A
FESTIVE ROUTE
(Written
June 11 and finished December 3, 2017)
How are the
psychologist and priest alike? They both
always find something wrong!
Divine Justice is at hand. No tale is totally true. It is always mixed with our feelings,
interpretations, prejudices, ideals, rationings, sins, or justifications.
The
difference between one woman and the other is that one knew she married a
¨Pascual¨ and the other discovered later.
¨Mario¨ did not reveal his first ¨grace¨ or name so the other woman
found out when family documents were revealed after their marriage. ¨Why didn´t you tell me¨? She quipped angrily
when she discovered the truth. She was
looking to have children and form a family and she didn´t hide that fact at
all. She expected honesty. Both women were persons of much prayer and
contemplation and compassion. One wanted
to be a writer (that´s me!) and one became a nurse.
It seems
comical to me now, since I always prayed a lot, that I carried all the money I
had with me at the time in my hand like some kind of dowry as I crossed the
border from Ecuador to Colombia to meet with two companions in Bogota. I did not even realize how dangerous travelling
there alone was. Basically, I was ¨a
lonely girl¨ and I thought I was protected by prayer and good feelings.
The only
thing more or less expensive I wore were the Earth Shoes I had sent to get
personally handcrafted and fitted in Canada before I left Albuquerque to go to
an extension of the University of New Mexico in Quito to study Spanish and
become a teacher, and to experience South America first hand. When I came across Pascual on my weekend trip
to Colombia the shoes were what he noticed most, however. His Aunt, a wise, good person had always told
him ¨to know a person, always check out the shoes they wear¨. ¨The shoes will tell their secrets¨. This surely was a meaningful factor in why
Pascual so decidedly insisted I stay with him.
He was not conscious that he had been ¨looking for a hard headed woman¨
as the song says. On the other hand, with my 22 years and pretty blonde hair it was an
interesting challenge for him.
My
Grandparents used to say ¨There is no one more firm than a person who quits
smoking or a converted person". So when I met Pascual, I knew somehow
unconsciously or something, that he was the ¨Jesse James¨ repentant that
belonged to my mission in life. I didn't
consider myself to be Catholic then since I left the Church at the age of 12, but
I spent my whole life always praying, contemplating, believing, and the early
teachings at my Catholic grade school had made a heavy mark on my thinking.
Later, I would rejoin Church activities when my daughter began Catechism.
The nurse
was only about 12 years old when I met Pascual, so it is a mystery what she
knows! Surely, she has her secrets
too! She only wanted to cure people and
be merciful. Judgement day is at
hand! We are the makers of peace! This was my message for the World! Our mission was similar, the basic values of
a family life, health of body mind and Spirit, and to accompany the ¨Pascuals¨
in life. We have learned to join forces
since we met and have much in common in the skills of canalizing situations
with the ¨Pascua¨.
It occurs
to me that I met Pascual at the border of two countries at the precise ¨middle
of the Earth¨ in an extreme position of fragility. Me from the U.S., and he from Argentina, the
End of the World. The tendency in our
life together would be to live on the limits and borders.
Much of the
reason I stayed with him was because of his name. Of course, it was mostly subconscious, but
the things the nuns had taught us, for example, the meaning of the word ¨Pascua¨ had cut me
deeply.
Jesus compared the kingdom to
the owners of a house who went on a long journey. When they returned the caretakers did not
want to give the property back. (Mark 13:31-37). The house is oftentimes symbolic for the very
life of a person. We had bought a house
in Argentina and left on a long journey.
We came back unexpectedly and all of a sudden. The people in the house were perplexed. From this I learned that the owners often
sacrifice their own situation to buffer what others do. It can even get to the extreme that the
vineyard's owner send his own son and they disrespect him and kill him. (Mark,
Chapter 12). There is a dispute over
ownership and legal rights.
Yet mercy
is kind in the overshadowings of questions of life and death, right and
wrong. A firm Justice sentences each,
while compassion and understanding, at the same time, prepares us for
tenderness. The World is at a critical
time. Conditions appear to be getting
much worse for the majority, yet what is detrimental to most will be of benefit
for some. It is a contradiction and
those who give much will somehow have what they come to most need in the balance.
In some of
my writings I have said that psychology and the Spiritual World will be
reconciled. I have been in analysis most
of my life and have experienced it clinically, learning and absorbing with
great introspection. Also, I have tended
towards spiritual matters, preferring this to material wealth. I have come to understand that the Spiritual
is willing to pay heavily and for much time, ¨give the house¨ shall we say, to
cure the psychological. The health of
the soul prevails when facing extremes of questions of life and death, and attitudes
tend to change.
So the
kingdom will be built with small actions, a process of much duration like
analysis and workings that at some time will have the pressure taken off. Much like the priest who persistently finds sin comes to listen to the counsel of
the humble servant and saint, so as the psychologist's soul is often healed by
the insane; the priest finds true conversion in the humble, penitent saint. Leaders of nations can take counsel from
converted spouses, or Popes take courage in the lyrics and rhymes of intuitive
poets!
Here we are
on ¨the road to redemption¨ and at the End of the World. Where will we go from here?
My great
hope is to be able to be a guide to higher realms of consciousness, and
Graciela is a model of positive initiative and concrete actions. Faith is at its best when it has been put to
practice! We complement each other and
work well together.
The fact is
we are talking about questions of what is beyond, questions of life and
death. It takes specialized sensitivity
to canalize these issues. It is what
really counts and takes a special preparation.
Before we
became loyal members of the Legion de Mary and hard workers, Graciela used to
frequent a store where a common friend was a worker. It was before Graciela and I met. The common friend talked about me and my
husband, Pascual, and how he worked with leather, etc. Graciela wondered, ¨Could it be that my
Pascual is unfaithful and has another woman¨?
She held that doubt for quite a while until she met me. We became the best of friends and joined
forces in the mission, not so much of reforming our two Pascuals, but in a
common project we shared, giving them contention and accompanying them.
Take this
all as you like, but there is no doubt that redemption is at hand. It's as simple as that. I am sharing this with you so that you can
have some weight taken off! As the song
goes, ¨Put the weight on me¨!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
AUGURIOS! See you at Eastertime 2018!
A Letter from Karla for
Advent in the Synod, December 3, 2017
