Follow the Lion!!

Well, my first day of class went well. It was mostly conversing in Spanish for all four hours, but I seemed to have that initial rush of adrenaline and beginners luck and mysteriously was able to recall a lot of Spanish. So, I didn’t sound too hesitant speaking it…I just jumped right back in to it. But, as my instructors were kind enough to point out, there are some things we need to review. So, today, we started a thorough review of the main past tense of Spanish verbs.

My instructors this week are Ety and Aura whom I have learned are both two of the best teachers in the school…and they really are…they have lots of patience in correcting all of my numerous grammatical and vocabulary mistakes (especially when I pull out words from my “Spanglish” dictionary). It seems to me that they are also very adept at keeping up my confidence level despite my own frustrations when I can’t remember something. That’s invaluable!

Yesterday I finished reading (actually read the last 80% of) Prince Caspian from the Chronicles of Narnia. I probably shouldn’t have read that much in English in one day while I’m in school to learn Spanish, but I had the book and once the story got going, it was hard to stop. (Yes, kids, always follow the lion!...read the story if you don’t understand this). My instructors were not too upset at me this morning when they asked me to explain what I did yesterday (which is a common teaching method for the first part of class to generate discussion in Spanish). At least I made good use of it when I explained parts of the story to them in Spanish. They were happier about that.

Some observations on Antigua: As I mentioned earlier, this is somewhat a time of celebration around Antigua for Corpus Christi. The lighter side of this is how Antiguans celebrate. Pretty much at all hours of the day you can hear an occasional mortar type firework going off somewhere in the city. Today, right below our school in the building next door, someone set off a series of bottle rocket firecrackers which were exploding just above the level of our school building. A few minutes later, they set off a string of cohetes (which are actually Fr. Mike Denk’s favorite things here in Antigua…at least they were before he was ordained). These are the type of firecrackers you just light on the ground outside in the street and they go off in a rapid series of pops and booms for about 30 or 40 seconds. It scares the heck out of everyone around and usually sets off a few car alarms. Anyway, that happened during class this morning so there was a little excitement mid-morning.

Mom would be shocked to learn that I have been getting up at 6:00AM. Breakfast here is around 7:00AM and so I’d have to be up that early anyway, but I’m up at six in part because my homestay is situated on the middle of a street between two churches. They both have real bell towers and they both start using them at 6:00AM for the Angelus and then to warn people that there’s ½ hour to go before the 6:30AM Mass. I think it’s great because I don’t even need my alarm clock. If the bells weren’t enough, then the dogs barking and birds chirping & squawking, and the trucks coming into the market, etc. at this hour would also do the trick. I’ve noticed that Antigua is probably louder at 6:00AM than it is right after lunch because people here do make use of the siesta! In my opinion, all cultures should have a siesta hour (or at least ½ hour)…that should be no surprise coming from a seminarian.

Well, there’s not much coming up this week. No plans at the moment for the weekend. I think all four of us from Cleveland have signed up to learn how to make a traditional Guatemalan dish. This little cooking lesson is scheduled for tomorrow. On Thursday, we’re all going to watch a movie in Spanish about a child growing up during the civil war in Guatemala. That should be interesting.

The only other thing I can mention at the moment is my awe of David DeJesus’ ability to get around Antigua. David keeps buying bread from Doña Luisa’s and today made a record run there and back during our short mid-morning break today! As a result of this and other such food operations, David has become the best friend of the school’s security/maintenance man because he keeps giving him all of his extra snacks.

Is Mass is for the birds?

Everyone ought to experience the Mass or a worship service in a language other than their own. Somehow I think that it helps one appreciate community prayer in their native language a little bit more (some may disagree). So, today is Sunday and this Sunday the Church is celebrating the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. In Antigua, this means that the weekend celebrating is of an elevated status. The Churches around town actually celebrate by forming large processions with the Eucharist in a Monstrance held by the priest. Each weekend for about three or four weeks, there will be a big procession in each part of town and the Church's will take turns hosting 24 hour Adoration for about a week each.

For Mass today, David, Chris, John and I went to La Merced where a youth orchestra was assisting in the celebration of the Mass. These kids really do a nice job. The Mass was nice. I'm understanding more of it in Spanish, but still not all - especially when it comes to the homily. The Mass is not without its minor distractions (some of which are a little humorous). La Merced is large enough inside (and high enough) that on occassion a bird or two will fly in. That happened again today. The dynamic that I found a little amuzing happened during the homily. The bird flew from on high straight down behind the priest and landed where all the altar servers where sitting (all 9 of them). Their attention was immediately drawn to the bird, and I think so was much of the assembly's. The kids were leaning forward in their seats and standing slightly to see the bird. Simultaneously, the priest was getting more excited in his preaching and seemed to become even more inspired the more the assembly's attention focused on him (even though their attention was really drawn to the servers watching the bird behind him). Smiles and soft chuckling occurred all the while the priest thought everyone was responding to his preaching.

Now, I don't include that story to make light of the priest's preaching despite the humor of it. But, it does tell us something about priests as signs. Part of the roll of a priest is for people to be able to look through him to someone greater than him. Like any real sign, the sign itself is the vehicle through which what it signifies is made present. In a unique way the priest makes Christ present through his person as a real sign. Christ is the someone greater whom we look too beyond the immediate appearance of the priest. We can always pray that when people see Christ beyond the person of the priest that they may delight in an even greater way than our assembly did today when our attention was captured by a little bird.

To answer the title question on whether Mass is for the birds, my short answer is, "no, it's for human beings." But, on occassion, a bird may certainly help us to see some of the deeper things that happen in the life of the Church.

After the Mass today at La Merced, David, Chris, John and I went to observe the Eucharistic procession occuring in the Southern part of the town. It was quite a neat thing to observe. At various points along the procession route, the people place large patches of green grasses (like palm fronds) in the center of the street and then put all sorts of flowers on the grace. As the procession comes, the crowd moves along the sides of these decorations until the priest comes with the Eucharist. He walks straight over this patch of flowers in the road. The image to me really reminds me of the biblical passages of Jesus arriving in Jerusalem before he suffered and died. All the people are in their Sunday best and the crowd both before and after the priest was large (probably 500-1000 people).

We marched along with the procession for a block, but then, due to the late hour in the morning, decided to go to a restaurant where we knew we could get brunch if we started before noon. The Hotel Santo Domingo has one of the best Sunday brunches anywhere and it is set in the ruins of a Domincan monastery. A beautiful place, good food, good friends...a great way to celebrate the start of a new trip.

A First Class First Day!

Ok...back in Antigua and everything is getting underway again. I had a great flight down to Guatemala starting with the first flight departing Cleveland at 5:55AM. Last summer's travels qualified me for Continental Airline's Silver Elite frequent flyer status and since the flight was not too full, the airline was kind enough to automatically upgrade me to first class. I believe that's only the second time in my life I've flown first class, but it certainly is a rare, but enjoyable treat. I had forgotten but soon remembered that they serve a full meal in first class and use real plates, silverwear and glasses. But, this trip really isn't about luxury travel so God was kind enough to "put me to work."

On the flight from Cleveland to Houston, I my seat companion was an oncologist from the Cleveland Clinic who is Episcopalian by faith. She was quite interested in discussing some of the more controversial points of disagreement between Catholics and Episcopalians so I found myself at 6:30 in the morning engaged in a very involved theological discussion on a grand total of 1 hour of sleep (I procrastinated packing again). Needless to say, the words coming from my mouth were not making much sense to me (although I know they weren't controversial) but she soon returned to her magazine and let me continue praying my morning prayers. On the whole she was actually very polite--firm--but polite.

In the waiting area at Houston, I was praying another part of our daily prayes and a woman noticed me from a few rows of seats over, smiled, and then came over to start talking. She was from Houston and on her way with a group to Guatemala to help establish a children's safety-net center (ie, orphanage) much like COAR, the center I'm visiting in El Salvador after Guatemala. She turned out to be a "Spirit-filled" Presbyterian (which she explained are presbyterians that the mainline Presbyterian church looks upon with some hesitancy). I got the sense that she was starting to evanglize me, especially after learning that I was Catholic when she asked, "are you a Spirit-filled Catholic?" to which I answered, "I most certainly believe I am." The conversation was cut short when the gate agents called everyone up to the counter to have their passports/visas checked before boarding. I stayed seated and finished praying my office and waited for the line to shorten.

On the flight to Guatemala City, my seat partner was with a group (more or less non-demoniational) that was from Nashville, Phoenix, and Houston going Guatemala to do a week long medical mission here in Antigua. About three of these women were in first class and I found myself helping load everyone's carry-on bag in the overhead bins. We had a pleasant converation on the way down, again on the topic of religion (hey, people are really curious when the meet a seminarian who's about to become a priest), but this time we talked about mission trips and the type of transformation that many people experience when they first visit a country like Guatemala or El Salvador to work with the poorest of the poor. Her daughter had been on a trip as a teenager and it really changed her life. I would echo that from my own experience with the group from St. Hilary that visited El Salvador to build some houses. What we both recognized quite indepently of each other is how open and giving the people are to those who visit AND how incredibly happy the poor in these places really are despite lacking in so many of the material things you and I might take for granted.

So, it was quite a morning of conversation...all on 1 hour of sleep. We'll arriving in Guatemala, I was greeted by, of all people, Chris Zerucha (one of the other seminarians on the trip). He had arrived by bus from El Salvador and the school we're using sent a driver to pick us up, Chris first and then me. The driver was the same man who picked me up last year and at whose house I stayed last year so we did a little catching up during the ride...and I also had to explain why I wasn't staying at his house again (which is really just my preference to stay with my original hostess from my first visits to Antigua, Marta Julia, a retired school teacher and a very Catholic woman who really, really, really loves having a seminarian staying at her house).

After the drive up to Antigua from the airport, the reunion with Marta began. My first order of business was to update her on the lives of all the other Cleveland seminarians (many now priests) whom she had met when they were here. [So, to Frs. Andy T. and Mike D., and to Patrick and Christian, Marta is pleased to know you are all doing well...especially her Miguelito!] After this update and a nice lunch of chicken, cooked vegebles, beans, and tortillas, I unpacked and then took a long overdue nap. After that, I met David DeJesus, John Mullee, and Chris Zerucha at the La Merced church and we headed to Fridas for Mexican food. While there, we ran into two friends of Patrick Anderson's from St. John Neuman parish in Strongsville and they joined our group for dessert at café Doña Luisa...the best place in the world if you like fresh banana bread! That was pretty much the end of the night and we all went home afterward.

When I got back home, Marta was there alone watching TV and so we started talking (well, she was doing most of the talking while I practiced listening in Spanish and trying to give her clues that I was following what she was saying). It was certainly interesting...she was filling me in on something controversial that happened among one of the church groups in which she participated. Apparently a priest who had been suspended for something I couldn't understand had been volunteering to help Marta's group that visits the infirm when he shouldn't have been. From her description it sounded like quite a dramatic affair (which, in many ways seems to highlight that the Church universal experiences these little dramas universally...another great example on the human condition).

So I finally got to bed and slept great after all that happened on this first day!

Welcome! - Bienvenido/Bienvenida

Welcome to my new blog! It's time to get ready for my next adventure. I'm leaving on Saturday for my next trip to Guatemala: 5 more weeks of Spanish language school in Antigua followed by 10 Days at COAR, the children's safety net center I visited two summers ago in El Salvador, and then a final week of helping to build a youth center for the lovely people of Mizata, El Salvador with friends from St. Sebastian and St. Hilary working together under Serving Christ Through His Poor, a not-for-profit established to run mission trips to El Salvador. I'll be back July 17, but in the meantime, this is where I will most likely update you on my latest adventures and reflections. Come along and enjoy the adventure!

Just a note on the "Around and About" listing of web site links. This list is a compilation of blogs, websites and other web resources I consider useful. The churches listed include my home parish, St. Hilary, and the churches and institutions where I have done my field education. I have also included links for places I have visited or programs I have attended (ie, AmeriSpan Language Schools, COAR, CRS-Global Fellows, and Tantur Ecumenical Institute, Jerusalem).