Ashes

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Ash Wednesday
This past Wednesday was Ash Wednesday and I didn't actually receive my ashes until I attended 7 PM mass at St. Elizabeth. Luckily, I came in around 15 minutes before mass and was able to find a good seat because the parish was PACKED. It was nice to see so many people come out to celebrate the beginning of Lent and I suppose it's to be expected since St. Elizabeth is the largest parish Houston.

A beautiful mass was celebrated but something happened that really bothered me (Which reminds me of a particular sister who would go crazy if she saw this sight): after people were receiving their ashes they were just heading straight out the door. I was very much bothered by the fact that at the beginning of mass people were standing along the wall and packed into the atrium but then after the ashes were distributed only 1/5 of the whole congregation remained.

There was this family in front of me: a husband, wife, their sons, a teenage daughter, and grandma. The teen girl was looking around the church and when she saw that everyone was leaving I heard her pleading to her father, "Come on Dad let's go, everyone else is leaving. We're supposed to leave." What made me more angry was that after he heard his daughter's lobbying he started to survey the church. Then from his facial expression it was as if he was thinking to himself, "Yeah, everyone else is leaving, I guess there's no point in staying."

I seriously wanted to tap his shoulder and say, "Excuse me, sir, but we are not to leave until the priest dismisses us. Obviously, your daughter lacks patience and reverence." Haha, of course, this scenario was played out only in my head and was spawned from resentment.

The whole family ended up leaving before everyone received their ashes.

I looked up at the crucified Christ and asked Him, "How could you have suffered for people who can't even wait to leave your house? It pains me to see them treat you with such disrespect."

He spoke to me, "I love them just as I love you. I would die for each one of you individually, knowing that my love is not acknowledged at all times. This is how great my love is."

I remembered a younger Miguel who could not wait to leave church. He was still there, though, in the times when I didn't even know He was working in my life. I bowed my head in shame and asked Him for forgiveness. I looked down on on the faith of others when I, myself, sin on a daily basis. I have much patience to learn this Lent and I pray for a heart that may love others, just as the one our Lord has.

Tagalog
This happened back in early January when I first started doing P90X. I was at Sports Authority one night shopping around for some dumbbells. I went to check out and the cashier was this Filipina girl who sparked some conversation.

FG: are you filipino?
Me: haha yeah, you?
FG: yeah, *in tagalog* do you speak tagalog?
Me: *in tagalog* only a little bit
FG: *in tagalog* where are you from?
Me: Manila, Pasig City
FG: *chuckles*
Me: hmm?
FG: Sorry, your tagalog is terrible. You speak with an accent.

So we continued on with some more small talk but I left the store with this renewed passion to once again learn my native language. Next time I'm feeling superfluous with money I'll invest it in the Tagalog Rosetta Stone. It's like $230 just for level one, though, knowledge is expensive.