“That’s what’s so strange.” Carla said. “I know that you met me in seminary but back then I had rejected the church. I had concluded that the Catholic Church was part of the problem in Mexico and the Protestant churches either were after our money or so focused on the afterlife that they ignored the injustices around them. As far as I was concerned, God was irrelevant if He existed at all. And yes, God was a He. One more male that was oppressing women and using His followers to rip off the poor.” Carla looked up with an embarrassed smile. “Sorry, the feelings are still there, I guess.”
“For not believing that God existed, you were pretty angry at Him,” Al said.
“That occurred to me later, but at the time, I was just a scared little Latina who tried to find a place to hide. Guess where I went?”
“I was guessing the administration building, but that must be wrong.”
“That would make sense, because they could attest to my citizenship, but for reasons I can’t explain, I ran to the chapel. I don’t think I’d even been in the chapel since freshman orientation.”
“Sounds like to me a chapter right out of the Hound of Heaven.” Al said.
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“It’s an old poem by a man named Francis Thompson” Al said. “It probably was written in the early 1900’s. Most people have never read the poem but the image of God like a hound who patiently but persistently pursues the hare seems to stick with people. You studied the law. I’m told that the poem was actually the source of the phrase “with all deliberate speed” in the Supreme Court’s 1954 decision about school desegregation.”
“I’ll have to read it. Anyway, I wasn’t the only one in the chapel that day. The chaplain came in and saw a group of us there. Without any hesitation, he locked the door. When the ICE came, he shouted through the door that they had no authority in God’s house and they should go see the administration.”
“Strong chaplain,” Al said.
“It was weird. He was a short, bespectacled, pudgy little guy. I’d never talked to him. Around campus, he just seemed to exist; sort of a non-entity to me. Yet, on that day, when he spoke, those big tough guys hesitated. They tried to threaten him but he wouldn’t back down.”
“So they went away?”
“No, eventually we had to come out, but first they did go to the administration and, after some protracted negotiations, it all got worked out. Unfortunately, some people among us didn’t have the proper papers. They were taken away.”
Al got a puzzled look on his face. “That was when you had a sense of call from God?”
“Oh no. I’m a tough old hare.” Carla made a motion with her hand like a rabbit running away. “That was the beginning of the process, however. What I saw that day was the limits of the law and academia and the strange power of faith. It was almost like God was saying to me, ‘When all else fails, I’ve got your back.’”
SMcCutchan