by Hosffman Ospino
Someone asked me recently if there was a defining characteristic I would highlight about the experience of being Hispanic Catholic in the United States. So many came to mind: resilience, communality, generosity, openness, religiousness, among others. I chose joy.
I tread with care when I speak of joy, though. There are far too many stereotypes about Hispanic people in our society, and one of them is that Hispanics are always joyful. Media portrayals of Hispanics in a perennial festive mode or always smiling tend to hide the struggles that millions of Hispanic people face every day.
The temptation to counter that generalization is to portray Hispanics as people always in precarious or dangerous conditions, passive victims of unknown forces, waiting for someone else to rescue us or help us.
Many seem suspicious of joyful people. If one smiles too much, then it is assumed that one is not serious enough to assume responsibility or take leadership. If one exhibits a cheerful attitude toward life, charges of being “too emotional” or not sufficiently thoughtful to take charge of reality soon emerge.
To appreciate joyfulness when speaking of a community, we must recognize that external gestures often reveal deep narratives and time-tested convictions. A smile, a celebratory predisposition, and a positive attitude are signs of a community’s worldview shaped over time.
Hispanic Catholics by and large are joyful people. Our joy reflects profound convictions about faith and life, our relationships with other human beings and the created order, and how we seek fulfillment.
Many sources sustain the joy that identifies the Hispanic Catholic experience.
Jesus Christ is the bedrock of Hispanic Catholic faith. Jesus is the Savior. He reveals the God of life who lifts up the vulnerable and the poor. Jesus defeated death and the powers of evil to give us life. He journeys with us in history and meets us in the sacraments as our hermano.
To be Hispanic Catholic is to know oneself as being part of a community of baptized sisters and brothers who speak a common language: the language of familia. Regardless of our many places of origin or the conditions that shape our lives, at the end of the day we are one family, the Hispanic Catholic family. In this family, one experiences belonging, solidarity, and support.
In the Hispanic Catholic imagination, the world is not a cold and dark place where people perceived as enemies await in every corner seeking our destruction. For Hispanic Catholics, the world is a reality permanently charged with the possibility of encountering God. We discover something new about God every time we celebrate the Eucharist, pray by the small altar at home, or learn about a miracle.
Despite the fact that many Hispanics struggle significantly in our society, our suffering engenders solidarity and the desire for healing. Just as we know that we do not journey alone, we have the conviction that in the midst of suffering, members of our community accompany and advocate for us.
The joy that springs from being saved by Jesus Christ, journeying along the way with others, seeing God in all things with sacramental imagination, and knowing that suffering engenders solidarity renews the Church.
This joy is not exclusive to the Hispanic Catholic community. It is the joy that any person or community experiences when daring to walk with Jesus as his disciples. This joy is our inheritance as we strengthen the U.S. Catholic experience by being authentically Hispanic Catholic.
As we continue to build the Church with Hispanic Catholics, let’s not forget the deep reasons for the smile, the celebratory predisposition, and the positive attitude.
Hosffman Ospino is a professor of theology and religious education at Boston College.