A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. Mark 5:24-29
The story of the woman with the hemorrhage has always touched my heart. First of all because I think that the woman was very gutsy. She dared touch a man, when her bleeding rendered her unclean, more than that, her 12 years of bleeding had turned her into an outcast. But she pressed through the crowd and touched Jesus who felt immediately that powered had gone out from him. When he starts asking, "Who touched me?" The woman must have been petrified. She was not supposed to be out in public, she was not supposed to touch anybody, much less a rabbi!
But Jesus kept asking. He wanted to know who had had such faith. He forced the woman to acknowledge her act. I think Jesus wanted to make sure that it was her faith which had cured her. Perhaps to give her back the dignity she had lost many years ago when she had been ostracized from society.
She was healed! But she was terrified. And even trembling, she fell at the feet of Jesus and told him the whole truth.
I wonder how many of us are afraid not of looking for healing but of actually being healed? How would our lives change?
Jesus then says: "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."
Freed from suffering! Not only of the physical suffering, but also of the emotional and the social, I imagine the spiritual (since she couldn't attend religious services.) She was free! But now her life had to change.
Jesus know, of course who it was that touched him. But He wanted to make her stronger, to heal her publicly, to restore her dignity publicly.
In our days, these things are still happening. I keep on seeing these TV commercials where we're told that girls in Africa can't go to school because they do not have menstrual pads. These girls also suffer because it's a social and public humiliation. And there are many more women throughout the world who suffer like the woman in Jesus' time.
(The following is taken from http://www.goods4girls.org/)
"In many areas of the world, access to adequate menstrual supplies is difficult to come by. Many women and girls rely on rags, newspaper, camel skin or nothing at all for their menstrual needs. A lack of sanitary pads can be a big barrier to a girl's education.
It may seem difficult to comprehend for many women who have easy access to a varied source of supplies, but we can all appreciate how difficult life would be without them. Imagine trying to go to school or work without protection. For many, it brings life to a halt.
Providing disposable supplies creates an additional burden on some communities where solid waste disposal consists of burning the garbage. Since many disposable feminine hygiene products contain plastic, incineration potentially creates an environmental and health hazard.
Goods 4 Girls was started to seek out donors to sew or purchase new, reusable menstrual pads for donations to areas of Africa where these products are needed most. Providing reusable supplies not only provides a more environmentally friendly alternative for these young women (in areas of adequate water supply for washing), it reduces their dependence on outside aid organizations to continue providing for their monthly needs.
It's easy to donate, even if you don't know how to sew. For more information about why you should donate, read the About Us page. For more information on what agencies we (they) are working with, please visit the News page."
So, I started sewing to contribute a little bit to give women some dignity. The other night I was watching a PBS program about Fistula Patients in Africa. Well, basically this women have a ruptured birth canal because of difficult births which leaves them unable to control their bladders. Often, in their small villages, they suffer humiliation and become outcasts. It is very prevalent, the most common estimate is that 100,000 women worldwide develop fistulas every year, though some estimates put the number closer to 500,000.
In Africa, after a difficult labor (in most cases the baby is stillborn), the woman is left with constant leaking of urine and, in extreme cases, feces, and she is often abandoned by her family and community because of the smell, which is sometimes linked to superstitious beliefs.
One girl, seventeen years old, said that she was in labor for a week and then finally the baby was yanked out of her and since the baby was born dead, her husband left her. She was no longer a woman. You can read some more about the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital and the Fistula Foundation.
It is incredible what one simple operation can do. It is incredible what a well made pad can do for a girl's dignity. And it is incredible what the waste of disposable pads can do to people's health (especially in Africa where they incinerate because of lack of landfills, exposing the community to the breathing of all those chemicals and toxic materials.)
In the United States we do not have that problem. I can not help but be so full of gratitude for all the privileges we have in this country. So, let us continue to pray for all the people that suffer around the world. Especially the victims in Myanmar and in China and here in the United States. And let us pray for all the women around the world who do not even have the dignity of protection for their periods. And if you can, please donate to either foundation so that they can also hear:
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Goods 4 Girls
Sunday, April 27, 2008
¡Sin rama no hay uvas!
El evangelio del miércoles nos presenta la imagen de la Vid. Jesús dice: "Yo soy la Vida verdadera, y mi Padre es el que la cultiva." Esta imagen me remonta a mi infancia, a la viña en el patio trasero de mi abuela. Las uvas eran verdes y tenían un sabor agridulce.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
To pray unceasingly
Friday, April 18, 2008
Poverty, the border and Psalm 8
Poverty was experienced first hand during this time. on Thursday morning we went to the border between Mexico and the Us to pray for the immigrants, the ones who have died, the ones who will, the ones who have crossed, the ones who will, and while we were praying we noticed two men who were swimming to the American side. The waters were very high and very strong. The river is known in English as "the Rio Grande River" in Spanish is known as the "Rio Bravo" which means the "Fierce River." Many people have died trying to beat its fury, trying to find a better life for their families. It's a sad story. So, the two men, either because of the fury of the water or because they saw us and got scared swimmed back to the Mexican sad. The whole experience left a wound in my heart. This is the kind of poverty that's hardest to live. There's nothing I can do for them.
So, I prayed. I prayed. I prayed. I wished God would part the waters for them like He did for the Israelites. But God calls me to something else. "Trust me", He says, "for I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD...
And although my heart is still unsettled and rowdy over the border scene I pray that God allows me to continue to trust, to tame the high and fierce waters of my heart.
Meanwhile, I leave you with Psalm 8, written and sung by my own Sisters.
Praised be the Incarnate Word!
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Big, Big News!
I had been impatiently waiting to be able to give you my big news. I have been accepted to profession and I have a date!I am so full of gratitude I could not fully express it. It has been a long time. From the time I met the Sisters (May 1999) to the time I entered (Jan. 2004.) It's been long and throughout that time I often asked God, "Lord, how come other people get to enter, how come other people seem to have what I don't?" I had college loans and was supporting my family, I had a few things to work through. It seemed like I just couldn't enter.
My mom told me if I wanted to enter I needed to finish college first. That was something I didn't want to do. Like other people in this crazy "instant" age, I wanted to drop everything and enter (I coined it "giving everything up for the Lord") truth is, I didn't want to wait. It is true I wanted to give God the best of my years but God was also preparing me, teaching me patience and surrender.
The day I finished college was a happy one. The Sisters went to my graduation.

Even when I entered, I was still helping to support my mom's studies. My mom is a registered surgical nurse in Mexico. She had been studying English to be able to become an RN here. My mom is now working in the United States, in nursing, though she's not an RN yet but continues to study to achieve her goal. She's working, enjoying it and I see her happy, healthy and fulfilled. God couldn't have given me more.
The college loans are gone. I had an angel to help me finish paying them off, or rather, many angels. Then, there was the question of certification. Some of you know that I have a degree in Spanish Literature with a minor in Translation Studies (big deal, what can I do with a degree like that?) So, I needed to study more in order to share in the ministry of my Sisters. Pope John Paul II has been instrumental, every step of the way, his words:
"Do not be afraid. Do not be satisfied with mediocrity. Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."
have always been with me. Do not be satisfied, God wants more!
So, I went back to studying. I am now a certified generalist teacher with a kinder endorsement and a bilingual certification. I am halfway through a masters in theology and will become certified in Montessori Education. I am prepared for ministry, I am ready and willing. I want to give it all to God and He is taking my word.
I no longer look at other people and ask, "why can't it be me Lord?" My time has come. On Agust 9th, 2008 I will say YES! to God. I will say like our Foundress Jeanne Chezard de Matel:
"O my Gentle Love...choose me as your friend. Make your intimate hiding place in me, as I do in You. Make me a chanel through which You can pour out Your graces on all those whom You want to favor."
Today's readings speak to me greatly. When I was a child my grandmother had me memorize the Psalms to repeat in moments of anguish or fear. Psalm 23 was the first one I learned; "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want..." Today, I can say that I recognized the voice of the Shepherd and I follow Him. My cup is overflowing. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the day of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord FOREVER! My grandmother is surely smiling down from heaven.
Praised be the Incarnate Word! Now and Forever more. Amen!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Easter updates
Friday, February 22, 2008
Incarnate Word Formation Symposium 2008
watch everything. The buses provided each person with these cool earphones which we connected to the back of the seat in front of us to hear a narration of the places where we went by. The city is so large that I believe the bus takes eight hours to show you the whole city. We only rode for about three hours and then had lunch and headed back to the house for the opening. After that we had some pictures taken. I took a picture of the picture takers (here they are pretending to be models, aren't they cute?) Then we closed with a Mass at the Basilica of Guadalupe. The frunny thing is that they have this little chapels on the second floor looking into the main Altar but they are not divided by walls (sort of like a VIP box at the theater.) So, when we were having Mass we were looking into a different Mass. It was hard to concentrate but it was beautiful.






