Justice for Peace

Hi everyone, Natasha Mattox and Ximena Mondragon coming to you live from day six of our LA Immersion trip. We had an amazing day today. We began the day with morning prayer in the chapel, to put us in the mindset for the nice day ahead. We had three destinations: Dolores Mission, Our Lady of Talpa School, and Assumption School. Even though we had a long fulfilling day, we are going to focus on snippets of these three important places we visited, starting with Dolores Mission.

At Dolores Mission we met Brett who is a JVC (Jesuit Volunteer Corps) , he gave us insight on his discernment process from accounting, peace corps, JVC and being a Jesuit Novice. Following his talk about his discernment , he gave us a tour of the art in and around the church. One of paintings depicted the assassination of Oscar Romero, a priest in El Salvador that spoke out against a violent regime. In 1980 while giving a sermon, a gunman sent by the government shot him in front of his community. The painting shows the moment Oscar Romero was shot. The bullet went through to the chalice into his heart, from the chalice there is a hidden image of Jesus on the cross. The parallel between Oscar Romero and Jesus is that both fought for the marginalized despite the risk of death. This painting is hanging at the back of the church across the altar. The painting is a constant reminder to keep fighting for change to end social injustice.

Furthermore, there is a statue on the altar that represents the sorrows that many mothers of the community go through. Our Lady of Sorrows portrays Mary at the foot of the cross, weeping for the loss of her only son, Christ. This statue is placed at the front of the Church so the mothers of the community are reminded that Mary understands the pain they may experience, and is a support system for them.

Outside, there is an important statue of St. Ignatius as a beggar. In most statues he is depicted as a scholar, however here he is presented as a homeless man. The reason behind this is, because the church serves as a shelter for 70 homeless people in the community. Interestingly enough, years ago a man that was homeless, named Emilio, designed the face of St. Ignatius for the statue, which was a self portrait. It is tradition for people in the community to leave cash in St. Ignatius’ hand, or articles of clothing on the statue for the people who are homeless to collect at night.

Next, we traveled to Our Lady of Talpa School where we spent time with the children in Ms. Vichill’s classroom. First we introduced ourselves to the 7th/6th graders, then we proceeded to play several bonding games with them. This was a fun experience for everyone involved, because we were vulnerable to one another in a different way. Back in the classroom we had free reading time followed by a question and answer session. Through this Q&A, we got to known Los Angeles in a new light. The students helped us to see the importance of family, and community. We are grateful for how open, honest, and hospitable the students were with us.

Lastly, we went to Assumption School to hear the voices of angels aka the K-8th grade students. The students sang several songs ranging from the Star Spangled Banner to the Hawaii Aloha (Shout-out to Brother Allen for the Ukulele performance) to their school’s alma mater. Before each song, the students gave us a little background into the song. Many of us were moved to tears by the performance. We appreciated the hard-work the students put in to prepare a performance, and their willingness to share that with our group.

To conclude our day we gathered together for a homemade dinner, joined by our guest Ms. Vichill. We ate, laughed, and reflected on the happenings of the day. At the end of our feast we bowed our heads and prayed for the people we encountered today and earlier this week. Although we are coming to the end of this trip, our desire to continue serving the community, and building our community is stronger than ever.

“If you want Peace, work for Justice” - Pope Paul VI

Love,

Ximena Mondragon and Natasha Mattox