The Name of this Blog

This blog´s name is "El Imagen del Rostro de Cristo," which translates to "The Image of the Face of Christ." I remember talking to a good friend of mine about the name of it, and telling this person that I was referencing the story when Veronica placed a cloth on Christ´s face. After she took the cloth off His face, an image of His face was present there, something that she probably looked at and venerated for the rest of her life and was recounted in the gospel that was written a time later. Looking back on the name, it seems to be a proper choice.

We have two weeks left here. Well, now a little less than two weeks. The new volunteers are almost finished with orientation, we are planning our despedida, and I am saying goodbye to my co-workers and my newly found friendships with my community and Ecuadorain neighbors. When I arrived here these days seemed so far away, but now that they are here, I am wondering where all the time seems to have gone.

As I prepare for my return to the United States, I look back on this year and realize the imprint of Christ´s face in my life. It is on my heart, for now I look at people and relationships with more care and joy than I did before. It is on my mind, for I now think about Christ in all of my actions and my words. It is on my spirit, for I now look at turmoil and suffering as part of something larger that I cannot understand, something that we are all working towards: the reign of God on this earth. We are all like Veronica, holding our lives in our hands and staring at Christ´s face right in front of us. It must be our choice to really look at it and venerate it, or just toss it to the ground and continue living.

After this year I hold on to this image of Christ that is indellibly marked in me forever: an image of a suffering Christ that knows the hope promised to Him from the foundation of the world, a image that is living and breathing through the life that I choose to live and make. It is an image that will forever be with me, and I will always live with it before me, greeting all those I meet in the imprint of Christ in my heart.