Missionaries take their faith on the road and work to spread it far and wide, as for me, I’m just trying to balance mine on this journey. I was raised Roman Catholic, and I’ve stayed Catholic by choice. Growing up Catholic meant that Sunday mass attendance was important. Whenever we traveled somewhere, we had to find the local Catholic church for Sunday mass (in the days before Google, I’m amazed that my parents were always able to find one). We had a bit of trouble getting to mass on time at home, and attending services at new locations didn’t help, but we always made it. Once, we missed all the morning masses and the only service we could find was mass at a local Korean church, which was unique. I’ve attended masses in various languages: French, Spanish, Korean, and Gaelic. While the words may be different, the message is the same – Love all and Do good unto others. Visiting new churches had an appealing element in our family; my mother told us that while visiting a new church, if we said three “Our Fathers” and three “Hail Marys” we could make a wish. Of course, as I learned it had to be an intangible wish, not a physical object; needless to say, I did not get a doll I once wished for when I was eight. My past education includes 10 years of Catholic school – six years at an all-girls Sacred Heart (two years middle school and four years of high school) then four years at the Catholic University of America. In all that time and the years beyond school, I was able to cultivate my own identity within Catholicism.
Upon finishing the seventh grade, my first year at the Sacred Heart school, I was awarded a “goal” award – these awards align with the mission of the schools: faith, service, leadership, and courage. I received the award for “personal and active faith in God.” I wasn’t completely confident I demonstrated an active faith at 13, but the significance stuck with me. I am certainly not the best Catholic, some might categorize me as a “Cafeteria Catholic” since I pick and choose which church doctrines I follow. I disagree with the Catholic church about many things, for example, I’m a supporter of LGBTQ rights, I’m pro-choice, and ‘sin of sins’ I don’t regularly attend Sunday mass. I do, however, hold certain elements of the Catholic church “sacred” (pun intended) – be good to others and stewardship of the environment. I endeavor to believe the best in people, I love animals and strive to recycle whenever possible.
Traveling, surprisingly, has been beneficial for my faith especially since these last six months encompassed two Christian seasons – Christmas and Lent. During the Christmas season, our RV was parked near Natchez, MS so we attended their Christmas Eve service at St. Mary’s Basilica. The church is beautiful and Christmas Eve mass is one of my favorite services. The hymns, the readings, and the decorations were lovely; we ended up going back another day to tour the church during an off day. I attended St. Mary’s Basilica’s mass on New Year’s Day and the priest’s homily asked us as a New Year’s resolution to
take time every day for just a moment to pray. In order to keep this resolution, I picked up this little booklet at the church: Living Faith. It holds daily bible verses and reflections on each one starting from January 1, 2018 through March 31st – it’s been great as a day-to-day reminder to take a moment to reflect on my blessings and all that I am thankful for in life especially since it included Lent.
This is my first season of Lent on the road, and it started with Ash Wednesday on February 14th - Valentine’s Day. This date also happens to be my seventh anniversary of my first date with my husband. I got my ashes at the Ash Wednesday service in New Braunfels, TX. When I was younger, my parents usually mandated I give up TV for the 40 days of Lent, but since good TV reception is not a given while traveling that wouldn’t be a challenge. I decided this year to give up buying clothes, I usually buy consignment, but still the totals can ‘rack’ up over time. Actually, not buying clothes made good financial sense while on the road, I didn’t really have room for new clothes and needed to save my money to buy necessities like gas and lodgings at RV parks. I stuck to my Lenten promise, except in the case of buying a new Easter dress. I made a point to take time to pray each day or read my Living Faith booklet, and not eating meat on Friday (though I forgot about that one several times). Our travels took us to Albuquerque, NM for Palm Sunday mass, another of my favorite services.
St. Edwin church held mass in English and Spanish and was beautifully decorated for the service. I’m attending the final services for Holy Week – Good Friday and Easter Sunday at St. Joseph’s church in Winslow, AZ. With visiting all these different churches on our travels, I’ve made a lot of wishes – mostly for safe travels and good luck for continuing our journey.
As we’ve traveled west, seeing mountain ranges, vast canyons, and spectacular vistas, I’m truly in awe of the one who made it all possible. I balance my faith by beholding the majesty of God’s creation – our beautiful planet.
Happy Easter!