#prayers Mexico 2023

[greezleeamateurfotografin]

El Leafar cargándose de energía en Teotihuacán.

[newsfrom-theworld]

3/5/2024

Today's breaking news:

The National Autonomous University of Mexico joins the global student uprising for Gaza.

Palestinian families set up tents on top of the rubble of destroyed homes in the Beit Lahia project in northern Gaza.

At least 8 innocent civilians, including children, were killed in an Isr@eli airstrike last night which targeted a house for the Shaheen family in Rafah.

Isr@eli artillery strikes a location in the vicinity of the town of Khiam in southern Lebanon

The Turkish Ministry of Trade has announced the suspension of all trade exchanges with the Isr@eli occupation over the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip

Students at the University of Toronto, Canada, join the global student uprising for Gaza.

Hundreds of students at Seattle University join the international student action for Palestine. They are demanding their university divest from the Isr@eli occupation.

The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago has formally recognized the State of Palestine.

Isr@eli occupation forces block access of several worshippers into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem ahead of the weekly Friday prayer.

The United States and Saudi Arabia are very close to reaching a deal that would provide Riyadh with security assurances from Washington while moving the Gulf kingdom away from US rivals.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza says the number of healthcare workers killed by the Isr@eli occupation since October 7, 2023, has surged to 496.

Gaza encampments have been established in Japan at Waseda University and the University of Tokyo

Isr@eli occupation boats open fire on Palestinians off the coast of Gaza City

Isr@eli occupation aircraft bomb residential areas in northern Gaza.

Isr@eli occupation launch airstrikes on the towns of Maroun al-Ras and Aytroun in southern Lebanon.

Displaced Palestinians raise Palestinian flags atop the ruins of their destroyed homes in Gaza City upon returning to them after weeks of Isr@eli occupation attacks and the recent withdrawal.

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese calls for global measures against Isr@el for deliberately targeting civilians in Gaza.

Palestinian civilians attempting to reach aid dropped on destroyed buildings in northern Gaza faced casualties as structures collapsed.

The World Health Organization (WHO) expressed grave concern over the potential for a bloodbath in Rafah, southern Gaza, due to a threatened Isr@eli ground invasion.

Isr@eli occupation forces detained the wife of Middle East Eye correspondent, Mohammed al-Hajjar, Inas Abu al-Maza, at a military checkpoint in the central Gaza Strip. Separating the family as they traveled south to Rafah

Students at Princeton University in New Jersey have initiated a hunger strike in solidarity with Gaza.

An Isr@eli soldier shares an image of a Palestinian abducted, partially stripped, blindfolded, and handcuffed in Gaza on his social media account

Isr@eli occupation airstrikes target tents of displaced Palestinians in Rafah

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

The American continent is among the most dangerous regions for human rights defenders

Amnesty International report shows that Brazil and some of its neighboring countries make it difficult for HR defenders

The American continent is among the most dangerous places in the world for human rights defenders. Brazil is among the countries in the region where the situation is most serious. That’s what the global report The State of Human Rights in the World, published on Wednesday (24) by Amnesty International, points out.

According to the document, human rights defenders working to protect land and the environment faced “growing risks” in 2023, particularly Black, Indigenous and female activists. In addition to Brazil, Bolivia, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras and Mexico are listed as the American countries presenting the highest number of threats.

Although the survey does not mention specific cases in Brazil, the deaths of Sebastiana Gauto and Rufino Velasque, a couple of Guarani and Kaiowá rezadores (prayers who use traditional knowledge) can be remembered. They were found dead and charred in the house where they lived in the indigenous community of Guassuty, in Mato Grosso do Sul in September last year.

According to Amnesty International, “governments and non-state actors have used a variety of tools, such as harassment, stigmatization, criminalization and murder to prevent human rights activists from carrying out their essential and legitimate work in countries such as Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and Venezuela."

Continue reading.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

The De-Na-Zin Wilderness (from Diné Dééł Náázíní, or Standing Crane), in the Dinétah (San Juan Co, NM), is a rolling landscape of badlands that offers some of the most unusual scenery in New Mexico. Time and natural elements have etched a fantasy world of strange rock formations made of sandstone, shale, mudstone, coal and silt.

Photo: Jessica Fridrich/National Park Service (2023)

(Robert Scott Horton)

* * * *

Because what I want most is permanence, The long unwinding and continuous flow Of subterranean rivers rivers out of sense, That nourish arid landscapes with their blue- Poetry, prayer, or call it what you choose That frees the complicated act of will And makes the whole world both intense and still- I set my mind to artful work and craft, I set my heart on friendship, hard and fast Against the wild inflaming wink of chance And all sensations opened in a glance. Oh blue Atlantis where the sailors dream Their girls under the waves and in the foam- I move another course. I’ll not look down.

Because what I want most is permanence, What I do best is bury fire now, To bank the blaze within, and out of sense, Where hidden fires and rivers burn and flow, Create a world that is still and intense, I come to you with only the straight gaze. These are not hours of fire but years of praise, The glass full to the brim, completely full, But held in balance so no drop can spill.

-May Sarton

[catdotjpeg]

August 6th is the day of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony, which commemorates the victims of the atomic bombing and offers prayers for peace. While the actual military use of atomic bombs was witnessed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the scope of the victims extends beyond these cities, encompassing nuclear test sites like New Mexico and the Philippines. Research indicates that the casualties resulting from atomic bomb drops exceed 250,000 people, and the fatalities related to U.S. testing surpass 200,000 people. In the context of World War II, various nations engaged in inhumane acts. The Holocaust in Germany, the Nanking Massacre in Japan, the atomic bombings in the United States... Both Axis and Allied powers have been held accountable for war crimes; no nation is exempt. So, who were the victims of these wars? Jewish individuals, women and girls of Nanking, ordinary citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki... In every conflict, the greatest impact is felt by civilians, particularly those who are socially vulnerable. Are you familiar with the poem “Ningen wo Kaese” (to Poems of the Bomb) by Mitsuyoshi Toge, who was an actual survivor of the August 6th bombing? Always, it is the civilian population, not the decision-makers of war, who suffer the most. Today, Japan stands as a democratic nation. Unlike during World War II, we have the capacity to raise voices against war. To avoid repeating past mistakes, shouldn’t we seek accountability and express our opposition to war? We stand against the military use of atomic bombs and against participation in war.

-- "Hibakusha, Victims of Nuclear Tests, Second Generation A-Bomb Survivors, and the International Convention on Nuclear Weapons" from Voice Up Japan, 6 Aug 2023

[cheesybadgers]

(GO TO PART 1 AND PART 3)

PART 2

60. In chapter 23, it’s finally revealed that Javier now works for a charity on the Texas-Mexico border. This idea has been in my head for over a year, as can be seen from the below notes I made to myself in February/March 2023:

Strangely, I then read Infinite Country by Patricia Engel (referred to above at point 50) in early May 2023, which contains the following passage:

So, that made me even more determined to go down this path with Javier ❤️

I won’t list all of the different charities/not-for-profits/NGOs I researched, but there are some mentioned here plus Border Angels and Al Otro Lado. Not all of them are Texas-based, but they do operate somewhere along or near the US-Mexican border, so I used a mix of them as inspiration.

61. Horacio’s route to getting a visa and green card in chapter 23 was largely based on the real-world EB5 visa. Although, I may have taken slight liberties for the purposes of the story (it was hard to see any other real life route for Horacio to actually be granted a long term visa/green card to be honest…which is apt for other themes of this chapter), so it’s not 100% accurate to real life lol.

62. There are several references in chapter 23 to America’s sodomy laws that were still in place in some states, including Texas, by 1997 (when chapter 23 is set), but it wasn’t until the landmark Supreme Court case of Lawrence vs Texas in 2003 that it was ruled sodomy laws in Texas and various other states were unconstitutional.

For further reading on the queer rights movement (and the violence and harassment queer Texans faced) that paved the way for Lawrence vs Texas, I highly recommend Before Lawrence v. Texas: The Making of a Queer Social Movement by Wesley G Phelps

63. If you wondered what a lariat was in chapter 23, it’s the rope cowboys use to lasso (‘lasso’ is actually the verb, whereas the rope itself is called a ‘lariat’, which comes from the Spanish word la reata, meaning to catch or fasten).

There’s also a reference to a quirt, which is a short leather whip used by cowboys to encourage their horse to go faster.

64. As for the sex scene in chapter 23…eagle-eyed readers may have spotted the foreshadowing for this in chapter 20 😉 A long while before I even wrote chapter 20, I’d had Horacio wearing a harness in my head (these are things that live in my brain rent free, apparently lol), largely influenced by this Tumblr post mixed with this one and this one and the gay leather movement. Speaking of which…the references to Drummer relate to a real gay leather magazine that exists in the US.

I made up the part about the harness instructions and a cowboy/rodeo special, however, there is a website with scans of old issues…and lo and behold, there was a cowboy special (WARNING FOR HIGHLY NSFT/W CONTENT).

There’s also a fascinating interview here with ‘Cowboy Frank’ who created the above archive of gay magazines as a tribute to his late husband.

65. Keeping on the theme of gay cowboys…gay rodeo is a real thing in Texas. You can read more about it here, here, here, here and there are some photographs here too.

I also have Slapping Leather: Queer Cowfolx at the Gay Rodeo by Elyssa Ford and Rebecca Scofield and Rodeo as Refuge, Rodeo as Rebellion: Gender, Race, and Identity in the American Rodeo by Elyssa Ford to read at some point (unfortunately, I didn’t get chance to read them before posting chapter 23), which look really interesting.

I couldn’t in a million years see Horacio (or Javier for that matter) taking part lol, but I wanted to at least mention its existence in chapter 23.

66. I’ve mentioned Día de Muertos above already, but here’s more about what the different items on an ofrenda represent and also a breakdown of what happens on each day of the festival.

67. La Virgen de Guadalupe, La Llorona and La Malinche are all referenced in chapter 23.

I initially got the inspiration to include the Guadalupe prayer card from these promo images of Javier. But it wasn't until I started doing more research, I discovered her links to La Llorona and La Malinche. Their identities throughout Mexican history change depending on who is telling the story (which is why Chucho lists various different names) and La Virgen de Guadalupe in particular symbolises the shift Mexico underwent after the Spanish colonisers arrived (from the religion of the Aztecs to Catholicism).

This is a strong theme in Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldúa and this book was a big inspiration for the conversation between Javier and Chucho about their Mexican roots.

I also found an interesting article dissecting the trio as different archetypes of women (in fact, it quotes Gloria Anzaldúa as well).

Some other related pieces about La Virgen de Guadalupe and how she relates to Mexican/Chicano identity:

Tonantzin Tlalli Coatlicue & Our Lady of Guadalupe

Commentary: The representations of La Virgen de Guadalupe show her power over identity

Celebrating Guadalupe, Sacred Icon of the People

I may have gone a bit overboard with this part of my research lol, but it was so fascinating to me, I just kept falling down different rabbit holes. And I’ve always liked the idea of Javier being caught between two worlds – in the show, and in the OHDH universe. So, this all served chapter 23 well with Javier returning to Laredo and trying to connect the different parts of his identity.

68. Operation Gatekeeper and Operation Hold the Line are referenced in chapter 23. These were two anti-immigration initiatives in the early ‘90s which involved the militarisation of the US-Mexican border with an increase in Border Patrol staff, the introduction of checkpoints and the building of physical walls.

69. Javier references new immigration legislation in chapter 23. ‘IIRIRA’ is the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act 1996, which came into effect on 1st April 1997.

It was yet more harsh anti-immigration measures that widened the remit for people to be removed, deported and banned from the US. Here’s an article about the problems the legislation caused.

Ironically, whilst America was doing everything it could to keep people from crossing the border, the passing of NAFTA in 1994 actually made drug trafficking across the border easier and exacerbated cartel-related violence in Mexico.

Whilst on the subject of US immigration, there is also a reference to the ‘INS’ in chapter 23, which was the predecessor to ‘ICE’ (ICE was formed in 2003, so it would still have been INS in 1997).

70. Towards the end of chapter 23, when Javier and Horacio are snuggled under a mesquite tree and talk about a story they read in The New Yorker, it was, of course, Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx, which was first published in TNY as a short story on 6th October 1997.

I had to fit a reference to it in this fic somewhere lol. Although, for as much as that story influenced OHDH in places, I like to think Javier’s and Horacio’s ending is the antithesis to the ending of Brokeback Mountain ❤️

71. At the end of chapter 23, various artists are mentioned as appearing on their bookshelves. I’ve picked out either titles of significance or reasons for why they’re referenced:

Our Lady of the Assassins (La Virgen de los sicarios) by Fernando Vallejo (A gay Medellín-born author writing semi-autobiographically about a gay man living in Medellín during the worst years of violence…I don’t think I need to explain further why this is on the list lol)

Maurice by E.M. Forster and also the film adaptation (A gay romance with a relatively happy ending for a change)

City of Night by John Rechy (Follows a gay Texan man’s journey and sexual encounters across America)

Gloria E. Anzaldúa (See point 67 above)

Alejo Durán (Colombian Vallenato musician – and cowboy)

Long, Long Time by Linda Ronstadt (If you’ve seen The Last of Us, you’ll know why I chose this. If you haven’t seen it, please make a point of watching season 1, episode 3 as it’s one of the most beautiful queer love stories I’ve ever witnessed 😭)

Drag by K.D. Lang (A covers album by a lesbian musician of songs centred around smoking…again, I don’t think I need to explain any further lol)

Para Siempre by Vicente Fernández (A Mexican ranchera singer…just look at the lyrics for Para Siempre and sigh longingly)

Preface to Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (Specifically for this quote, because I stumbled across it by accident and it fit so many themes of the fic:

“Past and present and future are not disjoined but joined. The greatest poet forms the consistence of what is to be from what has been and is. He drags the dead out of their coffins and stands them again on their feet….he says to the past, Rise and walk before me that I may realize you. He learns the lesson….he places himself where the future becomes present.”)

Pedro Almodóvar (A Spanish gay film director I’ve mentioned above somewhere before…and also coincidentally worked with Pedro Pascal in Strange Way of Life)

The Living End written and directed by Gregg Araki (Just a couple of gay HIV Positive guys on a road trip)

72. The end scene of them dancing together was largely inspired by two things:

This gorgeous, gorgeous piece of artwork (artist at the link).

And this scene in Fellow Travelers.

I had originally intended to end chapter 23 like the artwork, but after watching Fellow Travelers in December 2023, I had to write my own nod to possibly one of the most intimate scenes I’ve ever seen committed to camera. I swear it re-wired my brain chemistry.

And it’s funny, because I hadn’t actually read or even heard of Fellow Travelers by Thomas Mallon when starting OHDH, but there are so many delightful parallels (e.g. Tim and his cross necklace/religious guilt and the Dom/sub undertones, all of their dancing, the switching in power dynamics during sex as a way to show vulnerability…I just couldn’t help but imagine Horacio/Javier in all the Hawk/Tim sex scenes).

73. A few other books/articles I read for chapter 23 research that I haven’t mentioned already:

Farm Boys: Lives of Gay Men from the Rural Midwest by Will Fellows

The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande

Retablos: Stories From a Life Lived Along the Border by Octavio Solis

Where We Come From by Oscar Cásares

Brownsville: Stories by Oscar Cásares

Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Economic Integration by Douglas S. Massey, Jorge Durand and Nolan J. Malone

In the Valley of Mirrors by Antonio Ruiz-Camacho

Out West, the Gay Cowboy Roams Free by Evan Moffitt (New York Times article transcribed on my Tumblr)

[light-macadamia]

Mid Year Book Tag [2023]

Starting off with the stats to reel you in: I’ve read 25 books (against 58 acquired, for shame), of which 60% were in audio format. Literary fiction made every other genre eat it (incredibly odd for me), and the majority (30%) did not feature a prominent romantic plot/subplot. Usually it’s a cockfight between wlw and straight, if I am honest.

Best book you’ve read so far in 2023: If We Were Villains

It’s tragic, it’s twisted, it’s messy, and it kept a tight hold on me for two days nonstop. Since then I have picked up the Secret History and Bunny, to compare and measure against the dark academia vibe, and found them all to be vastly different books!

Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2023: A Prayer for the Crown Shy 

Becky Chambers needs to make a chain email with all the little adventures of this duo. Although they can be too mellow for my tastes, it is an irresistible serving of the cosy every now and again. 

New release you haven’t read yet, but want to: In The Lives of Puppets

Most anticipated release for the rest of the year: Alecto! Alecto! Alecto!

Biggest disappointment: The Hacienda

It had all the markings of being a favourite – gothic horror in the backdrop of Mexico. But the gothic lacked novelty, the horror lacked in general, and the romance was so boring. Together it did very little to wash away the peeve I had over a topic introduced seemingly for nothing but ~vibes~,  which is the abuse suffered by maids and servants at the hand of masters.

Biggest surprise: Drive your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

As well as Frankenstein: both are amazing, incredibly immersive and full of reclusive reflection. Frankenstein impressed me so much I ended up giving a talk to unsuspecting high schoolers just to rope them into discourse about it.

Favourite new author: Madeline Miller

Newest favourite character: Edmund “Bunny” Corcoran

Bunny from The Secret History is SUCH a pissbaby, my face lit up every time he came up in a scene. Whatever mix of nasal infection and posh accent Donna Tartt gave him in the audiobook, is now a voice filter that lives in my head rent free. Comes in very handy when I have to read sour emails.

Book that made you cry: ???

I am clearly saving them for something big, cause nothing comes to mind.

Book that made you happy: ???

I am equally stingy with my glee, it seems, cause nothing comes to mind either.

The most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year: Our Hideous Progeny

I do not have it in physical copy but damn what an eye candy to have on bookshelves (or storygraph).

Favourite book to movie adaptation you’ve seen this year: Nimona

Bestie and I read the graphic novel years ago, so we reprised by watching it together and crocheting.

[tasmiq]

Jumu'ah Khuthbah: 15 September 2023

As Anne (our spiritual mother) proclaimed, we continue to live and learn; as we learn and live, in our journey of willful surrender to Allah. These were the mystical lessons from the week where we each reflected the same message that Shaykh Taner remains with us, so bismillah...

#1. Shaykh Nishaat derailed our preconceptions of who the giver and recipient is in acts of generosity. The giver is merely an implement of the Giver, and the recipient is the true giver as the Giver doubles the rewards of the giver for it. We are not doing anyone a favour when we help them, it is our door that Allah widens when we give, so they are doing us a favour!

That is why giving is encouraged in Islam over withholding and being miserly. Remember the incredible cartoon movie on Hazrat Bilal, we watched Hazrat Abu Bakr give all his wealth away! He wasn't working out the rate of Zakaat, and he continued giving, and he responded to the slave owner of Hazrat Bilal:

If you asked me for a hundred times more than what you deem a generous offering, I would have given that!

Then you understand that this is living Islam in action. Islam is more than salah and scripture. It is about how we live out our relationship with Allah.

#2. Then Anne related a personally lived haq (truth) in the Positivity Prayers, within myself as a means to silence my nafs (lower-self or ego) and to calm the waters when in the heat of family debacles. She said that they are an inheritance to us mureeds (followers) from Shaykh Taner through our Tariqa.

As we repeat Allah's beautiful names, His frequency courses through our bodies and things change in and around us. Subhana'Allah and Ya Shakur for its miracle, that I can timelessly attest!

#3. We all reflected that the Positivity Prayers even goes beyond our individual micro-worlds! The energy of the prayers ripples out, even for what Shaykh Taner shed light on, to the people that have no one to pray for them and the whole world when parts of it are suffering with calamities as earthquakes, fire or flooding. The energy of the prayers goes to where it is needed; a haq (truth) that we live, but that isn't easy to prove!

#4. When Shaykh Mohammad of Mexico finally reflected on what Shaykh Taner's worldly absence has meant for him...He reflected on his cyber Tariqa all across Latin America that he was assigned by Shaykh Taner to maintain, because of the convenience of his location over his merit - was and is Shaykh Taner's humour!

Whenever Shaykh Mohammad posts to his cyber Tariqa, what he's doubtful of in the message - it was always confirmed as the same message during our Saturday Sohbets in the past. I deem this as what Shaykh Taner planted into all of us multinational mureeds' (followers') hearts, and that is a proficiency in heart-language. Shaykh Mohammad said:

It's the same with us now. Nobody disappears. Shaykh is still here with us if we open ourselves to that so that the rabita (heart-connection) continues. Remember, this place is temporary, and we are here for only one reason, and that is to know Allah.

We all agree on the necessity, now more than ever, to remain united in the cause of continued goodness:

Ya Wadud Ya Salaam Ya Jami Ya Nafi

#5. After our continued Sufic Silat classes on Wednesday, we had our continued Learning Circle where Shaykh Nishaat expressed heartitude, where he reflected that we are shown Allah so beautifully through His manifestation. However, it is only a glimpse of the magnitude of it - so spirituality is a process. The more you surrender, the more you see and the more you become aware! In spite of our nafs (lower-self or ego), merging our consciousness with our Creator's is the fulfillment of our journey as insane kamil (completed human being), and there we realise what we were created for.

Shaykh Taner was always showing us Allah in everything, including in ourselves and each other. As Anne initially reflected, there is a rhythmic beauty compelling us to live life fully, and the continual learning is driving us closer to our Creator in the here and now.

In conclusion, I am left in teary gratitude of only happy tears, for our spiritual family that infuses continued meaning in the now:

Ya Shakur × infinity

[dingcervantes-blog]

It would seem that the prophesied Chastisement for the “end times” will not happen in one fell swoop, although some episodes will occur in shorter times, such as the so-called “three days of darkness.”

Will the chastisements cover 20 years? Consider the following messages from the Blessed Mother.

On Oct. 17, 1985, Francesca Pajer was told in answer to her question:

“Yes, it is a full and total failure of materialism, yet human pride will never admit it. It will be swept away and reduced to ashes, and these words are to be understood in a literal sense. It will be the time of purification to sweep away the filthiness of it and even its remembrance. Within 20 years no one will speak of materialism again.”

On March 3, 1982, Fr. Estafano Gobbi received the following message:

“Behold this great crisis which started in the past and today has reached its highest level. It will soon be totally erased from the face of the earth and after 20 years, even its remembrance will disappear.”

The latter message, however, could mean that after the entire world has been altered through the chastisements, survivors would start anew  without the trappings of current  modernity and would be so busy as to shelve in 20 years even the thought of the destroyed world they used to live in.

One thing is clear: the world as we know it will vanish. Even the great cities will be gone.

Meanwhile, St. Michael the Archangel has another message through third-degree Augustinian stigmatist Luz de Maria de Bonilla on June 13, 2023. It is as follows:

“As Prince of the Heavenly Legions, I am sent to bring you the Divine Will and the intercession of Our Queen and Mother.

“Beloved of Our King and Lord Jesus Christ: The times are urgent!

“I call you to prayer with the heart and to pray with faith, with charity, with humility and hope, confident in Divine Love for each one of you and confident in the Divine Protection of Our Queen and Mother of the End Times. 

“Live in total gratitude to the Most Holy Trinity, to your Guardian Angels, to the Saints to whom you have a devotion and to Our Queen and Mother of the End Times.

“Be fraternal, so that when it is necessary, you would receive the necessary assistance.

“Children of the Most Holy Trinity, at this time evil is pouring all its wickedness upon the whole of humanity, due to the Devil’s vengefulness towards the children of the ‘Woman clothed with the sun’. Humanity should therefore meditate on the greatness of the Gift of life and should meditate on what Divine Protection really is and even more so on the most precious gift that the creature possesses: the Holy Eucharist.

“Those who keep their personal faith nourished are fraternal, sharing with everyone the knowledge that they possess; part of the way to the Heavenly Banquet is won by works and deeds.

‘Not forgetting our beloved angel of peace, I call you on this date especially to offer a prayer for the angel of peae, knowing that it is he who will come to give an example of true faith, hope and harity by which most of you will be revived.

“Nature continues on its way; you have seen how some volcanoes have become active and other volcanoes will become active in sequence.

“Water is causing sudden havoc in various countries, as you have experienced and seen up until now.

“Pray, children of the Most Holy Trinity, pray for the United States: the weather is no longer the same and this nation will suffer from a strong earthquake affecting part of Canada.

“Pray, children of the Most Holy Trinity, pray for Mexico: this nation will suffer greatly, its soil will be shaken, causing great pain to its inhabitants.

“Pray, children of the Most Holy Trinity, pray for Central America; Nicaragua will suffer due to the earthquake: Rivas, Carazo, Granada and Managua will be affected.

“Pray, children of the Most Holy Trinity, Costa Rica will suffer because of the earthquake: San Jose will be the place most affected, Alajuela, Cartago and Limon will suffer great grief; the whole country will be moved by force.

“Pray, children of the Most Holy Trinity, Panama will suffer because of the earthquake: Bocas del Toro, Chiriqui and Los Santos will suffer the consequences of the earthquake.

“Pray, children of the Most Holy Trinity, pray for Colombia, Ecuador and Peru: they will be shaken, the beaches of Brazil will be reduced, Chile will suffer because of the earthquake; Uruguay and Argentina will be surprised by the movement of the earth.

“Children of the Most Holy Trinity and of Our Queen and Mother, none of you should be troubled: Remain at peace. Peace is necessary in times of chaos and faith is the kay that tells you where to go without falling into despair.

“Prepare youselves for serious events, not forgetting that the owner of the vine goes before each one of you, and take our Mother’s hand.

“Continue without discouragement, without fear, trusting in Divine Mercy and repenting of your sins.

“Who is like God? There is nobody like God.” (End of quote.)

Other messages from the Blessed Mother were also recently conveyed through mystic Pedro Regis.

On June 8, 2023:

“Dear children, trust in Jesus, for in Him alone is your true deliverance and salvation. Difficult days will come for the Church. The traitors to the faith will spread everywhere, and there will be great confusion. 

“Do not forget: in your hands the Holy Rosary and the Holy Scripture; in your hearts, love for the truth. My Jesus expects much from you. Always seek Him in the Eucharist, and you will be great in faith. Hunger will be present in the House of God. A hungry multitude will search for the Precious Food and will find it in few places. 

“I suffer because of what is coming for you. Love and defend the truth. Alongside the good shepherds, fight for the Church of my Jesus. Heaven will be your reward. This is the message that I give you today in the name of the Most Holy Trinity. Thank you for having allowed me to gather you here once more. I bless you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Be at peace.”

On June 6, 2023:

“Dear children, I am your Mother and I have come from heaven to lead you to my Son Jesus. Be meek and humble of heart, for only in this way can you understand God’s plans for your lives. My Lord loves you and awaits you with open arms. Do not stay mired in sin.

“ This is the opportune time for your great return. The Church is heading for a great spiritual shipwreck. Great truths will be abandoned, and false ideologies will take pride of place. Do not forget the lessons of the past. In God there is no half-truth. 

“Pray. Seek strength in the Words of my Jesus and in the Eucharist. Whatever happens, remain faithful to the teachings of the true Magisterium of the Church of my Jesus. This is the message that I give you today in the name of the Most Holy Trinity. Thank you for having allowed me to gather you here once more. I bless you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Be at peace.”

-30-

[redcarpetview]

Cinema Tropical Announces the Best Latin American and U.S. Latinx Films of 2022

        Cinema Tropical, the non-profit media arts organization that is leading presenter of Latin American cinema in the United States, is proud to announce its annual list of Best Latin American Films of the Year, comprised of 25 Latin American titles from twelve different countries, plus five U.S. Latinx productions—all of them by female directors—that the New York-based organization has selected as the best of the year.

     Featuring productions from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the United States, and Venezuela, the films selected in this list will compete for the 13th Annual Cinema Tropical Awards.

     The winners for Best Film, Best Director, Best First Film, and Best U.S. Latinx Film, will be announced in an in-person event on Thursday, January 12, 2023, at Film at Lincoln Center in New York City.

    A jury composed of programmer Cecilia Barrionuevo, former Artistic Director of the Mar del Plata Film Festival; Andrea Picard, Senior Curator at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF); José Rodriguez, Programmer at the Tribeca Film Festival; and filmmaker Dominga Sotomayor (Too Late to Die Young); will choose the winners of the 13th Annual Cinema Tropical Awards in the Latin American cinema category.

     Filmmaker Rodrigo Reyes (499, Sansón and Me); Ximena Amescua, Manager of Artist Programs at Firelight Media; and film programmer and producer Virginia Westover, will select the winner in the U.S. Latinx category.

         Please note that all the films under consideration had a minimum of 60 minutes in length and premiered between May 1, 2021, and April 30, 2022.        

Cinema Tropical’s List of Best Films of 2022:

(Listed alphabetically by title)

1.    About Everything There Is to Know / De todas las cosas que se han de saber by Sofía Velázquez, Peru 2.    Alis by Nicolas Van Hemelryck and Clare Weiskopf, Colombia/Chile/Romania 3.    Amparo by Simón Mesa Soto, Colombia/Sweden/Qatar 4.    The Box / La caja by Lorenzo Vigas, Venezuela/Mexico/USA 5.    Clara Sola by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén, Costa Rica/Sweden/Belgium/Germany/France 6.    Comala by Gian Cassini, Mexico 7.    The Cow Who Sang a Song into the Future / La vaca que cantó una canción hacia el futuro by Francisca Alegría, Chile/France 8.    Dos Estaciones by Juan Pablo González, Mexico 9.    Dry Ground Burning / Mato Seco em Chamas by Joana Pimenta and Adirley Queirós, Brazil 10.    Eami by Paz Encina, Paraguay/Germany/Argentina/Netherlands/ France/USA 11.    El Gran Movimiento by Kiro Russo, Bolivia/France/Qatar/Switzerland 12.    For Your Peace of Mind, Make Your Own Museum / Para su tranquilidad, haga su propio museo by Ana Endara Mislov and Pilar Moreno, Panama 13.    Jesús López by Maximiliano Schonfeld, Argentina/France 14.    A Little Love Package by Gastón Solnicki, Argentina/Austria 15.    Mariner of the Mountains / Marinheiro das Montanhas by Karim Aïnouz, Brazil/France 16.    Mars One / Marte Um by Gabriel Martins, Brazil 17.    Me & the Beasts / Yo y las bestias by Nico Manzano, Venezuela 18.    Medusa by Anita Rocha da Silveira, Brazil 19.    The Middle Ages / La edad media by Alejo Moguillansky and Luciana Acuña, Argentina 20.    My Brothers Dream Awake / Mis hermanos sueñan despiertos by Claudia Huaiquimilla, Chile 21.    Prayers for the Stolen / Noche de fuego by Tatiana Huezo, Mexico/Germany/Brazil/Qatar 22.    Robe of Gems / Manto de gemas by Natalia López Gallardo, Mexico/Argentina 23.    The Silence of The Mole / El silencio del topo by Anaïs Taracena, Guatemala 24.    Three Tidy Tigers Tied a Tie Tighter / Três Tigres Tristes by Gustavo Vinagre, Brazil 25.    Utama by Alejandro Loayza Grisi, Bolivia/Uruguay/France       

For more information visit:

www.cinematropical.com/awards13

                                                                                                               # # #

[greezleeamateurfotografin]

Mexica-Prayers.

Prayers Mexico City 2023.

No soy hispano ni soy latino y ser un dios es mi destino...

@ velódromo olímpico 1968, Ciudad de México.

📹: Grisel Ng.

[mamabearwonders]

📿Brooks County Catholic John Doe (I'm Sleuthing), Indigenous Siblings Mysterious Departures & Immigrant Cemetery🕯️

Meet Brooks County John Doe (April 2023). Some years 20+ souls were laid to rest in Sacred Heart, a cemetery I want to visit. Home to many unidentified immigrants in the area that pop up every year. This area is also where 2 indigenous siblings joined the spirit world 9 months apart. Both ruled suicides, family doesn't buy it.

Who was Brooks County John Doe found in April 2023? I don't know. But I do know, he was a brother, a son to a family or to the Hispanic and the Catholic community. Many communities take on those who have passed or gone missing as their own.

I wish I could tell you who he was. What his dreams were, favorite music, best friend, his pets, if he was funny. But I can't. All I can guess is he loved and/or played football and was sick or loved someone who was sick so much to the point of praying for them on two pray cards and a rosary. And we know he was 5"5 - 5"10. Hispanic. Aged 22 -33 years old. Found on the Dos Jeffes Ranch in Falfurrias, Texas. Small hunting town.

On him was a Virgen de Juquila "Oracion por el enfermo" prayer card which translates to Virgin of Juquila "prayer for the sick". She preached in Oaxaca. Next to that, a St. Judas "oracion para el trabajo" prayer card. The patron saint of hope & impossible or desperate causes. Another prayer for a sick loved one or himself. "Prayer for work". Was he employed or looking for a job? Maybe lost a job due to sickness?

I put on my detective hat. I found out there's a church in Mexico called Immaculate Shrine of Our Lady of Juquila in the small Mexican town of Santa Catarina Juquila, Oaxaca, Mexico. Small town. So that could be a lead. Did Mexican police question anyone at the church if someone disappeared or someone was sick or caring for someone sick?

Then he had a white cellphone charger, a pink "Kingston" (brand) flash drive and a pendant (likely a rosary) of the Virgin Mary. Was a phone found? Did they search around the area? Did they look on the flash drive? Did they take a photo of the rosary for his case file?

Among his clothing, he had a cloth belt with a silver buckle. Was any religious or symbolic imagery on it? One John Doe I saw had like a horse belt buckle. The young man had a white, black and yellow digital watch by the brand Rack 10 which is sold at Walmart like his phone charger. All the towns around him were really small (under 1,000 people). The closest "big town" that has a Walmart is population 25,000. About a 38-minute drive northeast. Was he headed down to the border for someone? Maybe he got in touch with a family member here, made sure it was safe and went back for a sick family member or friend or partner.

Among his clothing was a blue and yellow bifold wallet with "Tigers" on front. That could be "Tigres UANL" which is the official team of the university of the state of Nuevo León. Football! Did he love football? Was he in football?

It seems Reddit thinks many of these folks are from Central or South America. The ranches in Texas are expansive and folks get lost and confused and often pass away to the elements (dehydration, starvation). South Texas Human Rights Center is trying to get their names back and trying to leave water out for people. There is a documentary called "Missing in Brooks County".

💒They are missed by their people. I'm not Catholic, but find the saints really cool. These souls mattered and deserve to be home with their families and/or people. 🕊

[yhwhrulz]

Today's Daily Encounter Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Abandonment Issues — Resolved!

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?… those who seek him shall praise the Lord! May your hearts live forever!1

There is a seventeen-year age gap between my youngest brother and me. My mom had in me a built-in babysitter and so, my baby sibling and I became very close. However, a year later, when the time came for me to leave home, my brother, who had become very attached to me, found it hard to let me go. Years later, due to the fact that my family was serving in a church in Mexico, I decided to return to my parent's home during my pregnancy to receive maternity care in the States. My brother, now grown, approached me one day and told me how much he enjoyed having me home again, but wasn't sure he could handle it if I abandoned him again! He was joking, of course, as he went on to tell me that he had suffered "abandonment issues" and it was all my fault!

This cute little analogy led me to think of real "abandonment issues," like those our Savior faced on the cross. As he hung there feeling hurt and alone, Jesus lifted His eyes to the sky and yelled out to His Heavenly Father, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Those words were filled with anguish at the thought that He must die alone for the Salvation of all mankind. He felt abandoned, forsaken; those who, only a week ago, had sung His praises, now all turned their backs on Him. Even God felt unreachable.

In Psalm 22, David also felt the bitter anguish of abandonment. Feeling as though God was far from him, David cried out: "O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest." (Ps. 22:2) But by the end of the chapter, David comes to the realization that God had always been there and he changes his tune a bit. He begins to point out God's goodness and eventually finds himself praising the God who is King over all the nations. (v.28) David's honest cry of abandonment was not the end of the story, just as Jesus' death on the cross was not the end of His story. And praise the Lord for that! Because, just like my brother can always count on me, even when I am far, we can rely on the Lord and live with the assurance that He is always with us! No abandonment issues here! They were resolved the day our Lord rose from the grave. What a Glorious Day!

Suggested Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for loving me so much that you allowed your Son to give His life for me. Thank you for being so good that even when I am far from You, Your Spirit is always with me. Thank you for being so mighty that, even in death, You rose victorious! In Jesus' name, Amen.

Psalm 22:1a & 26b (ESV).

Today's Encounter was written by: Veronica B.

NOTE: If you would like to accept God's forgiveness for all your sins and His invitation for a full pardon Click on: http://www.actsweb.org/invitation.php. Or if you would like to re-commit your life to Jesus Christ, please click on http://www.actsweb.org/decision.php to note this.

Daily Encounter is published at no charge by ACTS International, a non-profit organization, and made possible through the donations of interested friends. Donations can be sent at: http://www.actscom.com

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Copyright (c) 2016 by ACTS International.

When copying or forwarding include the following: "Daily Encounter by Richard (Dick) Innes (c) 2005-2023 ACTS International

[patfster]

Ceremonia por La paz en Mexico

September 13, 2023

Tracy and I attended the interfaith day of prayer. some of the pictures I took were published in the Liahona. It really is a beautiful feeling knowing that we can join hands in Faith with other religions.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

June 18, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JUN 18, 2023

Tomorrow is the federal holiday honoring Juneteenth, the celebration of the announcement in Texas on June 19th, 1865, that enslaved Americans were free. 

On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant of the U.S. Army, but it was not until June 2 that General Edmund Kirby Smith surrendered the Trans-Mississippi Department, the last major army of the Confederacy, to the United States, in Galveston, Texas. Smith then fled to Mexico. 

Seventeen days later, Major General Gordon Granger of the U.S. Army arrived to take charge of the soldiers stationed there. On June 19, he issued General Order Number 3. It read:  

“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.” 

The order went on: “The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”

While the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution abolishing enslavement except as punishment for a crime had passed through Congress on January 31, 1865, and Lincoln had signed it on February 1, the states were still in the process of ratifying it. 

So Granger’s order referred not to the Thirteenth Amendment, but to the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, which declared that Americans enslaved in states that were in rebellion against the United States “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and that the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons.” Granger was informing the people of Galveston that, Texas having been in rebellion on January 1, 1863, their world had changed. The federal government would see to it that, going forward, white people and Black people would be equal.

Black people in Galveston met the news Order No. 3 brought with celebrations in the streets, but emancipation was not a gift from white Americans. Black Americans had fought for the United States and worked in the fields to grow cotton the government could sell. Those unable to leave their homes had hidden U.S. soldiers, while those who could leave indicated their hatred of the Confederacy and enslavement with their feet. They had demonstrated their equality and their importance to the postwar United States. 

The next year, after the Thirteenth Amendment had been added to the Constitution, Texas freedpeople gathered on June 19, 1866, to celebrate with prayers, speeches, food, and socializing the coming of their freedom. By the following year, the federal government encouraged “Juneteenth” celebrations, eager to explain to Black citizens the voting rights that had been put in place by the Military Reconstruction Act in early March 1867, and the tradition of Juneteenth began to spread to Black communities across the nation.

But white former Confederates in Texas were demoralized and angered by the changes in their circumstances. “It looked like everything worth living for was gone,” Texas cattleman Charles Goodnight later recalled. 

In summer 1865, as white legislators in the states of the former Confederacy grudgingly ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, they also passed laws to keep freedpeople subservient to their white neighbors. These laws, known as the Black Codes, varied by state, but they generally bound Black Americans to yearlong contracts working in the fields owned by white men; prohibited Black people from meeting in groups, owning guns or property, or testifying in court; outlawed interracial marriage; and permitted white men to buy out the jail terms of Black people convicted of a wide swath of petty crimes, and then to force those former prisoners into labor to pay off their debt.

In 1865, Congress refused to readmit the Southern states under the Black Codes, and in 1866, congressmen wrote and passed the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Its first section established that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” It went on: “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” 

That was the whole ball game. The federal government had declared that a state could not discriminate against any of its citizens or arbitrarily take away any of a citizen’s rights. Then, like the Thirteenth Amendment before it, the Fourteenth declared that “Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article,” strengthening the federal government.

The addition of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1868 remade the United States. But those determined to preserve a world that discriminated between Americans according to race, gender, ability, and so on, continued to find workarounds. 

On Friday, June 16, 2023, the Department of Justice—created in 1870 to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment—released the report of its investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) and the City of Minneapolis in the wake of the May 2020 murder of George Floyd by a police officer. The 19-page document found systemic “conduct that deprives people of their rights under the Constitution and federal law,” discriminating against Black and Native American people, people with behavioral health disabilities, and protesters. Those systemic problems in the MPD’s institutional culture enabled Floyd’s killing. 

Minneapolis police performed 22% more searches, 27% more vehicle searches, and 24% more uses of force on Black people than on white residents behaving in similar ways. They conducted 23% more searches and used force 20% more on Indigenous Americans.  

The Justice Department’s press release specified that the city and the police department “cooperated fully.” The two parties have “agreed in principle” to fix the problem with sweeping reforms based on community input, with an independent monitor rather than litigation. 

While the Senate unanimously approved the measure creating the Juneteenth holiday last year, fourteen far-right Republicans voted against it, many of them complaining that such a holiday would be divisive. 

How we remember our history matters.

[General Order No. 3, National Records and Archives Administration, public domain.]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[thewahookid]

March 6 - Our Lady of Graces ( Padua, Italy, 1630)

A singer gives back after miraculous healing by Our Lady of Guadalupe

Rosy Oros, a Mexican immigrant from Santa Maria, California, told Angelus News that she has always loved singing. Though she never became a well-known singer, she has worked extensively in the TV, radio, and recording industries.

This year, Oros was given the opportunity to sing at the annual “Las Mañanitas” celebration in Los Angeles in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 11. The celebration included Aztec and folk dances, veneration of a relic of St. Juan Diego’s tilma, the rosary, midnight Mass, and songs sung individually by Oros and six other guest singers.

“I am so humbled and blessed to be able to stand there and in my own simple way give thanks to the Virgin,” Oros told Angelus News. “It may seem insignificant but I know that she is receiving it with a lot of love and that it makes her happy, because she knows my heart. She interceded for me to live. We always look for the opportunity to thank her and to be in communion with her.”

In 2018, Oros suddenly went into septic shock after a medical procedure, which left her in a coma. Afterwards, she suffered a cerebral thrombosis and additional internal and external bleeding. Doctors gave her a 2% chance of survival.

Oros said that Our Lady of Guadalupe played a pivotal role in her healing. The clinic where she spent the early days of her recovery was named for Our Lady of Guadalupe. A prayer group also told Oros and her husband that they received messages of healing from Mary.

“She said ‘I am with you, do not be afraid,’” Oros said. “‘You will heal from this but we will do this together, facing the sanctuary.’ In other words, she wanted me to get closer to her Son while holding her by the hand.”

Oros said that one day she opened her eyes and saw two brown eyes looking back at her.

“Those eyes belonged to an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe hanging just a few feet away, at once filling her heart with love and hope that the Virgin Mary she’d held dear since childhood would intercede with Jesus to help her make it out of the clinic alive,” Angelus News reported.

After that, Oros and her husband looked for ways to thank Our Lady for the miraculous healing. Oros said that both of them are now more devoted to the rosary, Jesus, and the Catholic Church, and they often make pilgrimages to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico.

Hannah Hiester, December 21, 2023

www.catholicvote.org

Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.