{"id":111,"date":"2016-10-31T11:26:40","date_gmt":"2016-10-31T15:26:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/examine\/?p=111"},"modified":"2016-10-31T11:26:40","modified_gmt":"2016-10-31T15:26:40","slug":"my-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/examine\/2016\/10\/31\/my-way\/","title":{"rendered":"My Way"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jessica Pedroza, Senior<\/strong><\/p>\n

During a recent pilgrimage to Mexico City, Father Joe (famous for Spanish and milkshake Mass) said the language in which you pray and do math is your primary language. I suppose this makes me bilingual. Just as I don\u2019t think twice about breathing, I don\u2019t hesitate to address God in Spanish or reason through the steps of a math problem in English. I\u2019ve always grown up around two languages and two cultures, but my spiritual identity resonates more clearly within my Mexican\/Latina culture.<\/p>\n

\"jess-1\"
In front of the old Basilica; Mexico City.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I remember those weeknights as a young girl when my mom, sister, and I would kneel while my dad and brother stood – all of us praying el Santo Rosario<\/em> (the Holy Rosary) as a family. In the silence of my heart, I would pray for my dad to stop drinking. <\/p>\n

I remember those Friday nights when we\u2019d go to the casa de oracion<\/em> (prayer house) and worship God through song, clapping and shouting \u201cGloria a Dios!\u201d (Glory to God).<\/p>\n

I remember the day of my Quincea\u00f1<\/strong>era and how, in the midst of the princess dress and the big cake, we made sure to stop and celebrate Mass before the party to give thanks to God and leave some roses for la Virgen de Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico.<\/p>\n

At some point, the prayer house stopped running. My Sunday parish switched from celebratory, upbeat songs in Spanish to solemn hymns in Latin. I began attending a Catholic high school where the monthly Mass and prayers were in English. But I couldn\u2019t connect with \u201cOur Father, who art in heaven\u201d as much as I could with \u201cPadre Nuestro que est\u00e1s en el cielo<\/em>.\u201d I started, for the first time, to study theology and I had so many doubts. And I had forgotten to pray every night because God had already helped my dad to get sober. I didn\u2019t need to ask for much else. <\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t come to Notre Dame to better connect to my Catholic identity. Little did I know, my faith would become an integral part of my experience here.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t imagine\u2026<\/p>\n

The love I felt that first night freshman year when Father Joe, knowing I had arrived without my parents, came to visit me in my dorm and left me a note;<\/p>\n

The joy I felt when I first went to Spanish Mass and heard the same worship songs I had heard as a child, and recited the Spanish prayers that seem to roll easier off my tongue;<\/p>\n

The awe I felt when I saw the impact La Basilica de Guadalupe in Mexico City had on my friend as he kneeled and cried in front of Nuestra Se\u00f1<\/strong>ora<\/em> (Our Lady); <\/p>\n

The ache I felt placing a picture of the grandparents I never met on the Dia de los Muertos <\/em>(Day of the Dead) Altar at an Institute of Latino Studies celebration; and<\/p>\n

The peace I felt spending time alone at the Grotto one Thanksgiving when I couldn\u2019t make it back home to my family. <\/p>\n

After nearly three and a half years, Notre Dame feels more like home than home now, and I think the opportunity for me to worship in both languages has a lot to do with it. I\u2019d love for people to understand that sometimes we seek spaces where we can be completely ourselves. It\u2019s not that I don\u2019t want to participate in my dorm community. Rather, Spanish Mass is the best way I can let God work through me. It is because my culture is full of traditions, like Posadas<\/em>, when we walk with candles through campus, remembering Mary and Joseph trying to find shelter and Dia de Los Muertos<\/u><\/em>, where we construct altars to remember our dead family members and friends and celebrate life\u2026 <\/p>\n

\"Dec.
Las Posadas walk from the Grotto to Farley Hall. (Barbara Johnston\/University of Notre Dame)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I thought that, in college, I\u2019d get so wrapped up and busy in other things that I would continue to lose that child-like faith I once had. I still fall and I still question, but what a beautiful blessing it is to be able to continue to grow in my faith and experience God at Notre Dame – de mi manera <\/em>(in my own way).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jessica Pedroza, Senior During a recent pilgrimage to Mexico City, Father Joe (famous for Spanish and milkshake Mass) said the language in which you pray and do math is your primary language. I suppose this makes me bilingual. Just as I don\u2019t think twice about breathing, I don\u2019t hesitate to address God in Spanish or … Continue reading My Way<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2261,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[144191],"tags":[35411,153897,88,16418,74829],"class_list":["post-111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-october-2016","tag-god","tag-latina","tag-notre-dame","tag-prayer","tag-spanish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/examine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/examine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/examine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/examine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2261"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/examine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/examine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/examine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111\/revisions\/116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/examine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/examine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/examine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}