Pentecost
Friends,
Have you heard of the 19th Annotation, the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola? One spends nine months praying intensely under the guidance of an experienced Ignatian pray-er. The experience is offered locally through the Mercy Prayer Center. If this disciplined way of growing closer to God tugs at your heart, give them a call.
I’ve just finished the 19th, myself. I am not the best advertisement for the Ignatian Exercises, though, When I applied a year ago, I knew it would be a challenge, committing to an hour of prayer a day --- and that was before my hours at work changed, and our adventure with La Migra happened in September, and then, lo and behold, the life change of becoming and having a significant other. If the 19th were a class, I’d be getting a D.
Every time I say that, though, someone at the Prayer Center says, “You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.” That has been very freeing, and as the 19th finished up, with me about three months behind, I decided to start looking at the experience of failure. For many years I’ve been achieving things, climbing hurdles. An A student. It’s been pretty fun, organizing, making things happen.
Now, however, things are different. Over and over again in our little migrant church, I make a plan – a good plan! And over and over again, my plans don’t work. The unforeseen factor in the equation is the unpredictable nature of their lives. Plans change suddenly. Work schedules, living arrangements. This is why they travel light.
Our little church needs to travel light, too. It’s not about a worship schedule, a religious ed program, even a building (at this time. I’m still hoping). It’s just about being there, building community, loving – in the moment and consistently – taking opportunities. Guerilla community, low to the ground. It takes a different skill set than the one that got me through divinity school.
So that’s the gift of the 19th for me: awareness that it’s time to change, time to put up the oars and quit trying to steer the boat. This little boat is anchored in God’s love and mercy, and that really is enough. Both the English church and the Spanish church – may they be whatever God is dreaming.
While we’re on the topic of failure, I’ll tell you that I am finally writing thank you notes for the donations that came in at Christmas!! We were given $1,274.81 in generous donations for the migrant church at that time, plus some things like paint, ESL materials and a gas card. I apologize for being so late in those thank you’s. We tithed on that money, buying $130 worth of Spanish Bibles for patients at Strong Hospital.
Come and join us for Mass on Pentecost! If you bring a dish to pass, we can sit and have breakfast together, afterwards. And Happy Birthday to our big sister community, Spiritus Christi. Isn’t God amazing? What a wonderful journey we are on.
Love and light to all
Chava
Come and join Karen Keenan and Tom Moore down by the riverside on Monday, May 28 at 9 am, for a Memorial in Time of War: Remembrance and Hope. This annual service at the Sister Cities Bridge in remembrance of the victims of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is always a peaceful, gentle, centering time and an affirmation of life and the unity of all.
__________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friday, May 25, 2012
Bulletin for Sunday, May 20, 2012
7th Sunday of Easter
Friends,
Here’s a quote from St Francis de Sales:
"Love the poor and love poverty, for it is by such love that we become truly poor. As the Scripture says, we become like the things we love. If you love the poor you will share their poverty and be poor like them. If you love the poor be often with them. Be glad to see them in your own home and to visit with them in theirs. Be glad to talk to them and be pleased to have them near you in church, on the street, and elsewhere. Be poor in conversing with them and speak to them as their companions do, but be rich in assisting them by sharing some of your more abundant goods with them."
You know what he’s talking about, right? COMMUNITY! Knowing and loving the people we serve so well that we become friends, equals, One. That’s the prayer Jesus offers in the Gospel this week: that we might be one, in the way that Jesus and God the Creator are one. We Christians, we believers in the trinity, believe in a God whose very nature is relationship. When we are in relationship, loving, knowing, Being together, we are sharing in the Godness of God. And what’s the point of all this? That our joy might be complete, Jesus said.
Yesterday we had a joyful day out at Iglesia de San Romero. As we arrived back home from Buffalo, a call came, telling the guys not to report to work. Their spots in the field had been filled by others that morning. A week ago that would have been bad news, but the weather has improved and they’ve been working steadily since last Wednesday. (until dusk, on Saturday. Left home a bit after 7 am, arrived back a bit before 9pm, red-eyed from the chemicals in the fields). Now, an unexpected day off is a treat. “Let’s make lunch!” Capo said. “But first I have to visit my friends.”
A minute later he was draped over the side of the bridge like an 8-year-old boy, trying to see the fish in the stream below. We could hear a bull frog, and saw dragonflies – big blue ones – and butterflies and lots of small fish, but none of the big ones he was looking for. We went in and made a stir-fry (burned a stir-fry. I was cooking), and the three of us sat and ate together.
Their lives are hard. They deal with injustice all the time, and loneliness, and monotony. They work harder than anyone should have to, and still are desperately poor. But in the middle of all that – in the middle of unjust truths and ugly realities – there are fish in the stream, and butterflies, and roosters crowing in the neighbor’s yard.
Later we went for a walk with the little boy in the community. We joked and laughed, and when the others came home, we helped clear ground for a vegetable garden, and had supper together. We heard each other’s stories. We got caught up on the news, heard the worries, the concerns for each other. Life is precarious, and hard. But we’re in it together.
On the way home I stopped to visit Librada and her four month old baby, Axel. Axel has enormous brown eyes and seems quite delighted with the world. When we start celebrating Mass – after the cabbage is planted, probably early June – I hope young Axel will be a part of our community, too.
Life is hard. On a day like this one, it is easy to see that it is also quite wonderful.
Love and light to all
Chava
That young man who was crossing the desert is safe, but disappointed. He was apprehended by la migra after a day and a night in the desert, and is now back in Mexico. Please keep him and all migrants in your prayers.
If all this information lately has you itching to do something about it, perhaps you would be interested in joining those heading to Albany on Monday, May 21 to rally and talk to legislators about farm worker rights. Send me a note if you want more information, and I’ll tell you how to get in touch with the group. There is power in numbers! Your presence will make a difference.
Come join us, any Sunday. This week I thought it had happened at last: five past eleven and no one there. Then two of our staff from St Joe’s came in, and in the end we had a lovely Mass. You are always welcome.
____________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
Here’s a quote from St Francis de Sales:
"Love the poor and love poverty, for it is by such love that we become truly poor. As the Scripture says, we become like the things we love. If you love the poor you will share their poverty and be poor like them. If you love the poor be often with them. Be glad to see them in your own home and to visit with them in theirs. Be glad to talk to them and be pleased to have them near you in church, on the street, and elsewhere. Be poor in conversing with them and speak to them as their companions do, but be rich in assisting them by sharing some of your more abundant goods with them."
You know what he’s talking about, right? COMMUNITY! Knowing and loving the people we serve so well that we become friends, equals, One. That’s the prayer Jesus offers in the Gospel this week: that we might be one, in the way that Jesus and God the Creator are one. We Christians, we believers in the trinity, believe in a God whose very nature is relationship. When we are in relationship, loving, knowing, Being together, we are sharing in the Godness of God. And what’s the point of all this? That our joy might be complete, Jesus said.
Yesterday we had a joyful day out at Iglesia de San Romero. As we arrived back home from Buffalo, a call came, telling the guys not to report to work. Their spots in the field had been filled by others that morning. A week ago that would have been bad news, but the weather has improved and they’ve been working steadily since last Wednesday. (until dusk, on Saturday. Left home a bit after 7 am, arrived back a bit before 9pm, red-eyed from the chemicals in the fields). Now, an unexpected day off is a treat. “Let’s make lunch!” Capo said. “But first I have to visit my friends.”
A minute later he was draped over the side of the bridge like an 8-year-old boy, trying to see the fish in the stream below. We could hear a bull frog, and saw dragonflies – big blue ones – and butterflies and lots of small fish, but none of the big ones he was looking for. We went in and made a stir-fry (burned a stir-fry. I was cooking), and the three of us sat and ate together.
Their lives are hard. They deal with injustice all the time, and loneliness, and monotony. They work harder than anyone should have to, and still are desperately poor. But in the middle of all that – in the middle of unjust truths and ugly realities – there are fish in the stream, and butterflies, and roosters crowing in the neighbor’s yard.
Later we went for a walk with the little boy in the community. We joked and laughed, and when the others came home, we helped clear ground for a vegetable garden, and had supper together. We heard each other’s stories. We got caught up on the news, heard the worries, the concerns for each other. Life is precarious, and hard. But we’re in it together.
On the way home I stopped to visit Librada and her four month old baby, Axel. Axel has enormous brown eyes and seems quite delighted with the world. When we start celebrating Mass – after the cabbage is planted, probably early June – I hope young Axel will be a part of our community, too.
Life is hard. On a day like this one, it is easy to see that it is also quite wonderful.
Love and light to all
Chava
That young man who was crossing the desert is safe, but disappointed. He was apprehended by la migra after a day and a night in the desert, and is now back in Mexico. Please keep him and all migrants in your prayers.
If all this information lately has you itching to do something about it, perhaps you would be interested in joining those heading to Albany on Monday, May 21 to rally and talk to legislators about farm worker rights. Send me a note if you want more information, and I’ll tell you how to get in touch with the group. There is power in numbers! Your presence will make a difference.
Come join us, any Sunday. This week I thought it had happened at last: five past eleven and no one there. Then two of our staff from St Joe’s came in, and in the end we had a lovely Mass. You are always welcome.
____________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Bulletin for Sunday, May 13, 2012
6th Sunday of Easter
Friends,
My best friend Allene says that she likes to tell people about me. She tells them about things I’ve done that she thought were brave, like being a single Mom, or going to El Salvador or becoming a priest. Then comes the punch line: "And she’s afraid of BUGS!"
In my visits out in the migrant community these days, that is probably my greatest everyday challenge. Not just because I’m scared of bugs (and I am. Flying insects can turn me into a quivering jelly!) but because nobody else is. "Close the door!" I’ll say. "Bugs are coming in!" and everybody looks at me like that’s the silliest thing they’ve ever heard. Of course there are bugs. They’re part of the world. You live with them. I squashed a flying insect last night and Capo said, "Pobre animale." Poor animal.
Some cultural differences are fun, or freeing. Like the Mexican attitude toward bodily fluids and sounds. They’re neither funny nor embarrassing. Like insects, they’re just part of life. Early on in my relationship with this community I found that any time I asked to use the bathroom, somebody would tell me to wait, run off to their room, come back and matter-of-factly hand me a roll of toilet paper. No embarrassment, it’s just what one obviously needs in there.
If you’ve ever lived in another country, you may know the feeling of culture shock. It’s like being under water and not knowing which way is up. Traveling back and forth to Elba, sometimes I feel like I’m a missionary who gets to go home each day. Slowly I’m learning. Learning Spanish, for one thing, but also learning what’s helpful and what’s not. Things, for instance. There is a reason for the lack of things in their lives. I asked someone if he wanted to have a dresser, instead of keeping all his clothes in plastic bags. He explained that at any moment the farmer could tell them they have to move. They need not to own bulky, heavy things, and what they do own needs to fit in a car.
Right now the community is in a very lean time. They are now in their third week of hardly working, because the fields have been too wet to plant. People earned less than $90 last week, and so far, this week is the same. But nobody, so far, is looking for help. One simply eats plain food, like eggs and beans. One keeps sharing what one has. They’ve been through this before and they know how to do it.
I am feeling a pull to be there more. The idea of a house (a Catholic Worker type house! With a space for worship and a resource room for sharing information and a place to store furniture people might donate, and… whatever it turns out to be) – if that idea is meant to be, it will unfold in time. But soon, this month, I intend to start spending my Thursdays out there. Like the pull I felt last year to start celebrating Mass out there, it will unfold as God dreams. I will write and work on advocacy stuff like contacting lawyers, and hopefully connect with people who are home during the day. I can do some cooking and maybe have a communal dinner, and celebrate Mass in the evening. We’ll see.
I just have to get used to the bugs.
Love and light to all
Chava
PS People have asked about the young man I mentioned in last week’s bulletin, who was crossing the desert. We do not yet know how he is doing, because with the low incomes there is no money to buy phone cards to call Mexico. Please keep him in your prayers. Here’s another story, though: last Sunday we were praying for a teenage girl, the granddaughter of someone in the nursing home who had run away from home. We’ve been praying for her and for all runaways. I’m happy to tell you she is back at home. Pray, pray, pray: lift each other in prayer and become part of that sacred stream of loving energy. Like Jesus said, stay connected to the vine and Wowie! Look at the fruit.
"When I have money, I get rid of it quickly, lest it find a way into my heart."
- John Wesley
____________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
My best friend Allene says that she likes to tell people about me. She tells them about things I’ve done that she thought were brave, like being a single Mom, or going to El Salvador or becoming a priest. Then comes the punch line: "And she’s afraid of BUGS!"
In my visits out in the migrant community these days, that is probably my greatest everyday challenge. Not just because I’m scared of bugs (and I am. Flying insects can turn me into a quivering jelly!) but because nobody else is. "Close the door!" I’ll say. "Bugs are coming in!" and everybody looks at me like that’s the silliest thing they’ve ever heard. Of course there are bugs. They’re part of the world. You live with them. I squashed a flying insect last night and Capo said, "Pobre animale." Poor animal.
Some cultural differences are fun, or freeing. Like the Mexican attitude toward bodily fluids and sounds. They’re neither funny nor embarrassing. Like insects, they’re just part of life. Early on in my relationship with this community I found that any time I asked to use the bathroom, somebody would tell me to wait, run off to their room, come back and matter-of-factly hand me a roll of toilet paper. No embarrassment, it’s just what one obviously needs in there.
If you’ve ever lived in another country, you may know the feeling of culture shock. It’s like being under water and not knowing which way is up. Traveling back and forth to Elba, sometimes I feel like I’m a missionary who gets to go home each day. Slowly I’m learning. Learning Spanish, for one thing, but also learning what’s helpful and what’s not. Things, for instance. There is a reason for the lack of things in their lives. I asked someone if he wanted to have a dresser, instead of keeping all his clothes in plastic bags. He explained that at any moment the farmer could tell them they have to move. They need not to own bulky, heavy things, and what they do own needs to fit in a car.
Right now the community is in a very lean time. They are now in their third week of hardly working, because the fields have been too wet to plant. People earned less than $90 last week, and so far, this week is the same. But nobody, so far, is looking for help. One simply eats plain food, like eggs and beans. One keeps sharing what one has. They’ve been through this before and they know how to do it.
I am feeling a pull to be there more. The idea of a house (a Catholic Worker type house! With a space for worship and a resource room for sharing information and a place to store furniture people might donate, and… whatever it turns out to be) – if that idea is meant to be, it will unfold in time. But soon, this month, I intend to start spending my Thursdays out there. Like the pull I felt last year to start celebrating Mass out there, it will unfold as God dreams. I will write and work on advocacy stuff like contacting lawyers, and hopefully connect with people who are home during the day. I can do some cooking and maybe have a communal dinner, and celebrate Mass in the evening. We’ll see.
I just have to get used to the bugs.
Love and light to all
Chava
PS People have asked about the young man I mentioned in last week’s bulletin, who was crossing the desert. We do not yet know how he is doing, because with the low incomes there is no money to buy phone cards to call Mexico. Please keep him in your prayers. Here’s another story, though: last Sunday we were praying for a teenage girl, the granddaughter of someone in the nursing home who had run away from home. We’ve been praying for her and for all runaways. I’m happy to tell you she is back at home. Pray, pray, pray: lift each other in prayer and become part of that sacred stream of loving energy. Like Jesus said, stay connected to the vine and Wowie! Look at the fruit.
"When I have money, I get rid of it quickly, lest it find a way into my heart."
- John Wesley
____________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
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