We worship in a Church from which we spill forth joyfully after Mass charged to "Go forth and bring the Word of God to life with our lives." The busy street that carries us on the first steps of our journey of mission is name for Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas. To honor her in many ways: through book conversations, film screenings, panels discussions, expressions of art and with beautiful liturgies on Her feast day, December 12th. After a hiatus, we're reviving the pilgrimage of events and celebrations that led us to the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in a way that will bring us together, albeit apart.
Not long ago we asked you to let us know how you're doing and how we could support you in this challenging time. Your responses invited us to find creative ways to come together safely as we did for the events of Fr. Paolo's Ordination weekend. We hope you'll enjoy the series of events we've planned to take us from the month of Our Lady's Nativity in September to the celebration of Her apparitions in the New World.
In this year of pandemic, natural disasters, social and political unrest, the words of Our Lady to San Juan Diego at her fourth apparition provide great comfort for us all:
Hear me and understand well, my little one, that nothing should frighten or grieve you. Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything.
Our Lady on the
Far Frontier
On the evening of October 27th, NPS Park Educator Tom Castanos, led us on virtual visit to Mission San José, one of the five San Antonio Missions now a UNESCO Workd Heritage site. The facade of the mission church features Our Lady of Guadalupe as its focal point. Established in 1720, not quite 200 years after Her miraculous apparition to San Juan Diego on the hillside at Tepeyac, Our Lady's image was used to bring Christ to the farthest reaches of New Spain. The video recording of our tour is at the left. It lasts just over an hour.
A Dinner Party for Our Lady
The Topics of Conversation
Do you have a special food memory? Please explain its place in your story.
How is Our Lady part of your family story?
On the evening of September 16th, notwithstanding a technical delay, we opened our Zoom Dinner Party conversation with grace by Father Bruce. We gathered from near and points as far away as an island off the coast of Seattle and the southern border of Texas. Our Paulists shared their answers to the questions above. We captured their table talk in a video - view it in the panel at the right by clicking on the image.
The assembled shared their answers in stories of faith and hope. We learned of happy family moments and of difficult challenges. We heard of recipes now lost, yet fondly remembered. We talked of the gray stones, gaudy shops and solemn shrine at Lourdes, of the great Basilica in Mexico City, of the faith of pilgrims to the Shrine of Our Lady in San Juan, Texas and of the Churches of the Visitation and the Annunciation in the Holy Land. It was an evening of conversation in commUNITY that ended with a serenade of Las Mañanitas to Our Lady - join us in song ~
We invited two gracious and talented chefs to plan dinner parties for Our Lady's Birthday. They let us follow them into the Hecker kitchen as they prepared the delightful meals described below. We hope you'll enjoy the videos of the cooking shows and the dinner conversation that followed as they presented their meals to our Paulist Fathers in residence at St. Austin.
Chef Alma Alcocer of El Alma on Barton Springs Road shares a lovely seasonal supper of roasted butternut squash tostadas with refried black beans and her delicious quick guacamole paired with a refreshing mango limonada.
Chef Elias Serda ofOmakase “Otoko” offers more seasonal delights with a menu featuring gazpacho de Morelia, Mexican street corn (elote), a sizzling steak with chimichurri paired with micheladas, a border favorite. To finish the meal, Chef Elias serves a dessert of plantains and strawberries with sweetened condensed milk and crema fresca.