Remembering Sofia

	Today we are gathered to mourn the loss of a life. A life lived in a way that touched all of us in different ways. I am sure that in the past few days, we have all been looking back at our time with Sofia, cherishing the beautiful moments, regretting the not-so-beautiful moments, and wishing that we could have just one more moment, beautiful or not. Maybe some of us are angry, angry at the universe for allowing the concept of death. Death that strips us of our loved ones. Death that ruthlessly strips our loved ones of their breath. I think that to begin to heal, to even begin to rightfully honor Sofia today, we must forgive death for its actions. It is not something that we can fear or hate. It is something, I think, we need to respect. Right along with our respect for the beauty of life, we must respect the loss of death. It is superficial and inauthentic to lose sight of the facts of life and simply focus on what looks and sounds pretty. Death is not a beautiful thing, but it is important and necessary. It should be used as motivation to be who you want to be, and that is beautiful. (“Meet the nun who wants you to remember who wants you to remember you will die” by Ruth Graham – Moreau FYE Week Three). Sofia embodied this motivation, and today, we are not only mourning her loss, but celebrating her life. 
	I am sure that if you think back to your experiences knowing Sofia, you would say she was a happy person. She was full of life and kind and not only always asked you how you were doing, but really cared about your answer. But Sofia wasn’t a happy person, or that is, she was not always happy. No one is. She struggled with herself, with remaining hopeful and composed when things got hard. “Happiness changes from moment to moment, day to day. Joy, on the other hand, is much deeper and more central, it comes from within, and it’s a genuine rightness of how one lives one’s life”. Sofia was a joyful person, with no exceptions. Happiness is a fragile construct of time and place, while joy is something constant. And her joy inspired her from behind the negativity. (“Three Key Questions” from Father Michael Himes – Moreau FYE Week Three). It is through her joyful nature that Sofia was able to live life in the way she did, and touch your lives in such a profound way.
	There is no denying that Sofia was someone to look up to. She put countless years into her education, becoming well respected in her field of neurosurgery, but more importantly, she put work into herself to become the woman she wanted to be. I remember a conversation I had many, many years back with Sofia. Her insight took me by surprise, and her words will stick with me forever. She was studying for her MCAT, extremely stressed, and we went to get coffee as a study break. Sofia got quiet, seemingly pondering her words, and said: “It’s easy to feel as if we’re standing two inches away from a huge canvas that’s noisy and crowded and changing with every microsecond. It’s only by stepping farther back and standing still that we can begin to see what that canvas (which is our life) really means, and to take in the larger picture”. (“Why we need to slow down our lives” by Pico Iyer – Moreau FYE Week One). A lot of Sofia’s life was stressful. I mean, she did surgery on brains. And it took Sofia a while to learn how to manage this stress. The more you need to do, the less time you feel allowed to provide for your mental health. And it is in that moment that it is more important than ever that you need to create a positive mindset. In every moment of growth in her life, Sofia took a step further back from the canvas, recognizing the insignificance of seemingly life-shattering events, and understanding her role in this world.
	If we were to define Sofia, all of us in this room would be a part of that definition. All of the people she passed on the street and smiled at would be a part of that definition, but not in the way that we would be. We would not only be the words that make up the definition, but the meaning derived from it. If there was anything that made Sofia live her life in the way she did, it was for those around her. Living a good life involves surrounding yourself with others, having meaningful interactions and encounters that fill us up with belonging. (“Why the only future worth building includes everyone” by Pope Francis – Moreau FYE Week 7). This is what Sofia did. She made personal connections with each and every one of us. She hated surface level relationships, and made deep ones with those that she felt were worth it. But it is important to realize that Sofia filled herself up with belonging not only through us, who her memory will live on through, but also through herself. It was a journey to get there, given the amount of herself she put in others, but it was in her travels that she became one with herself and learned how to be satisfied by her solidarity. Her travels around the world, Europe and Asia, the countries she has family in – the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico – were full of people. Of culture. Of new and flourishing relationships. But the only constant in her travels was herself. In my opinion, this is what shaped Sofia into who we remember her as today. A beautiful, inspiring person who will be missed. It is a beautiful thing to be missed. It is a beautiful thing to remember such an incredible life. It is a beautiful thing to have known Sofia.