Desert Time

Taken from a Posting of Exactly One Year Ago...

Desert Time:
I heard somewhere that we are all angels born with only one wing. We can not fly unless we hold on to one another. At no time in the history of our parish has this been truer. The parish that many of us remember, vibrant and full of life, has been transformed into a dry husk.

Like some ancient dusty parchment with writing too faded to read, we try to decipher the words of the gospel on Sundays, but hear only disjointed homilies with little if any reference to how or why we need to live this call named Christianity. It has become our desert time.

It is increasingly clear that the parish we once knew and experienced is no longer here and there is no indication that it might rise again any time soon. It has been set aside in lieu of kneelers and cups of precious metal. It has been replaced with matching vestments and perpetual adoration.

So what are we to do? How do we as members of a community that once lived vibrantly and challenged one another, live through this dry sandy expanse? Like the one winged angel described in the first line, we must learn to hold on to one another. We can not wander away from this house that was once home. Instead, we should challenge ourselves to bring the truth we once heard proclaimed from the altar to our brothers and sisters remaining in our house.

We all know parishioners that have wondered from home, looking for that living water that once quenched our thirst. Many of us have gone to other parishes, denominations or even stopped attending all together. Let us not give in to the desert, but like the children of Israel in their long sojourn through Sinai, we must travel together.

If you know someone that has wondered away, invite them back. Bring them to mass with you on Sunday and sit in the pew next to them. Search out a community of like minded men and women that believe in the gospel message of peace and justice. Contrary to what some in our church might believe, we are not children of a lesser god.

So, join in the flight of our one winged brothers and sisters. We can know with certainty that although we are in the desert, the promised land is there, just above the horizon, waiting to quench our thirst again.
Jose Moya, a Parishioner.

A Reminder to Join Us for Peace at Spike's Corner.

To protest the war, propose peace, and bring our troops home from Iraq.
Sunday Jan. 22, corner of Bicentennial x Business 83 in McAllen, 4-5 PM.

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