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SMH

Yes, shaking my head. All is well.

Last night Carolina and I took Mom to the Maundy Thursday service. My head was clear, no more vertigo, a miracle in itself. Mom and I arrived with her wheelchair moments before the procession. Carolina slipped in just before the first hymn. I cried all the way through singing.

And then we washed each other’s feet. There were big smiles and giggles as Carolina is ticklish. Well also she is just like that…often an absolute celebration wherever she goes. And with good reason!

Knowing full well Jesus was given up to be crucified—I had even seen the stubs for the shackles that held his wrists in that dungeon, for Heaven’s sake,—in that quiet cathedral, I was holding her healed foot, metal and all, broken and unusable six months ago. Thank you, blessed God!

Oh to acknowledge such pain and such joy at the same time. This is Life.

Currently Disoriented

Occasionally I suffer vertigo. I hate it. And no wonder! Speedy yoga move + Ramadan + Holy Week + full moon + Passover + a friend’s back surgery + first Spanish quiz of the quarter….the list goes on and on.

The good news: I know the Epley Maneuver. I am reading a great book. I pray in community on Thursday mornings. And recently, when I bike to the university for class, I travel by this magnificent crop of cherry trees.

I still hate the dizzies. And, with God’s Grace, I am learning to lean into their benign-ness.

I’m “okay.”

“Just” feelings.

Life.

.

The Holy Week services have begun. Weeknights at 7 PM. Come and see.

Pondering at the Cross

In Jerusalem, we chanted between stations. Yesterday we sang and listened to the musician improvise on his recorder, including riffs of hymns and the Trisagion:

Santo Dios, Santo Poderoso, Santo Inmortal,
Ten piedad de nosotros.

In Jerusalem I read Station 3 “Jesus falls for the first time.” Yesterday, during our bilingual version of the Stations of the Cross, I read Station 3 and Station 9, “Jesus falls for the third time.”

A priest told me once that when the same phrase of the birthday blessing is read over and over to me year after year, maybe I just haven’t learned from it yet.

I wonder if Holy Week has something to do with falling for me this year? Jesus will be there already, having experienced all of humanity—the good, the bad and the ugly.

Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy upon us.

*Photo by Stuart Meeks