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April 23rd, 2020: My Reflections on Mass & the Eucharist during Covid-19

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I wrote this note to some of our USC students. I hope this message can also be useful to you during this time when there are no public Masses.  ______________________________________________ Hi all, Just want to share some of my reflections over this time of Covid-19 about Mass and the Eucharist. I am an avid daily Mass goer. Ever since I was in college, the Eucharist has been central to my relationship with Christ. There are times that I remember that the Eucharist was my sustenance, such as when I did a year of volunteer work with migrants in El Paso. I craved the Eucharist so badly during that year, that I found a way, whether I walked or used the community car, to get to the closest church for daily Mass.  This time of Covid-19 has been very difficult for me when in comes to my relationship with God in the Eucharist; simply because I do not have access to receiving the Eucharist. The night the Archdiocese, and then the staff at the Catholic Center, shortly after, dec
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January 7th, 2020: Ministering from the Heart of God

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Last week at SLS 2020, a Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) conference, I was asked to be part of a panel on ministering from the heart of God. On this panel we were asked to discuss how we, as professional campus ministers, continue to deepen our pursuit of God's heart in the midst of ministry. After the panel concluded several campus ministers asked me to give them the nine points I described while I was on the panel.   (1) Stay rooted in our identity as a daughter/son of God. I am in continual discovery of my relationship with God. It's like any relationship, we cannot know God fully, it takes spending time with Him on a continuous basis. When I reflect upon my identity as a daughter of God there are several instances that come to mind as my identity has been formed. When I was an undergraduate student at UC San Diego I entered university without an active relationship with God. Because of a friend's relentless invitation I decided to join her for Ma
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August 7th, 2016: Faithful Citizen

The Stephen Colbert Report recently had a parody of both the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention in relation to the Hunger Games.  The political bantering I have seen from both of these parties feels like a reality tv show, with no obvious choice of who is the best or most qualified candidate to trust.  Perhaps the lense in which we are looking at these presidential elections needs to shift from the candidates to the principles they embody.  Let me be clear, no political party embodies Christ and His teachings.  We must remember that we need to be Catholic first and should vote as Catholics, not by our political leanings.  What does this mean?  Faith and intellect are important components to this question.  Faith and intellect help to form our Christian conscience ( Gaudium et Spes , 16).  We must pray to God for clarity and we must engross ourselves in the knowledge of what the Church teaches.   Catholic Social Teaching and the document Forming Cons
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September 24th, 2013: The Children of El Salvador

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A week and a half ago I watched a movie called " Voces Inocentes/Innocent Voices ".  The movie was made in 2004, 12 years after the civil war in El Salvador ended.   Voces  depicts the story of children during the Salvadorian civil war ( 1979-1992 ).  During the civil war children, especially young boys, not fully understanding what was going on, had to choose an allegiance - either to the guerrillas or to the government army.  Neither group was free of violence.  To see the depiction of the thought process and emotions of these children stretched my mind.  Prior to becoming a mother I had read about child soldiers in Africa, but for some reason that was a bit intangible for me - both because I had yet to have a child of my own and because I have never been to Africa.  Something about going to El Salvador, understanding its history a little bit more, and being a mother, has given me a deeper understanding of the complexity that still lives in the minds of these children who
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September 2nd, 2013: Water, Gang Violence, Parque Cuscatlán and El Rosario Church

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We were told that El Salvador is doing 50% better than all of the countries around the world and 50% worse than all of the countries around the world - when it comes to poverty, violence, education, health care, and access to resources.  We also learned that 90% of all of the drinking water in El Salvador is contaminated, therefore to have clean drinking water, people, if they can afford it, need to drink bottled water.  Many people in El Salvador do not have this luxury.  We visited many people that had a spout where water comes out of.  Depending on the community sometimes the water comes out of this spout one time every other week or one time a month.  Unfortunately those who have this spout have to constantly keep a bucket under the spout because they do not know the exact day and time the water will spring forth - and this water is not clean drinking water.  I have noticed that many developing countries I have visited have a scarcity of clean natural water.  Not having access to
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September 2nd, 2013: Santiago Nonualco

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Ever since my trip to Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina in 2008, Maryknoll Lay Missioners ( http://www.mklm.org/ ) have been in my heart.  The core values of of the missioners: Gospel values, option for the poor, conversion, witness, crossing cross cultural boundaries, community, forming ecclesial teams, and building bridges with the U.S. church, really resonate with me.  This particular trip was sponsored by both Maryknoll and JustFaith Ministries ( http://www.justfaith.org/ ).  Maryknoll Lay Missioners were the main tour guides for us while were were in El Salvador.  Maryknoll has been in El Salvador for almost 50 years.   On Saturday, August 3rd, we visited the site of where four church women - two Maryknoll Sisters, one Ursline sister and a lay missioner - Jean Donovan, were martyred in Santiago Nonualco.  One of the things that struck me most was that we met a priest, Fr. John, who was on site the day the women were found dead.  This same priest had also carried Romero's casket
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September 2nd, 2013: El Salvador

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Ever since I learned about Oscar Romero and the Jesuit martyrs, El Salvador has been a place I have wanted to visit.  Prior to going I knew that El Salvador was sacred ground. Mike and I arrived to El Salvador on Friday, August 2nd.  Once the tires of the plane hit the tarmac tears started to form in my eyes.  I had arrived.  Looking out the airplane windows I saw endless green, beauty, and serenity.  It was hard for me to fully imagine the bloodshed that had occurred in such a gorgeous place during the Salvadorian civil war.    At the Retreat Center. Going through security, customs, and gathering our luggage was easy.  Mike and I had a cute conversation with the lady whom stamped our passports.  We met up with our group outside of the airport near the Subway.  Our group was quite easy to spot because from what I could tell we were the only Americans there that afternoon.  While finding our bus was a little chaotic, everything else about the airport and the drive to the ret
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