School Santo Domingo de Guzmán, Valparaíso (Chile), Marcia Vilches Pérez .- Dear Marie Poussepin: It's exciting to express my ideas, feelings and emotions about you in a letter. Feelings that are a life experience for me; lessons learned, through this meeting, where friendship has been shaped, in each sister with whom I have shared over the years.
By the way, to be grateful, for your friendship and for having welcomed me as such, without a doubt, I have been privileged, there are so many good moments, messages, notes, actions, experiences, that have made me what I am, thanks to this friendship, which has led me to share with so many religious persons, that I have in my mind and heart, each one of them, carries her essence, her charisma and her desire to build a more just, more fraternal and more dignified world, for each person that inhabits this planet, THE HOME of all and everyone.
Many years ago, when I was starting my professional life, as a teacher I came to work, at Colegio Santo Domingo de Guzmán, Valparaiso - CHILE, (1994, the year of the Beatification of our Mother Foundress), was the moment in which we had the pleasure of getting to know each other and of establishing a connection through the meeting with the sisters, with their labor, with their view of the world, of love for the planet and for the weakest men and women.
"Always be careful with the youth you educate", is a phrase that touched the soul of my teaching work, marking my professional development and my closeness to the students whom I have formed for so many years.
That year, 1994, was a special year, because the whole Educational Community was celebrating the beatification of Marie Poussepin. There were sisters and teachers who organized trips to Rome to be present at her beatification on November 20. It was an academic year, with many pastoral activities, where everyone was very happy about this event. I was interested to know why she was called "SOCIAL APOSTLE OF CHARITY".
In that search, I understood that her humble, pious and charitable life was not sought in books; it was a matter of seeing each sister, sharing with them, accompanying their work and their dedication to serving the students of the school. Today I can say that we know each other, to follow in her footsteps, is in the making of each Dominican Sister of the Presentation, our friendship is born from this beautiful union and from this desire to announce Jesus Christ, from humility, to understand that we are all equal in rights and opportunities.
Today, I am a little bit more physically distant from you and from the sisters, however, know that I still maintain your image and presence, in the office, my prayer, my community prayer of each morning, ends with a, Saint Dominic and Marie Poussepin... A Fraternal embrace for you and your beautiful work.