about me

hey there.

just a small town girl living in a lonely world.

hoping to use this as a platform to connect, educate and inspire.

now you can see the world as I see it.

love,
ana

Ana López, M.Div.
ablopez15@gmail.com


. . . never let anyone dull your sparkle. . .

Ana volunteered in Guayaquil, Ecuador with Rostro de Cristo in 2012-2013 where she fell in love with people, talking about spirituality, and dancing bachata. Originally from Santa Maria, the central coast of  California, she learned to love agriculture and quality time with family. After Ecuador, she completed a Master's in Divinity from the Jesuit School of Theology with the desire to learn how to better accompany people in their faith journeys. Between teaching high school Ethics and writing about spirituality, her various experiences have led her to the expansive heart of God felt in community.



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to accent or not to accent

To accent or not to accent- that is the question. “Oh, I did not realize you were a person of color. I will change that immediately.” She said to me. I was baffled that a person in 2019 in Northern California would be surprised by my identity. Do I have to look brown for you to guess that my last name is in Spanish? No me vio el nopal en la frente . I guess that is the challenge of being a white-passing Mexican-American. ----This may make people uncomfortable and I intend that. Read at your own risk.---- See I knew the day I decided to request the accent in my last name in my professional circles I would deal with unconscious bias, judgement and covert racism more directly. But Lopez is supposed to be spelled López, because it is Spanish. (No offense to the people who spell it incorrectly.) If I had a dollar for each time a person asked me “where are you from?” or “what is your heritage?” I would be rich. Gosh, I should encourage that to pay off my student loans. . . . . Th...
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Teaching (us) to Observe

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One of my favorite moments in class this year was when I made a mistake in front of my students and, upon admitting it, one of my students asked, “Teachers don’t know everything Ms. López?” He’s a freshman so it was sincere. Part of me wanted to say, well of course we do, that’s why we have degrees and piles and piles of books in our classrooms ; yet a deeper part of me knew it was good to say, “we are always learning, just like you.” That deeper part of me heard in his question, “wait, you are not perfect?” And praise God that I am not! Striving for perfection, to be always right and never wrong, is e x h a u s t i n g . When I strive for perfection, I am too focused on myself and not focused enough on grace. Not focused enough on God. Grace, I have learned, is more present in imperfection than in perfection because that is when we are still teachable.  In the first reading for today , Moses reminds the Israelites that their God is “teaching [them] to observe” God’s ways....
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