Wylie's Angel

Hello world-wide-web,
Jesus, may you take the soul of Wylie's Angel straight to Your Heart. In Your Name. Amen.

Dear Readers,
We live in a caring world.
The actions of the Wylie community towards the special needs boy whose body was found near Lake Lavon last Thursday, the 14th, shows me we live in a caring world. According to a Dallasnews.com article on April 20th, "...volunteers (of Wylie) canvassed the neighborhood with an image of the brown-eyed, brown-haired boy in hopes that someone might recognize him. That's also why Malorie Martinez started a Facebook page she's calling, "Wylie's Angel," to get the boy's picture distributed as widely as possible."

But the FB page serves another great purpose: we (i.e. society) can openly mourn for Wylie's Angel. We may not have known this sweet little boy, but we resonate with sympathy for his tragedy.

We all want to be known, don't we? And I don't mean 'known' in a celebrity famous sort of way, but known, for our likes, dislikes, by people we care about and who care about us.

Even if we didn't know Wylie's Angel when he was alive.
We know him now.
You will be remembered Little One.

It's innate, I think, to care for each other in times of tragedy.

I wasn't near NYC when 9/11 happened, but that event changed lives, and for the better. I felt more compassion and patience toward my fellow human beings. This is no different.

On a collective consciousness level we sensed something was wrong with what happened to Wylie's Angel. We want to make things right, even in death.

We are all precious.

Be with the Angels, Wylie, and RIP.

"I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world." Mother Theresa

The United Nations of Good Friday

Hello world-wide-web, Happy Good Friday everyone. Heavenly Father, thank you for dying for us so we can be free of sin and eternal damnation. A special prayer for those who have died; I pray they are now resting comfortably with you in Heaven. In Jesus Name. Amen. Every year for the past three years, my mom and I have visited seven churches on Good Friday. This year was not any different. Mom heard about the tradition from some ladies at church many years ago. Normally the visits were done on Holy Thursday, but since I only get Good Friday off from work, we visit the churches on GF. Since we're visited the churches in Dallas, and some in Ft. Worth, this year I decided to stay fairly close to home. We live in Garland, and our first stop was St Mary's Malankara, which is close to downtown Garland. I didn't realize it when I found this church on the web, but it is a Catholic Indian (people from India) church. At first I wondered if it was still a Catholic church because there is a realtor's sign in front of the church, but when we got out of the car and walked to the front of the church, there was a beautiful marquee with the Blessed Mother holding Jesus, and times of the masses. We spoke to a gentlemen sitting outside of the church: was there a service going on? He said yes, but it was okay to go into the church. I was hesitant, but mom wanted to go inside and pray. We walked in and a kind woman at the entrance of the church - there were two doors closed to the actual church area - told us that men sat on the left side and women on the right. There were shoes strewn about the entrance of the church, so I took off my shoes as well. Inside the church, but sitting at the back, was a man and a woman chanting prayers, their voices carrying over a loud speaker. Many of the women had veils on and traditional Indian dress: long pants, long dresses covering the pants. They looked gorgeous. The men were dressed nicely as well; everyone wearing mostly black. Mom and I found a spot to sit, but I was uncomfortable with staying long. I got up from our seat when some women came to sit with us - we may have taken their seats - and went to the entrance of the church again to wait for mom. I asked one of the women at the back of the church what the English equivalent was of the prayers being said. She didn't know. I asked her how long the prayers lasted and she said from 8:30 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon. She was very gracious. I stopped asking questions when I realized my curiosity may have appeared rude. The church was filled with people, some staying and some leaving. Mom only stayed a few more minutes and then we were on to our next church, which was Sacred Heart in Rowlett. For some reason I was expecting the church to be packed with people, like the Indian church was, but it wasn't. There were three parishioners working in the gym and parish center, but no one else was visiting. The most impressive item of this visit was outside: a gorgeous statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Coincidentally our next church was also named Sacred Heart, but it is in Plano, and belongs to a Chinese congregation. Unfortunately the church was closed, but I managed to snap some photos of the stunning statue of Jesus in front of the church, and then a photo of the Blessed Mother, in a gazebo, with a rosary in hand at the back of the church. St Jude, in Allen, is ginormous! And Mom and I couldn't be on a better schedule! As we entered the church, the Stations of the Cross had just begun and were being shown on two large screens on either side of the altar. If you weren't fortunate enough to get a missal of the Stations, you had only to look at one of the screens to see which Station was being prayed! The Stations were phenomenally painted and hung from large frames around the church. Because the church was packed, Mom wound her way to the left side of the altar and found us a spot. A woman with two small children smiled as she moved over to give us room to sit. She happily give us her copy of the Stations of the Cross. The Stations were printed on what I can only describe as a pamphlet. After the service the priest asked everyone to keep the pamphlet if they wanted to, and I'm posting my favorite picture from it, "Veronica wipes the face of Jesus." I took a photo of the church from outside, but the photo fails to capture the enormity of the church. St Jude in Allen. If you haven't been, go! You will feel God's presence. Our next trek took us to Our Lady of Angels, also in Allen. Once again mom and I had great timing. This parish too was just beginning the Stations. Several different people helped the priest with the prayers and this added to the experience. I'm enclosing a photo of a magnificent statue of angels this church had in its courtyard. I find the churches mom and I visit by googling them. Having said this, please keep in mind the web sometimes doesn't offer much in the way of describing the location of the church. Which brings me to our sixth church. After driving around a Frisco neighborhood for at least an hour or so and calling my brother to make sure I had the right place, mom and I parked in front of someones house. I know. How strange does this seem? Can a person's house be a church as well? A church named St Clement of Alexandria? Mom and I arrived just as the owner, a woman, arrived. I smiled as I approached her, "Hello, my name is D and this is my mom, M. We're looking for a Catholic church, a St Clement of Alexandria?" The woman said nothing as she grabbed her mail from the mailbox and went into her house. Mom and I couldn't leave fast enough. Our last church visit returned us to Garland. This church is Vietnamese. The grounds surrounding the church are very large. It's a pretty church and clean too. I used their restroom and it was spotless. The statue of their pieta is striking and impressed me the most. A good friend of mine from church once told me that just by walking into a church you are blessed. Walk into one of these churches sometime, except the sixth one, hehe, and you will surely be blessed. Happy Easter everyone! "I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world." Mother Theresa