the Virgen Maria. I began to
wonder if it was Diablo, tempting me in the desert, like he did
to Jesús. And I worried because I was in no position to resist.
The Virgen Maria must have read my thoughts because she
said that the desert is where the devil tempted Christ, but it is
almost always in the desert where divinity is born. It is very
unlikely that Diablo would say such a thing, but then, devils
can be very clever.
The Virgen Maria knew my name. She called me la
pequeña María. She said I was named after her. How would
Diablo know that? She knew how old I was, 18, almost 19. She
said she had given birth to Jesús when she was younger than I
am now. She said she was a naïve young girl then, but she had
wised up considerably about the world since.
When I asked her if she had really been a virgin, she
simply repeated that she had been a naïve young girl then.
And then she told me she was here to help me wise up. She
said after she watched what men did to her son, and no‐one
helped, and no‐one did anything about it, she actually
wondered if there really was a God. She said she was tired of
intervening for men to gain favor with God. She said she was
tired of hearing about how one should suffer gratefully to
become a saint. She said she was tired of hearing about
turning the other cheek.
She said the oppressed, the persecuted, the victimized,
the poor, the hungry, have every right to do something about
their condition here on earth.
“You don’t sound much like the Virgen Maria I learned
about in church.” I tell her.
“I am no longer the Maria you learned about in
church.” The Virgen Maria said. Do you see that wall over
there? It was built by men who are, as you would say,
estupido. You know the saying of your people, no se puede
arreglar estupido (you can’t fix stupid)? Stupidity is like a
dilapidated house about to collapse on itself. One can be
patient, and wait for the collapse. Or one can help it along.
Every once in a while, when you can escape from the work you
can come and remove one more "stupid block" from the
foundation that holds up the dilapidated house of stupidity.
You will live to hear the trumpets, and see the wall come
tumbling down.”
There is something very seductive about the way the
Virgen Maria talks. I have never known anyone to use
language so effectively, so seductively. Which is what makes
me still wonder if it wasn’t Diablo posing as the Virgen Maria.
I know English pretty well, but not as well as I know
Spanish. I have noticed when I try to say things in English, I can
never express my thoughts as well as if I use Spanish. Yet if I
try to be technical about something, it seems that there are
better words in English than there are in Spanish. I have often
wondered such things as which language is the hardest to tell
a lie in? Which language is the easiest to tell a lie in? It
sometimes seems that languages that better communicate
matters of the heart are the hardest to lie in. And the more
technical, and more complex, one can make