Cristina and Margarita Hurtado

The Hurtado family. Margarita is the second on the left.

They are asking me to write my story, so in this account I’m trying to tell you what I think has been most significant in my life, which is already quite long.

I’m the fifth of 8 children of a profoundly Christian family; many vocations to religious life and the priesthood flourished there. I thank the Lord for the atmosphere in which I grew up.

There is one event in my childhood which I feel has marked me and has become a call and a symbol of the experience of God. I was 5 years old when there was a powerful earthquake; they took me out of bed and carried me into the street. I was frightened, and couldn’t understand what was going on; I remember that the sea sounded quite gentle, and when I looked up, trying to find where this terrible thing was, I saw a marvellously starry sky, and fell in love for always. At 12 I told my mother that I would be an astronomer. But the Lord’s paths for me were different, and as I grew in the Christian life, the starry sky was a constant experience of God.

I was educated at the Sacred Heart, which I grew to love dearly, although my conduct was not at all good. It was only at 16 that I heard what at first seemed an inconvenient call to religious life. On one occasion, without any warning, we had a day’s retreat at school, given by a Bishop who was very fond of the Congregation. I didn’t like it, and was in a bad mood the whole day; all the same I went to confession, just so that I wouldn’t have to go later with my mother. The Bishop questioned me insistently, and I told him I had a vocation but that “I wasn’t thinking of becoming a nun”. He told me that it was for me to decide, and that I might not have a vocation. When I came out of the confessional I said, in my usual spirit of contradiction: “Yes, I do have a vocation.” Then I had a sensation that’s hard to explain, like a great light and intense joy. It was not until the following year that I told my class mistress, and then my family. They made me wait a little and travel, and during that time I was strongly attracted to a young man who was courting me, but I had no doubt about the path I was to follow, and at 18 I entered at the Sacred Heart.

The noviceship was not easy for me because of my independent character, but on the other hand I enjoyed my time as Young Professed (Professed of temporary vows), and was very interested in working in the school. Before probation (a time of preparation for perpetual vows) I had six months of study in Spain, which I found very enriching. There too I had a grace that is hard to describe: one day in the Chapel, the light coming through the stained-glass windows seemed to make everything brighter, and my feeling for the Church was lit up too. This has been a strong motive in my life. With immense joy I went to probation, where I was secretary to María Josefa Bultó (Superior General 1967-1970), who made a deep impression on my life. She told the Provincial to leave me in Rome to study theology, which was a decisive stage in my spiritual development.

On my return to Chile I very soon began to be given responsibility: Principal of our college of Apoquindo for 9 years, and a member of the governing board. I had the immense grace of participating as an ordinary delegate in the 1970 Chapter. In that same year, while making a few days of retreat on the Beatitudes, I felt strongly attracted to the one on the poor, which led me to think deeply about it for many years. The Lord was certainly preparing me in this way for what was to come. The period as College Principal came to a sudden end with the military dictatorship of 1973: those who took over the College denounced us as “socialists”, because of the social focus we were giving to the College, based on the Council and the Latin American Bishops’ Conference of Medellín. They took our private house away from us during the night, and the new educational authorities interfered in the smallest decision that had to be made. On the advice of Cardinal Raúl Silva Henríquez we withdrew without finishing the year. But the Provincial Council decided not to return the following year, and the College was handed over to the  administration of the Archdiocese. After 30 years, we are coming back to have a presence there, to the great joy of both sides.

I then began my time of living in close contact with the poor, and worked for some years in financial education, besides having pastoral work. The first two years were not easy. The second integration in a poor district was, however, very rewarding: it was in a diocese that was strongly committed to justice. I was very sad when it had to come to an end, since I was being asked to serve as Provincial. I have a positive memory of those 6 years, because of my contacts with the wider Society, working on the Commission for the Constitutions and being able to participate in the 1982 Chapter, and also because it was a joy to show my affection for my sisters in the Province.

In the first year of my return to the work which I had left to become Provincial, I was asked to set up the team of recyclage in Lima. When I returned to Chile I heard that I was being asked to form part of the probation team in Rome. I felt a dreadful desolation, but after much prayer, I was able to accept, even joyfully. But it was not easy for me; I think my gifts are better suited to pastoral work and work with the poor than to formation, which is more inward. My desolation was an intuition that it would be difficult, and after two years I asked to return to the Province.

In 1996 I was asked to be Superior in our house for the elderly in Santiago, but after two years I was needed again in poor areas, until in 2005 the Provincial asked me to be the Superior of our second house for the elderly, Villa Alemana, where I am now. I was glad to accept both times, because I can see how worthwhile these communities are; I think people there have embarked on the most decisive stage of their lives.

I have had two very great graces: a 30-day retreat directed by Concha Camacho (Superior General 1970-1976), who was then in Chile and prepared me for my joyful Golden Jubilee renovation, and a journey to Rome, sent by the Province as their representative at the canonisation of St Alberto Hurtado S.J. I went as his niece, and because of his influence on my religious vocation.

If with the stars I met God in beauty, in the Bible I have experienced the joy of his Word. Already as a postulant, inspired by the Office, I began to read all the Psalms. As a novice I kept on reading the New Testament over and over again, as the whole Bible was not at our disposal at that time. When I stayed in Rome to study theology, I took up “my Bible” and began a reading that has never ended. I did my thesis in biblical theology, consulting many libraries for that purpose. On my return to Chile I was able to take part in all the biblical courses that could be suggested by my work, and I constantly read articles and commentaries on the Bible.

From the time of my second insertion in a poor area I began to do pastoral work on the Bible: courses, workshops, talks… the preparation for these activities means studying at still greater depth. Curiously, now that I am no longer young, I have more biblical activities than ever.

But above all it is my assiduous reading that has given me great knowledge of the biblical text, which is my great treasure. At present I read each night, sitting up in bed, going through the whole Bible over and over again, comparing texts, underlining. I recommend that to anyone who would like to do it.

I can really say that from morning to morning the Lord “makes my ear alert to listen like a disciple” and “has given me a disciple’s tongue” to communicate his Word (Cf. Isaiah 50:4-5).

Margarita Hurtado rscj
Province of Chile