South Dakota Spiritual Wonders

Fr. Jim, Paul, Mary and me at Mount Rushmore

When Fr. Jim Kubicki told us that he would be moving from Milwaukee to South Dakota to work at St. Francis Mission on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, Paul said, "I've always wanted to go to South Dakota!"  So without giving Fr. Jim much time to settle into his new home, Paul, Mary and I took an adventurous road trip in my ancient yet economical Toyota Echo, to pay him a visit.  Fr. Jim showed us the time of our lives, acting as our personal chauffeur and tour guide on an unforgettable three-day whirlwind experience.

We witnessed an endless expanse of prairies and sky, field after field of sunflowers, more grazing cattle than we could count, and majestic hills and waterfalls.  The natural beauty of this state was something I didn't expect and will forever treasure.

Although we left home for South Dakota very early in the morning, the drive was longer than expected as we made several stops along the way. Finally, after nearly 16 hours, we turned off the interstate onto a long, desolate country road that seemed as though it would never end.  It was a lonely drive as we passed only one or two other cars along the way and the only scenery we passed were fields and fields and fields.  Still, we found that long stretch of road to be somehow very endearing and beautiful in it's endless expanse of plainness.  

We were greatly rewarded at the end of the drive as we arrived at Fr. Jim's house and were warmly welcomed and then quickly whisked away to a guest house across from the Mission offices and main church, St. Charles Borromeo, where we worked together with Fr. Jacob Boddicker, SJ and some of Fr. Jim's friends from Minnesota who were also visiting, to make a delicious dinner that turned out to be my favorite of the trip despite having eaten at some fabulous restaurants in Rapid City.  There's just nothing else that can compare to a meal made with family and friends.  I think it's the love that goes into it that makes it so delicious!

South Dakota sunset as seen from the guest house.
So many of the trees we saw were bent to the north from years of standing in a strong south wind.

The following day our real travels began as Fr. Jim drove us to see the other-worldy Badlands, Magnificent Mount Rushmore, the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, Needles Highway in Custer State Park where we saw buffalo, fed wild burros and did a little hiking in the majestic Black Hills,  Rapid City, the second largest city in South Dakota which was remarkably clean and beautiful with a statue of a US president on every street corner, Terry Peak, the second highest point in South Dakota, and the historic Wild West town of Deadwood.

The Black Hills

Hiking on the edge!

The Badlands

The Badlands

In spite of seeing so many natural and man-made wonders in the beautiful state of South Dakota, nothing could compare to the spiritual wonders of daily Mass and learning a little bit about Catholicism from a Native American perspective.  I found that Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Kateri Tekakwitha are largely beloved and almost everywhere!  

The first church we visited, on the night we arrived in South Dakota, was by far the most beautiful and my favorite. St. Charles Borromeo, next to the St. Francis Mission Offices,  was one of three churches in South Dakota that was designated as a Holy Door during the Jubilee Year of Mercy and it will possibly be named a basilica.  Although it's hard to see in my photo as night was beginning to fall under a cloudy sky, the outside of the church is painted lavender, a color chosen by the youth group of the parish.  

ST. Charles Borromeo at dusk

St. Charles Borromeo interior

All of the painted trim in the church has a Native American influence.
Pictured in the mural are the North American Jesuits and Our Lady.

Embroidered print of St. Kateri with a Sacred Heart image found in the narthex.

A most beautiful image of Our Lady of Guadalupe found in the small daily chapel.

We spent our second night in South Dakota at the Terra Sancta Retreat Center.  We were literally wrapped in prayer while we slept here as the quilts on the beds were handmade and we found a lovely inscription inside one of them.  In the morning we awoke early so we had time to explore the grounds before Fr. Jim arrived for Mass in the chapel.  Although we were surprised to find a sign on the door warning of mountain lions in the area, we were able to pray the outdoor Stations of the Cross and were not at all bothered by wildlife.

Jesus falls the first time.

Jesus meets His mother.

The following morning we had a private Mass at St. Isaac Jogues Church in Rapid City with just the four of us.  When we arrived at the church we found a unique holy water font just inside the front door and many Native American touches such as a buffalo hide under the altar and quilts on the wall. Quilts were prominent in many of the churches in South Dakota.

St. Kateri, Lily of the Mohawks

Our Lady of the Black Hills

 

St. Isaac Jogues

Buffalo hide under the altar.

Blessed Mother Mary

We paid a short visit to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Rapid City for a short time of Eucharistic Adoration in Our Lady's Adoration Chapel and a quick tour of the Mother Church of the Diocese.  The Cathedral had also been designated a Holy Door during the Year of Mercy.

Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help

Cathedral altar

Brick from the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.

A short stop at Wall Drug was required, after all, what trip to South Dakota would be complete without it?  Having been blinded by the bright sun while in the Badlands, Mary and I made a mad dash for sunglasses and we purchased a toy drum for our grandson, Max, but overall found the highly-advertised commercial shopping center to be very underwhelming with one exception, the Traveler's Chapel.  Designed after New Melleray Cistercian Abbey in Iowa, the cool and quiet chapel was a perfect stop for a quick prayer in the midst of so much commercial.  It was a great reminder that God is everywhere, even at Wall Drug!  

Chapel inside Wall Drug Store designed after New Melleray Abbey in Iowa

One of the most fascinating stops of our trip was also one of our very first.  We spent a little time exploring the Buechel Memorial Lakota Museum at St. Francis Mission where we learned about the history of the Native Americans in South Dakota.  The museum was named for Fr. Eugene Buechel, SJ, a German priest who ministered to the Lakota in South Dakota in the early 1900's and began to collect and catalogue many ethnic artifacts and photos which were the origins of the museum. Perhaps the most interesting artifacts displayed were the Winter Counts, documents on which images had been drawn, first on animal hides and later on paper, depicting the major events of each year in the life of the tribe.  The image below is from the public domain and is very similar to what we viewed..

Winter Count (public domain)

We also learned a little about Nicholas Black Elk whose cause for canonization is underway.  Nicholas Black Elk was a medicine man who spent some time traveling Europe with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show and was also involved in the battle at Wounded Knee.  After his conversion to Catholicism he spent his time as a catechist and is said to have brought 400 people to Christ.  He used The Two Roads picture depicting the Good Red Road of Jesus and the Black Road of Difficulties to teach the faith.  The picture reminded me a bit of Dante's Divine Comedy.  I could have spent hours studying it.  Upon his death the sky was filled with the lights of the Aurora Borealis, a sign of celebration that this holy man had gone on to his heavenly reward.  

The Two Roads Picture Catechism depicting the Good Red Road of Jesus
and the Black Road of Difficulties used by Nicholas Black Elk

The spiritual wonders of South Dakota will remain with me always, inspiring me with the memory of God's natural wonders and beauties, the kindness of all of the people we met, and the stories of holiness among the Native Americans and religious in this vast state of infinite treasures.  But most of all, the memory of my family and I spending time with Fr. Jim, a good and holy friend, and learning about his work with the Lakota on Rosebud Reservation, a community marked by deep poverty yet striving for holiness, will always bring me joy and inspire me to holiness as well.

Prayer for the Canonization of Nicholas Black Elk

Grandfather! Great Spirit! Behold us, who stand before you, singing our song of thanksgiving for your beloved servant, Nicholas Black Elk. Faithfully he walked the Sacred Red Road and generously witnessed the Good News of our Lord, Jesus Christ among Native people. Grandfather, we humbly ask you, to hear the prayers we plead through his intercession. We ask Holy Mother Church to recognize his sanctity, by acknowledging his presence among the company of saints and as one to imitate in his zeal for the Gospel. Open our hearts to also recognize the Risen Christ in other cultures and peoples, to the glory and honor of God the Father. Amen.

Nicholas Black Elk, pray for us!  

St. Kateri Tekakwitha, pray for us!  

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!

Holy Images

I woke to the sound of my own screams, grateful that the shouting was from a dream and not reality. Trying to shake the images of the nightmare from my mind, I rubbed my bleary eyes and then took a good look at myself in the bathroom mirror.  I noted that my girth and my age are all too evident lately and  I couldn't help but grumble about being scared awake only to confront my constant battle against my pride and vanity.  My day didn't seem to be starting on a very good note.  On my way to Mass I reminded myself that God loves me as I am and told myself to continue to work on being nice on the inside so that it might combat my distaste for my outward appearance.

After Mass, as I knelt before the crucifix, I realized that right before me I was seeing the ultimate in horror and humility-Jesus tortured, not in a dream but in reality, and humiliated, not because He was uncomfortable with how he looked, but because His pride was physically stripped away from Him.  I was not alone. Surely, I could unite the minor irritations that began my day to His suffering and bring some good from it.

I arrived at work and the first client I met was wearing large sunglasses even though it was not bright and sunny inside the WIC Clinic.  As we began to discuss the eating habits of her four-year-old son while her well-behaved children sat quietly waiting, I heard her sniffling and when I looked closely, I noticed tears running down her face behind those sunglasses.  I handed her a box of kleenex and she apologized for crying as she removed her sunglasses to reveal tear-soaked and tired eyes.  I'm not the only one wanting to hide the parts of me that are less than flattering.

Then she told me that her mother had suddenly died of a heart attack last week while babysitting for her children.  Her mom had kept the children overnight and nobody had discovered her death until the next day.   Her children had been alone in the house with their dead grandmother and were now unable to sleep at night from the trauma of that experience.  She went on to say that the funeral would be the next day and she was overwhelmed from all that she had to do.  She pointed to the picture on my desk of Our Lady of Guadalupe and said that it was seeing Mary on my desk that brought out her tears.  The image of a tender and loving mother allowed this woman to release her pent-up grief, if only for a moment, and brought about some much needed compassion and prayers from this listener.

Those holy images of our Lord and His Mother do so much good in this world.  Every time we glance upon their loving countenance we can't help but be changed for the better.  How blessed we are to have the continual love of Jesus and Mary to surround our hearts as we make our way through our days filled with both minor aggravations and major sorrows.  Their images are a balm that remind us that not only that we are greatly loved by them, but also that we are called to love others as they love us.  Jesus and Mary are always with us!  Let's do all we can to share them with others in all we say and do!

Am I Not Here Who Am Your Mother?

"Listen, put it into your heart, that the thing that disturbs you, the thing that afflicts you, is nothing.  Do not let your countenance, your heart be disturbed.  Do not fear this sickness nor anything that is sharp or hurtful.  Am I not here, I, who am your Mother?  Are you not under my shadow and protection?  Am I not the source of your joy?  Are you not in the hollow of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms?  Do you need anything more?  Let nothing else worry you, disturb you."  ~Our Lady of Guadalupe's words to St. Juan Diego

Last summer during a time of personal distress, I knelt in a confessional to remove my sins and a wise priest who listened with his heart gave me a beautiful penance.  He told me to spend some time  looking upon the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and to recall the words she spoke to St. Juan Diego, "Am I not here who am your Mother?  Are you not under my shadow and my protection?"  I'm sure it was the most beautiful penance I have ever received!  And ever since that day when that penance was bestowed upon me in the confessional, I have pondered those words in my heart again and again.  I find them coming back to me whenever I am feeling the pain of trials that seem insurmountable.

And I think about the fact that at the tender age of two weeks old, my own sweet mother brought me to Fr. Claude Leclair at Sacred Heart Church for baptism on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  I understand now that I had been under the shadow of my Mother's protection ever since my baptismal day, but I had not realized it.

The same can be said for all of us; we are all under the shadow and protection of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Patroness of the Americas.  She is waiting ever-expectantly, wanting to give birth to our peace of mind, to our trust in her love for us, and to our understanding of her constant care for our souls.  She is waiting to deliver us into the arms of her beloved Son for all eternity.  Do we realize it and turn to her?

Pope John Paul II's Prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe

O Immaculate Virgin, Mother of the true God and Mother of the Church, who from this place reveal your clemency and your pity to all those who ask for your protection, hear the prayer that we address to you with filial trust, and present it to your Son Jesus, our sole Redeemer.

Mother of Mercy, Teacher of hidden and silent sacrifice, to you, who come to meet us sinners, we dedicate on this day all our being and all our love. We also dedicate to you our life, our work, our joys, our infirmities and our sorrows. Grant peace, justice and prosperity to our peoples; for we entrust to your care all that we have and all that we are, our Lady and Mother. We wish to be entirely yours and to walk with you along the way of complete faithfulness to Jesus Christ in His Church; hold us always with your loving hand.

Virgin of Guadalupe, Mother of the Americas, we pray to you for all the Bishops, that they may lead the faithful along paths of intense Christian life, of love and humble service of God and souls. Contemplate this immense harvest, and intercede with the Lord that He may instill a hunger for holiness in the whole people of God, and grant abundant vocations of priests and religious, strong in the faith and zealous dispensers of God’s mysteries.

Grant to our homes the grace of loving and respecting life in its beginnings, with the same love with which you conceived in your womb the life of the Son of God. Blessed Virgin Mary, protect our families, so that they may always be united, and bless the upbringing of our children.

Our hope, look upon us with compassion, teach us to go continually to Jesus and, if we fall, help us to rise again, to return to Him, by means of the confession of our faults and sins in the Sacrament of Penance, which gives peace to the soul.

We beg you to grant us a great love for all the holy Sacraments, which are, as it were, the signs that your Son left us on earth.

Thus, Most Holy Mother, with the peace of God in our conscience, with our hearts free from evil and hatred, we will be able to bring to all true joy and true peace, which come to us from your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Amen.

Praise for Miracles!

This morning eight year old Mary came downstairs early in the morning and climbed into bed with Paul and I to snuggle. I told her that today is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe and asked her if she knew the story.

She began to tell me about the peasant, Juan Diego and how he had a vision of Mary but nobody believed him. Then, after he picked the roses that were growing in December and carefully placed them in his tilma, an even greater miracle appeared. A perfect image of Mary remained on his tilma and it still is perfect today. After that, everyone believed him. We discussed the fact that one of the most beautiful aspects of her appearance to Juan Diego was that he was a peasant, an ordinary person, just like us. For us that means that Mary is here for all of the little, simple, ordinary people living their every day lives. She is here for me and for you.

We talked some more about how Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared as a pregnant woman when Juan Diego saw her and that today she is the protector of all unborn babies. Mary wondered why people can kill sweet little babies. Then she broke my heart by telling me something that I didn't know. Last October as our family stood on the busy highway holding pro-life signs for "Respect Life Sunday", a woman drove past Mary and called out "I kill babies all the time, freaks!" Mary held that hurt inside for two months without ever telling me about it. We decided that we don't want to dwell on our hurts or on people who are mean, we want to focus on our blessings.

That led us to a discussion of all of the miraculous things that God has done and continues to do that so many people take for granted. We don't want to take miracles for granted. Mary and I choose to praise God for each and every miracle he sends us, each and every day. Starting now, and here is the beginning of our list...

Praise God for the miraculous workings of the human body.

Praise God for the miraculous orbit of the planets and moon.

Praise God for the miraculous rising and setting of the sun each day.

Praise God for the miracle of grass growing in the summer.

Praise God for the miracle of rain pouring from the sky.

Praise God for the miracle of love.

Praise God for the miracle of Christ within us.

Praise God for the miraculous changing of bread and wine into the very Body and Blood of Jesus within the beautiful hands of the priest at every Mass.

Praise God for the shape of angels appearing in our bowl of cereal at breakfast. (Is it a miracle or did Mary shape it herself? She won't say...)

Happy Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe!

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