Quinceanera

 

The Quinceanera refers to the traditional coming-of-age celebration for Latinas. It is an elegant party on the girl's 15th birthday, highlighting God, family, friends, music, food and dance. To mark her passage into womanhood, a ceremony is held in her honor, which presents the young woman to the community while giving thanks to God for his blessings.

 

On my deployment to Divine Mercy Catholic Church in Las Vegas, I have celebrated the Quinceanera Mass for Magali, Angie, Julia and Sophia. With all their young friends, most of them teenagers, this was my story to help bring them closer to Jesus.

 

One of my hobbies is to take landscape photos at national parks. I was humbled by the generosity of a parishioner who let me borrow her car to take a 24-hour trip to Death Valley National Park. However, before this adventure, I contacted a modest motel to stay overnight. The owner bargained that if I would take photos of their motel rooms to update their website, he would offer me a free room for the night.

 

When I arrived in Beatty, Roy, the motel owner, immediately took me aside to share that he had just brought his wife Roberta home from a Las Vegas hospital where she was diagnosed with stage four cancer. At the quinceanera, I shared that the devil is about getting. Jesus is about giving.

 

I asked Roy if I could visit his wife and give her a blessing. He said that he was not a Catholic, like this really matters to Jesus. Within minutes, Roy says, “Come” and I am walking into their humble home, knelling down at the side of his wife’s wheel chair, taking hold of her hand and offering a blessing prayer asking Jesus to heal her and give her courage for the next step in her treatments. I reminded her that God loves us and especially wants to be close to us in our time of suffering. A prayer of hope, healing and compassion. Roy cried as we walked outside their home to express his thanks.

 

I finally drove into the park and stopped at the visitor center to get my day pass, where I met a young park ranger who said she lived in Rochester. I replied with delight, “that’s my home too.” Then I thought, what a wonderful image for God. I told our 15 year old quinceanera and her young friends to think of God like a park ranger.

 

A person who serves. A park ranger serves her visitors by giving out maps so they won’t get lost, Jesus helps us who are lost in this life. Our ranger points visitors to find the best places to visit and see God’s beauty. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. The ranger suggests hiking trails and shares information how to stay safe. Jesus teaches that the most important word in life is forgiveness. The ranger leads special classes about the environment and local animals that inhabit the land like the coyote and mountain goats.

 

What a wonderful image for God. Jesus is about giving and this young ranger was giving me ideas where to find the best spots to take my landscape photos.

 

On this special day of your quinceaneras, where do you think Jesus is calling you to serve?  For a young teenager, it might be the time you are asked to babysit your younger brothers and sisters, or volunteering to help visit your grandparents, a lonely neighbor or family member. There are tons of ways a young person can serve Jesus. Maybe sing in your church Hispanic choir.  

 

My dear Sonshine Friends, what about you? Where do you think Jesus is calling you to serve?

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends, that God inspires us to choose where we can use our special gifts and talents to serve God and be the best Christian we can be

 

After I taught our young peopel that Jesus is about giving, this is the prayer the young lady recites asking Jesus for His help to serve Him.

 

Heavenly Father, I thank you for the gift of life for creating me in your image and likeness and for calling me to be your daughter through baptism. Thank you for sending your Son Jesus to save me and your Holy Spirit to sanctify me. To that which in your goodness and love you will for me, I say “yes,” With your grace I commit myself to serve my brothers and sisters all my life.
 

Mary, Mother of Jesus and our Mother, I dedicate myself to you. Since you are my model of faith, help me to continue learning from you what I need to be a Christian woman. Help me to hear the Word of God as you did, holding it in my heart and loving others, so that, as I walk with Jesus in this life, I may worship Him with you in all eternity. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jesus is About Giving

 

Temptation. It’s a craving for my coconut ice crème at night before bedtime. The family rule is you scoop a small portion into a bowl, but the temptation is to cradle the half-gallon carton in your lap with a spoon until it’s all gone. Why would anyone do that, because it tastes so good. Forget the calories, it was yummy in my tummy.

 

Satan is playing hardball with Jesus. He comes with three final temptation doozies after 40 days of temptation. Think about it – if Jesus, the Son of God, is not exempt from temptation, then who is? 

 

Lent's a good time to be reminded that's why we pray, fast, and give alms. Those are designed to help you and me overcome temptation, to be anything less than the best version of ourselves. Satan's message is clear. "Get all you can, Jesus. Look at the splendor, look at the sparkle. It's all yours. Don't worry about God, don't worry about pleasing Him. Please yourself, Jesus. That'll make you happy. Simply worship me."

 

The devil is all about getting. He's about getting because the more we focus on getting, what we think life should be, the less and less life we actually have. You can call it acquisition; you can call it purchasing; you can call it consuming. Call it what you want, but you and I live in a culture of getting.

 

Getting, getting even, getting my way, getting what's mine, getting while the getting's good, getting all I can, getting what I want out of life, getting, getting, getting. And no matter how much we get, we still want more. We get what we want, and life's still not right. Our soul’s not settled, our heart's not satisfied. We want more revenge, we want more assets, we want to get more pleasure. We are a culture of getters.

 

Reminds me about the little boy, Brian, at the birthday party. His mother was about to serve the cake when he shouted, "I want the biggest piece!" She replied, "Brian, it's not polite to ask for the biggest piece." So he looked at the floor and he said, "Well, then how do I get it?"

 

It's not Brian. There's just something in our souls that always wants to get more. But it's crucial to understand as Lent begins. The devil is about getting. Jesus is about giving. "Don't try to get life," Jesus says. "Give your life away, and when you do then you'll find it." Because life is not about us. It's about God. As long as we focus on ourselves, our needs, our wants, our passion, our spirit, our desires, we'll never actually find what life is about. That's the irony, isn't it?

 

So when Satan offers the world, Jesus replies, "Worship the Lord your God and serve only Him." Because Jesus understood you can only have one master. You can serve whatever you choose, your passion, your desires, all the world's stuff, or you can serve God. "Just know," Jesus says, "that to serve anything other than God is to choose Satan." In other words, do you want life? Give it away. That's why Lent's just so powerful. It's about these simple habits: pray, fast, give. Habits that help you give your life away to God. When you invest your heart, when you invest your money, when you invest your life in God, then you will find life.

 

Let me share an example about someone who understands that. Matt was a forklift driver. He lived near Detroit. He worked as a forklift driver for most of his adult life. Even when he was 78, he was still driving that lift. He lived in a one-bedroom apartment, drove an old Ford Escort, didn't take vacations. What did he do? Matt gave his money away. Over the course of his lifetime, he'd given more than $1 million to church ministries and educational scholarships. He said, "Big house, big car? That doesn't excite me. Giving is my joy." Funny who understands that. A 78-year-old forklift driver.

 

Look around you. There’s a war going on in Ukraine. women and children are leaving their homes by the millions while their husbands stay to fight for freedom. The Ukrainian people in our country are collecting food and medicine to send to their families in a war torn country. The devil is about getting. Jesus is about giving.

 

A lot can happen in 40 days of Lent. How are you going to use yours? What are you going to do with your 40 days? Jesus is inviting you to give your life away, and when you do, you just might find that you have more life than you ever had before.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends, keep safe the mothers and children who are running for their life to safety to other countries, bless the volunteers from all nations who welcome the refugees into their homes, and watch over the men who are willing to give their life for freedom and bring their spouses and children back home to Ukraine.