Letters to Heaven: Finding You in any Corner of the World

"We are the holy Church. But I do not say ‘we’ as though to indicate only we who are here, you who have just been listening to me. I mean all of us who are here and by the grace of God faithful Christians in this church, that is, in this city; all those in this region, in this province, across the sea, all those in the whole world. Such is the Catholic Church, our true mother, the true spouse of so great a husband." — St. Augustine

August 7, 2011

Dear Jesus:

Today, I write to You from San Francisco. We arrived two days ago. This first week it's just Rafe, Alex and me. Chabeli is in Los Angeles in a conference. She is representing UM. On Wednesday, she will fly to Seattle and will spend a couple of days with Rafi before we join them on Friday.

Since today is Sunday, we went to mass at "Notre Dame des Victoires," a cute little church in the French Quarter. The priest came over to welcome us. I guess it's such a small community that we stood out like a sore thumb. He asked us where we were from and how we had heard about the church. He then asked us if we wanted to take the offertory to the altar. Of course, we said yes.

I enjoyed his homily. Today's gospel reading was about when You walked on water. The priest gave us some background information about St. Matthew, the gospel writer not the apostle. This gospel was written about 50 years after your death. Your church was experiencing persecution from the Romans and the people were questioning whether it was worth it to remain being a Christian. The priest said that the boat represents your church and how the storm is shaking it from side to side. Yet, You came and You calmed the storm. Peter, as long as he trusted You, was able to walk on water. When he doubted, he began to drown. It's the same with us. As long as we place our trust in You, we can weather the storm and make your kingdom a better place.

It was good to attend mass the three of us together. I'm happy to belong to the Catholic Church where I know that I can find a community in any corner of the world.

I love You, Jesus!!!

August 14, 2011

Dear Jesus:

Today, I write to You from Seattle. I thought we wouldn't be able to go to mass because the morning became complicated. Chabeli, Alex and I ended up going by ourselves, while Rafael and Rafi took care of all the pending issues related to his moving out of the apartment he was renting while doing a summer internship at Microsoft.

After eating at the hotel's breakfast buffet, Rafe dropped us off at St. Louise Catholic Church. We were a few minutes late but as soon as we walked in, I knew something was wrong. The church was almost empty, and there was no priest. It turned out that the mass was at 11. The phone App gave me the wrong time of 10:30. This gave us some silent time for personal prayer before the mass began.

As we sat there, one of the ushers approached us and asked us if we wanted to take the offertory. Two Sunday's in a row. We have never been asked at our own parish, but here, we must have a sign in our forehead that either says that we are visitors or holy holy. It is an honor to take the gifts to your altar, Jesus.

Rafe and Rafi picked us up right after mass. They had been able to resolve all the pending issues. The only thing left was a bag filled with Rafi's clothing that he wanted to donate. We were not sure what we would do with them but I figured that You would lead us to the right person or organization that needed it. We headed towards the stadium because the boys had tickets to watch a baseball game. There was no place to park so we drove around and we ran straight into a Salvation Army warehouse. Was this heavenly intervention or what? You never cease to amaze me.

I love You, Jesus!!!

August 7, 2017

Dear Jesus:

I always love to go to mass when we are on vacation. It's great to see that we are all one body and even though we do not know each other, we are all connected by our Catholic faith. I especially love to attend mass when we are in a different country. Even if I don't understand the language, I can follow the mass.

One of my favorite memories happened in Hawaii. We went to mass and everyone knew we were visitors. After mass, everyone came to talk to us and welcome us to their parish. We felt right at home. We were being welcomed by our Christian family. They were so happy to see us, as if they knew us and had not seen us in a very long time. It gave us a very good feeling. It was like experiencing your Kingdom right here on earth.

I imagine that when someone arrives in heaven they receive the same welcome. All the people in heaven rejoice at each new arrival. And they are greeted and embraced because they are part of the heavenly family and they are finally home.

I love You, Jesus!!!