Catholic in the City: A Woman's Journey to Living Out Her Faith

People walking in rubble in the market area in Port-Au-Prince in Haiti on Jan. 18th, 2010 Picture taken from the Internet Yesterday I was watching a documentary on Canada's response to what happened to the United States on September 11th, 2001. Within two hours of the time that the second plane hit the second tower in New York City all of the airspace in the United States was closed. Every plane in the United State was on the ground. This meant that the planes that were flying to the United States over the Atlantic Ocean, whom could not turn back to Europe, had to continue on their air route but be redirected. Most of them were directed towards Canada. The documentary focused on the city of Gander. Gander in on an island named Newfoundland on the far East of Canada. The city of Gander has a population of 10,000 people. NAV Canada, the equivalent of the United States FAA, redirected 239 air crafts to Western Canada. On September 11th, 2001 the city of Gander, within hours, received

"Not by might, nor by power but by my Spirit, says your God" (Zechariah, 4:6). Power. What is it and why don't we acknowledge we have it even though we do? As middle class citizens of the United States (really if we look globally we are much richer than middle class) and as people who "have", even if we don't realize it, we have power. We have the power to make choices, power to go to school, power to spend money the way we want to, power to vote, power to choose how we are going to spend our day, power to say who can and cannot cross our borders...and the list goes on. We are blessed to have this power. But to have power means that we also bare the responsibility of using the power when appropriate. The easiest place for me to start discussion about the issue of power is when it comes to social justice issues. Many people who are in poverty throughout our world do not have the resources to advocate for themselves due to the fact that their worldview is dic

I have been interacting with a lot of people lately who are discerning what their next step in life should be. Discernment about what our true vocation is, from my experience, seems to be somewhat never ending. This is not to say that those who are currently seeking what their next step in life should be are in a place that is not important. What I think is ultimately important is that we continuously remind ourselves that God is in control. We can make a decision and it could be right or wrong (although in my book things are not as clear as right or wrong). If the decision is not the right decision God will steer us back if we truly listen to what God is saying. Ever since I was a small child I dreamed of being a pediatrician. I love kids. I wanted to work with them and heal them. That is why I wanted to go to University of California, San Diego and be pre-med. UCSD is one of the best schools in California for pre-medical education. I remember vividly laying in bed one night in high s

"In my fast, make me an empty bowl - that you may fill the hallow space in me with love." - a portion of "In My Prayer" by Attique Swati of Pakistan from the book Prayer Without Borders, page 32, published by Catholic Relief Services in 2004. I just got back from my JustFaith group at Immaculate Conception parish in downtown Albuquerque. In the session we talked about Catholic Relief Services (www.crs.org) and what they do as an organization. We also read a part of Pope Benedict XVI's Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth). Appropriately, on Ash Wednesday, one of the main themes for this evenings JustFaith was world hunger. How can my "empty bowl" be filled with God's love? Those who have recently met me would never know that I actually was one hundred pounds heavier about seven years ago. I was gluttonous when it came to food. I ate to feel loved. Food was my constant comfort. When I was in graduate school something clicked in my heart. Why was I