Behind the Scenes

On Palm Sunday our church is decorated with many palms. I don't know what I thought before, but this morning I found out why the church looks so beautiful on Palm Sunday. It is because of many helping hands that prepare the palms to decorate the church. On Friday, after the nine o'clock morning mass, Father announced that anyone willing to help with getting the palms ready would meet in the Spirit Center. 

I went to the Spirit Center and found some ladies bringing in three large boxes of palms. One lady who has done this before pulled out the long fronds and instructed the remainder of volunteers how to prepare them.  She suggested forming an assembly line with each one of the helpers doing a certain part.  The fronds are placed on the table, at the bottom of the frond a small stake with a tiny wire was wrapped with the frond, and then covered with a green tape to hide the wire. The palms are then ready to decorate the church. If the palm was too limp, it could not be used so we only worked with the stiff fronds that did not bend. The floppy palms would be used in some other way in the decorating.

It is true that many hands make a job easier. Nine adults and two little girls, age five and seven, completed the volunteers. I was amazed to see how quickly the two girls, with their little hands, were able to do the work. 

Palm Sunday falls a week before Easter and represents the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem! This coming Sunday, when I see the church decorated with the palms, I will know that in a small way I contributed in helping make our church look beautiful!

"Alleluia, how the people cheer 

and palm leaves rustle as

the King draws near!"

John Beavis

ow when I see our church beautifully decorated with palms, I will know that in some small way, I also helped in making our church look good!

A Familiar Face

Yesterday, while shopping at Costco, I saw a handsome man pass by and I thought, why does he look so familiar? At the same moment he did a double take and we stared at each other for a second. I don't know which one of us recognized the other but almost at the same moment he said, "Miles," and I said my name. We moved toward each other and embraced as I asked him if he was still singing. He said he was, mentioned that he now lives near Red Rocks, and that his kids were getting something to eat. I told him how wonderful it was to see him and how great he looked.

A three-minute interlude that left me with a good feeling after so many months, or maybe a year, of not seeing our past music director. He has the most beautiful singing voice and is a talented musician. I also remember that his family is all very musically inclined!  

I do not know why he left our church, but I do know how much I missed him after he was no longer with us. I am glad he continues in his musical ministry and that I ran into him while shopping at Costco!

"Scientists have located two areas

in the brain that help us recognize

familiar faces..."

Rockefeller University

Holy Trinity Parish Takes Care of the Little Church

 

On Facebook I saw that the little church, Our Lady of Visitation, would have one of the two masses allowed every year. It would be celebrated at 9 a.m. on Saturday, March 25, 2023. Because I have followed the closing of the church by the archbishop, the legal battles, the fundraising events, and I have two friends who belonged to the parish, I decided to go to the mass.

After the church closed in 2017, it is allowed two masses a year and praying of the rosary every Thursday, I expected the church to look run down and needing repairs, but I found the church to be in perfect condition. It looked freshly painted, lights all working, turquoise carpet vacuumed, and the pews polished. The music, sung in Spanish, reminded me of what I have heard while visiting New Mexico. A picture of Santo Nino de Atocha hangs on the door and I immediately felt at home since his statue was in our home as I grew up! 

I recognized some of the people and was pleased to see Federico Pena among those attending mass. The majority of the people were Hispanic though the mass was said in English. The priest appeared to be Latino, yet he spoke English with a thick accent which was very difficult to understand. I wondered why the mass was in English since we were all Hispanic. I figured that the people attending may have been more comfortable with English since they have been in this country for generations! Maybe the priest catered to them. Since I understand Spanish, I would have preferred the mass in Spanish and I would have understood it much better!

After mass there were coffee and sweets for everyone to enjoy and for mingling with friends. I found out that all the appeals to reopen the church were finished so two masses a year and rosary on Thursdays will continue, though no one knows for how long.

I counted around 70 persons who refuse to have Our Lady of Visitation erased from its foundation. No one knows the real reason for its closing though a familiar rumor is that the Archdiocese wants the land which is now worth lots of money. The argument that there are not enough priests though this did not seem to be a problem in the past. Other rumors are heard but no one really knows all the facts. I talked with Federico Pena, the first Hispanic mayor of Denver County from 1983 to 1991, and he said there were no more appeals to be made but that he still hoped the little church would someday return to its glory.

My thought is that if enough people attend the two masses offered and the Archdiocese can see it is a small, but vital parish, that it will return to how it used to be! I enjoyed my visit to Our Lady of Visitation and seeing some of the old timers that continue to hang on to their dream!

"I would be delighted if the community

 could find a way to continue celebrating 

its Latino traditions, history and family."

Bishop Jorge Rodriguez

I Finally Joined AARP

 

For years I have received notices inviting me to join the "old peoples' " group. A few weeks ago I thought, why not? When I received my gift of a thermal food bag, a newspaper, and a magazine with interesting articles, I knew my joining AARP had been a good idea!  Not only are there many discounts to be had but the magazine is filled with helpful hints, great photos, and things for "old people" to purchase. It took me over one-half hour to look through the magazine and the articles I read, I enjoyed.

I found health tips, movies, travel ideas, books to read, plus ads for things I may want to purchase in the magazine. The magazine is printed in clear, glossy paper and easy to read. I enjoyed reading the article on whether I am a clutterer or a collector and it was followed by another piece on how I can get rid of some of my collections. I have often thought about getting a "help I have fallen and can't get up" button and in the magazine I found three different kinds of alert buttons. The short reviews on five books teased me enough to make me want to read the stories. Now, I am looking forward to the next time I receive another magazine. All in all, I enjoyed the magazine and hope that future ones will be just as interesting. I am also ready to receive discounts that are advertised by AARP!

"Live your life

and forget your age."

The Fresh Quote

A Green Evening

 The evening before St. Patrick's Day, March 16, 2023, the Young At Heart group from Spirit of Christ Catholic Community celebrated by serving corned beef and cabbage. The group's YAH Board of Directors cooked the meat and cabbage and everybody else brought dishes to share. Plenty of dishes filled two large tables and we had our choice of potato dishes, salads, beans, vegetables, soda bread, and pasta to enjoy plus two separate tables filled with a variety of desserts. 

Looking around the room I could see a lot of green, many smiling faces, plenty of hugs and a happy room!  

 

We were entertained by the Finality Quartet harmonizing different songs as the evening came to an end. Once again, St Patrick's Day was celebrated by the YAH members and all the greenery will be put away until next year!

"Yeah, it's Paddy's Day!

Everyone's Irish tonight.

Norman Reedus

and it ended with the Finality Quartet harmonizing in a barbershop quartet style.

200 Bulbs

Sometime in the 80's a friend decided to plant 200 small crocus bulbs in my yard. Since I do not garden or fool with the yard, I let him do what he wanted outdoors. The six years I knew him I had the best looking yard in the neighborhood. Today, I would say my yard is probably the saddest one in the area!

Those few years when he took care of my yard I had plenty of colorful flowers and a neatly trimmed green lawn. After he was gone the crocuses were the only ones that would pop up in the spring. As the years went by, thirty-eight years later, I am amazed that one or two of the flowers continue to show their yellow faces.

On Sunday, there was not a crocus to be seen and I thought, well, that era is over! On Monday morning there were two yellow flowers and by Wednesday I had four blooms. Amazing that after thirty some years, a few flowers still come up! 

"You might think that after

one thousand years of coming up 

too soon and getting frozen, the

 crocus family would have had a little

sense knocked into it!"

Robert Benchley

Heard About a Miracle This Morning

At Spirit of Christ Catholic Community I have become friends with a couple that are also parishioners. We always greet each other and stop to chat. For about two months I have not seen them, and I wondered if they had moved or were no longer coming to mass at Spirit of Christ.

This morning I saw them at mass and we met in the Spirit Center after mass. Here is what she told me  when I told her I had missed them. 

(Paraphrasing) We have been going through a lot with my husband. He suffered a stroke and after many visits to the doctors we were told that there was a tumor on his brain and it would have to come out. He went in for more tests on a Friday and the operation was scheduled for Monday. We had a horrible weekend, informed family and friends and early on Monday morning we were at the hospital ready for his surgery. They waited for what seemed to be a long time until a nurse came in and said that the doctor needed to speak to them.

Of course, this frightened them until he said, "I have some good news." We were surprised and wondered what the news could be. "You no longer have a tumor. The tests we did on Friday, and I reviewed this morning, shows that there is no tumor." He showed us the X-ray where the tumor had been but now it was clean and clear. Her son called her and told her he was on his way to be there for when the operation would take place. She told him to go back home because his father would not have an operation because the tumor had disappeared.

The doctor asked them what they had done, or did he take anything or did something because the tumor was gone.  He said, "This is certainly a miracle!" She told the doctor that prayers may have caused the tumor to disappear.

I told her that it had to have been a miracle and how happy I was to see them both. If her story made me feel good, I can imagine how they felt! What a joy that two acquaintances from Sunday mass were both healthy and happy!

"Never stop believing in hope because

 miracles happen every day." 

Bill Keane

"Chopped" Winner in Arvada

Today a friend and I drove to Guacho Parillas to check it out. I read in the Arvada Press that the restaurant had won an award in the television series called Chopped. The ad stated that it was "South American open flame cooking," and it is located at Freedom Street Social in West Arvada in the Candelas King Soopers shopping mall.

My curious nature was peaked and we drove out west to find the restaurant. Imagine our surprise when we entered the building through heavy wooden doors and we were in a food court. Different restaurants line the walls and seating is in the center. It was nothing like I had imagined and the place we had gone to see was closed on Monday. So much for our adventure! 

We walked around to check the different eating places. There was a pressed coffee shop, Gaucho Parilla, Hamburger place, Giordana Pizza, Osito (Latin Cuisine), Asian, Sushi, Jeremiah Italian Ice plus a bar. It is not just a place to eat but a place to meet, join friends for happy hour, and when it warms up there may be bands on the patio.

We wondered about the name of the building and I found out it is a place for people to gather. After checking the food court we decided to go to the deli in King Soopers for a $4.00 sandwich and chips. Quite a different lunch than the open flame cooking I was expecting.

"I'm an expert in open fire;

wood fire is my heritage from

my family...playing and working

with fire is my passion."

Oscar Padilla