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Nichole M.
Nichole M.
Flores
Flores
She’s everywhere.
Dangling from my rearview mirror,
she is a constant companion,
journeying with me from place to place,
a reminder to be patient with other drivers,
and with my spouse sitting in the passenger’s seat.
On a prayer card,
she is a gift from my madrina on the day of my baptism,
a reminder that I belong to the Church,
and that the Church belongs to me.
Standing adjacent to the to the altar,
carefully observing her child.
God’s mother reminds me
to ponder,
to discern,
to affirm,
to magnify.
She is everywhere.
She is my classmate,
my checkout attendant,
my tía,
my nurse.
Guadalupe is my abuela,
the one who exuded grace,
devotion,
prudence,
and fortitude
as she raised twelve children
amid unspeakable poverty.
She is a woman of strength,
trampling injustice beneath her feet,
lifting up the lowly,
and casting the mighty from their thrones.
She is everywhere.
She is a community organizer,
walking humbly with the dispossessed,
gathering her people
under her vibrant banner.
She is a theologian.
She is an artist,
Inspiring us to discipleship in the life-giving Word.
She is a witness
to violence, poverty, corruption.
To conversion, transformation, rebirth.
To truth, goodness, and beauty.
She is everywhere.
Rejected, despised, loathed.
“She distracts from the worship of her Son!”
“What does she have to do with the Gospel?”
She is misunderstood.
And still…she is everywhere.
Gas stations. Parking lots. Schoolyards. Street signs.
Bars. Bodies. Gardens. Fountains.
Bus stops. Detention Centers. Borders. Gravestones.
Bathrooms. Cathedrals. Monuments. Doors.
She is everywhere.
Preaching the good news in all places,
proclaiming to us that the good news is alive.
Testifying that the Word is made flesh.
Witnessing to all people that God’s love is real.
She is everywhere.
Speaking, guiding, prompting, praying.
Advocating, organizing, redefining, reconciling.
Calling, responding, giving, receiving.
Bleeding, healing, crying, rising.
She is everywhere.
Sitting with me in the silence of her sanctuary.
Speaking tender words of welcome and delight.
Standing with her Child, inviting me into her arms.
Standing with her people, inviting me to stand among them.
She’s everywhere.
Looking at me, she knows my history.
Looking at me, she remembers my future.
Looking at her, I know the redeemer lives.
Looking at her, I know that she loves me.
Adapted from Nichole M. Flores, The Aesthetics of Solidarity: Our Lady of Guadalupe and American Democracy (Georgetown University Press 2021).
Nichole M. Flores
Nichole M. Flores
Dr. Nichole M. Flores is associate professor of religious studies and director of the Catholic studies initiative at the University of Virginia. She speaks, writes and teaches about the significance of Catholic ethics in plural social, political, and ecclesial contexts. Her first book, The Aesthetics of Solidarity: Our Lady of Guadalupe and American Democracy is available from Georgetown University Press. In 2015, Dr. Flores was honored with the Catherine Mowry LaCugna Award for best academic essay in Catholic theology from the Catholic Theological Society of America.
Dr. Flores earned an A.B. in government from Smith College, an M.Div. from Yale Divinity School, and a Ph.D. in theological ethics from Boston College.
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