Proud to be an American Catholic

Greetings good people, and please accept my apologies for the late post.... but I just returned to Mexico this afternoon.  Well, what a week it has been!

Since my posting last week, I got violently ill on Sunday morning.  I think I may have had food poisoning because I felt better in a little more than a day.  I was in bed all day on Sunday and only ate some yogurt at around 5pm.  I pretty much kept to myself and did not venture too far out of my room because I needed to know that I could be really close to the bathroom (you know what the subtext is here).  I woke up Monday morning and felt better but then went to prayer and felt a bit weak still, so I called in to school and decided to stay home and rest some more. The thought of being on the bus for 45 minutes without access to a bathroom did not seem wise!  I kept drinking plenty of liquids and ate a very plain diet for the day.  Come Tuesday morning I knew I was better because I was hungry for breakfast!

I left Mexico late Tuesday morning to make a quick trip to the US for Provincial Council meetings in St. Louis.  I arrived Tuesday evening without a hitch and stayed at my community from last year. The guys were awesome!   It was really great to be back in town and to actually understand a full conversation with people! Before my trip my phone battery died.  I was loosing a charge rather quickly over the past few months and sometimes the phone would indicate that I needed to plug it in for a charge even though it had been plugged in for over an hour charging in the first place.  So, that through me into a panic.  Can anyone remember that we used to actually travel without cell phones????? I did it for years, but for some reason, I was freakn' out about not having cell phone access.  I went to the Apple store in STL on Wednesday, and luckily after almost breaking down into tears, they "fit" me in to an already packed schedule.  Almost 3 hours later I had my phone in hand and was good to go.... another disaster avoided since I would have lost all my contact info if the phone could not get turned on again.  I also had a few other appointments on Wednesday and was able to accomplish all that I needed and wanted to accomplish... whew!

We had Provincial Council meetings all day on Thursday and Friday.  We were scheduled to continue meetings on Saturday morning, but thankfully, we moved through the items and agenda pretty quickly so I had an opportunity to just relax on Saturday and prepare my homily for Mass at Our Lady of the Pillar.  It was great to be back with all the good people of the parish.  I am always so impressed by people's goodness and kind words to me.   I won't be back in St Louis until December as our October and November Provincial Council meetings will take place in Dayton, Ohio. 

So, my visit to the US coincided with the Pope's visit.... now we did not coordinate our schedules, but it was so good to be in the US while he was here.  I was so touched by so many of his speeches and his kindness towards the marginalized- the elderly, the handicapped, people of color, and the young.  I was so uplifted by his hope filled  message and his challenge for all of us to be better- to remember that we do not live in isolation, that the person next to us matters, that the very nature of being human is being communal.  I was proud to be an American Catholic this week.... and unfortunately I can't always say that, nor have I always felt that in the past.  I felt like his homilies, his talks, his presence, was a shot in the arm for me and a reminder to me why I chose to say yes to come to Mexico. I hope all of you reading this were caught up in the "Pope Frenzy" because if you are like me, he makes me want to be a better person.  If all of us take on his challenges and his advise for how we should be in the world, we can change our world even if it is just a small change.  That's exciting to me! Let's pray for one another that we can be the type of  people the Pope thinks we can be...

Tomorrow, I am off again! I will be attending meetings for our Latin American Marianists in Bogota, Columbia. This will be my first time in Latin/South America.  I will be away until Saturday morning.  I think I will have internet access, but I definitely will not have phone access during my trip.  I am both excited and a bit scared about the meeting.  I hope that my Spanish is good enough to be able to not only understand what is happening, but be able to add to the conversation.  I am going with an open mind, but I do know that I am nowhere near fluent, so I do have some apprehensions.  I was assured by my Provincial that many of the players do understand English and speak some as well.... so maybe the meeting will be held in Spanglish? I also hope to get to see some of the city on Friday before I head back to Mexico. 

Okay, all for now, need to re-pack my suitcase. 
Un abrazo....