Caught Up In Faith

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

Well hello Lent.  How did you sneak up on me?  Fortunately, I was able to get to Mass on Ash Wednesday to get the all-important mark of faith, even though it was a day of travel from Brussels to Paris.  Last week we had a program excursion to these two cities, which were both wonderful in their own right.  In the train station in Paris, I saw one man with his ashes and it took me a minute to realize what they were – he didn’t have an oil smear on his forehead (uh oh… don’t tell me I’m becoming too secular…).

There are two other Catholic girls in the program but also two Protestant girls that like to attend Catholic Mass.  So my friend Katie, who was raised Lutheran but has since fallen away from it, went to St. Francois-Xavier in Paris with me the night that we arrived.  There was a 7:30 p.m. Mass and it was packed – with young people!  Shocking, I know.  French Christianity is supposed to be declining, especially among the youth, but this Mass seemed to say otherwise.  It was really beautiful – a huge church filled to capacity.

The ashes felt different than those in the U.S…. sorry for how morbid this is, but it felt more like body ashes (ie cremation) than the wet, dark ash we get at home.  Not that I have ever touched body ashes, but they look like sand and this is how these ashes felt on my forehead.  Maybe they use a different type of incinerator?

The next day I visited Notre Dame Cathedral and said a rosary in front of a side shrine.  A daily rosary is my Lenten offering, though I know it’s something I should do every day anyway.  But my prayer life is unfortunately lagging here, so I figured this would be good for my morning commute to school – the right way to start the day.

Sunday morning I went back to St. Francois-Xavier for Mass with a different Protestant friend who was amazed that the readings were the same all around the world (I let her look at my English Word Among Us that I had my mom send me from home).  I probably should have explained here that Catholic translates to Universal, but I’m sure that more teaching opportunities will arise.  Who knows, maybe we’ll get a convert or two out of this trip. (wink wink; proud of me, Alecia?)

Oh, our hotel in Paris was right next to a convent but I didn’t go visit or anything.  It appeared to be cloistered – the only way I knew it was a convent was because a sister took the mail from the mailman at the door one morning.

That Sunday Mass was a family Mass and it was also very crowded.  I think St. Francois-Xavier is real communal parish because it’s in a high-end, residential part of Paris (opposite from St. Stephen which has about 7 families.)  I saw some of the most adorable kids ever.  They had about 12 altar boys between the ages of 8 and 13, and they looked like little angels until they walked down the aisle during the recession hymn and I saw one kick the other.  I giggled profusely.

I wish there was more opportunity for me attend daily Mass here but not only is my schedule difficult to adjust for that, there are few churches that open their doors every day.  It’s sad, and I know I’ve mentioned the declining faith in Europe already, but I think it’s more apparent in Geneva than in Paris.  St. Francois-Xavier has several Masses every day.

My mom is coming to visit this Thursday for my birthday, which is on Saturday.  The big 2-1.  I must say, 20 has treated me incredibly well… I’ve seen the world, experienced tumultuous personal relationships, and learned more than some people do in a lifetime.  And my faith has strengthened 400 percent to the point where my personal motto is:

No storm can shake my inner calm when to this rock I’m clinging.