Las preguntas de esta semana están relacionadas con la espiritualidad lo que me parece muy acorde a la temporada, ya que acabamos de vivir la Semana Santa una semana en la que tenemos tiempo para reflexionar y para revivir nuestra fe.

En esta oportunidad responderé sólo a la primera pregunta ya que considero que es bastante extensa y profunda. Aprovecho para invitar a mi amiga @carolinacardoza para que nos comparta sus experiencias al respecto.

Desde muy pequeña me gustaba conversar con Dios, sin saber que eso era una forma de oración. Provengo de una familia católica por tradición, fui bautizada a los seis años de edad y a los 9 realicé la primera comunión y la confirmación. Estos sacramentos los tomamos mis hermanas y yo, más por tradición que por convicción. Era mi madre quien nos inscribía en las catequesis, aunque ella no asistiera a misa o fuera activa en la iglesia.

Mi padre, por su parte, no estaba de acuerdo con ninguno de estos eventos, no creía en las religiones y siempre comentaba que teníamos el derecho de elegir en lo que decidiéramos creer, siempre que fuera por convicción.

No obstante, mi conversación con Dios seguía siendo como cuando era niña. Después de varios hechos en mi vida en los que pude ver que Dios obraba en mi para bien, sentí el deseo de conocer todo lo que tenía que ver con Dios y por qué otras personas hablaban de Él como un Dios lejano y castigador, cuando conmigo había sido tan bueno. Yo que no sabía nada y no entendía mucho de religiones había experimentando su infinita bondad.

También pasé por las situaciones más dolorosas de mi vida, pero con una fortaleza y serenidad que no venían de mí. Aprendí a abandonarme a la voluntad del Padre y pude transmitir mi serenidad a otras personas.

When it was my turn to take my children to catechesis, I began to investigate, to study and to look for answers to my questions. I became an adult catechist because of my formation and during the two years that I was at the Lord's service, I lived incredible experiences and I was able to marvel at the small miracles that God works every day.

I also went through the most painful situations of my life, but with a strength and serenity that did not come from me. I learned to abandon myself to the Father's will and I was able to transmit my serenity to others.

Some time ago while I was in a talk about faith, the person in charge of the talk explained that you cannot believe in what you do not know; therefore, in order to have faith you had to study the word and prepare yourself a lot. That statement made a lot of noise in me, so I raised my hand to intervene and refute that thought.

The speaker, who already knew that I was a catechist and actively participated in the Church, objected to me saying that my faith was the fruit of my knowledge and preparation; he was very surprised when I told him that my faith led me to seek knowledge, made me feel curiosity and desire to know and study the word, I was very ignorant in many aspects of religion, but my faith allowed me to understand things that for others were very complex.

Years later, I felt a great desire to know the life of the Saints, I was motivated to know what aspects of their life granted them to be called Saints; to my surprise and satisfaction, most of them had been very humble people with little education and knowledge, but with great faith and fear of God; it was those gifts that led them to thirst for knowledge about the scriptures and therefore they became people with great wisdom to interpret the divine messages.

With these anecdotes I want to emphasize that it is not necessary to spend all day reading the Bible or studying theology for our faith to increase, faith is a gift from God; only He can give it to us, it is our job to keep it alive and nourish it, not only with prayers but also with works.

Thank you for reading, greetings and blessings.