Caught Up In Faith

Feliz Pascua de Resurrección a todos! Lent has never seemed to pass so quickly but I am happy to now be in the Easter season. Most international students traveled during Holy Week, or Semana Santa, here in Buenos Aires but I decided to stay around the city. Palm Sunday (domingo de ramos) I went to the 8pm youth mass as usual, but I was really confused not to find any palms! Instead everyone had little branches (I really should have asked what kind of plant it was, but I am sure some of you can probably tell me). The church wasn’t giving them out; you had to buy them on the street first, so I didn’t end up getting any. Mass is usually crowded but it was even more crowded that night. After some people from the parish put on a dramatization of Jesus’s life on the church steps, complete with professional lighting, music, costumes…and twelve apostles that did a conga line throughout the crowd not once, but twice, during the performance! I wish I had brought my camera!

I am studying at the Catholic University here, and Argentina is constitutionally a Catholic country (the president is required to be Catholic, at least in name) so we had Holy Thursday and Good Friday off from school. On Thursday I attempted to get some studying done but Friday I went to Lujan, a city about two hours outside Buenos Aires by bus. The patron saint of Argentina is the Virgin of Lujan so pretty much the main attraction is the “Basilica Nacional Nuestra Senora de Lujan.” The Basilica is HUGE and beautiful. Beneath it you can visit each of the different Virgin’s from different countries. I traveled with another American and we just wandered around the little town, people watched etc. We shared a little lunch (have to be honest, I know it was Good Friday) and thought it was a little strange how many parillas were open (parilla is a grill, so if you go to a restaurant that says parilla, you are getting a lot of meat). We also went to confession in Spanish! It was a very interesting experience. I told the priest that I spoke English straight off. I had trouble trying to explain everything to him with my Spanish but when I asked him if he could understand me he said it didn’t matter what language I spoke or how well I spoke it because I was talking to God. My friend and I compared notes afterwards because she went to a different priest and she told me that she confessed in English but the priest definitely did not understand a word. She also shared with me her penance and I realized that I had no idea what my penance was! He must have said it and I didn’t understand! Everyday I am reminded how much humility it takes to learn a different language, sometimes I think I understood every word and really I missed the main message.

Holy Saturday I decided to go to the Easter Vigil because I had never been to one before. I went alone, which was a bit sad because I prefer to go to mass with others. The mass was very nice and extremely crowded. After mass I realized how much I missed being home for Easter! I have never been away from my family on a holiday, honestly not in my twenty-one years, but I was trying to remember that a. Easter is a time to share with others, no matter who those others are and b. it’s about Christ, and He will rise on the third day no matter where I am, who I am with, what I eat for dinner. And with God, no one is ever alone, so this weekend was a big challenge in faith for me.

That being said, I had a wonderful Easter. My host mother bought me a chocolate egg Sunday morning and then we drove out to visit her friends in her hometown (about an hour outside the city.) Everyone was so nice and friendly and we spoke in Spanish and English so everyone could practice. We had an asado, which is a big Argentine cook-out with lots and lots of meat. And we passed the day sitting in yard enjoying the sun etc. If I couldn’t be with my family I am glad my host mother is generous enough to share hers with me. We also visited some other friends later on for dessert and then went home later, exhausted and content.

Other important news… I was planning on being part of a mission my university runs every May. I was incredibly excited about it. The way it works is everyone takes off a week from school to go to the Salta region of Argentina, close to the Andes. There we would split up into small groups and spend the week in small villages, just sharing faith with the people there, providing some catechism for the children and playing some futbol. Last night we had the third of four formative meetings for the mission. I had all my pesos to pay for the trip I left class early to make it on time and when I got to the meeting I found out the trip was canceled. They are thinking of holding it in September… The reason for the change of plans is that right now Buenos Aires and some parts of Argentina are experiencing a lot of cases of dengue, a disease spread by mosquitoes. There is no way to prevent dengue, other than not getting bit by a mosquito, and while not all cases are deadly, some of them are. So the university and the mission leaders decided it would be safer not to risk exposure.

Everyone is really disappointed, it is hard to let go of something once you grow attached, especially something like this. However, I am trying to look at it from a perspective of faith. While I did spend a lot of time praying about my decision to “misionar” with UCA and praying that I was forming part of the mission for the right reasons (God) I was very disappointed by the things that I would lose by not going. I was looking forward to spending a week not only challenging myself to share my faith with complete strangers but also to spend a week sharing it with the international and argentine students on the mission. But if I thought I was following God by going on the mission, then I must also continue to follow Him even if I will not have the opportunity to “misionar” in May, otherwise I wasn’t following Him to begin with.

There are just two more things I would like to share with you all and then I am done with this entry I promise! The first is a video on youtube, a cliffnotes version of a movie called Most:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvhbL7zyYKQ

Also, recently I have had the opportunity to hear to chats from one of the priests at UCA, and both times he has offered us an excellent message about adoration. His point was that adoration is an encounter between two. While Jesus is exposed to you, you are also exposed to Him. Many of you probably already know/think about this but it’s always good to reflect. So take advantage of Wednesday night adoration at the Newman Center or wherever you find yourself right now and when you find yourself in front of Christ, just let yourself be exposed to Him, reflected in Him. Truly it’s a beautiful thing, adoration.

Saludos en Jesus y Maria! (greetings in Jesus and Mary, I love when people write that!)

-Meg

Hola! My name is Meg Masciola and I am currently studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I have been here for a month and classes just started for me at the Catholic University of Argentina. I am living in an apartment with a single senora who is super nice. I am very happy with my living situation so far.

Being Catholic in a Catholic country, should be a piece of cake, no? And yet it still hasn’t been too that easy for me to adjust. I think it’s mostly because I am still getting to know this city and because I am the only practicing Catholic on the GW trip. As Julie wrote in one of her posts, please take advantage of the Newman Center while you can! It’s such a blessing. Here in Buenos Aires I have had to figure out everything on my own, such as finding Sunday masses, how to observe Lent while adjusting to a different environment and finding an Argentine “Newman Center.”

My fifth day in Buenos Aires was a Sunday and going to mass was my first solo excursion out into the city. Although there are churches everywhere, I didn’t know exactly how to get anywhere, so I had to ask a member of my host mother’s family. She told me of a church three blocks from the apartment, Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe. There are other churches that I would like to visit but so far I have been going to this one every week because they have a youth mass at 8pm on Sundays. I like the mass because a lot of young people participate the church is usually full. They also have some song sheets and an occasional bulletin, which are really helpful so that I feel like I can participate in the mass and know what is going on within the parish. I say the song sheets help me feel like I am participating because it has been very difficult to fully penetrate the language barrier during mass so far. I am trying to learn all the prayers in Spanish but it is taking some time. It is also hard to understand the readings when lectors have thick accents and use microphones that eco a lot in the big churches. I am still saying the prayers that I haven’t learned such as the Nicene Creed quietly to myself in English, but others I say in my head so that I can listen to the people around me. I have also started going to daily mass at school because there is a chapel in every building and they are small enough that I can hear everyone more clearly.

Sometimes the language barrier during mass and the other little differences in how the parish celebrates the mass frustrate me. I have walked out having not understood anything that was said in the homily and without having been able to sing even one song. What I mean by the way the mass is celebrated is what the people around me are doing (I don’t know how exactly to say that) but for example, going up to receive communion is pretty much a free for all. Instead of filing out of the pews in an organized way, everyone gets in line at random. Also sometimes half the church will think it’s time to sit while the other half still thinks everyone should be standing.

Ash Wednesday was full of this sort of confusion for me. I had been in Buenos Aires for exactly a week at that point and I was definitely surprised how fast Lent seemed to come this year. It was one of the days when I missed the Newman community the most. I am sure that I am not the only Catholic international student here but even though I spent most of the day at orientation at the Catholic University and then the rest of the day out in the city, I didn’t see anyone with ashes. I began to wonder if maybe Argentina distributes ashes because after all it’s not required to get them. The only ashes I saw were on the people that were at mass that night. The day was very difficult for me. It is summertime here so fasting was difficult because it was hot and I had to be out and about all day meeting people and learning new information at orientation. I ended up eating meat that Wednesday and that first Friday of Lent (or Cuaresma, in Spanish). One girl offered me some of her sandwich at lunch (although there were a lot of people not eating, so I don’t think I was conspicuous) but even though I declined the offer, she cut off a little piece to share with me. I didn’t know what else to do so I just took it. Then on Friday I ordered the vegetarian lunch at an orientation event, which turned out to be pasta with meat sauce. I didn’t realize this until I tried it. This stressed me out because I still hadn’t been about to find something meaningful to do for Lent and I found myself not even following the simple act of abstaining on these days. Fortunately, even though I was struggling quite a bit that first week, I was able to and still can reach friends online who have been very helpful as I try to figure out how best to live my faith during this Lenten season. I appreciate the support and challenge that I get from my fellow Catholic friends even at a distance.

The distance between me and my Catholic community may soon grow smaller, however, as I found the Catholic student group at school. One day I saw a flyer on a bulletin board at school advertising a mission trip held by UCA Pastoral in May. I decided to look up the website to find out what exactly was “UCA Pastoral.” The website offered a contact for more information so I emailed asking if there was some sort of Catholic student center or group that I could join. I received a few enthusiastic responses and on Thursday I met UCA’s version of the “Newman Center”: a group of about fifteen students (don’t hold onto this number) who meet every Thursday at 13hrs for lunch and a chat and then some time with Jesus through adoration. It seems like they have a good amount of programming as well, such as adoration and mass everyday in the university chapels, a mission trip and retreats. I would like to explain more, however, I really don’t know anything about the group yet. I am just happy to have found something and I am very hopeful! Now I just have to find something to do for Easter and I will be set (this is a big worry right now, as I have never been away from home for a major holiday).

Que la Paz de Cristo sea con ustedes

-Meg