Freedom

Last weekend Father Jack graciously introduced me to you at the end of all Masses. My family and I are greatly blessed living and ministering in this church. I have been ministering to the Hispanic-Latino community here since 2010. Starting this summer, I will also coordinate Children's Faith Formation for Spanish and English speaking families. I will have many opportunities to share with you our plans for this Summer and for the coming school year. This time, since it is the 4th of July weekend, I want to share with you, with gratitude, a brief reflection about my personal experience of freedom in the U.S.

I am from northern Mexico and all of my life I have wondered why I got the name Olaf. My dad liked reading comics and in one of these there was a young owl named Olaf. I think he named me after that owl. Owls are wise, though, so I still wonder why I got that name!

My dad, in his wisdom, encouraged me since I was in the fourth grade, to study English. It started when I got a scholarship to study English with an American teacher. A whole new world opened for me. I did not only learn English but also history of the United States. Well, sometimes I learned it's history watching the Three Stooges. I especially remember the one about the Boston Tea Party!

Eventually I had the opportunity to study college in the U.S. and to experience freedom in a way I never imagined. I first lived on a 5 acre ranch in Central Oregon, with a creek running through and surrounded with green pastures. Praying Psalm 23 became very personal and vivid for me. Living there I got to befriend a Vietnam veteran, who first hand taught me about what the people of this country had to endure to live in freedom. Struggling to protect freedom, and at the same time to be an open and generous people, is something we should not take for granted.

This weekend, as we celebrate Independence Day, I remember when I was in Phoenix a few years ago, flying back from Mexico to Seattle, a U.S. immigration officer said to me, smiling, "Welcome home!" Talking to many of you last weekend I felt at home. And I believe this is what our Church is ?home.

It is my hope that we all will foster in our children this sense of being at home in this Church, enjoying the ultimate freedom Jesus Christ has conquered for us. We have a lot of work to do. When we struggle, we can hear His voice calling us: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest." And even now, when He is offering himself to us, we can hear Him saying, "Welcome home!"