week 13/16

Entering the Holy Door

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I was on retreat when my parish’s holy door went up officially. The Pope announced that there would be a Jubilee Year of Mercy, and there would not only be a Holy Door at the Vatican, but at every Cathedral across the world. This Pope is nothing if not inclusive. He walks the walk, which is one of the many reason that I am so fond of him. I was very excited to have joined the church about the same time as his election to Bishop of Rome. Without ever having met him, I felt welcomed by the world church as much as I had been welcomed by my parish church,.

I had planned on going through the Holy Door at our Cathedral, but was very excited to learn that our parish was one of a handful that was permitted to have our own official Holy Door. People have come from as far away as a two hour drive to walk through our holy door.

The one thing about walking through the door wasn’t that I could easily do it. it’s not a regular door. There is a purpose to it. The people who enter through those doors should do so with a purpose, with a reason and a contemplative mind. Like all doors, walking through this one is a beginning, not an objective.

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We’re Fools for April

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There is no way to pinpoint precisely when April Fool’s Day began, but it was already a part of life in the mid 1700s. It’s possible that it began in as part of the changeover of the calendar year. With the year ending on March 25th, there was a period of spring gift giving that culminated on April 1st. it might also be in response to the change by keeping a ritual on the first day of April.

It is also suggesting that it may have evolved from the Hindu Feast of the Fools or the Roman holiday of Hilaria.

Read more on the prank filled day’s history from Vox [dot] com’s piece from this morning.

Here are a few others that I saw today that are worth visiting:

Berkeley Breathed revises Bill Watterson’s Calvin & Hobbes.

Netflix and John Stamos present John Stamos: A Human. Being.

Kings College Choir finds a way to keep high male voices.

New Han Solo movie will feature a computer generated Han Solo.

Canada releases archival documents regarding Wolverine

Friends with Government Benefits starring George Takei and Cloris Leachman

From 2013, the Mishapocolypse. I participated in this and it was surreal. This gives the best description that I was able to find.

We also convinced my son to apply for a job as a kiosk ambassador for Redbox, and my daughter that her beautiful brown eyes were now blue. (It was 7am so she was a little susceptible to suggestion.)

Enjoy the rest of your April Fool’s, and the irony of the following graphic:

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Taken from George Takei's Facebook page, 4/1/16

Bathrooms

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As this Transgender Day of Visibility comes to a close, I’d like to share something I overheard this afternoon.

It was a discussion behind me about trans use of bathrooms in North Carolina between (what I presumed to be) a married couple in their fifties or older.

Husband: It’s not hard. Men use the men’s room; women use the women’s.
Wife: Something about trans people getting beat up in the opposite bathroom.
Husband (with a laugh): Is that my problem? If you dress like a women….. (the implication being simply to not dress like a woman.)

I didn’t hear the rest, and no I didn’t call him out. They were having a private conversation, they weren’t that loud, and I was eavesdropping.

But I will answer his question – yes, it is your problem. It is everyone’s problem when anyone is afraid to use a bathroom; when people are being persecuted and assaulted in a public bathroom because of their gender identity.

When the women’s line is too long, how many of us use the men’s room? Show of hands? Mine’s raised.

What about bringing our opposite gender children into the bathroom with us? How old is too old? Because to be honest, in Penn Station, my eleven year old is still too young to go by himself.

What about bringing our opposite gender disabled family member into the bathroom with us?

I honestly don’t understand the uproar.

The only thing I want from a public toilet is to get in, get out and have as little interaction with anyone as possible.

So yes, it is your problem unless you want to live in a society that is so prejudicial that we won’t allow people to use the bathroom.

It’s not about comfort; it’s about safety.

Should a Day of Service Be Used to Evangelize?

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I know several of my readers are religious and I’m kind of curious what people think. I’m part of a committee with my church to organize and hold a parish wide day of service. We were discussing our mission and our “slogan” (for lack of a better word), and one person objected to not including Jesus in the promotional materials and our language of introduction when we go on these service opportunities.

I objected to that overt evangelizing once we get to the service location. The locations are places like soup kitchens, nursing homes, hospitals, etc.

His main point was that we’re doing this in service to Christ and walking in his steps, and we should be expressing that to the people we’re volunteering with.

I obviously don’t believe we should ignore the fact that we are coming from the church. And expressing Jesus’ influence and mission as part of our recruiting of parishioners to volunteer is clearly appropriate. I also don’t have a problem with telling the people we’re working with that we are with the church and this is our day of service, that we’re volunteers and we’re excited to be there and even that our faith influenced our volunteering for service.

I do think, however that there’s a difference between evangelizing and serving and we need to be aware of what our mission is as a volunteer and follower of Jesus.

Our mission as volunteers is to walk Christ’s path.

That may not the expectation or interest of the random person we’re working with whom we’ve never met before.

I’m not suggesting hiding our Catholicism or that we are doing this as part of our works of mercy, and I’m not even afraid of offending people, which is the word my acquaintance used. It’s not about offending or not offending.

It’s about respecting.

I think that the majority of people we’ll be encountering will be at-risk, whether they’re kids or elderly, poor or other marginalized groups, and they shouldn’t feel blackmailed into being prosthelytized to just to get a special service. Or to feel that if they don’t listen to the Jesus time-share lecture, they shouldn’t participate.

For anyone who’s ever experienced that (and I have been on the receiving end of condescension of my own faith and the hard sell that I was following the wrong religion). It’s a turn off. More than that, it’s not just offensive, it’s painful to be on that side, to be the other.

Maybe I’m being overprotective of a group that doesn’t exist in this case, but I really do think it’s more important to be there in the moment and not worry about giving the message of Jesus. Our being there doing Jesus’ works is sending the only message we should be concerned about; the tangible message of helping our neighbors, of service with mercy and humility. That includes letting our actions dictate our works, and not our words.

I think we need to take into account the diverse nature of these types of places and include everyone without excluding anyone.

Pilgrimage in the Year of Mercy

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“This (Holy Year) is the opportune moment to change our lives!” the pope has said. “This is the time to allow our hearts to be touched!…May pilgrimage be an impetus to conversion.”

– Pope Francis

This is what Pope Francis said when he opened up this Jubilee Holy Year of Mercy. I touched on the idea of what a pilgrimage is a few weeks ago, and as I proceed through this holy year, I’m still wondering.

I have several plans that involve retreats and learning; contemplation and writing, and I’m not sure where one activity ends and one begins.

Is that a pilgrimage? A retreat? A holiday?

And where does mercy fit in?

I honestly don’t know, and part of this year for me is looking for my own form of mercy; for me.

I’m much better at giving mercy to others, forgiving and letting things go, but I still haven’t done my pre-Easter penance for reconciliation, not because it’s too hard, but because it involves another person and that is the hardest thing to ask of me.

So I ask you:

What does this mean for me in particular as I take my retreats this year, and sort of a partial pilgrimage?

Or just wander through my notebook and my Kindle finishing projects and beginning others?

At the end of this holy year, will I have traveled enough to find my mercy?

Our parish is one of the lucky ones that is not a cathedral, but still has a Holy Door to enter. I’ve walked through it once, earlier in the year, simply as an introduction to myself and to G-d of my intentions, but I will be going through it again after some prayer and meditation.

It gives me joy to see it whenever I go to my church, and it also gives me the reminder that the year is not over yet. I still have time to find my way, and my way begins through that door.

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Puerto Rican Bread

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On Easter Sunday, right about dinner time, I realized we had no dinner rolls so since it was the only store open, I sent my son to Wal-Mart to pick up a bread. I said something like an Italian bread, or a French baguette, whatever he wanted to choose.

He went and came back quickly with this:

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It looked very similar to Italian bread, but it was very different. For one thing, while it looks like it’s one large loaf, it is really two. They’re attached by being baked too close together I imagine, but it seemed thatw this type of bread comes in twos.

t was also a soft, squishy bread, the kind that I like to slather with butter. When I tasted it, I think it was the best bread I’ve ever eaten. It was the perfect texture, inside and out, and it was airy which surprised me.

All cultures and countries have their own types of breads. We are very lucky in the US that we have the opportunity to try them from bagels to naan, from tortillas to biscuits.

I had never heard of Puerto Rican bread specifically before so I put out a call to my Facebook friends to see if anyone knew what it was that made it so special, and I was sent this video:

This video called it Puerto Rican water bread, and another one on the page called it Puerto Rican sweet bread. Either way, it looks easy enough to make, and my plan is to head back over to Wal-Mart for another loaf (or two since that’s how they’re packaged).

My husband’s theme for 2016 is TSN or Try Something New. I thought I’d share this new thing with you.