(This article first appeared in the newsletter of the Assumptionist Region of Mexico, Venga tu Reino.)

Aurora “Bollo” Maltos Díaz has been a lay Assumptionist for many years. She has been actively involved in the coordination of Assumptionist missions in the state of Veracruz which she has continued doing year after year. From the moment we took over the parish of Santiago Apóstol de Tlilapan near Orizaba, together with her husband Rafael Martínez Guizar, and their colleague, Maricarmen Martínez Álvarez, she has graciously offered to our parishioners excellent training workshops in various fields. The editorial team of Venga tu Reino asked her to say a few words about her experience as a lay Assumptionist. Here’s what she said.

Aurora “Bollo” Maltos Díaz

Since the very beginning of my teaching years at the University in the field of design, in all these years it has struck me that being a teacher means updating oneself continually, finding new ways every year to prepare my classes, to fill my students with passion, to complete the best projects with them, to shape them, and to help them discover their potential. Thus there rises the great desire that your teaching form them deeply and that your experience be a gift you place at their service; in a way you become an “evangelizer” in the classroom. What a task! I, a teacher, in the image of my true Teacher of Life, Jesus Christ! He is the One who, through the Assumptionist charism which touched my heart and which changed my life forever, transformed me from top to bottom.

My husband, my family, my friends, my work, my ministry have all taken on new meaning because of Him, find their fulfillment in Him (“the deepest motivation for our life and action,” Rule of Life #23). Therefore, when I set out on this new mission journey to Tlilapan and the Assumptionists asked us to organize some workshops, retreats, and meetings, there was no way I couldn’t be enthusiastic about it. Right away I looked for new and better ways to design my workshops, both in content and style, creative ways to shape this experience, never losing track the parishioners and their profound desire to encounter Jesus Christ. Called to teach by Him and thanks to Him, just as in my day to day life at the university, going every other month to the parish of Santiago Apóstol has been a gift given to me whereby I can share talents with others and receive a hundredfold in return, personally and faith-wise. There is no experience more gratifying than preparing myself to share, lead, and excite others as I contribute to the extension of the Kingdom based on the charism that has been given to us at the Assumption. “Assumptionist forever…absolutely!”

Bollo