¡Sonrían!

I've just come to terms with the fact that Wednesdays and Thursdays are going to be a tad extra stressful. Those are the Theology days, or more accurately in the context of stress, the travel days to UPAEP. We (two other girls and myself) get out of class at 12:50 at UDLAP, run to catch a cab to downtown Puebla, and arrive fifteen minutes late to each class. There was sort of an agreement made with the professor, so it's really okay, there is just no getting around the adrenaline rush for those 20ish minutes. I am really enjoying the class though. To recap the subject, the class is called Dialogues between Science and Religion. UPAEP has a massive medical school and therefore about 80% of the students in the class are medical students. It makes for some good discussion...or at least it seems like it...so far I haven't actually caught that much of it. Our professor, Padre de Simone,  is a priest who has really welcomed us into the UPAEP Catholic community. Wednesdays we go to class, hang out in Puebla for a bit to grab some grub, do some homework in an abandoned classroom and then get to go to Mass! It is nice being able to attend Mass in a smaller community because usually, on Sundays, the churches we have gone to are huge and packed. At UPAEP, Padre de Simone celebrates Mass with an assembly of about fifteen students and teachers. From what I can tell, he gives some pretty good sermons too! So really, it's all worth that extra bit of estrés.

Anyways, at the beginning of class on Wednesday, Padre had us close our eyes and listen to a story. It's a story about a boy named Pablito (I think) and I'm going to do my best to tell it to you and give you a little bit of the classversation that followed. If something doesn't make sense, there might have been an important detail lost in translation...

Pablito was walking through a park one day when he saw a woman sitting on a bench. He decided to go sit with her and gave her a piece of his sandwich. She did not say any words to him, but gave him the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. He so wished that he could see her smile again and therefore decided to give her some juice. Again, she smiled at him and he was filled with joy. This happened a few more times and then, sharing smiles, they parted. His happiness lasted throughout the day and when he went home, his mother noticed immediately. "Son, why are you so happy?" she asked him. He told her about his time spent with the woman on the bench. "Today, I encountered God" he said.  Then he noticed that his mother was very happy too, so he, in turn, questioned her. "Mother, why are you so happy?" he asked. "I was at the park and a boy sat with me to keep me company and shared some of his goods with me. Today I encountered God."

I'm still a little confused about why the mother and the son didn't recognize each other in the park...but I think that is besides the point. We then talked about how the people in the story encountered God. One student said that we do so in the action of giving and in expressions of love. God is present in all of us and we encounter Him when we love one another. And we know He is Our Father because of His love for us. I wasn't conscious of my mother actually giving birth to me or of my father standing by her side, but I know they are my parents because of their expression of love for me and because, well, I believe them when they tell me they are.

Well, this isn't any crazy theological concept or anything, and might even be an old chestnut (Thesaurus says that's a synonym for cliché...who knew?!), but I liked the story. I promise it's actually better when it's told in Spanish, especially if it's told to Spanish-understanding ears. So I was just thinking of you, dear readers, and how I pray that you encounter God today in any expression of love or in the act of giving. And know that others encounter God through you! It seems cliché, but as we talked about in class, believing it could really change the way we go about our daily lives. Sonrían!

This is a view from right outside my dorm room of the volcano in our backyard amidst the horizon of the beautiful sunset this evening. Yes, it's active.