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“The greater evil who is in-
When both in wayward paths are straying?
The poor sinner for the pain
Or he who pays for the sin?”.
This dialog was made with the purpose of portraying the end of Sor Juana`s life in which she silenced her pen in order to focus her life only to her religious devotion and help her sick sisters endure their infirmity during the plague which infected her, resulting in her death on April 17th 1965. It was also made to represent that fact that even though people didn't consider or recognize her feminist perspective with such relevance during the colonial period while she lived and tried to revolutionize the partisan society surrounding her, the literary productions she produced including poems, texts, satires, critiques and etc, immortalized her making of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz,one of the most important feminist icons who have ever lived capable of changing the opinion of many inequitable minds, as she did with Sister Cornelia, even after she had passed away.
Dialog
The two were sitting in a decrepit table located in the right hand corner of the infirmary of the church while all around them, other nuns were suffering with the plague . With the same clothes and yet so different different minds, Sister Alvarez Cornelia and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz were near one another while Sor Juana had already finished interpreting the passage of the bible and setting her midday prayers and Sister Cornelia still struggled a lot with comprehending her reading of the holy book.
"Sister Cornelia," Sor Juana said very quietly before she had time to actually stop herself and her curiosity"what are you trying to do?" She asked calmly with such a discreet and silent tone of voice that she could barely hear herself.
Maybe her low and quiet tone had been even more reticent than she imagined in order not to awake the infirmed nuns sleeping all around the room, but Sister Cornelia didn't move a finger and remained still holding and trying to decipher the bible as if it was a very challenging enigma .
“Sister Cornelia,” Sor Juana repeated quietly but sort of impatiently another time and as expected, once again the nun appeared not to make a single movement and it was possible to perceive that it was loud enough since in the other side of the room it was emitted a `shhh` sound.
“Sister, I know here in the convent people appear never to listen, never to understand what I am saying, as if I speak with all of them the latin I learned years ago or as if they were all deaf when we know it is shameful and sinful to simulate a disease or condition which in the Glory of God doesn`t belong to any of us.I know you know I am right here trying to be listened and trying to help you as we are helping the sick sisters,for this reason I will ask you once again, what you are trying to do?”
“Why do you think you can help me Sor Juana?” She bursted into speaking all of a sudden.
“Is it because you think I am illiterate and ignorant or because you feel like you were once an intellectual heroine who wanted to obtain at the same exact time in the same exact person, two contradicting identities of being a caring nun during the day and an ambitious intellectual during the night?” Sister Cornelia answers rudely and goes back to reading the bible as if she had to translate it to the latin language Sor Juana no longer seemed to speak.
“I certainly don't feel like any heroine, I never did. I know I wasn't heroic or brave enough since my pen is now silenced but as long as I am still living, I know I am only one person, one fragile human being who obtains a single beating heart which was once deeply passionate and completely amazed by two different aspects of life. One in order to understand what made my existence and another one to discern what to do with it until my soul habits still in this world” She replied in a very cordial and civilized manner while she approached her chair near Sister Cornelia.
“Why were your pen so reluctant in silencing itself? Haven't you noticed after all this time, that not a single person here in this convent approved your choices? We all respected it, of course, for we are believers of the free will we were given by God but in the end we all know what to expect from you, a person who was and will never be able to compromise with their religious duties.”
“Even though my perspective changed and my pen admitted its defeat, I will never argue about my religious compromise, since I have always served God and I know he understands my path and recognizes my dedication towards my faith. I also know he has read my mind and listened to my prayers, therefore he knows I struggled with what people here in this nunnery used to tell me but if he has truly visited my heart he will know the purposes I had in studying late at night from old crumpled books, which was only to understand the surroundings of the world he made us and to never go through situations like I noticed you were just going through sister, of being incapable of interpreting any of the sacred passages that describe his teachings and preaches in our Holy Bible.”
“I know I have my difficulties and that the Bible obtain high level texts, but as the priest would constantly tell us, we don't have to learn about literature to understand it; if we can't really understand a passage, we are secure that the priest will explain to us the correct interpretation of it.” Sister Cornelia answered and drank her chamomile tea already cold from the amount of time she left it sitting untouched on top of the shabby looking table.
“Just like your own particular prayers, interpreting the Bible portrays the manner in which you, as a daughter of God, understand and his teachings and just like no one could ever say your prayers for you, absolutely no one, not even the priest should be in charge of construing any interpretation for you, even though I have left the rational part of me aside, I still believe with all the strength I have left, that the reading of the Bible is of your own. ” Sor Juana answered and moved quickly in order to help one of the aging sisters stand up to go to the bathroom.
“Sor Juana, the priest already told us about being capable of helping us with our interpretations. I remember clearly that along with his daily sayings, implicitly directed to you in which he mentioned constantly that God made us not to seek for curiosity like men, but to devote our lives to his commands, he mentioned that he was the one in charge of making sure we were falling God`s directions and that by helping us interpret the bible and its message, he would be guaranteeing our entrance in heaven.
.
“I know the priest was a very devoted men who focused his life in the purpose of spreading God's words and saving others along with himself and for these motives, I admire him. However, I just can't seem to understand why before he passed away due to this awful extended plague, it was so easy for all of the sisters to accept exactly what the priest imposed and interpreted from our sacred book. No one ever considered that in order for him to analyze God`s teachings and commandments with such merit and supremacy, he must have acquired knowledge during his life in church, and if we all declared equality before God`s eyes, why couldn't we do the same?.” Sor Juana answered Sister Cornelia but she felt too dizzy and debilitated to continue with the conversation. She stood up silently and walked softly towards the wooden door of the infirmity in order not to awake anyone.
Sor Juana turned around only to found Sister Cornelia still admiringly looking at her. It was all becoming dark and perplexing to Sor Juana`s sight,but it ended beautifully when Cornelia`s worried mouth released a small yet powerful glimpse of light which meant all the hope she needed. As her body weakened and her eyes closed, Sor Juana`s attentive ears still heard the whisper of the three simple words across the room; words vigorous enough to set her free with eternal peace: you were right.
When both in wayward paths are straying?
The poor sinner for the pain
Or he who pays for the sin?”.
This dialog was made with the purpose of portraying the end of Sor Juana`s life in which she silenced her pen in order to focus her life only to her religious devotion and help her sick sisters endure their infirmity during the plague which infected her, resulting in her death on April 17th 1965. It was also made to represent that fact that even though people didn't consider or recognize her feminist perspective with such relevance during the colonial period while she lived and tried to revolutionize the partisan society surrounding her, the literary productions she produced including poems, texts, satires, critiques and etc, immortalized her making of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz,one of the most important feminist icons who have ever lived capable of changing the opinion of many inequitable minds, as she did with Sister Cornelia, even after she had passed away.
Dialog
The two were sitting in a decrepit table located in the right hand corner of the infirmary of the church while all around them, other nuns were suffering with the plague . With the same clothes and yet so different different minds, Sister Alvarez Cornelia and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz were near one another while Sor Juana had already finished interpreting the passage of the bible and setting her midday prayers and Sister Cornelia still struggled a lot with comprehending her reading of the holy book.
"Sister Cornelia," Sor Juana said very quietly before she had time to actually stop herself and her curiosity"what are you trying to do?" She asked calmly with such a discreet and silent tone of voice that she could barely hear herself.
Maybe her low and quiet tone had been even more reticent than she imagined in order not to awake the infirmed nuns sleeping all around the room, but Sister Cornelia didn't move a finger and remained still holding and trying to decipher the bible as if it was a very challenging enigma .
“Sister Cornelia,” Sor Juana repeated quietly but sort of impatiently another time and as expected, once again the nun appeared not to make a single movement and it was possible to perceive that it was loud enough since in the other side of the room it was emitted a `shhh` sound.
“Sister, I know here in the convent people appear never to listen, never to understand what I am saying, as if I speak with all of them the latin I learned years ago or as if they were all deaf when we know it is shameful and sinful to simulate a disease or condition which in the Glory of God doesn`t belong to any of us.I know you know I am right here trying to be listened and trying to help you as we are helping the sick sisters,for this reason I will ask you once again, what you are trying to do?”
“Why do you think you can help me Sor Juana?” She bursted into speaking all of a sudden.
“Is it because you think I am illiterate and ignorant or because you feel like you were once an intellectual heroine who wanted to obtain at the same exact time in the same exact person, two contradicting identities of being a caring nun during the day and an ambitious intellectual during the night?” Sister Cornelia answers rudely and goes back to reading the bible as if she had to translate it to the latin language Sor Juana no longer seemed to speak.
“I certainly don't feel like any heroine, I never did. I know I wasn't heroic or brave enough since my pen is now silenced but as long as I am still living, I know I am only one person, one fragile human being who obtains a single beating heart which was once deeply passionate and completely amazed by two different aspects of life. One in order to understand what made my existence and another one to discern what to do with it until my soul habits still in this world” She replied in a very cordial and civilized manner while she approached her chair near Sister Cornelia.
“Why were your pen so reluctant in silencing itself? Haven't you noticed after all this time, that not a single person here in this convent approved your choices? We all respected it, of course, for we are believers of the free will we were given by God but in the end we all know what to expect from you, a person who was and will never be able to compromise with their religious duties.”
“Even though my perspective changed and my pen admitted its defeat, I will never argue about my religious compromise, since I have always served God and I know he understands my path and recognizes my dedication towards my faith. I also know he has read my mind and listened to my prayers, therefore he knows I struggled with what people here in this nunnery used to tell me but if he has truly visited my heart he will know the purposes I had in studying late at night from old crumpled books, which was only to understand the surroundings of the world he made us and to never go through situations like I noticed you were just going through sister, of being incapable of interpreting any of the sacred passages that describe his teachings and preaches in our Holy Bible.”
“I know I have my difficulties and that the Bible obtain high level texts, but as the priest would constantly tell us, we don't have to learn about literature to understand it; if we can't really understand a passage, we are secure that the priest will explain to us the correct interpretation of it.” Sister Cornelia answered and drank her chamomile tea already cold from the amount of time she left it sitting untouched on top of the shabby looking table.
“Just like your own particular prayers, interpreting the Bible portrays the manner in which you, as a daughter of God, understand and his teachings and just like no one could ever say your prayers for you, absolutely no one, not even the priest should be in charge of construing any interpretation for you, even though I have left the rational part of me aside, I still believe with all the strength I have left, that the reading of the Bible is of your own. ” Sor Juana answered and moved quickly in order to help one of the aging sisters stand up to go to the bathroom.
“Sor Juana, the priest already told us about being capable of helping us with our interpretations. I remember clearly that along with his daily sayings, implicitly directed to you in which he mentioned constantly that God made us not to seek for curiosity like men, but to devote our lives to his commands, he mentioned that he was the one in charge of making sure we were falling God`s directions and that by helping us interpret the bible and its message, he would be guaranteeing our entrance in heaven.
.
“I know the priest was a very devoted men who focused his life in the purpose of spreading God's words and saving others along with himself and for these motives, I admire him. However, I just can't seem to understand why before he passed away due to this awful extended plague, it was so easy for all of the sisters to accept exactly what the priest imposed and interpreted from our sacred book. No one ever considered that in order for him to analyze God`s teachings and commandments with such merit and supremacy, he must have acquired knowledge during his life in church, and if we all declared equality before God`s eyes, why couldn't we do the same?.” Sor Juana answered Sister Cornelia but she felt too dizzy and debilitated to continue with the conversation. She stood up silently and walked softly towards the wooden door of the infirmity in order not to awake anyone.
Sor Juana turned around only to found Sister Cornelia still admiringly looking at her. It was all becoming dark and perplexing to Sor Juana`s sight,but it ended beautifully when Cornelia`s worried mouth released a small yet powerful glimpse of light which meant all the hope she needed. As her body weakened and her eyes closed, Sor Juana`s attentive ears still heard the whisper of the three simple words across the room; words vigorous enough to set her free with eternal peace: you were right.