Post for January 30, 2010
Padre Roberto has two Saturday masses, one at the parish and one in the local hospital. Or at least, I thought it was in the hospital… more like *at* the hospital…
Allow me to explain. Because Mexico has a highly secular elite, with a strong separation between Church and State in law, priests sometimes have trouble getting into hospitals to care for people. There are no chaplains, for example, in a secular hospital. And, I might add, there are no chapels, and no masses.
However, because Mexico is also highly Catholic, the people *want* religious services. They *want* the mass said for the sick and their families, and they want it close to where their loved ones are, i.e. the hospital. So what is the solution?
Simple: the people themselves erected a shrine to Our Lady of Guadelupe just outside the hospital, in a side alley. And the priest goes once per week to say mass outdoors, in the side alley.
True story! So we packed up the car with a the mass books, a portable mass kit, and even a portable altar. Once we got there it took a grand total of five minutes to turn an alleyway into a chapel. We were expected: chairs were already set up, and there was even a choir! It was very touching, to see how people just would not let their faith be extinguished. I am not sure how many understood that the powers-that-be officially did not want them there. I expect many of them have had the experience of being looked down upon so much they hardly noticed it anymore. But at the same time, it didn’t change anything: the mass is the mass, even in an alley, and the Eucharist has the power to turn even an alley into a palace.
I shared some coffee with some people afterwards, and all I sensed was the joy of faith. Yeah, it was outdoors at night. Yeah, it was cold (by Cuernavaca standards). But these people were doing something their earliest ancestors on the faith did as well. If those early Christians has the same joy, no wonder the Roman Empire couldn’t get rid of them. From what I could see, joy is the ultimate answer to oppression.
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Post for January 29, 2010
Padre Roberto and I decided to head out to see (yet another) film this evening. I was a bit worried my presence was a distraction to him, but as he put it, “If I live alone I don’t get to see movies I want to see, because I don’t want to see them alone. With you here, I can go and see them!” Made sense to me.
We decided to see Up in the Air, the George Clooney film that people are talking about. It is about a guy whose job is to fire people — companies hire his firm to let people down easy (and in a way that covers their legal butts). He spends so much time on the road doing his job that he is barely ever home, a situation that he enjoys. He *likes* being in planes and airport lounges and hotel bars. Simply put, he is a travelling pro, who belives that the only way to be happy is to have no attachments to anything, not even people.
Of course, the vacuous nature of this rootless existence eventually catches up to him. His only goal in life is to acquire a particular level of frequent flyer miles, and he starts to wonder if this is enough. And he discovers it isn’t.
The end.
Well, there’s more. There are a number of funny (and sweet) moments that come from his interactions with a new employee in his firm who is young and perky and full of impractical ideas… he gets the job of showing her the ropes (to his dismay and hers). In some ways his rediscovery of idealism parallels her loss of hers. And there is his relationship with his family, which itself evolves.
But in the end, he is still left with nothing. The movie is about the deconstruction of an anti-hero. The possibility of some kind of redemption is held out at the end (quite literally, actually — he contemplates redeeming some travel points), but he does so with a lost look on his face. He starts out confident, he ends up lost. The end.
Quite depressing, if you ask me.
What is it about movies these days that they can’t have heroes? Maybe that’s why Avatar did so well. Not just the special effects, but the fact that the protagonist was himself changed and, in a way, redeemed. The nihilists were the *bad guys*.
At least Up in the Air faces the nihilism and shows us where it goes. I suppose that is valuable. And I’m sure there will be some who will say that it should be applauded as an aid to helping people become Nietzchean supermen, facing into the abyss. But personally, I think there is meaning to the world and to human existence. So I can’t celebrate tragedy, nor Up in the Air.
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Post for January 28, 2010
Today I had a chance to visit with another friend, an older lady who owns a lovely home in the parish where I had stayed the last time I was in Cuernavaca. Padre Roberto and I, as well as the parish secretary and her family, were invited for dinner. And what a dinner it was! Where do these Mexicans pack away all the food that they eat?
I visited with Toni (the name of the hostess) and her husband the last time I was here, but unfortunately he has since died (he had been quite ill). He was English, and so had been delighted to speak with someone (i.e. me) in his mother tongue. Toni told me she had fond memories of that visit, as do I. I am told I have an open invitation to visit whenever I like.
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Post for January 27, 2010
One thing that I was worried might get me in trouble here at the parish (in Mexico) is the fact that I’ve been reading the gospel and concelebrating (with my own part of the Eucharistic prayer). You see, I can practice these ahead of time, so I actually sound pretty good in Spanish. Unfortunately, this also gives people the impression I can actually *speak* the language, rather than just read it.
So after mass one elderly lady come to me, asking me for prayers for… well, to be honest, I have no idea. None whatsoever. She was speaking softly, I guess so that no one would hear her request, and swallowing some of her syllables, so I got about 5% of what she said.
So I (in Spanish) told her that I didn’t speak all that much Spanish, and asked her to repeat herself. But she began to offer replies that made absolutely no sense. It was like she hadn’t understood me at all, but was just faking that she had.
It was then I realised that she was hard of hearing!
So I began faking that I understood her, as she faked understanding me. It was a bit of a spur of the moment decision, but what else could I do? I couldn’t just walk away, and she seemed happy to be speaking with me. Well, to me. Well, at me. You get the picture. The bottom line is that there was a lot of head-nodding and hand-holding on my part, accompanied by can only have been a very strange exchange. I can only imagine what we must have sounded like to an eavesdropper! 
In the end I blessed her, and she left contented. Not knowing what I should be praying for, I just offered it up to the Lord, saying “Lord, you know what she was talking about. Your will be done.” Which is pretty much what I might have prayed had I understood her in the first place.
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Post for January 26, 2010
My friends Lily and Jorge came by the parish this evening for the 6pm mass. The church was packed, so I only noticed them when it was almost over. They were the other two of the three friends who met me at the airport, so I was really delighted to see them again. And their generosity was proven once again, as we priests received a gift of… Krispy Kreme doughnuts! Mmmm… At any rate, we are planning to see one another again for dinner on Sunday. I look forward to it.
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Post for January 25, 2010
I had my first official Spanish classes at the IDEAL school today, and by the time I got back home I was just beat. Padre Roberto has his day off on Monday, and because he prefers to spend it outside the parish we headed out to visit a nearby town: Tepoztlán!
This is a really lovely town that is very popular with tourists but which has still kept a very local feel. We went mainly for the food, as there are a couple of very famous restaurants in the area (and I must admit, the chicken enchiladas with salsa verde we just amazing). I also was looking forward to seeing the local pyramid, but when I saw how far up it was I said forget it: all I had on was my sandals! But we did see the local parish church, which was very lovely.
On our way back we visited a local Benedictine monastery and stayed with the monks for vespers. It was nice to round off the day with a calming environment of prayer.
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Post for January 24, 2010
The last time I was in Mexico I connected with the Dominguez family, who have sort of “adopted” Padre Roberto and, now, myself. After the masses of the day I headed over to their place in Juitepec (a suburb of Cuernavaca). Dinner was delicious, and after we went for a walk in a nearby “greenbelt” area (although given it is dry season, it was more of a “brownbelt”). Padre Roberto joined us a bit later, and we played a rather silly game board game involving eggs dressed as people (click the link to see what I mean). All in all it was a nice chance to reconnect with people who helped me a lot the last time I was here, and who hold a special place in my heart.
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Post for January 23, 2010
It is presently Saturday, a little before 2 pm. I’m now on my 5th day here. I made a decision before coming here to not start Spanish lessons before spending one week here, so as to be able to “refresh” what I already had. After all, why pay a school to teach me things I already know? This, it turns out, was a wise move, for two reasons.
First of all, my Spanish has really roared back. Not that it was all that great to begin with, but I honestly find I do speak with more confidence, almost without having to think about it first, than when I left. I went out for a movie last night with some friends from my former Mexican trip, and they remarked on it as well.
The second reason has to be with my personal state. Frankly, I was a lot more tired than I thought. I was originally planning to do a lot of self-study, purchasing books and audio resources to that end, but I’ve found myself sleeping a lot instead. A *lot*. I feel a bit awkward about that — those who know me know I like to “get stuff done” — but on the other hand I guess I needed it. And I’ve found that the little I’ve studied I’ve been able to put into practice right away, which is awesome.
I have been out checking on schools, and I found one (called IDEAL) that actually has had a long-running partnership with Quebec (and more specifically, the Prêtres des missions étrangères). I find I feel at home there, even if it does stretch my budget a bit more than I expected. And, of course, there are other ways in which I feel at home no matter what, such as during the Eucharist. Wherever Christ is, is home.
Yeah, there are annoyances, which I will describe in order of importance. The most serious is a lack of general security: more than one person has told me to “watch my back” because I am an obvious gringo that robbers will assume has money. I take this seriously, because the Cuernavaca of today is not the one I knew two years ago, with drug lords now taking over the local crime scene (I even saw masked military police with BIG guns providing security at one point). A second annoyance, less serious, is the general environment of noise and air pollution, which constantly invades the senses, although to be honest it is roughly comparable to my living environment in downtown Montreal (especially when the Canadians win a game at home). Finally, on a more personal note, I walked too much a couple of days in, making my sandals start to fall apart and giving me a blister that just won’t heal. Very annoying, especially that I’m largely on foot: new sandals I can buy, but the foot not so much. Like I said, an annoyance.
I will mention one final thing about this trip, one that overwhelms everything else: the tremendous generosity of Father Roberto Dirzo, my host. He first accepted to welcome me when I visited two years ago, on the simple recommendation of a friend, and hosted me for 4 weeks. This time, when he heard I was coming, he offered that I stay with him again. He has been unfailingly hospitable and charitable, giving of himself to put up with my broken Spanish and general discombobulation. This is even more remarkable given that he is the pastor of the poorest parish in the city, and a busy one at that. He has shared with me some of his dreams for this place, and if I can find a way to help him, even financially, when I am back home, I will.
God bless from Mexico!
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Post for January 19, 2010
Well, I made it to Cuernavaca. I was received at the airport by three friends, including Padre Roberto with whom I am staying. We had lunch at the airport itself, and then took a tour of the basilica and grounds of the shrine of Our Lady of Guadelupe. I’d been there before, but I had only seen the church itself, so I was glad to get a chance to see more. On the hill itself where the apparations took place there is a good lookout over Mexico City, and you really see how absolutely ENORMOUS the place actually is.
From Mexico City we drove to Cuernavaca. There is a highway that connects the two cities that goes up over the mountains (and continues past Cuernavaca to Acapulco). The highway can be tricky on the way down, mind you, with lots of tight curves, and unfortunately a truck ahead of us took it too fast and rolled over. Traffic was horrendous as the road was closed for a bit, and then only opened to one lane. I don’t know that happened with the driver, but I said a prayer for him.
Once in Cuernavaca we did a bit of shopping (at Costco, if you believe it) and then we headed over to the parish church — dedicated to both the Ressurection of our Lord and Our Lady of Guadelupe. It is a very simple place, located in the poorest section of Cuernavaca, and I learned my timing was somewhat unusual: there have been a series of robberies here over the past several months (three in the past three weeks), so everything now has a lock on it. Oh, and no hot water (bring on those cold showers — brrrr). But they have high-speed internet! Ah, priorities…
Things got really interesting after a bit of grocery shopping. Padre Roberto was going to come with us, but a couple of ladies were waiting for him at the door so I headed out to the Mega supermarket with a parishioner and her grown children. When we got back we discovered those ladies were related to the fellow who had robbed the place at least those three most recent times, and they were here to return the things they found to the parish. A parade of stolen goods started to come in the door, and I had to laugh at how useless some of these things were — who steals a box full of tea bags, for example? Anyway, it was quite a first evening. We had a spot of supper and then I headed to bed, just exhausted.
As for today, Padre Roberto and I went out for breakfast to a nearby restaurant, and then he had to go an teach philosophy at the local seminary. I headed over to a couple of language schools to check out availability and prices. It turns out one school only offers one-on-one lessons (for a very high price), while another does group lessons but is at least a 30-minute walk. Yeah, I found that out the hard way, although I got a bit turned around going there so the leg out was more like 45 minutes. Still, this school is the one I studied at last time, so I am seriously considering returning, as I know what to expect, and I liked the people in general.
This evening I did dishes. A TON of dishes. Let’s just say that Padre Roberto’s home is definitely a bachelor pad. He was considering hiring a lady to help with cooking while I am here (I would contribute, of course), but she’s having some personal problems so so far she’s a no-show. While a number of things needed cleaning, the sink was just loaded, so I rolled up my sleeves and started in with the so-called “woman’s work”. Machismo be damned, somebody had to do it, and between us it got done.
Oh, did I mention the kitchen has no running water? The thief (or thieves) stole the copper tubing that fed the kitchen. We were hauling in buckets of water to get the job done. This is turning out to be quite an adventure!
I had a chance to spend a good hour before the Blessed Sacrament today, and I concelebrated mass this evening. I’ve been praying part of my breviary in Spanish, and of course the environment as a whole is forcing me to refresh what I already knew (and which is coming back to me muy rapido). For the next couple of days I will study on my own, reviewing the materials I brought with me as I continue to settle in. Oh, and I need to find a place to recharge my laptop, as right now I’m running on batteries and they won’t last forever — but one thing at a time. I’ll try and post again when I can. Pray for me and I’ll pray for you!
» Filed Under Personal tidbits | 4 Comments
Post for January 17, 2010
Hello friends, I know it has been a while since I have blogged, but it has been part of a personal choice of mine for the past couple of months. Still, I wanted to let readers know that I’m still alive and will be away for three weeks starting tomorrow: I am returning to Cuernavaca to continue by study of Spanish. Talk to you when I get back on February 8th!
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