Tag: Texas

PILGRIMAGE TRIP – BEATIFICATION – PART TWO – THE MASS

On By franciscoagrazIn My Thoughts, People I have met, TripsLeave a comment

On September 27, 2014,I was one of the 200,000 persons from all around the world traveled to Madrid, Spain to attend a special Mass to celebrate the Vatican recognition of Alvaro del Portillo y Diez de Sollano, Bishop and Prelate of Opus Dei, as Blessed.  I was with a group from Texas – Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, and the Texas Valley.Blessed Alvaro del Portillo

Bishop Alvaro, first Prelate of Opus Dei, died in Rome on March 23, 1994.  Eleven years ago, on August 2, 2003, a child with brain damage and other pathologies was miraculously cured in Santiago, Chile despite suffering a cardiac arrest for over half an hour and a massive hemorrhage.  The baby survived and after continuing improving in health, Jose Ignacio Ureta Wilson, 11,  today is able to lead a normal life like any other child.  This cure has been attributed to the intercession of Blessed Alvaro.  The Vatican opened a case by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to look into the incident and several entities within the Church also reviewed all aspects of  Bishop Alvaro’s life and virtues. Hundreds of witnesses – lay and ordained – were interviewed around the world.

Going to Beatification MassIn October 2012 the Medical Consultants of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints declared that the cure of little Jose has no scientific explanation. Then, in July 2013 Pope Francis ordered publication of the Decree declaring there had been a miraculous cure and that the miracle was obtained through the intercession of Don Alvaro.  The date of the Beatification Mass was set for September 27, 2014, in Madrid.  More info can be obtained in the Opus Dei Media Kit

The following video is just one of many prepared by those who attended.  A lot of those videos are on YouTube and on the Opus Dei website. But this one features our Texas group, primarily.  I augmented it with footage posted by EWTN on YouTube.  My goal is to provide a 20 minute snapshot of what happened that Saturday in Madrid, which will be understandable to those who did not attend, or who have been wondering what all this is about, as well as a “scrapbook” of memories for those of us from Texas who did attend.

 

 

Possums, Possums and Racoons

On By franciscoagrazIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

October and November, 2013 were very “fruitful” for a family of opossums (or possums, and tacuache or tlacuache, in Mexican Spanish).  Pressure on this writer was heavy from the mother-in-law (la suegra) who — several years ago — had planted a little seeding and the resultant tree or tangerine, or whatever, tree had yielded very good tasting fruit year after year.  Hundreds of tasty fruits every season.  This year became the year of the “Freddy Possums” who filled some of us in this household full of fear and dread as every morning we woke to count the dead yet-not-ripe green oranges.  So, it fell to me to buy and set up infra-red cameras, borrow and buy special traps, and experiment with pizza, cat food, peanut butter, and so forth, trying to trap the sneaky critters. I also endured hours of advice from others about where to set the traps, about spreading wolf urine (fake or real?) which I now know I can probably get a Academy or Walmart!   I learned “there are many stories in this city” of possum invasions.  Well, here is ours, in video form.  It’s over, until the next time!Image