Taste Life and Celebrate (Sabor Hispano)
Anna Maria Pineda, R.S.M.

Daily the media chronicles the diminishing values of life in our society coupled with our increasing inability to manage how we live. The calendar industry has capitalized on our feverish attempts to manage our lives in more productive ways. Yet, despite time management consultants and an array of time-saving electronic devices, we have not succeeded in managing our lives in order to enjoy living.

The question we face is whether our society has lost the ability really to live. Why did living become such a task? Why is it that life seems to escape us even in the midst of living it?

I am reminded of lessons I learned from meditating on familiar scenes borrowed from my yesterdays. Some that especially capture my attention are memories from my childhood. I was born in El Salvador, Central America, and migrated to San Francisco, California, at the age of two. I grew up in the Hispanic sector of that city amidst the busting vitality of a neighborhood filled with all the sounds and color of the Latin American world. It is there that I learned to savor life in much the same way a wine connoisseur might do. My wine glass was filled with the fragrant reality of family, community, language, song and faith. I learned with this community how to take the first sip of wine and slowly swirl it around as to savor it. It was this community which taught me how to cherish life in all its diversity of hue and flavor.

In that community I was constantly reminded how life above all things was a gift from God. At home and in my exchanges with friends and neighbors, the very language we spoke expressed this truth. Dios da la vida -- all life comes from God. Our language was punctuated with the acknowledgment of the presence of God in our world, and in the rhythm of daily lives...Thank God...Gracias a Dios. If God so wills it...Si Dios quiere.

In the midst of joy and struggle, life was nourished and experienced in the relationships that we enjoyed. The celebration of baptisms, first communions, birthdays and weddings were moments when family came together to be reminded of the uniqueness of each member and the continuity of life. In spite of often difficult living conditions, these celebrative gatherings enlivened hope in all of us. As we stood in the doorway of the kitchen or sat around the kitchen table, we reminisced and re-told stories which gave us cause to remember our heritage and ancestry.

We spoke of the living and of those who had died. Both seemed to be part of our concerns and all were a part of who we were. Life and death were sacred and they were celebrated in the remembering that brought us together. The death of a relative or a neighbor brought us in touch with the mystery of life and the reality of death. At such times, we came to understand that those we loved were still present to us. Death did not separate us from loved ones but led us to discover the mystery and sacredness of the communion of saints. We remembered this throughout the wake and the funeral celebration, and we continued to make this present as we gathered in the home of the deceased for nine days following burial. Those were times when we joined the family of the deceased and accompanied them in prayer and more story telling. At moments such as these, the sacredness of life was affirmed and we were given the opportunity to cherish the life of the person who had died. Life and death were integral parts of the same reality, and during this mourning period the young learned an age-old truth alongside their parents and grandparents.

Times of tragedy brought us face-to-face with the fact that humans do not control life's events. Despite the insistence of modern society to try to control and harness the powers and sources of life, the truth was learned that ultimately one's life is in the hands of God. God's providence prevails. Life is mystery. Life does not always make sense. In this nourishing community I attempted to learn how to live the questions as well as the answers. Life came to me through watching how others dealt with the circumstances of their own lives. Inevitably, every person I met taught me something of their understanding of life, and I grew the richer for it.

As I grew up and moved away from the neighborhood of my childhood, I found myself burdened by the same demands experienced by so many. The hours in a day never seemed to be quite enough to accomplish all that remained to be done. The hectic pace of each day seemed to determine how one lives life. Some days, I paused long enough to wonder whatever happened to the sabor hispano of my life. It is a question that many of us ponder in our distinct ways. Perhaps, we each need to rediscover life as it presents itself in our very midst.

The most obvious presence of God in our midst is the most accessible. A return to savoring the wine of family, friends, community and our faith can restore us to life. We need to encourage each other to discover that manifestation of the sacred in our lives. For some it may mean savoring a leisurely conversation with family and friends. Others may relish the quiet morning hours of each day as a way to reflect on God and what we are about. Family gatherings can be enjoyed as those opportunities to delight in each unique member and their latest adventure in living. The story telling opportunities at such gatherings are endless.

The "wine tasting moments" of life have no limit. All of life is imbued with God, and there is no moment in life that is so insignificant that it does not merit celebration. We must invite each other to pause long enough to taste the good wine of life and to find moments to invite others to join in the celebration of family, friends, community and God among us.

Anna Maria Pineda, R.S.M., is director of Hispanic Ministry at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.