On the 8th a large group of students who finished their high school in June 1987 held a reunion in Valladolid. They wanted to celebrate these 30 years letting the heart remember the time spent in school and much more …
We were invited, the teachers who had shared with them those years of childhood and adolescence in the school of Fray Luis, a symbolic place that has also passed into the memory of the heart.
During the previous weeks we began to receive messages that filled us with emotion when we saw such preparations; a group involved with great commitment in the organization and many more signing up for the scheduled appointment.
We were gathered at 7:30 p.m. for a Eucharistic celebration in the Chapel of St. Candida, after a visit to the school led by Sara Pascual. We were accompanied by Fernando Moreno Muguruza SJ who was very close to this group of students, and the teachers who were there were Tere Panigua, Francoise Vallier, Maruja Arias, Rebeca Diago and I.
Already the incessant greetings of the reunion were the trigger for so many contained emotions to emerge, we recognized each other again not without difficulty in some cases, for which we had our name and surname on some nice cards that helped identify us.
The Eucharist followed the same guide as the one celebrated 30 years ago in the farewell ceremony of COU, with the readings and songs; even the entrance antiphon handwritten by a student was read and listened to with a feeling impossible to reproduce … Each teacher was thanked, not only for the academic knowledge imparted, but above all for the values that could help them to become better persons …
At the offertory a beautiful bouquet of roses was dedicated to those who are no longer at our side: Georgina, Angeles Iglesias, Pilar Serna, Carmina Rodríguez, D. Jesus, Tere Muñoz, Maria Velasco, together with the large photo of the numerous group, the uniform skirt, the school magazine made by them and the bread and wine.
We shared the homily which was an act of thanksgiving from numerous people; and as a perfect ending, we heartily sang the Mil Albricias, directed by Maruja … Then the photos and then dinner in El Edén, a restaurant, where we did not stop talking in one group after another, remembering a thousand anecdotes and keeping abreast of the life journey of each one, mothers with teenage children, young mothers, professionals in various fields, the variety and richness of life lived over 30 years …
Finally we were shown a beautiful film that began in the elementary years and continued through the most significant moments throughout high school. The photos were relentless in showing us the passage of time, but they told us that the bonds that arose then are kept alive and therefore the love, the joy of seeing one another again, was a song of gratitude that we could not stop expressing.
I believe that the desire expressed by someone for a “grateful meeting without formalism, spontaneous and without labels where the past and present merge in the heart …” was indeed fulfilled.
I can not but thank God for this gift, for witnessing the passage of all these people in my life and seeing that the sowing has given its fruit.
May God the Father and Mother continue to accompany each one in this moment in life and in the future; and may Candida Maria de Jesus continue to be her educator and that of her children.
Being thankful, enjoying this gift, committing ourselves to share so many gifts received and continuing the journey with the deep joy of the reunion, is what has remained in my heart.
Thank you, dear COU 86-87 students!
María Luisa Berzosa fi
Orcasur – Madrid
