Magnificath - Blog , Memoir and other WritingMagnificath - Blog , Memoir and other Writinghttps://www.magnificath.com/blogs/memoir-and-other-writingFri, 01 May 2026 20:08:46 -0700http://zoho.com/sites/<![CDATA[Tepeyac Triptych: A Story in Three Parts]]>https://www.magnificath.com/blogs/post/tepeyac-triptych-a-story-in-three-partsThe story of how Mary found me.]]>

How Mary Found Me

1. 

In the fall of 2001, I was pregnant with Áine. We had just moved from Colorado to northern Illinois. Rich and I had attended Unitarian churches for a few years starting when Deirdre was born, but we were soul-searching for answers and decided to explore several Christian denominations in our new hometown. Rich’s family was Baptist (his grandfather was a Southern Baptist preacher) and my family was Methodist (my mom was just completing her seminary work to become a Methodist minister). We wanted to visit several other denominations in our search for a church home. There was a lovely old United Church of Christ nearby. We visited a Presbyterian church and a Lutheran church, but the church that captivated us was the local Episcopal church. It helped that Áine was about 3 weeks old when we first visited, and the sermon and music was all focused on a human mother bringing a miraculous child into the world.


The angels hover’d round, and sang this song:

Venite, adoremus Dominum

(The Hymnal 1982 #110)


Once in royal David’s city,

Stood a lowly cattle shed,

Where a mother laid her baby

In a manger for his bed:

Mary was that mother mild,

Jesus Christ her little Child.

(The Hymnal 1982 #101)


It was not just my newborn baby though. My 6-year-old was ever curious, my 4-year-old was busy. In some other churches, I felt like our pew was not still enough and that we were distracting. In this Episcopal church; however, we stood, we sat, we kneeled. We had an Order of Service, the “blue hymnal,” the Lift Every Voice and Sing (LEVAS) hymnal, and a Book of Common Prayer. Keeping up with what we were doing helped keep my mind focused. It also meant that the people around me were changing books and moving around. The liturgy felt very fluid and comforting.


We visited again and started to relax. This parish had an enclosed chapel to one side of the sanctuary. When I felt overwhelmed, I envisioned myself visiting outside of Sunday services and sitting alone there. The sanctuary had stained glass windows, tall ceilings, an Advent wreath near the altar and greenery around the church. To the left of the altar there was a wooden carved statue. I asked the Priest and learned that it was a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I had never heard of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The statue was rustic, with visible carving marks on Mary’s face and gown, and there were stark points sticking out of the statue. I was a mom with three children and did not initially have the time or inclination to research the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Sunday after Sunday; however, I would arrive at the church and gaze at this statue. One day it occurred to me that one side seemed to have more points than the other. I wondered if it was because one side had narrower points or if one was missing. During the sermon (because that was the only time that I was not standing and kneeling), I would try to count how many points were on each side of the statue. Inevitably, before I could finish counting one of the girls would ask me a question or drop something on the floor.


Mary captivated me. 


Later I read about Juan Diego at Tepeyac and his visions of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I learned that the points were rays of sunlight, that there was an angel at her feet, and that other symbols like the crescent moon under her feet and the stars on her mantel were Aztec symbols that the people of Tepeyac would see and recognize. From this vision in the 1500s over 9 million Aztecs converted to Christianity.


Before we moved, our Priest donated the statue to a local Spanish-speaking parish. It happened before I was able to calm my mind about how many points there were. I found out the name of the parish that received the statue, called and made an appointment to visit the statue. I stood in front of the statue and counted the rays once and for all. Were they the same? I don’t remember! I do remember the gratitude I felt for this icon that compelled me to be still, to sit in wonder, to ponder the holiness of Mary – just a girl—who boldly accepted her unknown future when God sent an angel to her, and to think of the ways that God comes to us where we are.

Source, https://www.cambridge2000.com/gallery2/html/2011/P72052279e.html


2. 

The Annunciation of our Lady Episcopal church is where all three girls were baptized and where Rich and I had our civil wedding vows blessed (married in 1991, vows blessed in 2003). We left it when the Army issued Rich orders to California. We moved to the Monterey Bay. 


Until this move, neither Rich nor I had spent time west of Colorado, nor had we experienced much of the south west of the Arkansas. We took both of our vehicles; Rich transported our cat with him, I drove the car with all three girls. We contemplated changing drivers or moving car seats around. Once we started, it was just easier to leave things in place. We drove from Gurnee, Illinois to Crossett, Arkansas to see Rich’s parents. We continued driving south to Lafayette, Louisiana to see friends. From there, we went west for 1,700 miles (25 hours) – nearly all of those miles were on I-10. We spent the 4th of July on the border at Fort Bliss (El Paso, Texas). We left Arizona via Yuma, where we saw the sandy desert where Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi was filmed. 


Along our route, we kept seeing Our Lady of Guadalupe. There were cement Our Lady of Guadalupe statutes at a shop along the Interstate. We found Our Lady of Guadalupe jewelry in rest stop gas station stores. We drove with the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in the distance on the right side of our vehicles for quite a while. I realized, Mary is everywhere, but you may not notice her unless you are looking.


Over the years, I have mentioned to friends that Mary chose me, particularly in her manifestation as Our Lady of Guadalupe. I have lamented that I would have liked to have been chosen by Our Lady of Lourdes or any of the blue porcelain Madonnas. But while I wish I were that kind of girl; Our Lady of Guadalupe fits me better. In turn, dozens of friends have given me Our Lady of Guadalupe gifts: earrings, t-shirts, a giant fuzzy blanket, bottle openers, Christmas tree ornaments, papel picado, cards, and more. Friends have mailed things from their trips to Honduras and elsewhere, and the girls have made me handmade Marian art.


Kingsville, Texas

Years later (2013), the girls and I had the opportunity join a community art project

 hosted by an art teacher at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. We, along with 

university students and other community volunteers, painted an Our Lady of 

Guadalupe that covered a cement slab that spanned a city block.

Guadalupe River, Central Texas

Today, one of Áine and my favorite places is along 

the banks for the Guadalupe 

River in Central Texas.

3.

Our family arrived in the Monterey Bay area in July 2004. After visiting several Episcopal churches, we quickly felt called to St. Mary’s by-the-Sea, in Pacific Grove. I was charmed by this historic church and loved moving from The Annunciation of Our Lady Episcopal Church in Gurnee, Illinois to St. Mary’s by-the-Sea, which was founded by Episcopal women on Annunciation Day in 1886. 


Local lore suggests that one of their stained-glass panels, created by Elwood Potts and dedicated in memory of Agatha Few, shows the visit of the three wise people as one of the magi looks quite like a woman.

 

St Mary’s has a stained-glass window above the altar that reproduces the conversation between the Angel Gabriel and Mary. The depiction takes place in front of what appears to the Monterey Bay, with a bay view and plants local to the area.

Mary found me again.


In our first year at St. Mary’s, I had an unanticipated surgery, we moved into our Army quarters, moved to a different set of quarters as ours were on the list of quarters slated to be demolished, and Rich deployed to Iraq on a year tour. I had three young children (3, 8, and 9 years old).


The parish stepped up and matched our needs with support and prayers. The Altar Guild invited me to serve. When I said that I couldn’t possibly join them because I was single parenting 3 girls, my future team members stepped up. Jan Parks said that the girls were always welcome to join me. I decided to try. My youngest, Áine, was quite shy at the time. I will always remember my Altar Guild team member John Hedgcock sizing her up. Instead of greeting her and trying to make friends, John ignored her initially. Then, he turned and asked her if she could hand him a flower from the table that was waiting to go into his altar arrangement. Again and again, he needed her help, until they had become special friends. 


I can’t list all the parish members who cared for us during that time. We were well-fed and well cared for. Father Richard Leslie and Reverend Marcia Lockwood invited us to put our military service star in the kitchen window at St. Mary’s, so that everyone who passed the church could include Rich in their prayers. I was buoyed up by the love and support of my friends at St. Mary’s.


One day while I was at St. Mary’s alone polishing brass, I noticed that there was an aumbry built into the wall on the left side of the altar as you face the Annunciation stained glass window. I knew that the reserved sacrament was kept elsewhere. I was curious about what was inside this door. When I tried to open it, the door was stuck. Eventually, I coaxed the door open and found an empty space. I asked my altar guild friends and learned that the reserved sacrament had been there previously but was moved to its current location. I was charmed by this empty space, and, like Mary, I pondered it in my heart for some time.


It was coming up to the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and I thought it would be fun to fill this niche with something to remember the day (December 12). My treasured friend and fellow parishioner, Brita, celebrated her birthday that same week. I pondered what I could put into the aumbry to commemorate the feast day. While my girls were all in a homeschool choir rehearsal in Carmel-by-the-Sea, I decided to wander through a local thrift store. What did I find but the most fantastic Our Lady of Guadalupe in what appeared to be a sealed liquor bottle! I nearly fell over.


Over the next week, the girls and I found some very shiny gold paper, several red and green battery powdered candles, battery powered Christmas lights, and silk red roses. I added two Our Lady of Guadalupe pins that had bright flashing lights. We went back to the church and installed the arrangement. We did not tell anyone.

That Sunday, I arrived before the second service, cracked the door open and turned on all the lights. No one could see the display or even the lights from the pews.

Father Richard was presiding that Sunday. I could see clearly the moment when the flashing lights caught his attention. I don’t think anyone else noticed, but I saw him walk to the aumbry, open the door slightly, smile slightly, then return to the altar.


After that Sunday, I would return to open the aumbry and turn on the various lights on holy days. I gave several parishioners tours of the shrine. When it was time for us to move, I contemplated removing the niche, but friends encouraged me to let it stay. For years following our move (we moved in 2008), I would hear from friends who visited the niche or saw the lights during a service.


I dedicated my secret project to Brita whose birthday is this week and with whom I share a Marian kinship.


And I shared this prayer that I wrote on the blog that I maintained during Rich’s deployment and for several years after.


We thank you, God, for the ways you inspire us and how to come to teach us, age to age, generation to generation in ways that speak to who we are right now. 

We thank you for the saints you have sent before us who lived in ways that direct us and who teach us that we are each called to live purely even in risky times. 

We are grateful for Mary. We are thankful for the lessons she offers us: lessons in grace, faithfulness, honesty and strength

]]>Fri, 12 Dec 2025 20:30:56 -0600<![CDATA[Impermanence ]]>https://www.magnificath.com/blogs/post/impermanence I’m thinking about impermanence. At a different time, I would think it mattered whether I liked it or not, but the world and reality do not care ]]>

in the Art Institute of Chicago

 I’m thinking about impermanence. At a different time, I would think it mattered whether I liked it or not, but the world and reality do not care how I rate it in a scale of 1-10. Impermanence and change simply are.

 

Everything changes, everyone ultimately dies. I may be coming to grips with change — with this moment of change.

 

Today I am spending an hour with Monet at the Art Institute of Chicago. Monet dwelled with impermanence and change. I find the color changes in his collections over seasons comforting. I have favorites but they change over the years. In high school I saw my first Monet in person at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA). It was Snows in Giverny. It looked like a textured canvas of white. I was perplexed by the comedy of throwing white on a canvas and calling it a snowstorm. A security guard advised me to go down the marble staircase and up the other side and look at it again. From that perspective and distance. I could see a field covered in snow with dark tufts of frozen grasses poking through it. And a building in the distance. Amazing. Down and up the marble staircase I walked. Peeking into the brushstrokes and the details and then regaining perspective. Intoxicating. 

 

I’m here at the Art Institute while Rich works at the Marcoux’s. I walked straight from the entrance to room 243, reaching the room in 5 min. And I dedicated this hour to these 17 pieces — not even 4 minutes per piece. 

 

Last time we visited, I think each piece consumed seconds of my time before I galloped forward to Grant Wood’s American Gothic, Hopper’s Nighthawks, Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon etc., Mary Cassatt, Van Gogh, Chagall, gotta catch ‘em all.

 

Today I circled the gallery and then I sat occasionally changing which wall I look at.

 

In the room women come and go

Talking of Gustav Caillebotte…

(that’s the current special exhibit)

 

I’m thankful for the special exhibit and wish more people would go take it in. It’s a Monday after lunch. I wonder when fewer people are here. I bet there are 50 people or more in here at a time admiring the Monets. And they say breathlessly, ahhhh Monet. I do, too. I’m not different from the other visitors. I’m just staying here long enough to take them in as well as the art.

 

An hour is becoming two. I wonder how to rent the room for a private viewing. Who does that? I can rent the museum for an event for $75,000. Well, that’s a challenge. I need someone to get me invited to someone else’s event.

]]>Sat, 23 Aug 2025 19:55:01 -0500<![CDATA[Travelogue]]>https://www.magnificath.com/blogs/post/travelogueI spent many weeks that past year traveling. I love it! But last night I dreamed about the ways that all travel is the same travel. We go different pl ]]>

Travelogue

I spent many weeks that past year traveling. I love it! But last night I dreamed about the ways that all travel is the same travel. We go different places and see different things but the impulse to travel and the hijinks along the way can be logged as a set of formulas.

 

Travelogue

By Catherine Spainhour

 

We awaken with the idea of travel! Things at home are 

Boring

         Stale

   Hectic

and we want to

Adventure

                Getaway

                                See the sights

                                              Breathe some fresh air

                                                                            Break out of our routines.

 

So we

Search the internet for places to go

         Reach out to a travel agent

                   Ask our friends about the places they just visited.

We live as voyeurs thinking about travel for a while. 

We fill Pinterest boards with pictures of places to go

We listen to audiobooks that take place in these wonderful places. 

Rick Steve must have a travel video about this place. 

 

We find online apps and practice key phrases in 

Español

         Français

                   Lingua italiana

                            Deutsch

                                     Ελληνικά

                                               日本語

                                                        عربي

                                                                 Português

                                                                           Tiếng Việt

                                                                                    Русский

                                                                                             norsk

                                                                                                       Gaeilge.

                                                                           

We spend nights filling our ears with the accents of the people who speak our native tongue but who sound very different from us. 

Derry Girls

            The Crown

                Wallace and Gromit

                                    Outlander

                                      And any BBC dramas

                                                          Crocodile Dundee

                                                                             Treme

                                                                                 Seinfeld

                                                                                    Justified

                                                                                                 Cheers.

                   

Suddenly, we find ourselves uttering lyrical phrases that are not our own and inflecting these accents as we wander through our days. 

 

We note that we must not do this on our trip.  

 

We make lists!    

Packing lists 

To-do lists

                      Restaurants

                                      Cafes

                                          Local museums

                                                        Lists of friends who live near our destination.

We compile paperwork

         Tickets

                   Passports

                            Immunization Cards

                                               Driver’s Licenses

                                                                 Pet-Sitter Care Instructions.

We make arrangements

Find a Pet-Sitter

         Schedule our Uber

                   Ask a neighbor to watch our house

                            Arrange someone to water our plants

                                               Remember to early check-in for our flight

                                                                           

 

We pack and repack.

 

The night before our travel, we try to sleep.

 

Finally, we

         Drive

                  Take a train

                              Board our ship

                                               Maybe fly.

We arrive

Exhausted

         Excited

                   Nervous

                            Cross.

 

We continue with the logistics of travel

         Taxi, Uber or Metra to our lodging

                   Find something to drink and eat

                            Locate our bags or

                                     File missing bag paperwork

                                                        Charge our phones and devices

                                                                                    Go out or pass out.

Now, we can sleep

Or has sleep hidden from us again?

 

Refreshed or hung over; either way, morning comes.

The sunrise is so glorious

         The rainy morning is so cozy

                   These cobblestones are so lovely

                            This humidity is so great for my skin

                                     The dry air is so refreshing

                                               I love the ocean breeze blowing my hair.

 

When I go home, I am going to make a pot of tea every afternoon

         I think I will go hike for 5 miles

                   Let’s have dessert after every meal

                            Look at that view

                                     Look at that view

                                               Look at my entrée

                                                        Look at the art

                                                                 Look out the window

                                                                           Look

                                                                                    Look

                                                                                             Look.

Travel is so wonderful.

         It is so

                   so

                       so

                           so

                            wonderful to see the sea

                                                        the mountains

                                                                           the flowers

                                                                                     the waterfall

                                                                                                    the cliffs.

It’s so green

               so blue

                        so golden yellow 

                                          so red

                                              so orange.

Everything is clean

                        Well-maintained

                                            Rugged

                                                   Barren

                                                        Crowded.

 

People are so nice

                   So friendly

                            So funny

So interesting.


We walk, eat, shop, hike, eat, engage, see sites, appreciate art. We are with our favorite friends meeting new friends. All is so wonderful. At night, we go to sleep with full bellies.

 

Except this morning, 

I have a stomachache from last night’s feast

         My travel companion won’t get up and it’s time to go

                            The lovely cobblestones are wrecking my ankles

                                     Our hosts are getting on my nerves

                                               The sun is beaming in the window right into my eyes

I wanted to sleep in, but housekeeping knocked on my door

         Why can’t I get a proper cup of coffee in this hotel

                   Why won’t that dog stop barking

                            Why is there no hot water for my shower

                                     Why is it so humid

                                               Why is it so dry

                                                        How can I be so tired?

 

We explore for days and days if we are lucky

         We get over the bug we caught in the airport

                   We learn to hydrate to compensate for the lack of humidity

                            We allow ourselves to rest              

                                     We allow ourselves to take time away from our companions.

                                               The noisy folks on the train reach their destination.

 

Eventually, vacation ends.

 

And we return home happy to return to our comfortable resting places.

         Normalcy is a comfort.

                            My coffee mug at my desk is right where I left it.

                                                        We love the routine of an ordinary day.

 

Until one day

 

We awaken with the idea of travel!

 

Get Started Now
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