Just a Little Church Rant

Please forgive me in advance for this little rant.  I have set on this for a couple of days and it still is bothering me.

Sunday at Mass I was distracted.  Here are some of the things that distracted me:

• The ADHD father and son next to me.  Fidgeting and talking continuously
• The ladies in the front who talk during the Rosary, Mass, after communion, etc
• The couple in front of me talking to the people in front of them during the petitions
• The individuals that feel the need during the Sign of Peace to walk around the Church to all their friends
• The individuals that don't sing.  If God gave you a bad singing voice give it back to Him!
• The Eucharistic Minister that will NOT distribute Communion any place put next to the priest 

In reality none of these things should have distracted me.  I am not a Saint, I can only hope to be a Saint in the making.  I should not be at Mass to watch those individuals around me.  My focus should be on The Sacrifice of the Mass.

Even though I know where my focus should be I am easily distracted and then I get irritated and then I realize that I and only I did NOT really attend Mass.  Instead I chose to pay more attention to the distractions, not the Sacrifice.

What can I say?  I will try harder, but Lord could you at least drop those other people a nudge?  Thanks in advance.

Love,
Cindy

The Boat Is For Sale

Well the day has come, we have put the boat up for sale.  Talking to other cruisers in the marina it appears that we are not alone.

It also appears that there is an evolution in cruising.  Most, but not all start out in a mono-hull and then move to a multi-hull.  Some go even further and move to a Trawler!  Not us we are doing the new evolution and we are not alone.  Boat to RV!

There are similarities to boating and RVing.  12 volt systems, you can be on or off the grid as much as you want.  You tend to be independent, living in water or dirt groups, potlucks are a staple and everyone has stories.

I will miss the boat in ways that I never thought I would  here are some of the things I will miss:

• sleeping with the waves rocking me to sleep
• the great counter space in my galley
• watching the sunrise and set from my cockpit
• watching the stars move across the sky via the hatch over my bed
• the endless ease dropping on conversations via the VHF radio
• being the only boat in an anchorage
• sharing an anchorage with another boat
• being the first in the anchorage so that we can watch the show and not be the show
• grocery shopping by dinghy
• dolphins!
• snorkeling off the back of the boat
• Happy Hour at anchor
• the horizon that meets the sea offshore
• the sails full of wind and the sound of the water slipping under us
• the SSB net
• being alone on the ocean
• the International community

It has been a good run and now it is time for someone else to enjoy Dragonheart.  I know that Dragonheart is just waiting for someone to take her out to the big blue and let her dance again in the wind and waves.  That is where she is happiest.

  Oh, I how I wish I could dance with her forever!

There’s a Bee in My Bonnet!

Actually there are bees in our mast making honey and lord knows what else.  Bees in masts are a common problem that you face when your boat doesn’t move much.  Here at the marina several boats have had bees over the years.

This year it is our turn.  Barnacle had them and got rid of them with poison.  Déjà Vu had them.  Then Pamela Jean had them and paid an exterminator to rid their boat of bees.  The next day the bees were swarming over the mast of Consort.  When Androsian had them Carole put a sign up with an arrow pointing to our boat, just before they poisoned their bees.

So this morning Bob from Barnacle came to inject our mast with poison.  Apparently the bees were forewarned of my intent.

This note was taped to the mast.

The Note from the Bees

I will translate.

Please! Please! Please!

Do not kill us bee bees, This is our house, we live in the mast!

Dear Queen of Dragonheart – please, accept this gift – the sugar of our bodies and do not kill us!!

Bee Kind and bee nevolent!

With love,

The Bees

Of course there was the small gift of honey setting on the deck.  Still in all I do not want the mast full of bees.

The honey for the Queen of Dragonheart

I told Bob to begin injecting the mast!

Thanks Jewels for making my day.  To bad about the bees!

Lines, Apple, The Black Christ & Choices

Waiting in Comfort for Apple

Lines, I have never liked standing in lines.  There are lines in the grocery store, the bank, at the movies and lines in the Army.

Recently Apple debuted the new iPad and the lines were spectacular!  People camped out for days in front of Apple Stores and waited for the latest and greatest that Apple had to offer.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Apple products; I even ordered the new iPad online and had it delivered to my sister’s house so that it will be waiting for me when I return to the States.  No line for me!

So this past weekend we went to Esquipulas, Guatemala to see the Black Christ in the Basilica there.  We went with friends from the marina.  What do you think we encountered… Lines!  It was the most amazing thing that I have seen in a long time.

Of course it is the Lenten Season and most Catholics are busy preparing their souls for Easter.  It is a time of reflection on the suffering and death of our Lord.  To my way of thinking the Catholics of Guatemala are doing it right.  Not only do they make pilgrimage during Lent, it is all year round.  When the buses leave Esquipulas they decorate them with colorful brush ropes that make it clear to all that they are from Esquipulas, home of the Black Christ.

A Portion of the Line

The wait to see the Black Christ up close was over 3 hours!  You have a chance to be up close and personal, a chance to leave a fetcha, or milagro that asks for healing or forgiveness.  You walk out backwards so as never to turn you back on the crucified Christ.

Busloads of Latin Americans travel to ask prayers at the feet of the Black Christ.   They wait in line patiently, entire families: small children and babies on their backs without much more than a bottle of water and perhaps some tortillas.  No camp chairs and sleeping bags for them!

The Basilica

On the day we arrived we saw the line and were convinced we couldn’t wait.  We went in and looked from afar near the foot of the Alter.  We participated in part of the Misa or Mass and shopped in the Gift Shop.  We discussed our next plan of attack.  We figured that we only had one more chance to get a photo.  That would be before Mass in the morning.  The first Mass was at 06:30.  Orin, Cynthia and myself decided that we would get up and leave the hotel by 05:45 so that we would be there before Mass.

The Black Christ

We met in the dark hotel lobby and when we emerged into the dawn we found that there was no transportation.  So we walked to the Basilica.  Imagine our surprise when the line was three times as long!  We entered the Basilica and it was full to capacity with people filling the aisles.  We were able to get closer, but not close enough for a photo.  We said our prayers and turned to leave.  Again we found no transportation so we began the walk back, only this time it was up hill and Cynthia was the only one with good knees.  Orin and I were crippled, but determined.  I admit that I wimped out about 500 meters from the hotel and caught the first tuk tuk that I saw.  It was worth the 4Q or fifty-one cents!

So by now I am sure you are wondering what lines, Apple products and the Black Christ have in common.  Our lives are full of lines.  We decide which lines we will stand in and wait.

 I certainly wasn’t willing to stand in a line for a new iPad, though I only circumvented that by ordering online.  In effect I stood in a virtual line.  When faced with the decision to stand in a real line to spend a few minutes in front of the crucified Christ I looked for ways to make it easy.  Instead, like most of the Apostles I stood at the bottom or not at all.  I was not a Mary or a John.  I was more like Peter and the rest.  Standing on the side peering over the heads of others, hidden by the crowd.

Yes, we choose and based on those choices we are judged.

And It Rains in Guatemala

When we moved to Bullhead City, AZ in the Fort Mohave Desert I was so homesick for lush green of the Rio Dulce in Guatemala that I was lost in the beige.  I longed for the flight of wild parrots, egrets, cormorants and the Maria Antoinettes (Lesser Green Heron) of the river.  I missed the masses of wild orchids and Emperor Staffs that bloomed with abandon at the marina.  The Flame of the Forrest by the Marina Office and the sweet smell of jasmine as you walked the path in the evening.

Now I am on my boat on the Rio Dulce and in the morning I sip coffee in my favorite corner watching the clouds cover and then uncover Cerro San Gil.  The shades of gray and green in an every changing dance of shadow and light.

Of late the sun has been hidden in torrential rains that have raised the river enough that I have adjusted fenders on the boat.  The good thing is that our carpenter has been sealing all the leaks!  Today he even came by in the rain to make sure that his repairs were working.  I assured him that all was well with his repairs, but that I had found a new leak.  He tracked it down and assured me that he would return on Monday and do a permanent fix.

I find that my skin is no longer scaly, but plump with the humidity.  My hair is curling in ways that I had forgotten it could.

I miss my walk around bed.  I had forgotten how hard it is to get in and out of the V-Berth.  You swing you legs over your husband’s head and hope that you don’t fall out on the floor.  Because I am not as limber or as thin as I was once was I now have to grab one leg and move it over his head, I can only hope that my heel won’t drag across his nose or forehead.  Now it is time for the other leg to be assisted as it too crosses over his head.  Sliding to the floor with the assistance of a small stool I now rush to the Head, which is only 2 feet away.  However, when you have a full bladder and have just completed gymnastics for the morning 2 feet might as well be 2 miles!

We are busy cleaning out each locker and I do believe that we have removed 10lbs of old paperwork!  Old photos cause us to stop and reminisce for a moment and then Cynthia reminds us that we have work to do.  Tons of stuff has been donated to various people in the village and the orphanage down river.  May-be the river isn’t up as much as I thought, it could be that the boat is lighter and sitting higher in the water.

Think that we need a couple of weeks of good dry weather so that they can finish with the work on the boat.  Then I can start packing the things we are bringing back.  Until then I promise to try and enjoy each day in Guatemala.

Lists, I Love Them

I am a list maker.  I think as soon I could write I became a list maker.

There is even special paper numbered for list making.  There are printed grocery lists with the staples there and you add your items.  Scrap paper can be used for list making.  The ever popular note pad, index cards; lined of course.  And now there are list Apps.

I find that I get sucked into buying the list app and then using good old paper and pencil.  I do not like pen for list making.  I will admit to making a list of things that I have completed so that I can line through each item.   Sometimes you need a completed list after the events as much as before the events.

Currently I have a shopping list, a packing for Guatemala list, a to-do list for genealogy, a book reading list.  Actually the book reading list is several lists combined on a website.  You know goodreads.com where I have, books to read, books read, books currently reading, books I couldn't finish, etc.

There is the list about putting away the motorhome while we are in Guatemala.  The list to remind me of things to tell my family before I go to Guatemala.  The list about the cleaning the boat when we get to Guatemala and eventually the list about putting the boat up for sale in Guatemala.

In all honesty I must admit that I just bought a new list app.  It is called "Clear".  I will have to let you know what I think about it as soon as I transfer my paper lists to it.

Clear App

Happy list making!

Cafeteria Catholics

I admit it, I am a Cafeteria Catholic.  Most of us are, if we are honest with ourselves.  Unfortunately being Catholic is not like ordering from a Chinese Restaurant; one from column A and one from column B.

We are expected to follow the precepts of the Church, all of them.  Right now there is a large political firestorm about the HHS mandate.  I have set in the pew and have heard the Bishop's letter.  I have watched TV Spinners and I have struggled with my heart.

I have heard about who is a Catholic on Capitol Hill and it concerns me.  First and foremost I do NOT know, nor do I want to know the status of their soul.  That, like the condition of my soul is between me and my God.  It it hard enough to know that HE knows.  We must remember that they are speaking as a single Catholic.  They are NOT speaking as or for the Catholic Church.  We have Priests,  Bishops, Cardinals and the Pope for that.  Not our political representatives.

  Secondly, we as Catholics have given the press and the public in general plenty of ammo.  Many Catholics use Birth Control and we are not talking the Rhythm Method.  Many of us know of a Catholic that has either had an Abortion, helped pay for an Abortion or turns a blind eye, because it would cause a division in the family if we followed the Church Teaching on Abortion.

Thirdly, there is the Church's stand on Homosexuality.  This is where I your humble struggling Catholic have a problem.  If God made us in his image and likeness then I can't believe that he didn't make homosexuals.  I believe that he loves them as much as anyone else.  I can not believe that they are an abomination.

When you look at someone and label them Catholic please remember that they are imperfect souls, struggling with their own demons and questions.  Please don't say well there goes a "Good Catholic" when we breakdown and do something totally human, try and forgive them.  They are only 'Saints in the Making", not Saints.