Hola desde El Paso, TX. My name is Veronica Rayas and I am the youngest of 18 children, Yes, same mother and same father and I am blessed to have all my siblings alive and healthy. My parents Teresa and Enrique Rayas lived a Mexican Catholic spirituality and handed on the faith to me and my siblings in the special rituals, traditions and the everyday life teachable moments. We lived traditions like the posadas, Día de San Juan and learned the Catholic faith in our home as we lived the faith. At the time, I did not recognize these rich Catholic-cultural traditions as unique or special because, everyone around us lived the same way. As a Catholic school religion teacher, I began to realize that the traditions of our ancestors were not only unique but a catechetical tool to teach the Catholic faith within the family.

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In my studies at Fordham University,I researched and wrote my dissertation titled "La Familia's Catechesis: The Mexican/ Mexican American Family as a place of Catechesis through La Mystica". This began my journey of wanting to share the rich Catholic-Mexican traditions that have been lived for over 400 years in the family and community. In great part, these teachings are "La Sabiduria de nuestras Abuelitas" (it is the wisdom of our collective grandmothers) for it was often the woman, grandmother, mother, and aunt who lived and shared the faith in la familia. This wisdom is not mine, but the inheritance handed from many of our ancestors, so that we may continue to live and grow more profoundly in our faith, in the love in our families and in our service and commitment to Jesus Christ by serving our community.

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Many of us watched a lived spirituality that witnessed to living faith: Abuelitas who prayer and talked to God or Our Lady Guadalupe all day long, often with a rosary in her hand. Her day was intertwined with faith with religious images all over the house. Maybe it was your mother who lived hospitality and cared for and fed anyone who came to the door saying you should receive this person as though it was Jesus knocking at the door. The definition of family included people you might even call Tia, even though there was no blood relation. You may recall the dicho "hechale mas agua a los frijoles, (add more water to the beans) because there was always space for one more at the table and we learned to be welcoming and inclusive at home. These are just a few of the examples and ways our familia taught us the faith.

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I have created this blog to share the Sabiduria de Nuestras Abuelitas and offer tips and ideas to share this in your home. My sister Terri and I work to develop books, worksheets, games, videos, etc. so that you can delve deeper into the meaning behind La Familia's Catechesis and share these Mexican- Catholic traditions, rituals, in your own family.

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As parents, grandparents, godparents, aunts, uncles, vecinos, etc., we hold the Catholic faith in our hands and it is our responsibility to share that faith with others so that we can teach the faith to our children and grandchildren and give them the most important gift ever, a lived Catholic faith.

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