one fried chicken left and the machine was not taking my one-dollar bills; the chicken cost $20. This is one of the reasons I came back – for the chicken! It’s delicious!

Mario introduced his friend “Turkey”; he is from Istanbul. I have visited Turkey four times, so we had a wonderful chat about his homeland. Turkey had already reserved a Catholic Bible for us, so we immediately got into the Word of God. Mario shared that he attends three weekly Christian services. Of course that made my heart glad.

The Wisdom of Ben Sira  (New American Bible)

We read from the Wisdom of Ben Sira. This is one of the “wisdom” books that Martin Luther decided to removed from the Protestant Bible! This is one of my favorite books, also referred to as Sirach (in other Catholic bibles).  I was pleasantly surprised when I read this verse:

I love being surrounded by historic Catholic saints. They are a powerful resource helping us to become better Christians.

Saints are our heavenly example of how we should live our lives. To put it simply, we Catholics ask for their intercession. The great divide is this: Protestants believe we pray to them. We do not! We know who our Lord and Savior is, and we pray to Him directly.

Saint Jude Thaddeus

So who is St. Jude? And why is he one of the most popular saints in Catholic history? He is the apostle of the impossible. This is the saint you invoke when there is no hope.

He was a first cousin of Jesus and brother to James the Less. How did this  saint, who wrote one of the shortest books in the Bible, become so popular? St. Jude, as an apostle of Christ, lived a life of holiness. Our Lord Jesus washed his feet on Holy Thursday.  He was at the Last Supper and he was in the Upper Room when the power of the Holy Spirit came down from heaven.  St. Jude witnessed the countless miracles of Christ and received the “Great Commission” to continue the work of our Lord.

Recently Christ Cathedral hosted the tour of the Relics of St. Jude. My neighbor Susan and I attended the Mass, followed by the veneration of St. Jude. We waited for nearly two hours to venerate the relic. Since this was part of St. Jude’s  arm, it is considered a first- class relic. “First-class relic are the body or fragments of the body of the saint, such as a pieces of the bone or flesh. Second-class relics are something a saint personally owned, such as a shirt or book. Third-class relics are those items a saint touched or have been touched by a first,  second, or another third-class relic of the saint.” The Apostle of the Impossible Saint Jude Thaddues,  Fr. Carlos Martins

St. Jude, Pray For Us

There are only a handful of people that I can trust with my personal prayer intentions. Asking my friends to pray for me gives me great relief because I know that they will continue to intercede for me until they feel released by God.

Sometimes our problems weigh heavy on our hearts, and illnesses like cancer can send us to deep prayer or deep depression. These are grave concerns and, though we are praying, we need an army to come alongside us. St. Jude is the saint to invoke in these desperate situations.

Christ Cathedral  

I experience  great excitement when a saint comes into town, so when I heard that the relics of St. Jude were being venerated at Christ Cathedral I wanted to attend. I called my neighbor Susan and she gladly agreed to go with me. When we arrived the cathedral was packed out, so we had to go to the balcony. We attended the Mass, which was followed by the veneration of the relics.

It was a chilly evening and I had no idea that we would be in line outside of the church for over two hours. Because of the large crowd, we were instructed to venerate the relic for 10 seconds, but in reality it was more like three seconds. Of course I totally forgot what to pray for while I was being ushered away. In great dismay, I looked over at Susan and said, “I forgot to ask him to be my friend and what my gifts were!” Standing a few feet away I prayed. I did, however, place my wedding rings, holy cards and medals on the case for a special blessing.

I brought with me over 50 holy medals and hundreds of holy cards for the blessing, which would make them third-class relics. It’s a complicated scenario to explain the excitement we all shared that evening. It was indeed holy. One thing for certain is that my gift of dreams has been richly increased since I paid homage to the relics of St. Jude.

My Prayer

Dear Lord, I pray for all those who are stuck in impossible situations: cancer patients, the homeless, drug addicts and all manner  of hopelessness. We ask for the intercession of St. Jude to come to their aid. Amen.