La Virgencita

Wednesday was the feast of the Immaculate Conception.  Although it's traditionally my second favorite holy day, I couldn't go to Mass because I was far too busy at the clinic.  As I was secretly missing making fun of the people who sing "Breath of Heaven" to celebrate the day (which is commonly confused with the Annunciation), a very pregnant woman entered Good Samaritan.  It turns out she is only one month from her due date and she recently learned that she has gestational diabetes.  She is receiving her prenatal care elsewhere, and they referred her to a special high-risk pregnancy clinic for her diabetic care.  However, she was told that she needed to bring $655 for her appointment at the latter location.  She is currently not working and has two other kids, so, long story short, she didn't have the money and was hoping we could help her.

There really was nothing I could do in this situation.  By law, Good Sam isn't allowed to serve women who are pregnant because of the liability involved.  And although the fetus will eventually be a US citizen, the mother is undocumented and therefore excluded from much of the assistance she would otherwise qualify for. So I ended up asking one of my volunteers to take the woman aside and basically get the story straight, and then encourage her to work out a payment plan at the specialty clinic.  After all, sometimes a kind, listening person does a lot more to help people in need than anything else.

After the woman left, the volunteer had tears in her eyes as she said that throughout the long conversation, she couldn't help but think about the Virgin Mary looking for assistance as she was getting ready to give birth to Jesus.  I think this was way more prayerful for me than going to Mass to remember Mary being born without original sin.  

Today is the feast day of the Virgen de Guadalupe (the Church tried to move the celebration to yesterday because it's also the third Sunday of Advent, but whatever...).  I spent Friday and Saturday evening at my parish to celebrate.  It began with a procession from the soccer field to the church while we carried candles behind the framed picture of La Guadalupana, accompanied by mariachi music.  Then there was Aztec dancing in front of the picture before Mass.  I ended up sitting in the sacristy, behind the altar, because there were no more seats inside the church and I didn't want to sit outside in the rain.  Following the Mass, in typical Hispanic fashion, there was music and food.  Yesterday evening, there was more music and food.  There was even some sort of cute child-in-costume contest and some form of singing-in-front-of-the-virgin contest.  I still don't quite understand a lot of the customs, but I find the entire celebration quite beautiful.  After all, I think that Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is really about social justice.  Mary, the woman who brought Jesus onto this earth, appeared to a poor indigenous man and looked poor and indigenous herself!  She didn't appear to the bishop as a wealthy western European!  It's no wonder that she is viewed as the Empress of the Americas; she came for the poor and oppressed and has become a symbol of hope.

On a side note, today is also Foundation Day for the Sisters of Mercy, so last night my community members and I went to Mass and dinner at the local convent.  And tomorrow is the feast of St. Lucia, my patron saint.  I love celebrating all of these strong and beautiful women in the Church! :)