Saturday, September 1, 2007

I am a Señora

This is my last day of sabbatical. I feel thoroughly rested and renewed. I am deeply grateful for this time of rest, renewal, adventure and study. Thank you good people of Grace Church for this time of abundance in my vocation as a priest.

In Mexico I was hoping to "pass" as a Mexican once I learned a few phrases of Spanish. But like my mother said, "Carolyn, you are so tall compared to all the people in your pictures!" And, as one of my teachers pointed out, "Carolina, eres blanca." (You are white.) She wanted me to know as part of my learning that Mexcians generally were "moreno." (brown).

But last Sunday as a I walked down the streets of Plainfield to the carillon concert at church, a man I didn't know spoke to me and said, "¿Como esta?" I was very surprised. Then Maria saw me and began to speak Spanish to me. I think I am a "señora" after all!

I always enjoy the annual carillon concert and peach festival. The carillon has a beautiful sound with its 47 bells. The carillon tower and the big stone half block building of Grace Church reminds me of some of the grand façades I encountered in Mexico. The history of these buildings is complicated. Expertly engineered pyramids were erected all over Mexico and central America. Many of them were built to worship the sun god or the moon god or the serpent/jaguar god, Quetzecotyl. In some cases, humans were sacrificed on top of these pyramids. In their time, some humans were honored to give up their lives to appease the gods. One history book gives an account of as many as 20,000 humans being sacrificed at one point in time. I had a nightmare the night I read that section!

Then Hernan Cortes arrived in Mexico with his band of soldiers and priests to find the treasure in the East. The Spaniards set about systematically destroying many of the pyramids and erecting cathedrals or palaces on the sites. They took some of the beautiful, carved stone objects and re-made them for use in Christian worship. On one of the trips to Mexcio City, I went to the Museo de Antropologia. I was amazed to find a stone baptismal font made out of one of the vessels presumed to have held some remnants of human sacrifice.

The cathedral in Mexico City across from the Presidential Palace was erected on destroyed pyramids. Yet, in the square the day I visited, there were other influences that the people seek as well as Roman Catholicism. For example, outside the gate in front of the cathdedral, a man dressed in authentic indegenous clothing stood censing a man in a T-shirt. There was a line of people waiting for their "purification rite."

Next to the man censing was a tent with a clown drawing a great crowd. The clown looked a little like Mark Twain and he was satyrizing the Calderon administration. Next to the cathedral on the side street outside the gate people were gathering around two more clowns. They were performing juggling and acrobatics, telling jokes as they performed. Joy and laughter abounded while the bronze statue of John Paul II (with a mysterious face of the Virgen de Guadelupe) looked on behind the cathedral gates. (I feel certain the pope was smiling at the clowns!)

As I return to my home place of worship tomorrow, I enter the beautiful building with a feeling of light-heartedness and anticipation. I believe humor is of God and belongs in the church. So, my heart is light. I believe that this summer's sabbatical has opened doors to cultures and people whom I've not really seen, much less spoken to. I look forward to learning how to bridge the cultural and language divide between me and my Latino neighbors. I hope you join me as the good folks of Grace Church and I embark on this adventure God has called us to. And I hope to write more on my blog "post sabbatical."

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