Sad day

Well, I'm not well. 

Day 9 of this infirmity is upon us...my parents sent me a box with some stuff that might help, so hopefully that will be here by Monday or Tuesday. In the meantime, I'm just praying and sleeping and spending time here in the blogosphere.

Something sad has happened today. My friend Gilma (pronounced Hilma) is leaving. She is one of the girls who lives up here in the "tower" (the rooms above the chapel) with me. She is such a sweet girl, she was the first one to reach out to me when I got here, and she was always so patient with my Spanish, teaching me new words and explaining tenses. I ran into her this morning and she had tears down her face. Last weekend she and Violetta, the girl who more or less runs the bakery, went out for the day. Gilma got her tongue pierced, as well as her upper ear. Violetta got her nose pierced. The sisters just figured it out today and told Gilma she has to leave. There is no other reason, just the piercings. I think Violetta will stay because they can't replace her as easily...she is getting married in the chapel here in December...I hope they'll still let her.

I was so shocked at first. I couldn't believe it. In one fell swoop she lost her work and the place that has been her home for the last 6 or 7 months. Over a tongue piercing. I get the sense there is some greater cultural significance to these piercings than in the states...but then, maybe not. A girl got her title revoked as one of the "princesses" of my hometown because she "wore too many earrings." I just don't get it. I think about my own upper-ear piercing with its bright orange stone. All of the girls here noticed it immediately, though it took my college roommates a whole year to see. I wonder why the sisters didn't say anything to me about it? Does it bother them? Why?

I definitely don't agree with this decision, and I can think of quite a few scripture passages to back me up, but I'm not going to say anything to the sisters about it. Both because my attitude from the beginning has been to respect the sisters and just do as they ask, and because I don't fully understand the culture or their reasons for what they do. One day a couple of weeks ago the little girls were putting beads in their hair, and my hair, and bracelets on our ankles, pretending to be Shakira from Waka Waka. Another girl walked by and made a comment about how we shouldn't put the bracelets on our ankles because it meant ______ (something that I didn't understand). The girls kind of shrugged it off saying it was just for the game, and dear sister Rosita was there observing the whole thing and didn't say anything.  

I don't know what kind of ideas or cultural signals they have for "wild" women, which is why I'm not going to get in an argument about it. I do know that they take sin Very seriously here. Only about a third (a very generous estimate) of the congregation receives communion on a given Sunday because they are "sinners" as the girls explained to me. After the bad word incident that I mentioned earlier, one of the girls asked me why I received communion, and told me I shouldn't have and I needed to go to confession. [Gah! Which to explain first? That it wasn't a sin because I had no idea what I was saying? That all our venial sins (not-serious sins or grave ones committed without knowledge of its evil or without full consciousness) are forgiven us a the moment we consume the host (as well as at the beginning of the mass)? Or that we are all in fact sinners, always, and need the grace and mercy of the Eucharist in our battle against our little/venial sins, as so many saints have attested, advocating for frequent communion?] Sinfulness is definitely really big in this culture. 

Another thing I know is Gilma. And I know she is not just a great person, but a mature one, not promiscuous or a partier (she couldn't be anyway, living here), just a bit silly sometimes. And I know she just thought it was cool and cute to have a charm in her tongue. Whatever they think it represents, I know she didn't have that intention. 

"Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you." -Luke 6:37-8

Lord, may I remember these words and not judge any of the people in this situation, not knowing their hearts or motives fully!

I gave Gilma my rosary. I know God will be with her, wherever she goes. 

Blessed be God forever! In that which is good and that which is difficult! Praise be His holy name and may all people find rest and consolation in His Sacred Heart. Amen.