From my files of 2008! AS I have been thinking of Kurt's coming birthday!!! How time flies! And do we even notice our fragility?

August Birthday Poems:

I am happy to have another great niece or nephew.  This news comes just in time for Uncle Kurt’s birthday (el tio Kurto) which is today (August 9th!)

So happy birthday to Kurt, Lynn, Mary, Paul, all have birthdays in August! 

The following two poems are for the occasion:

8-8-08

MORNING CHANTS

I awaken from sacred dreams...

                                             Singing...

Anticipating in a world of trouble,

   The many blessings a new day

                                         Is bringing...

The biggest treat is

My great family and friends.

I have learned to make many amends...

Comfort comes from the animals,

                                    Especially my cat...

My place in church, poetry reunions

                                            And all of that.

Adorning life are all the plants,

   And my thanks and greetings

                            Go up in many chants!

                                     By:  Karla

9 AUGUST, 2008

        (3:50 A.M.)

THE TRANSFORMATION

What is it that your heart

Is saying to you?

What is it your heart says to do?

Is it beating a bit off beat or too fast?

Or with deep, sound beats,

   Intense feelings that last and last?

Do you take the time to listen to yourself?

Where your heart is,

         Is where you find true wealth?

And what’s your dream, the biggest dream?

Open up your heart,

             Feel it deeply,

             And get on the winning team!

The surest calm in the storm...

Is the beats of the heart

        That positive thinking helps form.

Open up your heart.

With the drumming of angels

   Comes transformation

           Of which you also can be a part!

                            By: Karla

This is a dream I had recently!

DREAM OF MOVEMENT

(Domingo, May 4, 2014)

I went away and my father and brothers and sisters couldn’t find me.  Then I came back and they were surprised to see me cleaning and working in the house. My mother was kind of giddy and not “all there”!  She had so many material things, antiques and odd items.  I cleaned them, but it seemed extreme to me, like excessive.  My brothers and sisters watched.  Then they were living in a trailer-house, but it was really the same house.  There was a microwave oven and a machine that made juice from apples.  They had the leftover parts of the apples piled up and I told my brothers and sisters (especially Ann and Shawn, the youngest) how awful that was, that ants and bugs could come because of it.  They wanted to clean it but were vacillating and it seemed like a lot of work to me.  I wanted to know if the oven worked.  I desired that my father buy me a new car and resented that my mother had so many nick-knacks and he didn’t buy me a car.  (Cars are ways to mobilize oneself!)

What I can say about this dream is that I reject over consumption and feel that more help should be given to more altruistic activities.  Lately, I have been baking apples with cinnamon to eat to try to replace them for other foods so as to lose weight and be healthier.  It takes work and patience to do it.  I bake the apples in an electric oven that Pascual and the kids gave me for my birthday.  That my youngest brother and sister were listening to me could have to do with the young people here in Argentina who pay attention to me and listen to me.

I feel like my father abandoned me, and even though he was an excellent father, I feel that he didn’t give me some things I needed, and that there was some kind of a wall or separation between us.  I think my brothers and sisters watch me making a different kind of life, and that they notice that, but that they do not participate in it much, but deep down inside they admire me for my efforts. 

This dream was after I found the puppies so it could have to do with the excellent job we are doing to take care of them!  It also shows a desire to go back to the United States and share some of the love and contention I have found and been able to build in my life.

 I feel a need to go to many places (The Vatican, to go to visit people and places and to share what I have been able to work for).  Does this gift from my family work?  Is it too much work for me?  Obviously, I feel I need the attention, or some kind of response, of my brothers and sisters.  I once lived in a trailer-house in the US.  Even though it was a different way of living, it was still the same house of a way of life that was not for me.  My mother did the best she could, and she was not conscious of what was happening around her.

My friend, Graciela, often talks about what a Movement means.  I have written about this subject because of a writing she gave to me.  I feel that I am in a time of life when there will be changes and movement.

                      By: Karla

MOVEMENT (A good writing preparing for Pentecost)

MOVEMENT

(By: Karla Wagener, For Lent)

For this lent of 2010, I am suggesting a change of attitude, (to look for new ways) to invest in making relationships better.

As is widely known, the Spirit is a moving entity.  In English the word "movement" can be a noun and mean something stationary, as in a campaign or sign.  This may seem to be a contradiction, yet spirit is really something that moves and is quiet at the same time.

The purpose of Lent is to prepare for the coming of the Spirit.  Since it is not material, it is necessary to prepare for it letting go of the material possessions that limit spirit.

I put myself in the place of the Virgin Mary who was searching for her lost son while returning to Nazareth from Jerusalem.  All of us have something we feel is missing in our lives.  Something we yearn for.  Something we feel we need.  The Virgin was searching for her son. 

I imagine her connection with God gave her peace and confidence as she went about the chore of asking, looking and doing what she, as a human could do.  On the other hand, she trusted in God, and followed her heart’s particular beat.  She must have sensed that God would care for her son and help lead her to him.

She did all she could to resolve the problem, but at the same time let God direct her.  Finally, Jesus shocked her by telling her, "Why do you search for me?  Woman, do you not see I must be about my father’s business".   It was a common custom for the Jewish people that a firstborn be offered to God’s service.

This son was now a man.  Jesus had his own mission.  The Virgin, by searching for her son, found the teachers of the law, the temple and what we all really need, God and Spirit!

Still, Jesus returned with Maria and Joseph, and was subject to them.  We all search and work for something and, ultimately, all searching in some way leads us to Spirit.  When we give in to life’s course of events, to God’s Will, we get back even more.

Jesus became a great teacher.  He brought forth the apostles.  He taught and healed, worked miracles...  He prepared all this and after he was crucified, Mary continued with faith and the trust that she would once again be re-united with her son.  And the world could shake with earthquakes, the sky could tumble or mountains fall...  She held firm and continued with purpose.  Always present was her unconditional love for her son.  "Why do you search for me"?  Why do any of us have thirst, hunger, a need, a goal?

The Virgin and Jesus’ followers had done all they could.  They had prayed and prepared.  When the time arrived, the spirit helped them.  It could come because the environment had been prepared. 

Jesus had to be lost, to be recognized as doing God’s will.  He died on the cross and was recognized as Christ.  She gave her son to God, and the Spirit came.  Only some people recognized him before all this. 

The scriptures written on the heart of a mother are never erased.  There is an understanding and union that transcends the universe. 

Perhaps some experiences have to happen like an investment to prepare for future experiences, later in life.

The preparation and passage over land is necessary to get us to another point in space.  There is also necessary preparation and movement within us to have an environment ready to receive the spirit, the light "sun", "son", (in spanish "son" (sonido).  (also sol...soul...sole...).

When not properly prepared all this "movement" can be much for us.  When properly prepared we get the maximum benefits!


Mary’s conviction and perceptibility astound us.  Her confidence in her son and God are admirable and her meek determination and perseverance in difficult times is worthy of imitating.

She was aware and conscious of the situation and prepared what she could, always expectant in her faith that the spirit would manifest and that her most intimate needs would be fulfilled.

And... she did all this in service and singing!

                                              

OFFERING

"It is easier to be led to destruction,
underestimating your innocence,
   or offering of bread and wine, your production!

 Chiding those 40 days of fasting,
of the old folks, weak and sick seemingly everlasting.

Many insult, pursue, throw rocks;
happiness, love and mercy they will never block.

If obstacles are laid,  your progress not to permit,
 should they punish and unjustly make you  submit...

Perhaps they are weaker, obligating to fill their own need.
What then is your offering, for those who suffer and plead?

Perhaps the maximum that can be done
(to the unfaithful) is show true faithfulness, my son!

I continue praying, oh, Promised Land
of rich milk and honey
beyond the illusive sand.

In the desert, the thirsty soul,
intuitively presages living water,
                       with a purposeful goal!