LUNAR NEW YEAR -- TWO REMINDERS OF TIME FLYING IN 1 MONTH

Our Lady of Leuvang -- Our lady of Guadalupe

The other day when I went to the daily Mass at the Parish church down the street from my home in San Diego, I found a wonderful panorama of multicultural unity.  The two banners written in Vietnamese script are spectacular in their brightness.  Their positioning highlights the two representations of Our Lady, one patron saint of Viet Nam and one patron saint of North America.  I hope that you enjoy the picture.

It is fairly uncommon that such outstanding enhancements of the prayer space are displayed.  This parish of some 2,000 families in the inner city of San Diego is home to people who represent about 25 mother tongues.  Of course they represent a broad variety of nationalities and races.  I have a friend who generally keeps the same Sunday Morning schedule that I do.  We have an inside joke between us.  We try to find at least 10 white people and report to one another about how many we "found".  Most Sundays we come up short.  We love it.  We sit with people from at least six or seven different Asian nations.  We also share the space with people from at least six or seven different Latin countries.  If you think that's interesting we also have people from Massachusetts, Maine, Missouri, Mississippi and Manitoba.  

I close this short "Thought" with the discomfort of finding out within the short space of about 35 days that I have grown older...two different ways!  When I was growing up in Massachusetts we never were aware of the lunar new year, so I only grew older one time per year.  Maybe I should go back there.  I might live longer.