Star Medica Merida: First Implant Prosthesis Surgery in North America: Although the surgery has not yet been approved in the U.S., 70 patients have benefited from this new implant prosthesis surgery in Europe and now one American has come to Merida and is thriving with her newly implanted "above the knee" prosthesis, which she has named Super Heidi. The patient is 69 year old Uta Burrelli. The medical team consisted of Merida surgeons Dr. Carlos Reyes de Caceres and Dr. Ricardo Guillermo Yanez, along with German innovator, Dr. Horst Aschoff.
A zoo in Chihuahua sent Merida’s Centenario a baby jaguar. She is now 5 months old and doing well, but the mayor decided to let children between the ages of 6 and 12 suggest a name for the youngster. What a hit that has been! Merida now has 200 letters from children as far away as Cancun and Campeche. The top 10 will be chosen and those children will get to spend time with the mayor and she will take them to lunch. Then, the winner will be announced on September 18th, which will be the 100th birthday of the Centenario Zoo. First place winner gets a notebook computer. Second place is an iPod, and third place wins a collection of children’s films.
Lion’s Club To Host a Quinceañera in Itzimna: These are difficult times and I am constantly amazed by the good works of both the Lions’ Club and Rotary International, as well as other expat groups. In this case, the Lion’s Club Itzimna is providing a Quinceañera for young ladies who might not otherwise be able to afford such an event. Quinceañera is a coming of age ceremony held in some Latin American cultures on a girl's fifteenth birthday, comparable to a Sweet Sixteen celebration. Usually the girl will wear a white dress but in more recent times she may wear a colored dress. Planning begins up to a year in advance and requires the resources of several members of the family and friends. The family priest will perform a Quinceañera ceremony in a church. The girl's baptismal Godparents will oversee the spiritual celebration and her friends and relatives will attend to see the recognition she receives as she makes the transition from girl to young woman in everyone's eyes.
Quinceañera are comparable in scope and grandeur to weddings, and the party atmosphere that follows the somewhat more subdued religious atmosphere. There is a significant dress, just as with a wedding, and can be just as expensive and unique as a wedding gown. Flowers and decorations are selected to match the color scheme of the festivities, a reception is held at which guests will be served a meal and there will be dancing for all in attendance. I dislike them as they have gotten to be very secular.
This past Saturday, in the middle of the day and with no warning, Mexicana Airlines simply stopped flying. I had a reservation for Monday, August 30, to fly to Mexico City to visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Human beings will always be tempted to lessen the radical demands of the Gospel and to adapt them to our own weaknesses, or to give up the path undertaken. But the authenticity and quality of the Christian community's life depends precisely on this. A Church that lives by compromise would be like salt that has lost its taste.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Monday 30th August, 2010
Luke 4:16-30. They were astonished by his gracious words.
This is a moving scene presented in today’s gospel. Jesus comes home to his own people, sharing with them his teaching, so challenging and so new. To hear one of themselves speak words of such hope must have been very moving for them.
Yet how soon do the devils of doubt creep into their minds! They hear the son of the carpenter telling them strange and new things, such as God loving even non-Jews! How easy for them to become enraged.
We too often can react suspiciously to new things. We pray today, Lord, for an openness and respect for people. May we always be ready to listen to Jesus speaking to us in our hearts, and in the ideas and thoughts of others.
As far back as I can recall people have promoted Mexico as a cheap place to visit or live. As a kid I remember being in a doctors office and skimming a Travel magazine. It had an article on "Living in Mexico on $180 a month". My recollection is it showed a guy living in Cuernavaca in a house with a pool, a cook, a maid and a gardener for $180 per month. My daydreaming talents (which were considerable even then) took a new twist in direction. I stole the magazine and I would revisit it every chance I got and imagine the good life south of the border.
I spent a lot of time traveling in Mexico. The old See Mexico on $5 a day book was my guide of choice.
With inflation these numbers kept creeping upwards. Fortunately so did my income. There were books on living in Mexico on $400 a month, then later $800 a month. Much more recently was one on retiring to Mexico on Social Security.
Now I am retired and I have a home in Mexico. I get to discover whether my money really goes further or not. Guess what? Those dream weavers were largely right in their assessments.
As I have espoused in much more detailed posts previously, a couple can live comfortably in Mérida on less than $2000 per month. They could even live comfortably on $1000 per month if that were necessary.
I own my home in Mérida and I am nine blocks from the city's center. I have a lovely walled garden. Old pasta tile floors and AC when desired. A nice little pool. A weekly house cleaner, a weekly pool boy. We seldom eat in restaurants and do most of my own cooking.
The issue here isn't how big a house I can get for my resources or how many maids and chefs I can acquire or how pampered a life I can live, it's what type of life do I require in order to be fulfilled and complete and how much will that cost me?
This is a moving scene presented in today’s gospel. Jesus comes home to his own people, sharing with them his teaching, so challenging and so new. To hear one of themselves speak words of such hope must have been very moving for them.
Yet how soon do the devils of doubt creep into their minds! They hear the son of the carpenter telling them strange and new things, such as God loving even non-Jews! How easy for them to become enraged.
We too often can react suspiciously to new things. We pray today, Lord, for an openness and respect for people. May we always be ready to listen to Jesus speaking to us in our hearts, and in the ideas and thoughts of others.
As far back as I can recall people have promoted Mexico as a cheap place to visit or live. As a kid I remember being in a doctors office and skimming a Travel magazine. It had an article on "Living in Mexico on $180 a month". My recollection is it showed a guy living in Cuernavaca in a house with a pool, a cook, a maid and a gardener for $180 per month. My daydreaming talents (which were considerable even then) took a new twist in direction. I stole the magazine and I would revisit it every chance I got and imagine the good life south of the border.
I spent a lot of time traveling in Mexico. The old See Mexico on $5 a day book was my guide of choice.
With inflation these numbers kept creeping upwards. Fortunately so did my income. There were books on living in Mexico on $400 a month, then later $800 a month. Much more recently was one on retiring to Mexico on Social Security.
Now I am retired and I have a home in Mexico. I get to discover whether my money really goes further or not. Guess what? Those dream weavers were largely right in their assessments.
As I have espoused in much more detailed posts previously, a couple can live comfortably in Mérida on less than $2000 per month. They could even live comfortably on $1000 per month if that were necessary.
I own my home in Mérida and I am nine blocks from the city's center. I have a lovely walled garden. Old pasta tile floors and AC when desired. A nice little pool. A weekly house cleaner, a weekly pool boy. We seldom eat in restaurants and do most of my own cooking.
The issue here isn't how big a house I can get for my resources or how many maids and chefs I can acquire or how pampered a life I can live, it's what type of life do I require in order to be fulfilled and complete and how much will that cost me?
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Sunday gossip.......
For those of you into malls, you will happy to know that there is a glut of shopping malls in the formerly-white city of Merida. Wherever you turn, there is another mall! This is in addition to the already gazillion little placitas that people keep building on any available corner that feature independent and sometimes chain business that quite often are doomed to fail as a result of over-supply. This is the mall panorama at the time of this writing:
Plaza Dorada - The ‘family’ mall as they like to advertise themselves. This mall was one of the first malls on this side of the city and is an early architectural design by the now famous Augusto Quijano. It looks severely dated now, however, and is comprised of a series of independently owned shops for the most part along with one or two chains including a supermarket. The feel is cheap, and their market could be described as lower middle class. Not a place you would want to spend any more time than necessary in. The arrangement in the mall is that all commercial space is privately owned, so any renovations or improvements have to be agreed upon my all the owners, which, in Merida, is a challenging prospect to be sure.
In addition, Plaza Dorada was eclipsed by the construction of the Las Americas mall right next door, which put the nail in the Dorada coffin – a nail that had been placed there by the burning (some say intentional) of the Dorada cinemas, run by Ramirez who were opening a mini-plex at the new Las Americas across the street.
Plaza Dorada is not a happy place.
Plaza Fiesta - Once Meridas premiere mall, before the opening of La Gran Plaza, Plaza Fiesta manages to hang in there after years and years of operation and several ambitious renovations. Built in the square, boxy style common at the time, Plaza Fiestas latest reno made the interior more curvy and a little more modern. Hard economic times have hit Plaza Fiesta where it counts and many many commercial spaces are vacant making the ambiance more depressing than it was. Sin embargo, locals from the area still go there to do there shopping at the supermarket and there are several bank outlets as well, making it a functional plaza but not a destination for people who like to stroll the malls.
Plaza Oriente – As its name implies, Plaza Oriente is in that part of town known as the Oriente, which is not an oriental reference in the sense of anything Chinese, but rather that it lies in the eastern part of town. Not exactly an upscale neighborhood, the area around Plaza Oriente is middle to low income families and the minimal offerings at this shopping center reflect the low level of discretionary income available to be spent within its severely aesthetically challenged interiors. A few shops, a bank or two and that’s about it. One of Meridas first malls, this is one place you would never feel compelled to visit for any reason.
La Gran Plaza – the construction of this new, modern mall was announced with much fanfare in 1994 and its moniker is ‘the fashion mall’. Just like that; in English. And when it was finished, in its initial phase, it was indeed the place to go and Merida was excited to have a mall just like the ones in the US and Canada, all fancy and upscale. Shops were charged an arm and two legs to get in and the rents were the highest ever charged for commercial space in an enclosed shopping environment. The Gran Plaza became THE destination mall to stroll around in and the businesses that catered to this strolling market made a killing.
Now when I say ‘destination’ mall I mean that it took the place of the traditional zocalo or main square that is a central fixture in every Mexican town and small city; where the populace comes to see and be seen, where young folks of opposite sexes glanced at each other furtively under the watchful eyes of aunts or mothers or perhaps a chaperon in the form of a little brother or sister; where old men came to gossip and leer somewhat discreetly at the young females in their best and flirtiest outfits; where entire families strolled, ice cream cones in hand and greeted one another warmly. This social environment has not been eradicated in spite of the best efforts of Televisa, Dish Network and DirecTV. It has simply moved indoors, where a climate controlled environment makes for a much more pleasant outing. Mothers and fathers routinely leave their barely pre-teen children in the mall, to hang out with their friends, perhaps go to a movie and just chill, thinking that the mall security will keep an eye on them. Those of us who have children who grew up during that time can remember vividly the masses of people congregating at Wendy’s (now Starbucks) directly across from the Gran Plaza and where parents would pick up their offspring after the mall closed.
Plaza Las Americas - As I alluded to earlier, Plaza Las Americas was built directly across the street from Plaza Dorada under the auspices of the owners of Chedraui, who own similar projects throughout Mexico, always with one of their supermarkets as an anchor. Plaza Las Americas was a ‘big deal’ at the time since it actually looked pleasant and had some interesting stores, a cinema (the Ramirez company who used the insurance money from the fire at their Plaza Dorada location to finance the new theaters) and a food court with real gringo franchises like KFC, McDonalds and Burger King. It is however, a small mall and not much fun to stroll around in since the distance to be covered from one end to the other is too short and the layout is a Y which makes it difficult to go in circles.
After a few years of stability in the mall market, someone heard something and a spate of construction began that created the current mall glut in Merida.
MacroPlaza - built in that area behind Los Pinos, near the monument to the Xtabay, this tiny strip mall is another shopping only kind of mall with not much to offer beyond a supermarket, some stores, a nearby WalMart and a cinema. There is a tiny food court but nothing exciting that would lure you to come and have a look.
Major malls soon followed.
Altabrisa - a joint venture by the group that built the Gran Plaza, along with Carlos Slims company (one of them, anyway) and two other investors, this mall is probably Meridas most ambitious mall to date, easily out doing the Gran Plaza in terms of fashion-ability and status symbol stores. Everything from Haagen Dazs to Zara to Starbucks to Nine West to Benetton can be found within the walls iof this huge, high ceilinged collosus that is run like a mall would be run in the US or Canada. That is to say: all the stores, or at least 80%, are occupied, the air conditioning works, there is music from the moment you step out of your car and in general it’s just a pleasant place to be on a hot Merida day. All the upper middle class to upper class folks from Merida, young and old, come to this mall to do their walking around and the cinemas are probably Meridas best. Unlike movie theaters in the US or Canada, these cinemas are packed when a blockbuster movie comes out or on a Saturday night.
A quibble I have with this mall is its awful food court, which resembles an unfinished airport hangar with food stalls on either side of it. The space in the middle is gigantic, full of metal and plastic chairs and tables and completely devoid of any charm. Eating there is an exercise in self control, as you want to run from the place, it is so uncomfortable.
Points go this mall for its mall-ness, its location; ideal for buying a gift or waiting for someone to get better (or die) at the Star Medica hospital next door, the fact that it has a Chili’s and those deliciously decadent top shelf margaritas, a great cinema experience, Starbucks coffee and almost every upscale store you could want.
At the same time that Altabrisa was being built, a group from Mexico City announced the construction of yet another mall, because Merida – hooray – really needed another mall.
Galerias - owned by the folks who run Liverpool the department store, this is another high end mall, complete with a central ice skating rink, a Ghandi bookstore (big deal if you are from Mexico City, although it has absolutely nothing on a Borders or Chapters) and even a Hugo Boss boutique. I don’t know of anyone who would buy anything at retail in a Hugo Boss store here, but then that’s just me. This mall, as a shopping experience, is probably a failure judging from the business closing there in the last year or two. The big draw is the air conditioning, the casino and the skating rink. Oh and the fabulous margaritas and consistently mediocre service that characterize the American chain restaurant, Chili’s. The food court at Galerias is off in one corner on the second floor, almost as if it were an afterthought and is as unattractive as the one in Altabrisa, but with even less options.
Another group of businessmen, from somewhere up north, smelled opportunity (how or what, quien sabe) were building, at the same time:
Plaza Senderos – another giant project that would serve that part of the city previously attended to by the tiny and outdated Plaza Oriente. Unfortunately this mall never really took off and is struggling at the moment.
City Center - If the above were not enough, the Hines Group out of Texas (Gallerias in Houston is one of theirs) and their Mexican affiliates had the brilliant idea to also build a shopping mall, but with a different concept in mind. Theirs would be half outdoors and strollers would be able to shop and dine al fresco since to get from one shop to another you needed to stroll around outside. With retail giant WalMart as their anchor, they ambitiously launched their advertising campaign. Fridays came on board (under a different franchise owner than the Fridays on Montejo, btw) as did Los Trompos who opened their most ambitious taqueria yet, complete with a giant revolving sign.
Unfortunately here too, the demand for this mall did not meet expectations and the shopping center is mostly empty. The food court, for example, has not a single occupant.
I think I have hit most of the major shopping malls in Merida with this little write-up; hopefully, as a newcomer to Merida, you will find it useful when deciding where to go to escape the heat, which is what a great majority of Meridanos use their mall time for.
Plaza Dorada - The ‘family’ mall as they like to advertise themselves. This mall was one of the first malls on this side of the city and is an early architectural design by the now famous Augusto Quijano. It looks severely dated now, however, and is comprised of a series of independently owned shops for the most part along with one or two chains including a supermarket. The feel is cheap, and their market could be described as lower middle class. Not a place you would want to spend any more time than necessary in. The arrangement in the mall is that all commercial space is privately owned, so any renovations or improvements have to be agreed upon my all the owners, which, in Merida, is a challenging prospect to be sure.
In addition, Plaza Dorada was eclipsed by the construction of the Las Americas mall right next door, which put the nail in the Dorada coffin – a nail that had been placed there by the burning (some say intentional) of the Dorada cinemas, run by Ramirez who were opening a mini-plex at the new Las Americas across the street.
Plaza Dorada is not a happy place.
Plaza Fiesta - Once Meridas premiere mall, before the opening of La Gran Plaza, Plaza Fiesta manages to hang in there after years and years of operation and several ambitious renovations. Built in the square, boxy style common at the time, Plaza Fiestas latest reno made the interior more curvy and a little more modern. Hard economic times have hit Plaza Fiesta where it counts and many many commercial spaces are vacant making the ambiance more depressing than it was. Sin embargo, locals from the area still go there to do there shopping at the supermarket and there are several bank outlets as well, making it a functional plaza but not a destination for people who like to stroll the malls.
Plaza Oriente – As its name implies, Plaza Oriente is in that part of town known as the Oriente, which is not an oriental reference in the sense of anything Chinese, but rather that it lies in the eastern part of town. Not exactly an upscale neighborhood, the area around Plaza Oriente is middle to low income families and the minimal offerings at this shopping center reflect the low level of discretionary income available to be spent within its severely aesthetically challenged interiors. A few shops, a bank or two and that’s about it. One of Meridas first malls, this is one place you would never feel compelled to visit for any reason.
La Gran Plaza – the construction of this new, modern mall was announced with much fanfare in 1994 and its moniker is ‘the fashion mall’. Just like that; in English. And when it was finished, in its initial phase, it was indeed the place to go and Merida was excited to have a mall just like the ones in the US and Canada, all fancy and upscale. Shops were charged an arm and two legs to get in and the rents were the highest ever charged for commercial space in an enclosed shopping environment. The Gran Plaza became THE destination mall to stroll around in and the businesses that catered to this strolling market made a killing.
Now when I say ‘destination’ mall I mean that it took the place of the traditional zocalo or main square that is a central fixture in every Mexican town and small city; where the populace comes to see and be seen, where young folks of opposite sexes glanced at each other furtively under the watchful eyes of aunts or mothers or perhaps a chaperon in the form of a little brother or sister; where old men came to gossip and leer somewhat discreetly at the young females in their best and flirtiest outfits; where entire families strolled, ice cream cones in hand and greeted one another warmly. This social environment has not been eradicated in spite of the best efforts of Televisa, Dish Network and DirecTV. It has simply moved indoors, where a climate controlled environment makes for a much more pleasant outing. Mothers and fathers routinely leave their barely pre-teen children in the mall, to hang out with their friends, perhaps go to a movie and just chill, thinking that the mall security will keep an eye on them. Those of us who have children who grew up during that time can remember vividly the masses of people congregating at Wendy’s (now Starbucks) directly across from the Gran Plaza and where parents would pick up their offspring after the mall closed.
Plaza Las Americas - As I alluded to earlier, Plaza Las Americas was built directly across the street from Plaza Dorada under the auspices of the owners of Chedraui, who own similar projects throughout Mexico, always with one of their supermarkets as an anchor. Plaza Las Americas was a ‘big deal’ at the time since it actually looked pleasant and had some interesting stores, a cinema (the Ramirez company who used the insurance money from the fire at their Plaza Dorada location to finance the new theaters) and a food court with real gringo franchises like KFC, McDonalds and Burger King. It is however, a small mall and not much fun to stroll around in since the distance to be covered from one end to the other is too short and the layout is a Y which makes it difficult to go in circles.
After a few years of stability in the mall market, someone heard something and a spate of construction began that created the current mall glut in Merida.
MacroPlaza - built in that area behind Los Pinos, near the monument to the Xtabay, this tiny strip mall is another shopping only kind of mall with not much to offer beyond a supermarket, some stores, a nearby WalMart and a cinema. There is a tiny food court but nothing exciting that would lure you to come and have a look.
Major malls soon followed.
Altabrisa - a joint venture by the group that built the Gran Plaza, along with Carlos Slims company (one of them, anyway) and two other investors, this mall is probably Meridas most ambitious mall to date, easily out doing the Gran Plaza in terms of fashion-ability and status symbol stores. Everything from Haagen Dazs to Zara to Starbucks to Nine West to Benetton can be found within the walls iof this huge, high ceilinged collosus that is run like a mall would be run in the US or Canada. That is to say: all the stores, or at least 80%, are occupied, the air conditioning works, there is music from the moment you step out of your car and in general it’s just a pleasant place to be on a hot Merida day. All the upper middle class to upper class folks from Merida, young and old, come to this mall to do their walking around and the cinemas are probably Meridas best. Unlike movie theaters in the US or Canada, these cinemas are packed when a blockbuster movie comes out or on a Saturday night.
A quibble I have with this mall is its awful food court, which resembles an unfinished airport hangar with food stalls on either side of it. The space in the middle is gigantic, full of metal and plastic chairs and tables and completely devoid of any charm. Eating there is an exercise in self control, as you want to run from the place, it is so uncomfortable.
Points go this mall for its mall-ness, its location; ideal for buying a gift or waiting for someone to get better (or die) at the Star Medica hospital next door, the fact that it has a Chili’s and those deliciously decadent top shelf margaritas, a great cinema experience, Starbucks coffee and almost every upscale store you could want.
At the same time that Altabrisa was being built, a group from Mexico City announced the construction of yet another mall, because Merida – hooray – really needed another mall.
Galerias - owned by the folks who run Liverpool the department store, this is another high end mall, complete with a central ice skating rink, a Ghandi bookstore (big deal if you are from Mexico City, although it has absolutely nothing on a Borders or Chapters) and even a Hugo Boss boutique. I don’t know of anyone who would buy anything at retail in a Hugo Boss store here, but then that’s just me. This mall, as a shopping experience, is probably a failure judging from the business closing there in the last year or two. The big draw is the air conditioning, the casino and the skating rink. Oh and the fabulous margaritas and consistently mediocre service that characterize the American chain restaurant, Chili’s. The food court at Galerias is off in one corner on the second floor, almost as if it were an afterthought and is as unattractive as the one in Altabrisa, but with even less options.
Another group of businessmen, from somewhere up north, smelled opportunity (how or what, quien sabe) were building, at the same time:
Plaza Senderos – another giant project that would serve that part of the city previously attended to by the tiny and outdated Plaza Oriente. Unfortunately this mall never really took off and is struggling at the moment.
City Center - If the above were not enough, the Hines Group out of Texas (Gallerias in Houston is one of theirs) and their Mexican affiliates had the brilliant idea to also build a shopping mall, but with a different concept in mind. Theirs would be half outdoors and strollers would be able to shop and dine al fresco since to get from one shop to another you needed to stroll around outside. With retail giant WalMart as their anchor, they ambitiously launched their advertising campaign. Fridays came on board (under a different franchise owner than the Fridays on Montejo, btw) as did Los Trompos who opened their most ambitious taqueria yet, complete with a giant revolving sign.
Unfortunately here too, the demand for this mall did not meet expectations and the shopping center is mostly empty. The food court, for example, has not a single occupant.
I think I have hit most of the major shopping malls in Merida with this little write-up; hopefully, as a newcomer to Merida, you will find it useful when deciding where to go to escape the heat, which is what a great majority of Meridanos use their mall time for.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Reflections on Sunday's Gospel
So many men and women have made a preferential option for the poor; Mother Teresa, Mother Marianne of Molokai and Saint Damien the Leper [Father Damien was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday October 11, 2009].
Joseph de Veuster was a Belgian missionary priest working among the islanders of Honolulu. His bishop had trouble finding a priest to work in the leper settlement of Molokai. Joseph, better known as Father Damien, volunteered to go and work in the "living graveyard that was Molokai." His solidarity with the lepers was so complete that he contracted the disease himself and died at the age of forty-nine in service to the poorest and most abandoned. Some of his contemporaries accused him of imprudence and foolhardiness. Today, however, he is recognized worldwide as a hero of the faith: Damien the Leper.
Father Damien made a total life commitment to the poor long before the church recognized the preferential option for the poor as a pillar of the church's social teaching. The Gospels teach us that as Christians we should give priority to the poor in the way we administer and dispense our resources. This is what we see in today's gospel reading. Some people see today's gospel as Jesus teaching table etiquette and good manners in choosing seats when invited to a dinner. But when we try to read it through the eyes of the early Christians whose assembly was mainly to share in the feast of the Eucharist, we begin to see that there is much more than etiquette involved here. Jesus is teaching the basic Christian virtues of humility and solidarity with the poor. And he does this in two stages using two parables.
The first parable, on the One Invited to the Wedding Feast (verses 7-11), is addressed to Christians as those who are invited to the feast of the Lord's supper. Irrespective of social status and importance we come to the Eucharist as brothers and sisters of equal standing before God. This is the only place where employer and employee relationship, master and servant distinctions dissolve and we recognise one another simply as brothers and sisters in the Lord, as together we call God "Our Father."
The Letter of James reports and condemns a situation where Christians "make distinctions" in the Christian assembly:If a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Have a seat here, please," while to the one who is poor you say, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet," have you not made distinctions among yourselves? (James 2:2-4).
Jesus is challenging his followers to abolish the rich-poor distinction among them and to recognize and treat one another as brothers and sisters of equal standing before God. "For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted" (Luke 14:11)
The second parable, on the One Giving a Great Dinner (verses 12-14), is addressed to Christians as those who invite others to the feast of the Lord's supper.
When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind (verses 12-13).
In this second part of his teaching Jesus goes beyond leveling out the distinctions and calls for a preferential treatment of the poor and the disabled among us. He calls for affirmative action. Give the preference to the poor and the handicapped. A chain is only as strong as its weakest point. That is why priority of attention is to be given to the weakest link in the chain. It is in the best interest of the entire chain. It is in the best interest of the Christian community to give priority to the poor and disabled in our distribution of resources.
Does our parish community measure up to the criterion of preferential option for the poor? Do we consider wheel-chair access to our churches to serve “the crippled and the lame” a priority? What about providing sign-language translation in our services for the benefit of “the deaf” and braille Bibles and prayer books for “the blind.” This is what it means to "invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind" (Luke 14:13).
Joseph de Veuster was a Belgian missionary priest working among the islanders of Honolulu. His bishop had trouble finding a priest to work in the leper settlement of Molokai. Joseph, better known as Father Damien, volunteered to go and work in the "living graveyard that was Molokai." His solidarity with the lepers was so complete that he contracted the disease himself and died at the age of forty-nine in service to the poorest and most abandoned. Some of his contemporaries accused him of imprudence and foolhardiness. Today, however, he is recognized worldwide as a hero of the faith: Damien the Leper.
Father Damien made a total life commitment to the poor long before the church recognized the preferential option for the poor as a pillar of the church's social teaching. The Gospels teach us that as Christians we should give priority to the poor in the way we administer and dispense our resources. This is what we see in today's gospel reading. Some people see today's gospel as Jesus teaching table etiquette and good manners in choosing seats when invited to a dinner. But when we try to read it through the eyes of the early Christians whose assembly was mainly to share in the feast of the Eucharist, we begin to see that there is much more than etiquette involved here. Jesus is teaching the basic Christian virtues of humility and solidarity with the poor. And he does this in two stages using two parables.
The first parable, on the One Invited to the Wedding Feast (verses 7-11), is addressed to Christians as those who are invited to the feast of the Lord's supper. Irrespective of social status and importance we come to the Eucharist as brothers and sisters of equal standing before God. This is the only place where employer and employee relationship, master and servant distinctions dissolve and we recognise one another simply as brothers and sisters in the Lord, as together we call God "Our Father."
The Letter of James reports and condemns a situation where Christians "make distinctions" in the Christian assembly:If a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Have a seat here, please," while to the one who is poor you say, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet," have you not made distinctions among yourselves? (James 2:2-4).
Jesus is challenging his followers to abolish the rich-poor distinction among them and to recognize and treat one another as brothers and sisters of equal standing before God. "For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted" (Luke 14:11)
The second parable, on the One Giving a Great Dinner (verses 12-14), is addressed to Christians as those who invite others to the feast of the Lord's supper.
When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind (verses 12-13).
In this second part of his teaching Jesus goes beyond leveling out the distinctions and calls for a preferential treatment of the poor and the disabled among us. He calls for affirmative action. Give the preference to the poor and the handicapped. A chain is only as strong as its weakest point. That is why priority of attention is to be given to the weakest link in the chain. It is in the best interest of the entire chain. It is in the best interest of the Christian community to give priority to the poor and disabled in our distribution of resources.
Does our parish community measure up to the criterion of preferential option for the poor? Do we consider wheel-chair access to our churches to serve “the crippled and the lame” a priority? What about providing sign-language translation in our services for the benefit of “the deaf” and braille Bibles and prayer books for “the blind.” This is what it means to "invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind" (Luke 14:13).
Friday, August 27, 2010
Friday 27th August, 2010 St Monica – Gospel is from Matthew 25:1-13.
Saint Monica (331 - 387) She was born at Thagaste in Africa of a Christian family. She was married young, to Patricius, and among her children was Augustine. He had a brilliant intellect and uncertain morals and his wayward spiritual career saw him at one time a Manichee and then a Neoplatonist. With many tears she prayed unceasingly to God for his conversion and her prayers were answered shortly before she died. She had a deep faith and outstanding virtue and is a wonderful example of a Christian mother.
Daily Novena Prayer [maybe pray this for safe return of our military personal]
Dear St. Monica, once the sorrowing mother of a wayward son, please present our novena petitions before God in whose presence you stand. Remember, dear St. Monica, the joy that flooded your heart when Augustine, the son of your prayers and tears, turned his life over to the Lord. Obtain for us, if it be His holy will, the graces we request through your intercessory power, that we may experience the happiness of answered prayer. Amen.
Now, about today's Gospel: If you had one wish that would turn true regardless of what you asked for, what would you seek? Power? Fame? Money? An end to world poverty?
The answer that our all-powerful, all-knowing God came up with is that he decided to send his Son so that he could let us know how much he loved us. He entrusted his Son to our care and we responded by crucifying him. No wonder so many find the cross such a stumbling block to belief! What God could be so mad?
It is staggering, but it is true—God’s answer to all our problems is before us in the breadth of the embrace of the man who hung on the cross all those centuries ago.
Saint Monica (331 - 387) She was born at Thagaste in Africa of a Christian family. She was married young, to Patricius, and among her children was Augustine. He had a brilliant intellect and uncertain morals and his wayward spiritual career saw him at one time a Manichee and then a Neoplatonist. With many tears she prayed unceasingly to God for his conversion and her prayers were answered shortly before she died. She had a deep faith and outstanding virtue and is a wonderful example of a Christian mother.
Daily Novena Prayer [maybe pray this for safe return of our military personal]
Dear St. Monica, once the sorrowing mother of a wayward son, please present our novena petitions before God in whose presence you stand. Remember, dear St. Monica, the joy that flooded your heart when Augustine, the son of your prayers and tears, turned his life over to the Lord. Obtain for us, if it be His holy will, the graces we request through your intercessory power, that we may experience the happiness of answered prayer. Amen.
Now, about today's Gospel: If you had one wish that would turn true regardless of what you asked for, what would you seek? Power? Fame? Money? An end to world poverty?
The answer that our all-powerful, all-knowing God came up with is that he decided to send his Son so that he could let us know how much he loved us. He entrusted his Son to our care and we responded by crucifying him. No wonder so many find the cross such a stumbling block to belief! What God could be so mad?
It is staggering, but it is true—God’s answer to all our problems is before us in the breadth of the embrace of the man who hung on the cross all those centuries ago.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Mother Teresa's Birthday today [she would have been] 100 years old.
“Today there is so much suffering - and I feel that the passion of Christ is being relived all over again - are we there to share that passion, to share that suffering of people?
Around the world, not only in the poor countries, but I found the poverty of the West so much more difficult to remove. When I pick up a person from the street, hungry, I give him a plate of rice, a piece of bread, I have satisfied. I have removed that hunger. But a person that is shut out, that feels unwanted, unloved, terrified, the person that has been thrown out from society - that poverty is so hurtable and so much, and I find that very difficult....
You must come to know the poor, maybe our people here have material things, everything, but I think that if we all look into our own homes, how difficult we find it sometimes to smile at each, other, and that the smile is the beginning of love. And so let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love, and once we begin to love each other naturally we want to do something....
This is something that you and I - it is a gift of God to us to be able to share our love with others. And let it be as it was for Jesus. Let us love one another as he loved us. Let us love Him with undivided love. And the joy of loving Him and each other - let us give now... Let us keep that joy of loving Jesus in our hearts. And share that joy with all that we come in touch with. And that radiating joy is real, for we have no reason not to be happy because we have Christ with us. Christ in our hearts, Christ in the poor that we meet, Christ in the smile that we give and the smile that we receive. Let us make that one point: That no child will be unwanted, and also that we meet each other always with a smile, especially when it is difficult to smile.”
--Mother Teresa, MC
Oslo, Norway
11 December 1979
While just this first day's worldwide roster of liturgies includes high-profile rites everywhere from Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu's native Albania to New York and beyond, the principal Stateside celebration of the milestone comes instead on Bl Teresa's 5th September feast at Washington's Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception with an afternoon Mass, followed by the formal presentation and first-issue of a US Postal Service first-class stamp (which is already available for pre-order).
The feast-day novena to the "Saint of the Gutters" coincidentally begins today... and lest anyone else's up to join in by going to: http://www.motherteresa.org/Novena/2010.html,; and here, her liturgical "collect" (opening prayer) -- which, given the restriction of the beatified to a "local" cult -- technically isn't supposed to be used outside India and the Missionaries of Charity... but still:
O God,who called blessed Teresa, virgin to respond to the love of your Son thirsting on the cross with outstanding charity to the poorest of the poor, grant us, we beseech you, by her intercession, to minister to Christ in his suffering brothers.Through our Lord Jesus Christ your Sonwho lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,one God, for ever and ever.
It's hard to imagine anything more sensitive than the sacred memory of the fallen of 9/11 -- witness the controversy over the proposed Islamic center near ground zero. Now, another controversy with elements of religion and location has erupted in New York City. On Thursday, on what would have been the 100th birthday of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, protesters are to converge on the Empire State Building. The reason: the skyscraper's owners rejected a request by Bill Donohue, president of the conservative Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, to illuminate the fabled tower in blue and white --- the colors of the simple spun cotton sari that the "Saint of the Gutters" always wore -- to mark the centenary of her birth. What is good for the goose is also goo for the gander! When will it all stop?
“Today there is so much suffering - and I feel that the passion of Christ is being relived all over again - are we there to share that passion, to share that suffering of people?
Around the world, not only in the poor countries, but I found the poverty of the West so much more difficult to remove. When I pick up a person from the street, hungry, I give him a plate of rice, a piece of bread, I have satisfied. I have removed that hunger. But a person that is shut out, that feels unwanted, unloved, terrified, the person that has been thrown out from society - that poverty is so hurtable and so much, and I find that very difficult....
You must come to know the poor, maybe our people here have material things, everything, but I think that if we all look into our own homes, how difficult we find it sometimes to smile at each, other, and that the smile is the beginning of love. And so let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love, and once we begin to love each other naturally we want to do something....
This is something that you and I - it is a gift of God to us to be able to share our love with others. And let it be as it was for Jesus. Let us love one another as he loved us. Let us love Him with undivided love. And the joy of loving Him and each other - let us give now... Let us keep that joy of loving Jesus in our hearts. And share that joy with all that we come in touch with. And that radiating joy is real, for we have no reason not to be happy because we have Christ with us. Christ in our hearts, Christ in the poor that we meet, Christ in the smile that we give and the smile that we receive. Let us make that one point: That no child will be unwanted, and also that we meet each other always with a smile, especially when it is difficult to smile.”
--Mother Teresa, MC
Oslo, Norway
11 December 1979
While just this first day's worldwide roster of liturgies includes high-profile rites everywhere from Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu's native Albania to New York and beyond, the principal Stateside celebration of the milestone comes instead on Bl Teresa's 5th September feast at Washington's Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception with an afternoon Mass, followed by the formal presentation and first-issue of a US Postal Service first-class stamp (which is already available for pre-order).
The feast-day novena to the "Saint of the Gutters" coincidentally begins today... and lest anyone else's up to join in by going to: http://www.motherteresa.org/Novena/2010.html,; and here, her liturgical "collect" (opening prayer) -- which, given the restriction of the beatified to a "local" cult -- technically isn't supposed to be used outside India and the Missionaries of Charity... but still:
O God,who called blessed Teresa, virgin to respond to the love of your Son thirsting on the cross with outstanding charity to the poorest of the poor, grant us, we beseech you, by her intercession, to minister to Christ in his suffering brothers.Through our Lord Jesus Christ your Sonwho lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,one God, for ever and ever.
It's hard to imagine anything more sensitive than the sacred memory of the fallen of 9/11 -- witness the controversy over the proposed Islamic center near ground zero. Now, another controversy with elements of religion and location has erupted in New York City. On Thursday, on what would have been the 100th birthday of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, protesters are to converge on the Empire State Building. The reason: the skyscraper's owners rejected a request by Bill Donohue, president of the conservative Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, to illuminate the fabled tower in blue and white --- the colors of the simple spun cotton sari that the "Saint of the Gutters" always wore -- to mark the centenary of her birth. What is good for the goose is also goo for the gander! When will it all stop?
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
It's early in the morning. Around 5:00 a.m. and on my way to the Gym. As light pours out of the eastern seas, millions of kitchens in Mexico begin to come alive with the pat-pat of tortilla making. In tiny villages smoke from cooking fires rises to greet the morning light.
A tsunami of coffee rushes west across the tierra. Café negro. Café con leche. Café with canela. Some will drink coffee from thick glasses, others from simple gourds or colorful clay cups. My friend, Felipe, and La Guapa Señora will soon be sharing their morning cafecito on a patio near Pátzcuaro.
This westward morning movement across Mexico is predictable like the rising of the sun. I am no longer certain whether the sun is following the early morning waking or if the waking is the result of the sun. Confused like an Aztec.The light from the east is nearing Mérida. My neighbor's cooking fire starts to send up its smoke. I smell coffee nearby. I am happy.
Merida's dogs are rugs on the sidewalk, flattened by the heat of the day. On my walk to the Santiago market I pass three such creatures. Not one of them barks at me. I step over a sleeping form and get no more reaction than the twitch of a tail.
Some expats complain about the fates of canines in Merida. Not me. I have never personally seen one abused. Siestas seem to be the rule of the day for them. They understand the heat and how to deal with it. Flattened until something moves them. Not unlike me.
At the market, Signora Andrea cuts up some papaya, watermelon and cantaloupe for me, also some jicama and orange slices along with some chili seasoning in a little bag. The two containers cost me 24 pesos and equal about 4 servings. It would be a little cheaper if I peeled and sliced my own fruit but that would involve stickiness and the attraction of ants. No clean up this way and I get to say “Hi” to Andrea every other day.
It’s a dog’s life for me.
Sabrina is a lovely lady who has a full time job during the week but can usually be found on Saturday nights at La Noche Mexicana and on Sunday mornings in Santa Lucia park selling food from one of the food stands. I first learned about Sabrina from a feature write-up in the New York Times. All of her food items are freshly prepared, inexpensive and quite good.
A tsunami of coffee rushes west across the tierra. Café negro. Café con leche. Café with canela. Some will drink coffee from thick glasses, others from simple gourds or colorful clay cups. My friend, Felipe, and La Guapa Señora will soon be sharing their morning cafecito on a patio near Pátzcuaro.
This westward morning movement across Mexico is predictable like the rising of the sun. I am no longer certain whether the sun is following the early morning waking or if the waking is the result of the sun. Confused like an Aztec.The light from the east is nearing Mérida. My neighbor's cooking fire starts to send up its smoke. I smell coffee nearby. I am happy.
Merida's dogs are rugs on the sidewalk, flattened by the heat of the day. On my walk to the Santiago market I pass three such creatures. Not one of them barks at me. I step over a sleeping form and get no more reaction than the twitch of a tail.
Some expats complain about the fates of canines in Merida. Not me. I have never personally seen one abused. Siestas seem to be the rule of the day for them. They understand the heat and how to deal with it. Flattened until something moves them. Not unlike me.
At the market, Signora Andrea cuts up some papaya, watermelon and cantaloupe for me, also some jicama and orange slices along with some chili seasoning in a little bag. The two containers cost me 24 pesos and equal about 4 servings. It would be a little cheaper if I peeled and sliced my own fruit but that would involve stickiness and the attraction of ants. No clean up this way and I get to say “Hi” to Andrea every other day.
It’s a dog’s life for me.
Sabrina is a lovely lady who has a full time job during the week but can usually be found on Saturday nights at La Noche Mexicana and on Sunday mornings in Santa Lucia park selling food from one of the food stands. I first learned about Sabrina from a feature write-up in the New York Times. All of her food items are freshly prepared, inexpensive and quite good.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Tuesday 24 August 2010 Feast of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle who was born at Cana and brought by the Apostle Philip to meet Jesus. Nothing further is known for certain. Eusebius speaks of him in India, but the Roman Martyrology has him martyred in Armenia, skinned alive according to the Persian custom. Because his relics were enshrined on the island in the Tiber that is principally used as a hospital, he has become a patron saint of the sick.
Today is also the anniversary of the death of Monsignor Ronald Knox (1888 - 1957) He was born into a Church of England family (his father later became Bishop of Manchester and his grandfather was Bishop of Lahore), and had a brilliant career at Oxford and afterwards in the Church of England. He was received into the Catholic Church in 1917, after having inspired many of his friends to do the same.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s he was one of the Church’s great apologists both in the newspapers and in books, making his points with equal parts of wit, charity, and cogency. Several of his opponents joined the Church in their turn, not coerced or converted by him, but inspired by his example and with their difficulties removed.
He was the Catholic Chaplain at Oxford from 1926 to 1939, where he equipped several generations of young men for the difficult transition from Catholic schools, where the faith was taken for granted, to the wider world, where it was met with indifference or outright hostility.
He translated the entire Bible into English, both the Old and the New Testaments, in a heroic single-handed project undertaken at the request of the English Catholic bishops; but it is by his spiritual writings (especially A Retreat for Lay People) and by his apologetic and doctrinal works that he is most worthily remembered.
Miss Elegance Wins Miss Grandmother Title: We have a new Miss Abuelita 2010 in Yucatan! She won after being elected Miss Elegance – and elegant she is! She claims to be 68 years of age, but we would have guessed at least 10 years younger. She works with Doctors of Humor, operated by a group of doctors who believe a smile can make all the difference when treating those who are ill. After seeing the photos of Sra. Norma Bonada y Hernandez, we might have guessed movie star as her career, but Doctors of Humor sounds like a wonderful thing to be doing when one is 68, Miss Elegance and, now, Miss Abuelita 2010.
Nauti-Cup Traffic Jam: In Mexico, there is a competition called the Nauti-Cup, which consists of contestants following what is called the Nauti-Cup Trail to compete in such events as rowing and canoeing. One of the stops is in Progreso and they manage to make it here at least twice a year. The problem with holding the Nauti-Cup in Progreso is that there is not a parking lot large enough to hold everyone who wants to watch the event. To make matters worse, this year, there was a 5 hour traffic jam on the highway between Merida and Progreso because no one told the Federal Highway Department that all of those cars would be on the road that day. When attempts were made to drive to Progreso en mass, the would-be spectators found that one of the lanes of the highway was closed because it was being repaved. If ever there was a commercial for riding the bus from Merida to Progreso, this is it. No worries about parking when you get there! I also suggest that you book a room (well in advance) and go the day before so you’ll be fresh to really enjoy whatever event you intend to attend.
Malecon Crowds: Every year, throughout the month of August, crowds on the Malecon in Progreso grow bigger as the month wears on. It really hasn’t been too bad this year. It began with only 30,000 visitors the first weekend. The second weekend saw 50,000 visitors on the Malecon and the third weekend boosted that number to 80,000. If past numbers hold, and I am certain they will, the Malecon in Progreso can expect well over 100,000 visitors both this weekend and probably the next as well. No wonder so many beach residents rent out their houses and take a month’s vacation elsewhere during August!
Baby Turtles Released near Telchac Puerto: Children, as usual, released 42 baby turtles this past week from a turtle camp near Telchac Puerto and a long-standing question we’ve had was finally answered. We knew that CETMAR has a camp for the protection and conservation of turtle nests but, sometimes, the people who come to the rescue come from not only farther away, but from a completely different direction! We wondered if there are other turtle camps in Yucatan – and now we know. Sedum has turtle camps at Telchac Puerto, Dzilam Bravo, and Sisal; CETMAR has the turtle camp at Yucalpeten; and Pronatura has turtle camps at Celestun and El Cuyo. In all, that adds up to six camps working constantly to protect and conserve the endangered sea turtles. As usual, employees and volunteers at all of the turtle camps are asking that citizens and visitors do their best to not put anything on the beaches that might get in the way of the baby turtles making their way to the sea, and that all outside lights are turned off at night so as not to confuse the baby turtles.
News from the Fishermen: Unfortunately, pulpo season is turning out to be the worst it has been in many years. Since this is the major cash catch on the coast of Yucatan, we hope that this soon turns around for the benefit of all who depend on the fishermen’s spending capacity for their incomes as well as for the fishermen themselves. Sadly, a poor pulpo season only encourages the illegal capture of sea cucumbers, a species that is prized in Asia and, because of that, is endangered now around the world. We do hope that conditions for pulpo fishing improve soon so that the local economy at the beach will no longer be under this kind of stress.
Finally, congratulations to: Jimena Navarrete Miss Universe from Mexico. Jimena Navarrete Rosete (born February 22, 1988). She was previously crowned Nuestra Belleza Jalisco in Guadalajara, Jalisco, on July 16, 2009, and Nuestra Belleza México on September 20, 2009, in Mérida, Yucatán. Born and raised in Guadalajara, she studied nutrition prior to her participation in beauty pageants. After winning her state pageant, she won the title Nuestra Belleza México 2009, competing against thirty-three other contestants. She is the second consecutive winner from Jalisco, following Karla Carrillo, the outgoing titleholder.
Today is also the anniversary of the death of Monsignor Ronald Knox (1888 - 1957) He was born into a Church of England family (his father later became Bishop of Manchester and his grandfather was Bishop of Lahore), and had a brilliant career at Oxford and afterwards in the Church of England. He was received into the Catholic Church in 1917, after having inspired many of his friends to do the same.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s he was one of the Church’s great apologists both in the newspapers and in books, making his points with equal parts of wit, charity, and cogency. Several of his opponents joined the Church in their turn, not coerced or converted by him, but inspired by his example and with their difficulties removed.
He was the Catholic Chaplain at Oxford from 1926 to 1939, where he equipped several generations of young men for the difficult transition from Catholic schools, where the faith was taken for granted, to the wider world, where it was met with indifference or outright hostility.
He translated the entire Bible into English, both the Old and the New Testaments, in a heroic single-handed project undertaken at the request of the English Catholic bishops; but it is by his spiritual writings (especially A Retreat for Lay People) and by his apologetic and doctrinal works that he is most worthily remembered.
Miss Elegance Wins Miss Grandmother Title: We have a new Miss Abuelita 2010 in Yucatan! She won after being elected Miss Elegance – and elegant she is! She claims to be 68 years of age, but we would have guessed at least 10 years younger. She works with Doctors of Humor, operated by a group of doctors who believe a smile can make all the difference when treating those who are ill. After seeing the photos of Sra. Norma Bonada y Hernandez, we might have guessed movie star as her career, but Doctors of Humor sounds like a wonderful thing to be doing when one is 68, Miss Elegance and, now, Miss Abuelita 2010.
Nauti-Cup Traffic Jam: In Mexico, there is a competition called the Nauti-Cup, which consists of contestants following what is called the Nauti-Cup Trail to compete in such events as rowing and canoeing. One of the stops is in Progreso and they manage to make it here at least twice a year. The problem with holding the Nauti-Cup in Progreso is that there is not a parking lot large enough to hold everyone who wants to watch the event. To make matters worse, this year, there was a 5 hour traffic jam on the highway between Merida and Progreso because no one told the Federal Highway Department that all of those cars would be on the road that day. When attempts were made to drive to Progreso en mass, the would-be spectators found that one of the lanes of the highway was closed because it was being repaved. If ever there was a commercial for riding the bus from Merida to Progreso, this is it. No worries about parking when you get there! I also suggest that you book a room (well in advance) and go the day before so you’ll be fresh to really enjoy whatever event you intend to attend.
Malecon Crowds: Every year, throughout the month of August, crowds on the Malecon in Progreso grow bigger as the month wears on. It really hasn’t been too bad this year. It began with only 30,000 visitors the first weekend. The second weekend saw 50,000 visitors on the Malecon and the third weekend boosted that number to 80,000. If past numbers hold, and I am certain they will, the Malecon in Progreso can expect well over 100,000 visitors both this weekend and probably the next as well. No wonder so many beach residents rent out their houses and take a month’s vacation elsewhere during August!
Baby Turtles Released near Telchac Puerto: Children, as usual, released 42 baby turtles this past week from a turtle camp near Telchac Puerto and a long-standing question we’ve had was finally answered. We knew that CETMAR has a camp for the protection and conservation of turtle nests but, sometimes, the people who come to the rescue come from not only farther away, but from a completely different direction! We wondered if there are other turtle camps in Yucatan – and now we know. Sedum has turtle camps at Telchac Puerto, Dzilam Bravo, and Sisal; CETMAR has the turtle camp at Yucalpeten; and Pronatura has turtle camps at Celestun and El Cuyo. In all, that adds up to six camps working constantly to protect and conserve the endangered sea turtles. As usual, employees and volunteers at all of the turtle camps are asking that citizens and visitors do their best to not put anything on the beaches that might get in the way of the baby turtles making their way to the sea, and that all outside lights are turned off at night so as not to confuse the baby turtles.
News from the Fishermen: Unfortunately, pulpo season is turning out to be the worst it has been in many years. Since this is the major cash catch on the coast of Yucatan, we hope that this soon turns around for the benefit of all who depend on the fishermen’s spending capacity for their incomes as well as for the fishermen themselves. Sadly, a poor pulpo season only encourages the illegal capture of sea cucumbers, a species that is prized in Asia and, because of that, is endangered now around the world. We do hope that conditions for pulpo fishing improve soon so that the local economy at the beach will no longer be under this kind of stress.
Finally, congratulations to: Jimena Navarrete Miss Universe from Mexico. Jimena Navarrete Rosete (born February 22, 1988). She was previously crowned Nuestra Belleza Jalisco in Guadalajara, Jalisco, on July 16, 2009, and Nuestra Belleza México on September 20, 2009, in Mérida, Yucatán. Born and raised in Guadalajara, she studied nutrition prior to her participation in beauty pageants. After winning her state pageant, she won the title Nuestra Belleza México 2009, competing against thirty-three other contestants. She is the second consecutive winner from Jalisco, following Karla Carrillo, the outgoing titleholder.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Opening a checking account in a Mexican bank? Leave yourself at least two hours and bring a friend, a good book or your iPod. Opening a checking account, like many other things in Mexican banking, takes time and patience. If you don’t speak Spanish, this is one event for which you should persuade a friend or colleague who does speak Spanish to accompany you. Unlike the USA, most banks do not have a lot of English-speaking employees, and there is too much at stake to let something go wrong. You should be prepared with your passport and probably a few good copies (just to save time). You should also have your FM3 or FM2 visa, especially if you plan to open a business account. Be prepared to sit while the bank clerk opening your account makes multiple phone calls, some of which are surely about what she is planning to wear tonight. Be prepared to sign your name multiple times exactly the same way… try not to be self-conscious or mess up your own signature. Make sure your signature matches the signature in your passport. You’re going to need that trusty signature to be true to form in the future.
Checkbooks are called chequeras. They are closely controlled here. You’ll get your first one when you open up the account, but it won’t have your name printed on it and not everyone will take those checks (similar to the situation in the States). But don’t expect the ones printed with your name to be sent to your home. Instead, they will be held at the bank for you to pick up. And unless you have signed a letter designating your friend to specifically pick up a checkbook already at the bank, you have to go to the bank yourself to get them. You have to show your ID (passport) and you have to sign for the chequera. If you pick up two or three chequeras at a time, be sure to use them in order. If you don’t you cannot go back and use a chequera with lower numbers on it. That chequera has to be voided, by writing Cancelado (canceled) on each and every check in the book.
Before you write a single check from a new chequera, there is an important step you have to take that we just don’t do in the States: you have to call the bank and activate the chequera.
Writing checks ...... make it a point of concentrating very carefully when we write checks. Why? Because the slightest error will cause that check to be unusable. You cannot cross out anything on a check, whether or not you put your initials next to your correction. If you write something on the back of the check (such as your account number to deposit it, for instance), and then cross something out, that voids that check. You must be careful to write the correct name of the person to whom the check is addressed. You must write everything in Spanish, of course. People have had checks rejected because the date was written in English (April instead of Abril, for example). The amount of the check must be written out correctly, and if you spell a number like dieciseis (16) wrong, the check will be returned. You must write "pesos" after the written-out number or the check will be returned. You must write the number of centavos (cents) and then follow that with M.N. (Moneda Nacional), even though every check I’ve seen had "Moneda Nacional" printed on it below that line. Then you must sign your name the same way every time. And that signature has to look the same as the one on your passport and registered with the bank. If you wrote out your middle name on your passport, then you have to do the same when you sign up for your checking account. And every time you write a check, you must sign your name exactly the same way.
In Summary – You might find these measures bothersome at times (heaven knows, I have!) So, I refuse to open a checking account! There, now think about that.
Checkbooks are called chequeras. They are closely controlled here. You’ll get your first one when you open up the account, but it won’t have your name printed on it and not everyone will take those checks (similar to the situation in the States). But don’t expect the ones printed with your name to be sent to your home. Instead, they will be held at the bank for you to pick up. And unless you have signed a letter designating your friend to specifically pick up a checkbook already at the bank, you have to go to the bank yourself to get them. You have to show your ID (passport) and you have to sign for the chequera. If you pick up two or three chequeras at a time, be sure to use them in order. If you don’t you cannot go back and use a chequera with lower numbers on it. That chequera has to be voided, by writing Cancelado (canceled) on each and every check in the book.
Before you write a single check from a new chequera, there is an important step you have to take that we just don’t do in the States: you have to call the bank and activate the chequera.
Writing checks ...... make it a point of concentrating very carefully when we write checks. Why? Because the slightest error will cause that check to be unusable. You cannot cross out anything on a check, whether or not you put your initials next to your correction. If you write something on the back of the check (such as your account number to deposit it, for instance), and then cross something out, that voids that check. You must be careful to write the correct name of the person to whom the check is addressed. You must write everything in Spanish, of course. People have had checks rejected because the date was written in English (April instead of Abril, for example). The amount of the check must be written out correctly, and if you spell a number like dieciseis (16) wrong, the check will be returned. You must write "pesos" after the written-out number or the check will be returned. You must write the number of centavos (cents) and then follow that with M.N. (Moneda Nacional), even though every check I’ve seen had "Moneda Nacional" printed on it below that line. Then you must sign your name the same way every time. And that signature has to look the same as the one on your passport and registered with the bank. If you wrote out your middle name on your passport, then you have to do the same when you sign up for your checking account. And every time you write a check, you must sign your name exactly the same way.
In Summary – You might find these measures bothersome at times (heaven knows, I have!) So, I refuse to open a checking account! There, now think about that.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Saturday 21 August 2010
Pope St Pius X (1835 - 1914) [It was originally celebrated September 3]
He was born in the village of Riese, near Venice, one of ten children of a very poor family. He was ordained to the priesthood at the age of 23. He was successively bishop of Mantua and of Venice, and was elected Pope, against his wishes, in 1903. In his time as Pope, he sought to “restore all things in Christ.” He insisted on the separation of Church and State, and banned the formation of political associations that claimed exclusive religious sanction for their political program, whether of the Left or of the Right. He revised the code of Canon Law, founded an institute for scriptural studies, and initiated the revision of the Latin translation of the Bible (the Vulgate) and the reform of the liturgy. He lived in great poverty even when he was Pope, and preached sermons every Sunday in the courtyards of the Vatican, to any who would listen. In his simplicity and goodness of heart, he performed miracles even when he was alive, and the clamor for his canonization started immediately after his death, on 20th August 1914, broken-hearted at the outbreak of the First World War.
Talking about being broken hearted: To the surprise of no one, the following announcement is fresh from the USCCB: Cardinal Francis George, OMI, Archbishop of Chicago and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has announced that the full text of the English-language translation of the Roman Missal, Third Edition, has been issued for the dioceses of the United States of America. The text was approved by the Vatican, and the approval was accompanied by a June 23 letter from Cardinal Llovera Antonio Cañizares, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. The Congregation also provided guidelines for publication. The Vatican also gave approval for several adaptations, including additional prayers for the Penitential Act at Mass and the Renewal of Baptismal Promises on Easter Sunday. Also approved are texts of prayers for feasts specific to the United States such as Thanksgiving, Independence Day and the observances of feasts for saints such as Damien of Molokai, Katharine Drexel, and Elizabeth Ann Seton. The Vatican also approved the Mass for Giving Thanks to God for the Gift of Human Life, which can be celebrated on January 22. Cardinal George announced “The use of the third edition of the Roman Missal enters into use in the dioceses of the United States of America as of the First Sunday of Advent, November 27, 2011. From that date forward, no other edition of the Roman Missal may be used in the dioceses of the United States of America.”.
I am too old to adapt to this!
He was born in the village of Riese, near Venice, one of ten children of a very poor family. He was ordained to the priesthood at the age of 23. He was successively bishop of Mantua and of Venice, and was elected Pope, against his wishes, in 1903. In his time as Pope, he sought to “restore all things in Christ.” He insisted on the separation of Church and State, and banned the formation of political associations that claimed exclusive religious sanction for their political program, whether of the Left or of the Right. He revised the code of Canon Law, founded an institute for scriptural studies, and initiated the revision of the Latin translation of the Bible (the Vulgate) and the reform of the liturgy. He lived in great poverty even when he was Pope, and preached sermons every Sunday in the courtyards of the Vatican, to any who would listen. In his simplicity and goodness of heart, he performed miracles even when he was alive, and the clamor for his canonization started immediately after his death, on 20th August 1914, broken-hearted at the outbreak of the First World War.
Talking about being broken hearted: To the surprise of no one, the following announcement is fresh from the USCCB: Cardinal Francis George, OMI, Archbishop of Chicago and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has announced that the full text of the English-language translation of the Roman Missal, Third Edition, has been issued for the dioceses of the United States of America. The text was approved by the Vatican, and the approval was accompanied by a June 23 letter from Cardinal Llovera Antonio Cañizares, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. The Congregation also provided guidelines for publication. The Vatican also gave approval for several adaptations, including additional prayers for the Penitential Act at Mass and the Renewal of Baptismal Promises on Easter Sunday. Also approved are texts of prayers for feasts specific to the United States such as Thanksgiving, Independence Day and the observances of feasts for saints such as Damien of Molokai, Katharine Drexel, and Elizabeth Ann Seton. The Vatican also approved the Mass for Giving Thanks to God for the Gift of Human Life, which can be celebrated on January 22. Cardinal George announced “The use of the third edition of the Roman Missal enters into use in the dioceses of the United States of America as of the First Sunday of Advent, November 27, 2011. From that date forward, no other edition of the Roman Missal may be used in the dioceses of the United States of America.”.
I am too old to adapt to this!
Friday, August 20, 2010
Friday August 20, 2010
Today is the feast of St Bernard. He was born near Dijon, in France, in 1090, of a noble family. In 1112 he joined the new monastery at Cîteaux. This had been founded fourteen years before, in a bid to reject the laxity and riches of the Benedictine Order (as exemplified by great monasteries such as Cluny) and to return to a primitive poverty and austerity of life. Bernard was a man of great holiness and wisdom, and although he was often in very poor health, he was active in many of the great public debates of the time. He strongly opposed the luxurious lives of some of the clergy, and fought against the persecution of the Jews. He was also a prolific writer, of an inspiring rather than a technical kind. The Church is always suffering from corruption and always being renewed. If St Bernard, so often ill, could take a leading part in this renewal, what excuse do we have?
‘Love God and love your neighbor.’ Matthew 22:34-40.
These two greatest commandments seem simple enough, yet can be difficult to follow. What does it mean to love fully? A little child might know a parent’s love by cuddles, kisses, quality time spent together. Loving and affectionate attention. When I find peace and space in my heart, I am able to give loving attention to God.
In the moments between busy doing, we try to give space to God. But are these scraps of ‘in-between’ time enough? Can we do more? Can we live our life continuously in an attitude, an intention of love?
If we breathe love for God and all God’s creation, then surely loving our neighbor—all those we meet in life—will flow from this. We will have our bad days, Lord, our ugly thoughts, but let us keep listening to you, watching for your familiar face, giving you our loving and affectionate attention.
I live in one of the oldest colonias in Merida, the Santiago district is to the west and north of Plaza Grande. The church, founded in 1637, was once much grander; now little remains of the original structure other than the modest sanctuary with a baroque statue of Santiago and the dated inscription above the entry. The front of the church and the main nave, supported by buttresses, not necessarily flying, was built in the 19th century. There is a park in front of the church and a market next to the church, with fruits and vegetables, meats, and a good flower selection.
There are a host of excellent cocina economicas, sundries stores and an ice cream store. There is also a children’s playground in the park, and a large concrete area used at various times for skateboarding, big band music (Tuesday nights), dancing, fairs and temporary markets. Surrounding the park you can find a grocery store (Aki), a drugstore, a movie theatre and a branch of Mexico’s pawn shop chain, Nacional Monte de Piedad. Behind the church are a number of hardware stores, paint stores, a bicycle store and Flor de Santiago, a bakery, cafe and restaurant. And on the other side of Calle 59 are two large schools, one public and one private, in beautiful buildings both built during the Porfirio Era (early 1900s).
Originally (350-400 years ago), Santiago was the area relegated to the indigenous indios and artisans. Due to its close proximity to the central square, Santiago was one of the first areas to expand in population. It quickly became the shopping area for residents of San Sebastian, Ermita and other areas who wanted to avoid the downtown. Famous figures hailing from Santiago include Manuel Cepada Peraza (a governor of Yucatan in the 1860’s), composer Guadalupe Trigo, Crescencio Carrillo y Ancona (a bishop of Yucatan who grew up in Santiago) and the ducator/writer/reporter Rodolfo Menéndez de la Peña who died in Santiago in 1928.
Santiago was once the German district, with the building on the corner once known as Quinta Los Alemanes. Santiago was the nicest place to live in Merida, before Paseo de Montejo was built around the turn of the century (1900), and Calle 59 was the main formal entrance into Merida after Porfirio Diaz built the Centenario Zoo and Parque de La Paz. In 1914, Santiago got its movie theatre, then called La Frontera, which also had a hotel and was also located on the west side of the park. That building eventually became the supermarket that is there today. Another theatre, called the Salon, was built in 1915 on the north side of the park. It was later called the Apolo, and presented zarzuelas (Spanish musical theatre) and operettas, as well as films. In 1922, it was renamed the Cinema Rivoli and was also called the Cines Hollywood and today is simply known as MM Cinema. After some remodeling of the plaza between 1982 and 1984, the park began the tradition of holding Remembranzas Musicales every Tuesday night. This event brings residents and tourists together to dance the cha-cha, the mambo, salsa and more to live, Big Band music under the stars and remember the good old days.
For extranjeros, Santiago is one of the most desirable downtown neighborhoods and there are many American and Canadian-owned colonial homes in this area, and I am one of the owners.
‘Love God and love your neighbor.’ Matthew 22:34-40.
These two greatest commandments seem simple enough, yet can be difficult to follow. What does it mean to love fully? A little child might know a parent’s love by cuddles, kisses, quality time spent together. Loving and affectionate attention. When I find peace and space in my heart, I am able to give loving attention to God.
In the moments between busy doing, we try to give space to God. But are these scraps of ‘in-between’ time enough? Can we do more? Can we live our life continuously in an attitude, an intention of love?
If we breathe love for God and all God’s creation, then surely loving our neighbor—all those we meet in life—will flow from this. We will have our bad days, Lord, our ugly thoughts, but let us keep listening to you, watching for your familiar face, giving you our loving and affectionate attention.
I live in one of the oldest colonias in Merida, the Santiago district is to the west and north of Plaza Grande. The church, founded in 1637, was once much grander; now little remains of the original structure other than the modest sanctuary with a baroque statue of Santiago and the dated inscription above the entry. The front of the church and the main nave, supported by buttresses, not necessarily flying, was built in the 19th century. There is a park in front of the church and a market next to the church, with fruits and vegetables, meats, and a good flower selection.
There are a host of excellent cocina economicas, sundries stores and an ice cream store. There is also a children’s playground in the park, and a large concrete area used at various times for skateboarding, big band music (Tuesday nights), dancing, fairs and temporary markets. Surrounding the park you can find a grocery store (Aki), a drugstore, a movie theatre and a branch of Mexico’s pawn shop chain, Nacional Monte de Piedad. Behind the church are a number of hardware stores, paint stores, a bicycle store and Flor de Santiago, a bakery, cafe and restaurant. And on the other side of Calle 59 are two large schools, one public and one private, in beautiful buildings both built during the Porfirio Era (early 1900s).
Originally (350-400 years ago), Santiago was the area relegated to the indigenous indios and artisans. Due to its close proximity to the central square, Santiago was one of the first areas to expand in population. It quickly became the shopping area for residents of San Sebastian, Ermita and other areas who wanted to avoid the downtown. Famous figures hailing from Santiago include Manuel Cepada Peraza (a governor of Yucatan in the 1860’s), composer Guadalupe Trigo, Crescencio Carrillo y Ancona (a bishop of Yucatan who grew up in Santiago) and the ducator/writer/reporter Rodolfo Menéndez de la Peña who died in Santiago in 1928.
Santiago was once the German district, with the building on the corner once known as Quinta Los Alemanes. Santiago was the nicest place to live in Merida, before Paseo de Montejo was built around the turn of the century (1900), and Calle 59 was the main formal entrance into Merida after Porfirio Diaz built the Centenario Zoo and Parque de La Paz. In 1914, Santiago got its movie theatre, then called La Frontera, which also had a hotel and was also located on the west side of the park. That building eventually became the supermarket that is there today. Another theatre, called the Salon, was built in 1915 on the north side of the park. It was later called the Apolo, and presented zarzuelas (Spanish musical theatre) and operettas, as well as films. In 1922, it was renamed the Cinema Rivoli and was also called the Cines Hollywood and today is simply known as MM Cinema. After some remodeling of the plaza between 1982 and 1984, the park began the tradition of holding Remembranzas Musicales every Tuesday night. This event brings residents and tourists together to dance the cha-cha, the mambo, salsa and more to live, Big Band music under the stars and remember the good old days.
For extranjeros, Santiago is one of the most desirable downtown neighborhoods and there are many American and Canadian-owned colonial homes in this area, and I am one of the owners.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Thursday August 19, 2010
The Feast of St John Eudes. He was born and died in Normandy. He was ordained priest and spent many years preaching parish missions. He organized a congregation of nuns that grew into the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, dedicated to the care of women rescued from a disorderly life, and a congregation of priests dedicated to the running of seminaries. He was active in encouraging devotion to the Sacred Heart, and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
In his time the Church in France was corrupt and in many ways a source of evil rather than grace. The higher clergy were rich and privileged, and enjoyed and guarded their privileges (the country was run, and wars were waged, by a cardinal). The lower clergy were ignorant and the common people were poor, superstitious, and oppressed as much spiritually as materially. To this mix was added the poison of Jansenism, which taught that human nature was corrupt, original sin rampant, and perfection was both necessary for salvation and practically unattainable.
In such circumstances, setting up seminaries to ensure the proper education of priests becomes itself a revolutionary act, and the encouragement of devotion to the Sacred Heart – to the emotional core of Jesus – becomes not a sweet pious platitude but a defiant proclamation that the centre of God’s essence is his love, not condemnation.
Over and over again in the lives of the saints we find the Church sick and corrupt. Perhaps it must always be so, journeying in a fallen world and staffed by sinners who are as fallen as the rest of us and subject to worse temptations. And over and over again we find God’s grace acting through people like St John Eudes. They do not stand outside and complain or run campaigns, they go in and do things, removing the mould of worldly corruption and putting back, bit by bit, the leaven of grace. They will always be needed, until the world ends.
In today's Gospel [Matthew 22:1-14] we hear: ‘Come to the wedding.’
One can get the message of today’s parable without understanding all the details. The chance of a life-time was offered and refused—for frivolous reasons.
But invitations to that wedding are still being sent out. God invites everyone to the wedding feast of heaven. My parents accepted on my behalf when they had me baptized. The Christian life I endeavor to lead tells God that I am still interested. Even so, it is possible to make a poor preparation for that great event that will go on forever.
One does not go along to a wedding empty-handed. One brings a gift to show appreciation of the invitation and friendship. What gifts am I getting ready now for God?
WHALE SHARK SEASON on Isla Holbox is from (approx.) May 15 - Sept. 15. Whale sharks come to the northern tip of the Yucatán peninsula to feed and mate during the summer.
THE ART OF TRUTH, COMPASSION, AND TOLERANCE Twelve international artists paint for basic dignity and human rights. They tell the story of Falun Dafa, a spiritual discipline persecuted by the Chinese government. MACAY Museum, July 9-Sept. 30.
TURTLES AT ECO PARAÍSO Along miles and miles of virgin beach, our guests have had the wonderful experience of watching turtles be born, later to release them to the sea. The temperature defines the gender of the babies (for this reason, global warming is a serious problem for the survival of the reptiles). Visit Eco Paraiso Xixim to be an Ecological Tourist. 10 km North of Celestún. Tel. (988) 916 21 00.
BICENTENNIAL MENU Balam salad: combination of fesh lettuces, carrots, red peppers, Italian squash, cucumber, onion, and egg with a delicious house vinaigrette. National confetti: turkey breast stuffed with red prickly pear and guayaba with a pitaya and jamaica flower sauce, accompanied by cheese-stuffed chaya. Dessert: pitaya sorbet with jamaica flower sauce on a bed of corn and cacao. Bistro las Palomas in the Hotel Casa del Balam, Calle 60 x 57 Centro. Tel. 924 8844.
THE GAME OF LIFE: EL DIOS VERDE...FROM BRAZOS ABIERTOS Play The Game of Life As El Dios Verde. Two years ago Brazos Abiertos began a fascinating relationship with Dr. La Verne Abe Harris of the IDEA Laboratory at Purdue University where she is Co-Director. In 2008, Dr. Harris presented a proposal to our Board of Directors to create an educational online video game that would educate young people in the Yucatan about HIV/AIDS. Video games are a powerful way to appeal to young people and Dr. Harris' proposal has now turned into reality. After traveling to Yucatan in Summer 2008, experiencing the work of our TEAMM interns in the field, and learning about Mayan culture, Dr. Harris came back to the IDEA Laboratory with a concept for the game. She assembled a team of students and directed them as they fleshed-out the concept and produced the video game. The students called their Production team "Squeaky Ideas." Well, it's a wrap now and they call their production El Dios Verde (The Green God). Players take the role of an avatar in a cooperative game setting based upon Mayan themes. El Dios Verde is a Mayan superhero who must destroy the evil Virus Warriors by increasing his knowledge about HIV/AIDS. Along the way, Jaguar agents are encountered who guide him as he engages in question-based combat. As he defeats these "minions" you are rewarded with glowing green T-Cell jewels--collect six and you advance to the next level. This new online video game is an exciting development in the field of HIV/AIDS education for young people. We believe El Dios Verde will become a valuable educational tool for Brazos Abiertos as we continue with our mission in Yucatan. Muchas gracias to La Verne and to the “Squeaky Ideas” team. Los queremos mucho!
In his time the Church in France was corrupt and in many ways a source of evil rather than grace. The higher clergy were rich and privileged, and enjoyed and guarded their privileges (the country was run, and wars were waged, by a cardinal). The lower clergy were ignorant and the common people were poor, superstitious, and oppressed as much spiritually as materially. To this mix was added the poison of Jansenism, which taught that human nature was corrupt, original sin rampant, and perfection was both necessary for salvation and practically unattainable.
In such circumstances, setting up seminaries to ensure the proper education of priests becomes itself a revolutionary act, and the encouragement of devotion to the Sacred Heart – to the emotional core of Jesus – becomes not a sweet pious platitude but a defiant proclamation that the centre of God’s essence is his love, not condemnation.
Over and over again in the lives of the saints we find the Church sick and corrupt. Perhaps it must always be so, journeying in a fallen world and staffed by sinners who are as fallen as the rest of us and subject to worse temptations. And over and over again we find God’s grace acting through people like St John Eudes. They do not stand outside and complain or run campaigns, they go in and do things, removing the mould of worldly corruption and putting back, bit by bit, the leaven of grace. They will always be needed, until the world ends.
In today's Gospel [Matthew 22:1-14] we hear: ‘Come to the wedding.’
One can get the message of today’s parable without understanding all the details. The chance of a life-time was offered and refused—for frivolous reasons.
But invitations to that wedding are still being sent out. God invites everyone to the wedding feast of heaven. My parents accepted on my behalf when they had me baptized. The Christian life I endeavor to lead tells God that I am still interested. Even so, it is possible to make a poor preparation for that great event that will go on forever.
One does not go along to a wedding empty-handed. One brings a gift to show appreciation of the invitation and friendship. What gifts am I getting ready now for God?
WHALE SHARK SEASON on Isla Holbox is from (approx.) May 15 - Sept. 15. Whale sharks come to the northern tip of the Yucatán peninsula to feed and mate during the summer.
THE ART OF TRUTH, COMPASSION, AND TOLERANCE Twelve international artists paint for basic dignity and human rights. They tell the story of Falun Dafa, a spiritual discipline persecuted by the Chinese government. MACAY Museum, July 9-Sept. 30.
TURTLES AT ECO PARAÍSO Along miles and miles of virgin beach, our guests have had the wonderful experience of watching turtles be born, later to release them to the sea. The temperature defines the gender of the babies (for this reason, global warming is a serious problem for the survival of the reptiles). Visit Eco Paraiso Xixim to be an Ecological Tourist. 10 km North of Celestún. Tel. (988) 916 21 00.
BICENTENNIAL MENU Balam salad: combination of fesh lettuces, carrots, red peppers, Italian squash, cucumber, onion, and egg with a delicious house vinaigrette. National confetti: turkey breast stuffed with red prickly pear and guayaba with a pitaya and jamaica flower sauce, accompanied by cheese-stuffed chaya. Dessert: pitaya sorbet with jamaica flower sauce on a bed of corn and cacao. Bistro las Palomas in the Hotel Casa del Balam, Calle 60 x 57 Centro. Tel. 924 8844.
THE GAME OF LIFE: EL DIOS VERDE...FROM BRAZOS ABIERTOS Play The Game of Life As El Dios Verde. Two years ago Brazos Abiertos began a fascinating relationship with Dr. La Verne Abe Harris of the IDEA Laboratory at Purdue University where she is Co-Director. In 2008, Dr. Harris presented a proposal to our Board of Directors to create an educational online video game that would educate young people in the Yucatan about HIV/AIDS. Video games are a powerful way to appeal to young people and Dr. Harris' proposal has now turned into reality. After traveling to Yucatan in Summer 2008, experiencing the work of our TEAMM interns in the field, and learning about Mayan culture, Dr. Harris came back to the IDEA Laboratory with a concept for the game. She assembled a team of students and directed them as they fleshed-out the concept and produced the video game. The students called their Production team "Squeaky Ideas." Well, it's a wrap now and they call their production El Dios Verde (The Green God). Players take the role of an avatar in a cooperative game setting based upon Mayan themes. El Dios Verde is a Mayan superhero who must destroy the evil Virus Warriors by increasing his knowledge about HIV/AIDS. Along the way, Jaguar agents are encountered who guide him as he engages in question-based combat. As he defeats these "minions" you are rewarded with glowing green T-Cell jewels--collect six and you advance to the next level. This new online video game is an exciting development in the field of HIV/AIDS education for young people. We believe El Dios Verde will become a valuable educational tool for Brazos Abiertos as we continue with our mission in Yucatan. Muchas gracias to La Verne and to the “Squeaky Ideas” team. Los queremos mucho!
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Please don't squeeze the Charmin
I promised to explain why you should not put paper in a Mexican toilet, and I am not going to let you down. There are actually several answers to this question and the most puzzling of these is: you can put paper in a Mexican toilet! Yes, you can. The toilet will not spit the paper back out like a wrinkled dollar from a vending machine. The toilet police won’t show up at your door. And there will be no immediate ill effect from your indiscretion. But it would be rude.
In many tourist destinations in Mexico, especially hotels, where modern sewage treatment is available, you are encouraged to flush your paper, just like in Gringolandia. The hotel management may even post little signs to let their Mexican guests know that they are expected to dispose of their papel confort down the toilet. They have to do this because Mexicans are trained from birth to be very polite.
But away from the tourist hangouts, and especially in private homes, you will encounter a small, covered, plastic or plastic-lined wastebasket near the toilet. If you see one, then be a polite guest and put your paper in there, not down the toilet.
To understand what etiquette has to do with how you dispose of toilet paper in Mexico, we need a basic understanding of sewer systems. If you are reading this from your home or office in Gringolandia, chances are that your toilet (and anything else that drains from your house) is connected to your city’s public sewer system. Everything you flush flows through large concrete pipes to an industrial processing plant where the solids are separated from the liquids. The liquids are filtered and treated with chemicals and the result is released back into the environment in the least offensive way possible where nature finishes the process using evaporation and rain. The solids are also treated and refined, resulting either in trash or fertilizer. This immense infrastructure is quite expensive to install, operate and maintain. It also consumes a lot of energy. These are your tax dollars at work.
Gringos who flush outside the city limits use a private septic tank, called a fosa septica (septic pit) or sumidero (drain) here in Mexico. In Gringolandia, a septic tank is usually made of a durable plastic and has two chambers. The first is called the sediment chamber. This is where the wastewater enters. Most of the solids collect here at the bottom where anything organic is slowly digested by bacteria. The liquids continue on, passing through PVC pipe (and perhaps some baffles to prevent large solids from entering) into the second stage, called the clarifying chamber. Here, particles are allowed to settle while the clearest liquid exits the septic tank.
Unlike their northern neighbors, almost all Mexicans use a fosa septica, which is not much different than a Gringolandia septic tank. This technology is very old, so the process is the same. The only difference is the materials. Here in Mexico, many of the colonial houses and other buildings were constructed before the advent of plastics, so most fosa septica are built from plastered stone or concrete block. While plastic septic tanks have one or more manhole covers to permit inspection and cleaning, Mexican fosa septica are generally covered with a slab of concrete and sealed with plaster, like a tomb.
The important difference between a traditional, Mexican fosa septica and a plastic, Gringolandia septic tank is what happens when the clarified liquid is released back into the environment. In the plastic version, the liquid enters one or more perforated PVC pipes, which are buried in long trenches about four feet deep, filled halfway with gravel and covered with topsoil. This is called a drain field, and it’s where you want to plant your strawberries.
In the traditional, Mexican version, the liquid flows down into a filtro (filter), which is a concrete-lined pozo (well) filled with several inches of gravel on top, followed by several inches of charcoal in the middle, followed by a foot or two of sand at the bottom. Why use a filtro and not a drain field? One reason is because the filtro does not use plastics. Another is that this method takes up less space, which is a requirement in colonial urban zones.
But the filtro is the hurdle, so to speak, on the toilet paper trail. Even if much of the paper discarded in a Mexican toilet remains in the fosa septica’s sediment chamber, tiny bits do float past the clarifying chamber and into the filtro, so that over time a paper mache sludge builds up.
How much time does it take to clog a filtro? Nobody knows. It depends on how big the fosa septica and filtro are, how many people are using the toiliet and how much paper or other non-biodegradable stuff they’re flushing down there. It could take three years, or five, or ten. If you don’t flush any paper, it could take fifty or more.
As you probably know, all septic tank systems eventually fill up with sludge and non-biodegradable stuff and have to be pumped out. In Gringolandia, where most septic tanks are located under a lawn in the yard, this is not such a big deal: just dig for a few minutes, screw off the lid and pump away.
In Mexico, maintenance can be a bit more trouble. Many fosa septica are located under the patio, or they might be under the foundation of your house or even partially under your neighbor’s house, because many of these old colonial homes are the result of subdividing a larger mansion. Even when located in a back yard, the access is limited, which means the workers and their hoses will probably be coming through your front door. What’s more, most fosa septica are as old as the houses. Digging into them, like unearthing an ancient tomb, can be risky, leading to cracks or a complete collapse.
This is where famous Mexican thriftiness meets Mexican toilet training. No matter what their socio-economic station in life, Mexicans stretch their pesos and pretty much everything else. When the convenience of flushing paper down the toilet is at the expense of flushing pesos by cracking open a fosa septica, Mexicans would rather have the pesos. In this sense, it would be as rude to flush paper down your host’s toilet in Mexico as it would be to leave the door open on their refrigerator.
Most new homes and residential developments being built in Mexico today do use plastic septic tanks in their construction. When working on the design of a new home, you are offered the choice of a plastic septic tank or the traditional fosa septica. The plastic version, called a Septi-K, is billed as an environment-friendly version. It costs less than a fosa septica and has a cover you can remove to rinse the internal filter. The clarified liquids empty into a leach field or French drain. Every ten to 30 months, depending on use, you have to manually remove the lodo (uh… mud), which you can put in your yard as fertilizer or perhaps share with friends. And you can flush paper into it like a gringo. So now you know what to do when you visit my bathroom and why you are doing it. Thanks to you, I may never have to service my fosa septica. At least in this one small way, I have assimilated into Mexican culture.
In many tourist destinations in Mexico, especially hotels, where modern sewage treatment is available, you are encouraged to flush your paper, just like in Gringolandia. The hotel management may even post little signs to let their Mexican guests know that they are expected to dispose of their papel confort down the toilet. They have to do this because Mexicans are trained from birth to be very polite.
But away from the tourist hangouts, and especially in private homes, you will encounter a small, covered, plastic or plastic-lined wastebasket near the toilet. If you see one, then be a polite guest and put your paper in there, not down the toilet.
To understand what etiquette has to do with how you dispose of toilet paper in Mexico, we need a basic understanding of sewer systems. If you are reading this from your home or office in Gringolandia, chances are that your toilet (and anything else that drains from your house) is connected to your city’s public sewer system. Everything you flush flows through large concrete pipes to an industrial processing plant where the solids are separated from the liquids. The liquids are filtered and treated with chemicals and the result is released back into the environment in the least offensive way possible where nature finishes the process using evaporation and rain. The solids are also treated and refined, resulting either in trash or fertilizer. This immense infrastructure is quite expensive to install, operate and maintain. It also consumes a lot of energy. These are your tax dollars at work.
Gringos who flush outside the city limits use a private septic tank, called a fosa septica (septic pit) or sumidero (drain) here in Mexico. In Gringolandia, a septic tank is usually made of a durable plastic and has two chambers. The first is called the sediment chamber. This is where the wastewater enters. Most of the solids collect here at the bottom where anything organic is slowly digested by bacteria. The liquids continue on, passing through PVC pipe (and perhaps some baffles to prevent large solids from entering) into the second stage, called the clarifying chamber. Here, particles are allowed to settle while the clearest liquid exits the septic tank.
Unlike their northern neighbors, almost all Mexicans use a fosa septica, which is not much different than a Gringolandia septic tank. This technology is very old, so the process is the same. The only difference is the materials. Here in Mexico, many of the colonial houses and other buildings were constructed before the advent of plastics, so most fosa septica are built from plastered stone or concrete block. While plastic septic tanks have one or more manhole covers to permit inspection and cleaning, Mexican fosa septica are generally covered with a slab of concrete and sealed with plaster, like a tomb.
The important difference between a traditional, Mexican fosa septica and a plastic, Gringolandia septic tank is what happens when the clarified liquid is released back into the environment. In the plastic version, the liquid enters one or more perforated PVC pipes, which are buried in long trenches about four feet deep, filled halfway with gravel and covered with topsoil. This is called a drain field, and it’s where you want to plant your strawberries.
In the traditional, Mexican version, the liquid flows down into a filtro (filter), which is a concrete-lined pozo (well) filled with several inches of gravel on top, followed by several inches of charcoal in the middle, followed by a foot or two of sand at the bottom. Why use a filtro and not a drain field? One reason is because the filtro does not use plastics. Another is that this method takes up less space, which is a requirement in colonial urban zones.
But the filtro is the hurdle, so to speak, on the toilet paper trail. Even if much of the paper discarded in a Mexican toilet remains in the fosa septica’s sediment chamber, tiny bits do float past the clarifying chamber and into the filtro, so that over time a paper mache sludge builds up.
How much time does it take to clog a filtro? Nobody knows. It depends on how big the fosa septica and filtro are, how many people are using the toiliet and how much paper or other non-biodegradable stuff they’re flushing down there. It could take three years, or five, or ten. If you don’t flush any paper, it could take fifty or more.
As you probably know, all septic tank systems eventually fill up with sludge and non-biodegradable stuff and have to be pumped out. In Gringolandia, where most septic tanks are located under a lawn in the yard, this is not such a big deal: just dig for a few minutes, screw off the lid and pump away.
In Mexico, maintenance can be a bit more trouble. Many fosa septica are located under the patio, or they might be under the foundation of your house or even partially under your neighbor’s house, because many of these old colonial homes are the result of subdividing a larger mansion. Even when located in a back yard, the access is limited, which means the workers and their hoses will probably be coming through your front door. What’s more, most fosa septica are as old as the houses. Digging into them, like unearthing an ancient tomb, can be risky, leading to cracks or a complete collapse.
This is where famous Mexican thriftiness meets Mexican toilet training. No matter what their socio-economic station in life, Mexicans stretch their pesos and pretty much everything else. When the convenience of flushing paper down the toilet is at the expense of flushing pesos by cracking open a fosa septica, Mexicans would rather have the pesos. In this sense, it would be as rude to flush paper down your host’s toilet in Mexico as it would be to leave the door open on their refrigerator.
Most new homes and residential developments being built in Mexico today do use plastic septic tanks in their construction. When working on the design of a new home, you are offered the choice of a plastic septic tank or the traditional fosa septica. The plastic version, called a Septi-K, is billed as an environment-friendly version. It costs less than a fosa septica and has a cover you can remove to rinse the internal filter. The clarified liquids empty into a leach field or French drain. Every ten to 30 months, depending on use, you have to manually remove the lodo (uh… mud), which you can put in your yard as fertilizer or perhaps share with friends. And you can flush paper into it like a gringo. So now you know what to do when you visit my bathroom and why you are doing it. Thanks to you, I may never have to service my fosa septica. At least in this one small way, I have assimilated into Mexican culture.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Tuesday 17th August 2010
Another monsoon yesterday afternoon at 7PM. Two days in a row. Well, at least the plants get watered and the yard gets washed. This time no power outage. Thank God.
Today’s gospel reading is one of Jesus’ most challenging messages: the last shall be first and the first shall be last. In the privileged west, we are keen to point out that Jesus couldn’t have meant it literally when he spoke of excluding the rich from heaven. Perhaps the most dangerous part of wealth is not the money itself, but the way it makes our hearts proud. The nations ‘void of sense’ surely comprise the entire western world. Our proud hearts ignore the struggles of the developing nations. What can I do to make the kingdom of God come here on earth, right now? How can I make my heart less proud, more compassionate? How do my own lifestyle choices deal death or give life to the world’s poor? Live Simply, So That Others May Simply Live is what I am learning here, in the Yucatan.
DON’T LEAVE THE WATER RUNNING. This is one lesson I learn daily. Whether it’s running the water while brushing my teeth, taking a shower, the locals make me aware of how much water I am using – or on the other hand, how much water I was wasting. “Don’t leave the water running!” “ I have learned that water is NOT a mere luxury that is to be taken for granted. We are lucky to have a water and sewer system that allows us to have clean water whenever we want it. But there are people around the world who live each day with little or no access to water – and those that do have access sometimes have no other choice than to deal with dirty, microbe-infested waters in their towns or villages. There are children in Africa who must drink from the same water that the community bathes and washes their clothes in. There are people in Bolivia who must carefully boil their water before using it to cook or scrub vegetables with. There are villagers in the Pacific Islands who must wade and canoe through mosquito-infested waters after torrential downpours and tsunamis. Can you imagine how we would react if we had to deal with these issues every day? We often get upset if we can’t find our favorite bottle of Perrier in the grocery store, or if the hot water won’t come out fast enough in the shower, or if we have to actually do the dishes in our sink, rather than running the dishwasher.
DON’T LEAVE THE LIGHTS ON. This is a piece of advice that I really do try and pay attention to. I pay even more attention now, after hearing some ringos complain about their 500 USD a month electric bills., all due to lights being left on when not in use. How many light sources do we have at home? How many light bulbs do we have in our office building? How much electricity is actually being consumed each day? When our power goes out for a few hours at home during a storm, it’s like the end of the world. We must live without the everyday convenience of light – not to mention refrigerators, electric can openers, TV’s, hair dryers, computers, palm pilots, cell phones, and the Internet. We scramble around, trying to figure out how to get our work done and how to keep ourselves fed and entertained.
DON’T WASTE YOUR FOOD. I have a hard time understanding why some people have to spend SO MUCH on the fanciest kinds of food that they just “must have,” while others are starving and have no food at all. Here are two instances that I recently heard about. Number one – a $1,000 ice cream sundae. There is a restaurant in New York that serves this outrageous dessert, and it’s only served if they are given 48 hours notice. (I think it’s 48 hours – but it’s definitely not the 20 minutes you need in a typical restaurant). The ice cream is a fresh vanilla bean ice cream, covered with real edible gold, real gold covered nuts, and imported chocolate shavings. To top it off, it is served in a Waterford crystal ice cream dish.
Number two – a $1,000 pizza. There is a restaurant (again I believe it is in New York) that makes a pizza nothing like I’ve ever had! Its toppings are thinly shaved slices of imported lobster and four different kinds of caviar, each with their own unique taste, color, and texture, which is meant to give you a one-of-a-kind pizza experience. It is served on a china plate by the owner of the restaurant, and even comes with a silver fork and knife. (Since that is the way everyone eats pizza!)
Anything else similar to these outlandish food items or along these lines, regarding food, upsets me. It’s amazing to think what a variety of food so many people have access to, and even have the money to pay for – like lobster, caviar, steak, and wine – while others around the world are literally going hungry. The two worlds are so different. Which one would I rather be associated with? Definitely not the lobster and caviar world. I’d much rather help those who are hungry and take part in a solution to the world’s hunger crisis, rather than eat whatever I please and disregard the rest of the world.
One such person affected in “the rest of the world” is the hungry child. We’ve all seen the photos of the hungry children whose little stomachs are bloated. I once heard someone say, “Oh, they’re not hungry – look how fat their stomachs are!” I was shocked. Their stomachs are not fat due to overeating or obesity. Their stomachs are bloated because they are not getting enough nourishment, such as protein, vitamins, and other nutrients, which basically affects their systems and the way things are digested and flow throughout the body. This can cause fluids to build up inside the body (stomach). Thus, bloated stomachs. It is just one symptom of extreme starvation.
LOVE ONE ANOTHER. “There is a terrible hunger for love. We all experience that in our lives – the pain, the loneliness. We must have the courage to recognize it. The poor you may have right in your own family. Find them. Love them.” Mother Teresa sure had it right – we all need love, and it is up to us to spread that love to others. It takes a very caring and courageous person to see when someone is in need, and that the easiest thing they can give to him or her is a smile, a hug – or more simply – love. Imagine what a difference we could make in the world.
WATER, LIGHT, FOOD, AND LOVE. These are the simplest gifts we can give to others. To us, they may just be everyday things … but to others, they may just be the gift of life itself.
I am pleased to report that USA Today has just published updated crime statistics for Mexico, including Yucatan. Their findings show that the State of Yucatan has the lowest murder rate in all of Mexico. Its murder rate of 2 per 100,000 is comparable to that of Wyoming and Montana. In fact, the murder rate in Washington, D.C. (31.4 per 100K), is nearly quadruple the murder rate of Mexico City (8 per 100K). Yes, if you factor in the murders at a few of the border cities, the murder rate of Mexico is higher than that of the U.S., but Yucatan is far removed from all of that!
GAS: At the beginning of 2010, it was decided to raise the price of PEMEX gasoline at a projected annual average rate (on a monthly basis), rather than allowing big increases to hit consumers all at once. Each month, on the second Saturday of the month, gasoline prices are raised. As of now, magna is $8.44 pesos per liter, Premium is $9.94 pesos per liter, and diesel is $8.80 pesos per liter. Rates of increase seem to be holding at 8.2% for magna, 3.9% for premium, and 7.8% for diesel.
Kids: Is It Back To School Time Already? This past week saw the annual Back to School Fair at Poliforum Zamna. The fair brings products directly to buyers from manufacturers on many items, with a corresponding discount of up to 30%, then gives parents a list of stores where those and other products can be purchased. There were a total of 50 exhibits to show everything from computers to clothing, and even cars and furniture! Just in case anyone is confused about all of these products, PROFECA actually has a form on their website to help parents navigate the mysterious and expensive path to getting their children back in school after summer vacation on August 30th.
Mexican Schools: Goodbye Junk Food Soon, there will be no more junk food available for purchase in Mexican schools. Instead, school stores are to become an educational tool that will be used to help in the fight against childhood obesity and diabetes throughout the nation. Our hats are off to Mexico for having the foresight to step in at this critical juncture in the lives of children and help ensure a long and healthy life for them and for the children they have someday. This is a lasting gift to the future of Mexico and we are happy to see it at last.
Pets: Law in Mexico City: Dog Feces on the Street We saw it with cigarette smoking in public buildings and with biodegradable plastic bags. If it becomes an environmental law in Mexico City, we can almost be certain it will be the law in Merida within the year. Mexico City calculated that the pets that live there produce almost half a million kilos of animal feces per year. All of that must be disposed of properly in order to protect the health of its citizens. Now, after 9,200 dog bites in one year, Mexico City has had enough. The fine for not picking up and disposing of dog feces, or for not keeping one’s dog on a leash, is 10 minimum wages and 6 to 12 hours of arrest. Keeping dogs on a leash and cleaning up after them is part of being a responsible dog owner. We hope that everyone in Yucatan will take this to heart before it has to become a law and before anyone has to pay a fine or go to jail.
Guatemala: Why Do They Come Here? Every once in a while, we hear complaints about migrants who enter Yucatan illegally from Guatemala. For the most part, as long as they behave responsibly, these migrants are left alone. Many marry and create new Yucateco families. If problems occur, it is when they are sick or elderly and in need of social services. This week, we discovered one of the reasons they leave Guatemala specifically to enter the State of Yucatan. In Guatemala, the Maya have little to no access to education and health care. For the Maya in Guatemala, racism is alive and flourishing. With no opportunity to change their situation at home, imagine how the Maya of Guatemala feel when they enter a state that, through Indemaya, encourages the Maya to be not only politically active, but economically active as well. While we do not advocate illegal migration either into or out of Mexico, we can certainly understand how the State of Yucatan can be viewed as a haven of rest by people who have not been treated as they should have been. We can offer no solutions to this problem – only our observations concerning at least one of the reasons why they continue to come.
Today’s gospel reading is one of Jesus’ most challenging messages: the last shall be first and the first shall be last. In the privileged west, we are keen to point out that Jesus couldn’t have meant it literally when he spoke of excluding the rich from heaven. Perhaps the most dangerous part of wealth is not the money itself, but the way it makes our hearts proud. The nations ‘void of sense’ surely comprise the entire western world. Our proud hearts ignore the struggles of the developing nations. What can I do to make the kingdom of God come here on earth, right now? How can I make my heart less proud, more compassionate? How do my own lifestyle choices deal death or give life to the world’s poor? Live Simply, So That Others May Simply Live is what I am learning here, in the Yucatan.
DON’T LEAVE THE WATER RUNNING. This is one lesson I learn daily. Whether it’s running the water while brushing my teeth, taking a shower, the locals make me aware of how much water I am using – or on the other hand, how much water I was wasting. “Don’t leave the water running!” “ I have learned that water is NOT a mere luxury that is to be taken for granted. We are lucky to have a water and sewer system that allows us to have clean water whenever we want it. But there are people around the world who live each day with little or no access to water – and those that do have access sometimes have no other choice than to deal with dirty, microbe-infested waters in their towns or villages. There are children in Africa who must drink from the same water that the community bathes and washes their clothes in. There are people in Bolivia who must carefully boil their water before using it to cook or scrub vegetables with. There are villagers in the Pacific Islands who must wade and canoe through mosquito-infested waters after torrential downpours and tsunamis. Can you imagine how we would react if we had to deal with these issues every day? We often get upset if we can’t find our favorite bottle of Perrier in the grocery store, or if the hot water won’t come out fast enough in the shower, or if we have to actually do the dishes in our sink, rather than running the dishwasher.
DON’T LEAVE THE LIGHTS ON. This is a piece of advice that I really do try and pay attention to. I pay even more attention now, after hearing some ringos complain about their 500 USD a month electric bills., all due to lights being left on when not in use. How many light sources do we have at home? How many light bulbs do we have in our office building? How much electricity is actually being consumed each day? When our power goes out for a few hours at home during a storm, it’s like the end of the world. We must live without the everyday convenience of light – not to mention refrigerators, electric can openers, TV’s, hair dryers, computers, palm pilots, cell phones, and the Internet. We scramble around, trying to figure out how to get our work done and how to keep ourselves fed and entertained.
DON’T WASTE YOUR FOOD. I have a hard time understanding why some people have to spend SO MUCH on the fanciest kinds of food that they just “must have,” while others are starving and have no food at all. Here are two instances that I recently heard about. Number one – a $1,000 ice cream sundae. There is a restaurant in New York that serves this outrageous dessert, and it’s only served if they are given 48 hours notice. (I think it’s 48 hours – but it’s definitely not the 20 minutes you need in a typical restaurant). The ice cream is a fresh vanilla bean ice cream, covered with real edible gold, real gold covered nuts, and imported chocolate shavings. To top it off, it is served in a Waterford crystal ice cream dish.
Number two – a $1,000 pizza. There is a restaurant (again I believe it is in New York) that makes a pizza nothing like I’ve ever had! Its toppings are thinly shaved slices of imported lobster and four different kinds of caviar, each with their own unique taste, color, and texture, which is meant to give you a one-of-a-kind pizza experience. It is served on a china plate by the owner of the restaurant, and even comes with a silver fork and knife. (Since that is the way everyone eats pizza!)
Anything else similar to these outlandish food items or along these lines, regarding food, upsets me. It’s amazing to think what a variety of food so many people have access to, and even have the money to pay for – like lobster, caviar, steak, and wine – while others around the world are literally going hungry. The two worlds are so different. Which one would I rather be associated with? Definitely not the lobster and caviar world. I’d much rather help those who are hungry and take part in a solution to the world’s hunger crisis, rather than eat whatever I please and disregard the rest of the world.
One such person affected in “the rest of the world” is the hungry child. We’ve all seen the photos of the hungry children whose little stomachs are bloated. I once heard someone say, “Oh, they’re not hungry – look how fat their stomachs are!” I was shocked. Their stomachs are not fat due to overeating or obesity. Their stomachs are bloated because they are not getting enough nourishment, such as protein, vitamins, and other nutrients, which basically affects their systems and the way things are digested and flow throughout the body. This can cause fluids to build up inside the body (stomach). Thus, bloated stomachs. It is just one symptom of extreme starvation.
LOVE ONE ANOTHER. “There is a terrible hunger for love. We all experience that in our lives – the pain, the loneliness. We must have the courage to recognize it. The poor you may have right in your own family. Find them. Love them.” Mother Teresa sure had it right – we all need love, and it is up to us to spread that love to others. It takes a very caring and courageous person to see when someone is in need, and that the easiest thing they can give to him or her is a smile, a hug – or more simply – love. Imagine what a difference we could make in the world.
WATER, LIGHT, FOOD, AND LOVE. These are the simplest gifts we can give to others. To us, they may just be everyday things … but to others, they may just be the gift of life itself.
I am pleased to report that USA Today has just published updated crime statistics for Mexico, including Yucatan. Their findings show that the State of Yucatan has the lowest murder rate in all of Mexico. Its murder rate of 2 per 100,000 is comparable to that of Wyoming and Montana. In fact, the murder rate in Washington, D.C. (31.4 per 100K), is nearly quadruple the murder rate of Mexico City (8 per 100K). Yes, if you factor in the murders at a few of the border cities, the murder rate of Mexico is higher than that of the U.S., but Yucatan is far removed from all of that!
GAS: At the beginning of 2010, it was decided to raise the price of PEMEX gasoline at a projected annual average rate (on a monthly basis), rather than allowing big increases to hit consumers all at once. Each month, on the second Saturday of the month, gasoline prices are raised. As of now, magna is $8.44 pesos per liter, Premium is $9.94 pesos per liter, and diesel is $8.80 pesos per liter. Rates of increase seem to be holding at 8.2% for magna, 3.9% for premium, and 7.8% for diesel.
Kids: Is It Back To School Time Already? This past week saw the annual Back to School Fair at Poliforum Zamna. The fair brings products directly to buyers from manufacturers on many items, with a corresponding discount of up to 30%, then gives parents a list of stores where those and other products can be purchased. There were a total of 50 exhibits to show everything from computers to clothing, and even cars and furniture! Just in case anyone is confused about all of these products, PROFECA actually has a form on their website to help parents navigate the mysterious and expensive path to getting their children back in school after summer vacation on August 30th.
Mexican Schools: Goodbye Junk Food Soon, there will be no more junk food available for purchase in Mexican schools. Instead, school stores are to become an educational tool that will be used to help in the fight against childhood obesity and diabetes throughout the nation. Our hats are off to Mexico for having the foresight to step in at this critical juncture in the lives of children and help ensure a long and healthy life for them and for the children they have someday. This is a lasting gift to the future of Mexico and we are happy to see it at last.
Pets: Law in Mexico City: Dog Feces on the Street We saw it with cigarette smoking in public buildings and with biodegradable plastic bags. If it becomes an environmental law in Mexico City, we can almost be certain it will be the law in Merida within the year. Mexico City calculated that the pets that live there produce almost half a million kilos of animal feces per year. All of that must be disposed of properly in order to protect the health of its citizens. Now, after 9,200 dog bites in one year, Mexico City has had enough. The fine for not picking up and disposing of dog feces, or for not keeping one’s dog on a leash, is 10 minimum wages and 6 to 12 hours of arrest. Keeping dogs on a leash and cleaning up after them is part of being a responsible dog owner. We hope that everyone in Yucatan will take this to heart before it has to become a law and before anyone has to pay a fine or go to jail.
Guatemala: Why Do They Come Here? Every once in a while, we hear complaints about migrants who enter Yucatan illegally from Guatemala. For the most part, as long as they behave responsibly, these migrants are left alone. Many marry and create new Yucateco families. If problems occur, it is when they are sick or elderly and in need of social services. This week, we discovered one of the reasons they leave Guatemala specifically to enter the State of Yucatan. In Guatemala, the Maya have little to no access to education and health care. For the Maya in Guatemala, racism is alive and flourishing. With no opportunity to change their situation at home, imagine how the Maya of Guatemala feel when they enter a state that, through Indemaya, encourages the Maya to be not only politically active, but economically active as well. While we do not advocate illegal migration either into or out of Mexico, we can certainly understand how the State of Yucatan can be viewed as a haven of rest by people who have not been treated as they should have been. We can offer no solutions to this problem – only our observations concerning at least one of the reasons why they continue to come.
Monday, August 16, 2010
16 August, 2010
Today’s Gospel from Matthew: ‘Go, sell your possessions and give the money to the poor.’
Lord, you know that I long to possess eternal life. Did you really mean it when you said that in order to possess eternal life I have to give away all my possessions? If I do, then what? Live on the streets and be fed by the Vinnies? Do you want me to do that?
In silence you can hear Him say, ‘Don’t be silly. You know that I don’t want you to do that. But I do want you to share what you’ve been given. I want you to stop making your comfort and your possessions the center of your life. Please think about me and what you know in your heart I want you to do. ‘The fact is that I am your way, your truth and your life. Listen to me and trust me.’
Now this makes better sense to me, especially here in the Yucatan where so many have absolutely nothing to surrender. I am more focused on the simple creature comforts of life; they enjoy the simple things of life and are always willing to share them with anyone they meet.
One of the things I like best about Mérida is its warm, tropical nights. Perhaps it's the result of being indoors all afternoon escaping the heat and then venturing out with everyone else into the lovely evening air. I enjoy sitting in the plazas or at sidewalk cafes. Chatting with friends. People watching. Eating a late meal. Listening to music. Walking around town and peeking in open, lighted doorways or greeting folks sitting outside their homes. Watching the stars and moon from the backyard. It is one of my very favorite things about this special place.
I feel safe everywhere in Mérida and at all times of day or night. My friends and family in the U.S. simply cannot get this. They are always reading and hearing about drug lord shootings in Mexico and think I am crazy to live in such a land. It is sort of like saying violence is on the rise in Tampa so I am going to move to Nebraska. Last week, U.S.A. Today ran a feature story entitled "Mexico's violence not widespread". It actually was a pretty fair representation. Mexico's murder rate per 100,000 population is 14.0. That compares to 22 in Brazil, 59 in Jamaica and 34.3 in Belize. While higher than the 5.4 for the United States, Washington, D.C.'s rate of 31.4 is well above Mexico City's rate of 8.0. It is simply not reasonable nor fair to apply rates for specific areas to an entire region or country. The state with the lowest rate in Mexico is Yucatan with a rate of 2.0. This is comparable to Wyoming and Montana in the U.S., neither of which have a metro area as large as Mérida.
I walk everywhere in Mérida and at all times of the day and night. Never have we felt threatened or at risk. It's something I especially enjoy about life here.
Lord, you know that I long to possess eternal life. Did you really mean it when you said that in order to possess eternal life I have to give away all my possessions? If I do, then what? Live on the streets and be fed by the Vinnies? Do you want me to do that?
In silence you can hear Him say, ‘Don’t be silly. You know that I don’t want you to do that. But I do want you to share what you’ve been given. I want you to stop making your comfort and your possessions the center of your life. Please think about me and what you know in your heart I want you to do. ‘The fact is that I am your way, your truth and your life. Listen to me and trust me.’
Now this makes better sense to me, especially here in the Yucatan where so many have absolutely nothing to surrender. I am more focused on the simple creature comforts of life; they enjoy the simple things of life and are always willing to share them with anyone they meet.
One of the things I like best about Mérida is its warm, tropical nights. Perhaps it's the result of being indoors all afternoon escaping the heat and then venturing out with everyone else into the lovely evening air. I enjoy sitting in the plazas or at sidewalk cafes. Chatting with friends. People watching. Eating a late meal. Listening to music. Walking around town and peeking in open, lighted doorways or greeting folks sitting outside their homes. Watching the stars and moon from the backyard. It is one of my very favorite things about this special place.
I feel safe everywhere in Mérida and at all times of day or night. My friends and family in the U.S. simply cannot get this. They are always reading and hearing about drug lord shootings in Mexico and think I am crazy to live in such a land. It is sort of like saying violence is on the rise in Tampa so I am going to move to Nebraska. Last week, U.S.A. Today ran a feature story entitled "Mexico's violence not widespread". It actually was a pretty fair representation. Mexico's murder rate per 100,000 population is 14.0. That compares to 22 in Brazil, 59 in Jamaica and 34.3 in Belize. While higher than the 5.4 for the United States, Washington, D.C.'s rate of 31.4 is well above Mexico City's rate of 8.0. It is simply not reasonable nor fair to apply rates for specific areas to an entire region or country. The state with the lowest rate in Mexico is Yucatan with a rate of 2.0. This is comparable to Wyoming and Montana in the U.S., neither of which have a metro area as large as Mérida.
I walk everywhere in Mérida and at all times of the day and night. Never have we felt threatened or at risk. It's something I especially enjoy about life here.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
P.S.
If you doubt that what was said above is institutional slavery, enabled by members of the clergy, the governement of Mexico and lauded as humanitarian by Open Borders groups in the United States., go to this link:
http://tucsoncitizen.com/the-cholla-jumps/tag/el-diario-de-yucatan/
http://tucsoncitizen.com/the-cholla-jumps/tag/el-diario-de-yucatan/
Sunday 15th August, 2010 Assumption of Mary
“My soul magnifies my Lord.”
Today’s feast honors Mary as Mother of the church. The Magnificat sums up the wonder of her faith. We are told that after Jesus’ birth, she became a refugee, experiencing the inherent terrors of finding herself in a foreign land, with a newborn child. She nurtured and protected him until he was ready for ministry and it was she who called, ‘Do whatever he tells you’, at Cana. And then, when he was derided, despised and crucified, she was beside him, to share in the suffering. She was inextricably linked with her son. Munificentissimus Deus "The most bountiful God" is the name of an Apostolic constitution written by Pope Pius XII. It defines ex cathedra the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary The decree was promulgated on November 1, 1950.
I must admit to a great distraction at the vigil mass last evening at the Cathedral. The homily was “What is the difference between the Ascension and the Assumption?”. Please!
As I shut out the terrible homily, I drifted off into my fantasy world, and I became Elizabeth. Elizabeth is the one who ponders the mystery of the Incarnation, coupled with the miracle of her own pregnancy. Her question in today’s Gospel reading never ceases to give me pause: “Why has this happened to me that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” She recognized Jesus before he was ever born. She had the ability to see what so many of us are blind to.
Why, we ask, should God have come to us at all? Jesus was not obligated to take our human form, but He did so out of love for us. He came to dwell in the womb of a human mother, to be born, to live and to minister among us, and to die and to rise to complete the long-anticipated act of salvation.
We are now given the gift of the Holy Spirit, so that God’s mystery becomes our vocation. We carry the Spirit of the Lord within us as Mary once carried Jesus within her. When that Spirit is disseminated among us, when we act in the name of the Lord whom we receive in the Eucharist, we make the Visitation a perpetual and actual reality. Let us then live the Visitation by recognizing Christ in those around us, and in our prayer and acts of charity may we ponder the reality of Christ among us and within us, and may we be to this world a people of great joy.
Let us pray for the innumerable mothers of our troubled world who mourn the loss of a child, that they will find some comfort and courage in their grief from reflecting on the enduring love of Mary. In Titian’s beautiful painting of the Assumption, it seems that Mary is surprised by her passage from this world. She seems to say, ‘Is this really for me?’
From : El Diario de Yucatan (Merida, Yucatan) 6/10/10
Shelters assist illegal aliens on their journey toward the U.S.
The bishop of Tapasla, Chiapas (Mexico’s southernmost state) reported that the shelter at the church in Arriaga takes in 100 undocumented aliens a day, and gives them temporary shelter “so they can continue to their destination to the northern border.” He added that this number represents only a third of the Central Americans who climb on to the train in order to cross the country.
___
Mexicans residing in Illinois will contribute to a special program to help Central American migrants by assisting a shelter at Ciudad Ixtepec, in the state of Oaxaca (the second southernmost in Mexico). Central Americans who arrive there use a freight train service, called “The Beast,” to take them towards the U.S. border; some are hurt or robbed. The assistance program is labeled “3X1” and provides that Mexican state and local funds will match contributions by the public. A priest at the shelter said: “Every third day it’s more than 150 persons, last week it was 600.” He added that Ciudad Ixtepec is strategically located between the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico, and “It’s a great market for the south to north crossing of persons, drugs, weapons, and a natural place to exploit migrants.”
Once again more stories of members of the clergy enabling human smuggling. This next one ought to be interesting.
Cambio de Michoacan (Morelia, Michoacan) 6/10/10
Officials in Tamaulipas in collusion with kidnappers & coyotes
This article describes what happened when a Mexican construction worker decided that his only recourse was to enter the U.S. illegally in order to support his family. As he and others with similar intent approached Reynosa, Tamaulipas (the Mexican state just across from Texas, in the lower Rio Grande River valley,) they came upon a police roadblock where they were asked if they intended to enter the United States; when they replied in the affirmative, they were held until a group of men came and took them to a very large house in Reynosa, where there were nearly 600 men, women and children, all hoping to cross to the other side. However, they were all being held for up to $3,000 dollars in ransom, or else forced to join the local criminal enterprises.
The construction worker was able to get ransomed and was then smuggled into the U.S. near McAllen, TX, but he was promptly apprehended by the Border Patrol. He contacted the Consulate for protection and to tell his story but was warned to keep quiet and say nothing. Upon his return to his home in Mexico’s interior, he plans to try to enter the U.S. once again, but this time at another place.
This is institutional slavery, enabled by members of the clergy, the governement of Mexico and lauded as humanitarian by Open Borders groups in the United States. This is what we do to teh Christ within each human being!
Today’s feast honors Mary as Mother of the church. The Magnificat sums up the wonder of her faith. We are told that after Jesus’ birth, she became a refugee, experiencing the inherent terrors of finding herself in a foreign land, with a newborn child. She nurtured and protected him until he was ready for ministry and it was she who called, ‘Do whatever he tells you’, at Cana. And then, when he was derided, despised and crucified, she was beside him, to share in the suffering. She was inextricably linked with her son. Munificentissimus Deus "The most bountiful God" is the name of an Apostolic constitution written by Pope Pius XII. It defines ex cathedra the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary The decree was promulgated on November 1, 1950.
I must admit to a great distraction at the vigil mass last evening at the Cathedral. The homily was “What is the difference between the Ascension and the Assumption?”. Please!
As I shut out the terrible homily, I drifted off into my fantasy world, and I became Elizabeth. Elizabeth is the one who ponders the mystery of the Incarnation, coupled with the miracle of her own pregnancy. Her question in today’s Gospel reading never ceases to give me pause: “Why has this happened to me that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” She recognized Jesus before he was ever born. She had the ability to see what so many of us are blind to.
Why, we ask, should God have come to us at all? Jesus was not obligated to take our human form, but He did so out of love for us. He came to dwell in the womb of a human mother, to be born, to live and to minister among us, and to die and to rise to complete the long-anticipated act of salvation.
We are now given the gift of the Holy Spirit, so that God’s mystery becomes our vocation. We carry the Spirit of the Lord within us as Mary once carried Jesus within her. When that Spirit is disseminated among us, when we act in the name of the Lord whom we receive in the Eucharist, we make the Visitation a perpetual and actual reality. Let us then live the Visitation by recognizing Christ in those around us, and in our prayer and acts of charity may we ponder the reality of Christ among us and within us, and may we be to this world a people of great joy.
Let us pray for the innumerable mothers of our troubled world who mourn the loss of a child, that they will find some comfort and courage in their grief from reflecting on the enduring love of Mary. In Titian’s beautiful painting of the Assumption, it seems that Mary is surprised by her passage from this world. She seems to say, ‘Is this really for me?’
From : El Diario de Yucatan (Merida, Yucatan) 6/10/10
Shelters assist illegal aliens on their journey toward the U.S.
The bishop of Tapasla, Chiapas (Mexico’s southernmost state) reported that the shelter at the church in Arriaga takes in 100 undocumented aliens a day, and gives them temporary shelter “so they can continue to their destination to the northern border.” He added that this number represents only a third of the Central Americans who climb on to the train in order to cross the country.
___
Mexicans residing in Illinois will contribute to a special program to help Central American migrants by assisting a shelter at Ciudad Ixtepec, in the state of Oaxaca (the second southernmost in Mexico). Central Americans who arrive there use a freight train service, called “The Beast,” to take them towards the U.S. border; some are hurt or robbed. The assistance program is labeled “3X1” and provides that Mexican state and local funds will match contributions by the public. A priest at the shelter said: “Every third day it’s more than 150 persons, last week it was 600.” He added that Ciudad Ixtepec is strategically located between the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico, and “It’s a great market for the south to north crossing of persons, drugs, weapons, and a natural place to exploit migrants.”
Once again more stories of members of the clergy enabling human smuggling. This next one ought to be interesting.
Cambio de Michoacan (Morelia, Michoacan) 6/10/10
Officials in Tamaulipas in collusion with kidnappers & coyotes
This article describes what happened when a Mexican construction worker decided that his only recourse was to enter the U.S. illegally in order to support his family. As he and others with similar intent approached Reynosa, Tamaulipas (the Mexican state just across from Texas, in the lower Rio Grande River valley,) they came upon a police roadblock where they were asked if they intended to enter the United States; when they replied in the affirmative, they were held until a group of men came and took them to a very large house in Reynosa, where there were nearly 600 men, women and children, all hoping to cross to the other side. However, they were all being held for up to $3,000 dollars in ransom, or else forced to join the local criminal enterprises.
The construction worker was able to get ransomed and was then smuggled into the U.S. near McAllen, TX, but he was promptly apprehended by the Border Patrol. He contacted the Consulate for protection and to tell his story but was warned to keep quiet and say nothing. Upon his return to his home in Mexico’s interior, he plans to try to enter the U.S. once again, but this time at another place.
This is institutional slavery, enabled by members of the clergy, the governement of Mexico and lauded as humanitarian by Open Borders groups in the United States. This is what we do to teh Christ within each human being!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Some people are super arrogant!
Aug. 14 -- President Barack Obama on Saturday promised Gulf Coast residents that the federal government won't abandon them once efforts to stop the oil spill are finished. "I'm here to tell you that our job is not finished and we are not going anywhere until it is," Obama said at a Coast Guard Station in this Florida Panhandle city. On the very same day, Aug. 14 -- President Barack Obama drew criticism from some Republicans and representatives of 9/11 victims' families over his support for the mosque near ground zero in New York City. Speaking to Muslims observing the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at the White House on Friday, Obama said he supported the planned mosque, citing freedom of religion as a core American value. While the decision was praised by some, it was slammed by others. "Barack Obama has abandoned America at the place where America's heart was broken nine years ago, and where her true values were on display for all to see," said Debra Burlingame, a spokeswoman for a group of victims' families, according to The Associated Press. Burlingame's brother was a pilot killed in the 9/11 attacks.
Well, surprise Mr. President, YOUR JOB IS GOING TO END. The American people whom you have little if any regard for, will make sure your OUT come November.
Well, surprise Mr. President, YOUR JOB IS GOING TO END. The American people whom you have little if any regard for, will make sure your OUT come November.
A Contemporary Martyrdom
The suffering and dying of the poor family.
The suffering of the poor elderly.
Saturday 14 August 2010 Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest, Martyr
He was born on 8 January 1894 in occupied Poland: he joined the Conventual Franciscans in Lwów in 1910, and was ordained eight years later, as his country became free and independent for the first time in over 120 years. He believed that the world was passing through a time of intense spiritual crisis, and that Christians must fight for the world’s salvation with all the means of modern communication. He founded a newspaper, and a sodality called the Knights of Mary Immaculate, which spread widely both in Poland and abroad.
In 1927 he founded a community, a “city of Mary,” at Teresin: centred round the Franciscan friary, it attracted many lay people, and became self-supporting, publishing many periodicals and running its own radio station. In 1930 he went to Japan, studied Buddhism and Shintoism, and through the Japanese edition of his newspaper spread the Christian message in a way that was in harmony with Japanese culture. In Nagasaki, he set up a “Garden of the Immaculate,” which survived the atomic bomb. He also travelled to Malabar and to Moscow, but was recalled to Poland in 1936 for reasons of health.
When the Germans invaded in 1939, the community at Teresin sheltered thousands of refugees, most of them Jews. In 1941 he was arrested and sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz, where he helped and succoured the inmates. In August of that year a prisoner escaped, and in reprisal the authorities were choosing ten people to die by starvation. One of the men had a family, and Maximilian Kolbe offered to take his place. The offer was accepted, and he spent his last days comforting his fellow prisoners. The man he saved was present at his canonisation.
Maximilian Kolbe’s martyrdom is the least important thing about him. We are none of us likely to find ourselves in a position to emulate his sacrifice, and speculation as to the heroic way in which we would have behaved in his place is a pernicious waste of time. What is important is that he acted the way he did because of who he was – or, rather, because of who he had become. It is because of who he had become that we revere him as a saint: he would have been a saint (though perhaps not canonised) even if he had not been martyred. And that process of becoming is something we can all emulate. We can all become people for whom doing the right thing is obvious, natural, and easy. It requires no heroism, no special gifts: just perseverance, and prayer.
Talking about the right thing: Mexico is a nation where affluence, poverty, natural splendour and urban blight rub shoulders. Its politics were dominated for 70 years by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. But elections in 1997 saw a resurgent opposition break what was in effect a one-party system with a democratic facade. Elections in 2000 confirmed the trend when Vicente Fox became the first president to come from the opposition.
Mexico is a major oil producer and exporter. Though production has fallen in the last few years, about one-third of government revenue still comes from the industry. Much of the crude is bought by the US. But prosperity remains a dream for most Mexicans. Rural areas are often neglected and huge shanty towns ring the cities.
Many poor Mexicans try to cross the 1,864 mile border with the US in search of a job, and more than a million are arrested every year. Hundreds die of heat exhaustion or thirst while making the attempt, and the exodus has led to some towns and villages in Mexico being virtually empty of able-bodied men.
The Mexican economy is heavily dependent on the money sent home by the millions of migrant workers in the US, and so it has been hit hard by the downturn in its neighbour's economy. Another persistent issue has been the pressure for greater rights for Mexico's indigenous people. A law passed in 2001 fell short of giving Mexico's Indians political autonomy. However, demands for indigenous rights have been largely peaceful since 1994, when at least 150 people died during an uprising in the southern state of Chiapas, led by the Zapatista rebel movement.
Violent crime is a major concern; Mexico has one of the highest rates of kidnappings in the world. Turf wars between rival drug cartels are said to lie behind many gangland killings. All along the boarder with the USA.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Friday 13th.
'Let anyone accept this who can’. Matthew 19:3-12.
Sometimes it helps to understand a little of the very different culture of the time Matthew is writing about. There were two schools of thought on divorce—one allowed divorce for mutual unfaithfulness and the other would allow a man to accuse a woman if she did anything her husband didn't like. Jesus makes it clear that marriage was intended to be permanent, that it is a call to be faithful to each other, and to God. He concedes that it is not everyone who can accept this law—’only those to whom it is granted’. Let us pray that we may all work for the fulfillment of God’s kingdom.
All of the Scriptures [Old and New Testaments together] are a record of how God never, never, never, never, never gives up.
- Adam and Eve disobeyed the very First Rule. But God never gave up because He had a plan.
- Abraham wandered, and Sarah laughed. But God never gave up. He had a plan.
- Moses hid and shook with fear. But God never gave up. He had a plan.
- Saul went insane. But God never gave up. He had a plan.
- David plotted against Uriah. But God never gave up. He had a plan.
- Ahaz sold out to Assyria. But God never gave up. He had a plan.
- Israel was divided and fell into pieces. But God never gave up. He had a plan.
- The Jewish people became exiles. But God never gave up. He had a plan.
- John the Baptist was beheaded. But God never gave up. He had a plan.
- Peter denied he even knew him. But God never gave up. He had a plan.
- The disciples all ran away. But God never gave up. He had a plan.
- The Son of God was crucified. But God never gave up. He had a plan and it was to give His all so you would never have to give up. That is true steadfast love. Don’t give in to the Devil and give up on God.
Speaking of Churches/Religion: According to the 2000 census, 75% of the population of Merida is Roman Catholic; 7% are Protestant. All of these are downtown churches:
Catholic
Mejorada, Calle 50 at Calle 59, Centro
San Cristóbal, Calle 50 at Calle 65, Centro
San Sebastián, Calle 70 at Calle 75, Centro
Catedral, Calle 60 at Calle 61, Centro
Santa Ana, Calle 60 at Calle 45, Centro
Santa Lucia, Calle 60 at Calle 55, Centro
La Ermita, Calle 66 at Calle 77, Centro
San Juan, Calle 64 at Calle 69, Centro
Santiago, Calle 72 at Calle 59, Centro [my parish]
Baptist
Baptist Church “El Mesías”
Calle 28 x 16 Colonia Morelos Oriente
Baptist Church Berea
Calle 35 Diag. No. 361 X 46 y 48. Centro
Baptist Church Jesucristo es El Señor
Calle 22 x 29 y 31, No. 108 Dptos. 2 y 3. Colonia México
First Baptist Church
Calle 62 No. 538 x 67 y 69 Centro
Jehovah’s Witnesses
Jehovah’s Witnesses arrived in Progreso in 1952, originally from the United States and central Mexico. The congregation now has at least 17,000 members, about 6000 of who speak Mayan.
Salón del Reino de los Testigos de Jehová
Calle 90 # 482‐B x Avenida Jacinto Canek x 47. Colonia Inalámbrica.
Methodist
La Rosa de Saron
Calle 62 No. 300‐F x 35. Merida Centro
Phone: (999) 912‐27‐91
Christian
Christian Church “Emmanuel”
Calle 112 No. 425‐A x 59‐H. Colonia Bojorquez
Christian Community “Príncipe de Paz”
Avenida Itzáes por 71 y 73. Centro
Centro de Fe “Sinai”
Calle 66b #889 por 109‐D Colonia Obrera
Centro Cristiano “La Nueva Jerusalén”
Calle 20 No 106 x 23 y 25 Colonia Chuburná
Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints
Calle 45 # 527, Merida Centro.
Phone: (999) 92415‐81
Presbyterian
Shalom
Calle 26 No. 215 x 27 Colonia Garcia Gineres, Merida
El Verbo de Dios
Calle 20 entre 21 y 19 Colonia Chuburna, Merida
El Divino Salvador
Calle 66 No. 520 x 63, Merida Centro
Antioquia
Calle 74 No. 468, Merida Centro
Episcopal (Only one in Merida/Progreso)
Saint Mark's Anglican Church (English spoken)
Serving Mérida, Progreso, & Northern Yucatan
Calle 21 No. 116 (between Calles 58 & 60) Progreso, Yucatán
Phone: (01‐998) 845‐36‐24
Cancun Cellular: (044 – 998) 845–36‐24
Contact Rev. John E Hayes at:
johnehayes@intercable.net
http://www.progreso‐church.org
Other
Adonai de Mexico
Calle 35 Diag No. 361 X 46 y 48 Colonia Mérida
Calvary Chapel
Calle 27 No. 363 Colonia Vicente Chuburná
Phone: (999) 912‐27‐91
Iglesia de Dios en México
Calle 38 No. 464 Colonia Jesús Carranza
Phone: (999) 926‐07‐91
El Nazareno
Calle 57 No. 380 x 34 y 36 centro
All in the name of "Evangelization".............you bet!
Sometimes it helps to understand a little of the very different culture of the time Matthew is writing about. There were two schools of thought on divorce—one allowed divorce for mutual unfaithfulness and the other would allow a man to accuse a woman if she did anything her husband didn't like. Jesus makes it clear that marriage was intended to be permanent, that it is a call to be faithful to each other, and to God. He concedes that it is not everyone who can accept this law—’only those to whom it is granted’. Let us pray that we may all work for the fulfillment of God’s kingdom.
All of the Scriptures [Old and New Testaments together] are a record of how God never, never, never, never, never gives up.
- Adam and Eve disobeyed the very First Rule. But God never gave up because He had a plan.
- Abraham wandered, and Sarah laughed. But God never gave up. He had a plan.
- Moses hid and shook with fear. But God never gave up. He had a plan.
- Saul went insane. But God never gave up. He had a plan.
- David plotted against Uriah. But God never gave up. He had a plan.
- Ahaz sold out to Assyria. But God never gave up. He had a plan.
- Israel was divided and fell into pieces. But God never gave up. He had a plan.
- The Jewish people became exiles. But God never gave up. He had a plan.
- John the Baptist was beheaded. But God never gave up. He had a plan.
- Peter denied he even knew him. But God never gave up. He had a plan.
- The disciples all ran away. But God never gave up. He had a plan.
- The Son of God was crucified. But God never gave up. He had a plan and it was to give His all so you would never have to give up. That is true steadfast love. Don’t give in to the Devil and give up on God.
Speaking of Churches/Religion: According to the 2000 census, 75% of the population of Merida is Roman Catholic; 7% are Protestant. All of these are downtown churches:
Catholic
Mejorada, Calle 50 at Calle 59, Centro
San Cristóbal, Calle 50 at Calle 65, Centro
San Sebastián, Calle 70 at Calle 75, Centro
Catedral, Calle 60 at Calle 61, Centro
Santa Ana, Calle 60 at Calle 45, Centro
Santa Lucia, Calle 60 at Calle 55, Centro
La Ermita, Calle 66 at Calle 77, Centro
San Juan, Calle 64 at Calle 69, Centro
Santiago, Calle 72 at Calle 59, Centro [my parish]
Baptist
Baptist Church “El Mesías”
Calle 28 x 16 Colonia Morelos Oriente
Baptist Church Berea
Calle 35 Diag. No. 361 X 46 y 48. Centro
Baptist Church Jesucristo es El Señor
Calle 22 x 29 y 31, No. 108 Dptos. 2 y 3. Colonia México
First Baptist Church
Calle 62 No. 538 x 67 y 69 Centro
Jehovah’s Witnesses
Jehovah’s Witnesses arrived in Progreso in 1952, originally from the United States and central Mexico. The congregation now has at least 17,000 members, about 6000 of who speak Mayan.
Salón del Reino de los Testigos de Jehová
Calle 90 # 482‐B x Avenida Jacinto Canek x 47. Colonia Inalámbrica.
Methodist
La Rosa de Saron
Calle 62 No. 300‐F x 35. Merida Centro
Phone: (999) 912‐27‐91
Christian
Christian Church “Emmanuel”
Calle 112 No. 425‐A x 59‐H. Colonia Bojorquez
Christian Community “Príncipe de Paz”
Avenida Itzáes por 71 y 73. Centro
Centro de Fe “Sinai”
Calle 66b #889 por 109‐D Colonia Obrera
Centro Cristiano “La Nueva Jerusalén”
Calle 20 No 106 x 23 y 25 Colonia Chuburná
Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints
Calle 45 # 527, Merida Centro.
Phone: (999) 92415‐81
Presbyterian
Shalom
Calle 26 No. 215 x 27 Colonia Garcia Gineres, Merida
El Verbo de Dios
Calle 20 entre 21 y 19 Colonia Chuburna, Merida
El Divino Salvador
Calle 66 No. 520 x 63, Merida Centro
Antioquia
Calle 74 No. 468, Merida Centro
Episcopal (Only one in Merida/Progreso)
Saint Mark's Anglican Church (English spoken)
Serving Mérida, Progreso, & Northern Yucatan
Calle 21 No. 116 (between Calles 58 & 60) Progreso, Yucatán
Phone: (01‐998) 845‐36‐24
Cancun Cellular: (044 – 998) 845–36‐24
Contact Rev. John E Hayes at:
johnehayes@intercable.net
http://www.progreso‐church.org
Other
Adonai de Mexico
Calle 35 Diag No. 361 X 46 y 48 Colonia Mérida
Calvary Chapel
Calle 27 No. 363 Colonia Vicente Chuburná
Phone: (999) 912‐27‐91
Iglesia de Dios en México
Calle 38 No. 464 Colonia Jesús Carranza
Phone: (999) 926‐07‐91
El Nazareno
Calle 57 No. 380 x 34 y 36 centro
All in the name of "Evangelization".............you bet!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
No shortage of Vocations in Mexico
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Look at this group os novices for the [Hermanitas de los Ancianos Desámparados] Sisters of the Abandoned Elderly.
Thursday 12th August, 2010 Feast of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal
St Jane Frances de Chantal. She was born in Dijon, in France, in 1572. She married a nobleman called de Chantal, by whom she had six children whom she brought up in the faith. When her husband died she placed herself under the guidance of Saint Francis de Sales and progressed rapidly along the way of perfection. She performed many good works for the poor and the sick. She founded the Order of the Visitation and guided it wisely. She died in 1641.
The Gospel for today is from Matthew 18:21 – 19:1. ‘Forgive not seven times but seventy-seven.’
The challenge is not just to forgive, but to welcome the person back into the same level of trust and intimacy as before. This means we leave ourselves open to be hurt again, if we are willing to do that. That forgiveness and generosity amazes and humbles me. I struggle to forgive everyday hurts and, even harder, to forgive those who harm family and friends. Jesus, give me the attitude you want me to have and help me let go of the hurt.
More about forgiveness: The Maya are probably the best-known of the classical civilizations of Mesoamerica. Mayan history starts in the Yucatan around 2600 B.C., Mayan history rose to prominence around A.D. 250 in present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala, western Honduras, El Salvador, and northern Belize.
Many people believe that the ancestors of the Maya crossed the Bering Strait at least 20,000 years ago. They were nomadic hunter-gatherers. Evidence of settled habitation in Mexico is found in the Archaic period 5000-1500 BC - corn cultivation, basic pottery and stone tools. The first true civilization was established with the rise of the Olmecs in the Pre-Classic period 1500 BC -300 AD. The Olmecs settled on the Gulf Coast, and little is known about them.
They are regarded as the inventors of many aspects of Meso-American cultures including the first calendar and hieroglyphic writing in the Western hemisphere. Archeologists have not settled the relationship between the Olmecs and the Maya, and it is a mystery whether the Maya were their descendants, trading partners, or had another relationship, that is white place in Mayan history.
The Northern Yucatan (where present day Cancun is located) was sparsely populated for most of the Classic period with only a few cities such as Dzibilchalt n (near Merida) and Xpuhil, Bec n and Chicann (near Chetumal). During the 9th century the population centers of the central lowlands declined significantly. This decline was very rapid and is attributed to famine, drought, breakdowns in trade, and political fragmentation. Fragmentation from large states into smaller city-states focused resources on rivalries between cities including not just wars, but competitions of architecture and art between rival cities. As the cities in the lowlands declined, urban centers sprung up in the Northern Yucat n, including Uxmal (near Merida).
Anthropologists used to contrast the "peaceful" Maya with the bloodthirsty Aztecs of central Mexico. Although human sacrifice was not as important to the Maya as to the Aztec, blood sacrifice played a major role in their religion. Individuals offered up their blood, but not necessarily their lives, to the gods through painful methods using sharp instruments such as sting-ray spines or performed ritualistic self mutilation. It is probable that people of all classes shed their blood during religious rites. The king's blood sacrifice was the most valuable and took place more frequently. The Maya were warlike and raided their neighbors for land, citizens, and captives. Some captives were subjected to the double sacrifice where the victims heart was torn out for the sun and head cut off to pour blood out for the earth.
The Mayan civilization was the height of pre-Columbian culture. They made significant discoveries in science, including the use of the zero in mathematics. Their writing was the only in America capable of expressing all types of thought. Glyphs either represent syllables or whole concepts and were written on long strips of paper or carved and painted on stone. They are arranged to be red from left to right and top to bottom in pairs of columns. The Mayan calendar begins around 3114 BC, before Maya culture existed, and could measure time well into the future. They wrote detailed histories and used their calendar to predict the future and astrological events. Fray Diego de Landa, second bishop of the Yucatan ordered a mass destruction of Mayan books in 1562 and only three survived.
After the conquest of Mexico in 1521, Francisco de Montejo, under commission as Governor of Yucatan, landed (1527) to effect the conquest of the country, but met with such desperate resistance that after eight years of incessant fighting every Spaniard had been driven out. In 1540, after two more years of the same desperate warfare, his son Francisco established the first Spanish settlement at Campeche.
In the next year, in a bloody battle at Tihoo, he completely broke the power of Maya resistance, and a few months later (Jan., 1542) founded on the site of the ruined city the new capital, M rida. In 1546, however, there was a general revolt, and it was not until a year later that the conquest was assured.
In 1561 Yucatan was made a diocese with its see at Merida. In the next year the famous Diego de Landa, Franciscan provincial, and afterwards bishop (1573-79), becoming aware that the natives throughout the peninsula still secretly cherished their ancient rites, instituted an investigation, which he conducted with such cruelties of torture and death that the proceedings were stopped by order of Bishop Toral Franciscan provincial of Mexico, immediately upon his arrival, during the same summer, to occupy the See of Merida.
Before this could be done, however, there had been destroyed, as is asserted, two million sacred images and hundreds of hieroglyphic manuscripts - practically the whole of the voluminous native Maya literature. As late as 1586 a royal edict was issued for the suppression of idolatry.
In 1575-77 a terrible visitation of a mysterious disease, called matlalzahuatl, which attacked only the Indians, swept over Southern Mexico and Yucatan, destroying, as was estimated, over two million lives. This was its fourth appearance since the conquest.
I find that the clergy here, in the Yucatan continue to treat the Mayan with “contempt” and consider them uneducated. I consider them people of a simple and strong faith who know that just to forgive is not enough, but you must welcome the person back into the same level of trust and intimacy as before. This means we leave ourselves open to be hurt again, if we are willing to do that.
The Gospel for today is from Matthew 18:21 – 19:1. ‘Forgive not seven times but seventy-seven.’
The challenge is not just to forgive, but to welcome the person back into the same level of trust and intimacy as before. This means we leave ourselves open to be hurt again, if we are willing to do that. That forgiveness and generosity amazes and humbles me. I struggle to forgive everyday hurts and, even harder, to forgive those who harm family and friends. Jesus, give me the attitude you want me to have and help me let go of the hurt.
More about forgiveness: The Maya are probably the best-known of the classical civilizations of Mesoamerica. Mayan history starts in the Yucatan around 2600 B.C., Mayan history rose to prominence around A.D. 250 in present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala, western Honduras, El Salvador, and northern Belize.
Many people believe that the ancestors of the Maya crossed the Bering Strait at least 20,000 years ago. They were nomadic hunter-gatherers. Evidence of settled habitation in Mexico is found in the Archaic period 5000-1500 BC - corn cultivation, basic pottery and stone tools. The first true civilization was established with the rise of the Olmecs in the Pre-Classic period 1500 BC -300 AD. The Olmecs settled on the Gulf Coast, and little is known about them.
They are regarded as the inventors of many aspects of Meso-American cultures including the first calendar and hieroglyphic writing in the Western hemisphere. Archeologists have not settled the relationship between the Olmecs and the Maya, and it is a mystery whether the Maya were their descendants, trading partners, or had another relationship, that is white place in Mayan history.
The Northern Yucatan (where present day Cancun is located) was sparsely populated for most of the Classic period with only a few cities such as Dzibilchalt n (near Merida) and Xpuhil, Bec n and Chicann (near Chetumal). During the 9th century the population centers of the central lowlands declined significantly. This decline was very rapid and is attributed to famine, drought, breakdowns in trade, and political fragmentation. Fragmentation from large states into smaller city-states focused resources on rivalries between cities including not just wars, but competitions of architecture and art between rival cities. As the cities in the lowlands declined, urban centers sprung up in the Northern Yucat n, including Uxmal (near Merida).
Anthropologists used to contrast the "peaceful" Maya with the bloodthirsty Aztecs of central Mexico. Although human sacrifice was not as important to the Maya as to the Aztec, blood sacrifice played a major role in their religion. Individuals offered up their blood, but not necessarily their lives, to the gods through painful methods using sharp instruments such as sting-ray spines or performed ritualistic self mutilation. It is probable that people of all classes shed their blood during religious rites. The king's blood sacrifice was the most valuable and took place more frequently. The Maya were warlike and raided their neighbors for land, citizens, and captives. Some captives were subjected to the double sacrifice where the victims heart was torn out for the sun and head cut off to pour blood out for the earth.
The Mayan civilization was the height of pre-Columbian culture. They made significant discoveries in science, including the use of the zero in mathematics. Their writing was the only in America capable of expressing all types of thought. Glyphs either represent syllables or whole concepts and were written on long strips of paper or carved and painted on stone. They are arranged to be red from left to right and top to bottom in pairs of columns. The Mayan calendar begins around 3114 BC, before Maya culture existed, and could measure time well into the future. They wrote detailed histories and used their calendar to predict the future and astrological events. Fray Diego de Landa, second bishop of the Yucatan ordered a mass destruction of Mayan books in 1562 and only three survived.
After the conquest of Mexico in 1521, Francisco de Montejo, under commission as Governor of Yucatan, landed (1527) to effect the conquest of the country, but met with such desperate resistance that after eight years of incessant fighting every Spaniard had been driven out. In 1540, after two more years of the same desperate warfare, his son Francisco established the first Spanish settlement at Campeche.
In the next year, in a bloody battle at Tihoo, he completely broke the power of Maya resistance, and a few months later (Jan., 1542) founded on the site of the ruined city the new capital, M rida. In 1546, however, there was a general revolt, and it was not until a year later that the conquest was assured.
In 1561 Yucatan was made a diocese with its see at Merida. In the next year the famous Diego de Landa, Franciscan provincial, and afterwards bishop (1573-79), becoming aware that the natives throughout the peninsula still secretly cherished their ancient rites, instituted an investigation, which he conducted with such cruelties of torture and death that the proceedings were stopped by order of Bishop Toral Franciscan provincial of Mexico, immediately upon his arrival, during the same summer, to occupy the See of Merida.
Before this could be done, however, there had been destroyed, as is asserted, two million sacred images and hundreds of hieroglyphic manuscripts - practically the whole of the voluminous native Maya literature. As late as 1586 a royal edict was issued for the suppression of idolatry.
In 1575-77 a terrible visitation of a mysterious disease, called matlalzahuatl, which attacked only the Indians, swept over Southern Mexico and Yucatan, destroying, as was estimated, over two million lives. This was its fourth appearance since the conquest.
I find that the clergy here, in the Yucatan continue to treat the Mayan with “contempt” and consider them uneducated. I consider them people of a simple and strong faith who know that just to forgive is not enough, but you must welcome the person back into the same level of trust and intimacy as before. This means we leave ourselves open to be hurt again, if we are willing to do that.
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