Mi Cumpleanos, My Birthday

Let me apologize for not including some Spanish words in quotations and for not using the proper notations for the letter "n" and proper accents. The keyboards are often different and I don't know where the proper key is for the Spanish letters. Plus, I'm still a novice at "blogging" and at Spanish!

Rodolfo tells me that the proper Spanish word for him as a healer is "curandero." I did not use the proper word in my last blog. I looked up "curandero" in my Spanish/English dictionary and the English word next to it is "quack." Really?? I looked up "quack" in the English side of the dictionary and did not find "curandero." Why is this? I think to myself, "No wonder so much of our converstaions are 'lost in translation!'" Not even the dictionary agrees with itself!

My husband John arrived Saturday for four days. He is here to help me celebrate my birthday. We travel home to Plainfield tomorrow. At dinner last Friday Bishop Delgado asked me to concelebrate the Eucharist with him at the Anglican Cathedral in Cuernavaca on Sunday. He makes his own vestments and they are very elegant and handsome. That means he makes his albs as well. He invited me to try one on because I have no vestments with me. I found one that fit.

John and I met the bishop at the cathedral on Sunday before the service. I went to the sacristy and vested with the bishop and the acolyte. It was my birthday Sunday and before we processed in, the bishop prayed. I heard him say a prayer for me blessing my ministry in Plainfield and praying that my vocation bears fruit. He asked me to serve the chalice so I memorized the words, "La sangre de Cristo, caliz de salvacion."

I've never served my husband the chalice using the Spanish words. I always have the sense that when I'm serving God's people there is a profound unity between us because Christ's gift is at the center. It fees no different in Spanish - that unity. It feels no different between strangers. It feels no different with John.

After the post communion prayer the bishop called me to the center of the sanctuary in front of the altar (it is a free standing altar). He prayed for me and my birthday from the prayer book. He laid his hands on me and blessed me. Then he handed me a gift and a note for my birthday. He had bought a beautiful hand painted cross and bird from an artist in Guerrera. (John wants to bring some home because he thinks the people at home will think they are beautiful as well.)

I was glad I didn't break down in tears at the service on Sunday. But as I prepare to leave tomorrow, I'm pretty sure I'm going to weep when I say good-bye to my dear and lovely Mexican friends at the Diocese of Cuernavaca.