001. The Mass For The Souls (La Misa De Las Ánimas)
There were a father and a mother, and they were both very poor and had three small children. But it happened that, besides being very poor, the father had to stop working one day because he got sick, and only the mother was left to sustain the family. Then the mother, not knowing what to do, left the house to beg for alms. And so she went out and walked around all day [long] begging for alms, and by the time evening came, she had managed to collect one [whole] peseta. [So] Then she went to buy food [with it], because she wanted to prepare a stew for her, her children, and her husband to eat; but it happened that she was still short by twenty cents, and as she could not obtain this amount, she thought:
What do I want this peseta for if I cannot get food for everyone? Well, what I am going to do is to pay for a mass with this peseta that I have obtained.
And once she had thought about it, she said to herself:
And who will I say mass for?
So she was thinking about the matter, and after a while she said:
I’m going to ask the priest to say mass for the most needy soul.
So she went to see the priest, gave him the peseta and said:
Father, do me the favor of saying a mass for the most needy soul.
Then she went home and kept thinking of her husband and children who were waiting for her; and on the way [home] she came across a very well-dressed man who asked her:
Where are you going, ma’am?
And she answered him:
I am going to my house. My husband is very sick, and we are very poor, and we have three children. I have been begging all day, but they did not give me enough to buy food for everyone, and since I couldn’t get enough, I went to see the priest to ask him to say mass for the most needy soul.
Then that man took out a piece of paper and wrote a name on it, and said to the woman:
Go to where these instructions direct you to go, and tell the [female] owner to give you a job in the house.
The woman didn’t think twice [about this] and went to where the man had told her to ask for a job.
She arrived at the house that she had been told [to go to] and knocked on the door until a servant came out and asked her:
What is it that you want?
And she replied:
Well, I want to talk to the owner [of the house].
So the servant went inside to search for the owner and told her that there was a poor woman at the door who asked to speak to her. And the owner went downstairs to the door where the woman said to her:
I saw a gentleman in the street who spoke to me and told me that you would give me a job in the house.
And the woman said to her:
And who was this gentleman?
Then the poor woman, who was [standing] at the door, looked inside the house and saw a portrait of he who had sent her there in the living room, and she said:
That gentleman who is in the portrait is the one who had sent me here.
And the owner said:
That is the portrait of my son, who died four years ago.
Well, that is the one who had sent me here – answered the woman without hesitation.
Then the owner asked her:
And how was it that you met him?
And the poor woman now told her:
Well, you see, my husband and I are very poor and we have three children to support. And as my husband is very sick now and we don’t have anything to eat, I left [the house] this morning to beg for alms and only collected one peseta, and with that I did not have enough to buy food for all of us, so I gave the peseta to the priest so he could say mass for the most needy soul. Then I came back from church and ran into your son. To him I told the same thing that I have told you, and he wrote me this paper and told me to come here.
Then the owner told the woman to enter and gave her the job. She also gave her bread so she could take back to her children, and asked her to return the next day and the following days to work in the house. And after five days the owner had a revelation and her son appeared before her and said:
Mother, don’t cry nor pray for me anymore, for I am already glorious and in the presence of God.
And it was with that mass that he finished paying for his sins in Purgatory and ascended to Heaven.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Misa – mass (religious)
Ánimar – to encourage, to liven up, to motivate
Acá – here
Acabado – finished, exhausted
Al cabo del rato – after a while
Asunto – issue, matter
Aún – still, yet
Anduvo – s/he walked, andar – to walk, to take, to ride, to work
Buscar – to look for, to try to find
Céntimos – cents
Cocido – cooked, boiled, stew
Colocación – position, job
Conque – so, so then
Contó – s/he counted, told; contar – to count, to tell
Criado/a – servant, maid
Cruzó – s/he crossed
Culpar – to blame; culpa – fault, blame, guilt, sin
Cura – priest, cure, treatment
De acá para allá – to and fro, back and forth, from one place to another
Dé – I give, give, a form of dar – to give
Dejar – to leave, to stop, let
Demás – other, the rest
Diga – I say; decir – to tell, to say
Dígale – tell him/her
Encargar – to order, to commission, to entrust, to task with
Entregar – to submit, to turn in, to give
Esperar – to wait for, to hope, to expect
Estuvo dando vueltas – s/he was turning sth over
Faltar – to miss, to be missing
Fue – s/he was; ser – to be
Había conseguido – had gotten
Hágame – hacer: to do, to make
Hágame usted el favor – would you please
Juntar – to put together, to save, to raise, to collect
Limosna – charity, money, alms
Llamó – s/he called, knocked, ring/rang
Llevo todo el día – I’ve been all day
Llorar – to cry
No dejaba de pensar – kept thinking
No podía conseguir – couldn’t get
Peseta – Spanish currency
Pues – then, well, since, because
Pues mire usted – well
Puesto – position, job, well-dressed
Que dejar de trabajar – to stop working
Quedar – to be left, to remain, to stay
Recoger – to pick up, to gather
Retrato – portrait
Rezar – to pray, to read, to recite
Sacar – to take out, to remove, to get, to serve
Salir – to go out, to leave, to come out
Se puso – he got
Señas – address, sign, signal
Sin dudarlo – without hesitation
Solicitar – (to petition) to request, to ask for, to seek, to apply for
Sustento – sustenance, means of support
Tuvo – s/he had, tener – to have, to be
Vaya usted – you go
Vuelta – difficult, turn, stroll, walk, lap, round
Ya – already, now