Author: Maria

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The Face of Love

face

The Daily Post’s photo challenge this week asks us to look at the word face for inspiration. The recommendation to post about a face “whose lines and creases you know well” captured my imagination. There are many faces I know well, loved ones near and far whose faces often press against mine in love — with the intimacy of a shared space, laughter, eye contact expressing a thousand thoughts without words.

And faces of those who are gone, fading into a mashup of memories to summon, once more, an image of a smile, a laugh, a knowing look.

This candid picture of my mom, taken on a cross-country trip through Cuba last fall, delights me. It doesn’t show her smile, which crinkles her eyes and makes me smile back. Instead, it captures her in the middle of something exciting, this unexpected gift of coconut milk. Her serious concentration masks the laughter that overtook her moments before when my uncle handed her the coconut. She couldn’t laugh and drink at the same time…but I can see a little bit of the residual smile in the purse of her lips and the raised brow, captured a split second before that huge sip she’s taking showered me in another burst of laughter.

 

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rivers and moving forward

Chattahoochee River
Chattahoochee River

I spent some time down at the Chattahoochee River recently, a bit of an afterthought — or bonus, actually, to a lovely afternoon.

When I was a kid, we’d go on family trips to the local lakes in Georgia. Every once in a while, we’d go to the Chattahoochee River, too. The lakes were ok, but it was the river that drew me. In fact, anything with moving water called to me. I played in plenty of creeks and small streams, too, but I never looked for the little creatures that lived there. Instead, I liked to watch the flow of the water, whether it was moving past rocks or tree debris, or my ankles. The thing was to stand in the water and watch it go down river, splashing wildly against big obstacles or finding the flow around them.

I’ve often written about how I love a good storm on the ocean (if I can enjoy it from shore!), so it’s clear to me the draw is in the movement. I didn’t make a connection to the meaningful symbolism of such an activity until now. Maybe I just wasn’t in the frame of mind until now.

Rivers move. They are alive. And they keep moving.

The picture I took on my recent visit to the ‘hooch captures where I am right now — moving in a new direction. The water flows steadily, always moving, always bringing different things along, flowing past small obstacles, fighting — sometime struggling past larger obstacles.

The bend in the river obstructs the view of what’s ahead, but that’s the mystery of it. The peaceful flow inspires peace, not fear.

in response to the Daily Post Photo Challenge: Earth.
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Who is Hawaii’s Queen Kapiolani?

Queen Kapiolani
A. A. Montano – Hawaii state archives. Call Number: PPWD-15-7.024

One of the best things about having written My Badass Book of Saints is the number of people who have contacted me with stories of courage in their families and recommendations of amazing women. We are surrounded by so many courageous people living extraordinary lives!  Reading about Saints new to me and following links to fascinating historical figures delights me.

I recently received an invitation to follow a travel log by Colette Higgins, a long-time listener of Catholic Weekend. Although the show is over, we’ve kept in touch. Colette is a history professor at the University of Hawaii and has embarked on a 59-day pilgrimage to follow in the footsteps of Queen Kapiolani’s journey to attend Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Celebration in 1887. Her travel log not only includes the places where Queen Kapiolani went, but also includes churches along the way where Colette and her husband are attending Mass.

Check it out here.

About Queen Kapiolani

Queen Kapiolani has fascinated me. Her great aunt, Chiefess Kapiolani, converted to Christianity in the early part of the 19th century and courageously stood her ground against the challenge of a high priestess. Chefess Kapiolani’s courage in the face of a cultural challenge opened many to conversion. Queen Kapiolani followed in that family tradition of courage in the face of tribulation. She suffered a great deal of personal pain in fractured relationships over the death of a child in her charge, the Crown Prince, especially because she had suffered from several miscarriages and had no living children of her own. Her story speaks to a quiet long-suffering and noble life. I hope you enjoy Colette’s entries as much as I do.

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