Traces of God

By Lorenza V.  –  Missionary in Peru

I always had a sense of what it meant to witness beauty. As the Catechism states, “The beauty of creation reflects the infinite beauty of the Creator” (341). And so, I have recognized these gifts as traces of God in my daily life. 

The first trace happened when we visited one of our friends for his birthday. Jesus (a common male name in Latin American countries) has Down syndrome and lives with his mom Johana, who takes incredible care of him. During prior visits, I had only gotten the chance to talk to Johana because Jesus frequently rests during our visits. That day, however, we were able to spend more time with him. We brought a few balloons and a birthday hat to sing “happy birthday.” When we started singing, the biggest smile lit up his face. The Lord let me borrow His eyes for a second and I was allowed to glance into His absolute Beauty through this dear friend. 

Something similar happened a few days later when we visited a family. When we arrived, Mateo, one of the four kids, was washing the dishes. Mateo is also one of the altar boys at our parish and we see him almost every day at Mass. One thing that characterizes him the most is his contagious smile; one you can see both at Mass and at home. That day, despite having to wash dishes, he had a bright smile. While Eloisa was talking to his grandmom and mom, Lucy was playing with his brother, I went over to the kitchen to help Mateo. It took me a few minutes to get used to the state of the dirty kitchen but he seemed happy to be helping out. We talked about altar serving and how much he enjoys it, he mentioned becoming a priest, and I remember his smile growing wider. In that moment, my heart was filled with awe at the sight of this boy, in a disorderly kitchen, washing dishes and talking about God. I truly stood amazed at the blessing it was to witness such beauty.