Alicia Marill inspired so many

I’m writing to note the recent passing of a great Miamian, Alicia Marill.

She was one of those exceptional individuals who chose to build bridges between the nations that make up our community. She was many things all in one: teacher, scholar, activist, visionary. She had been a professor in the Department of Theology and Philosophy at Barry University for over 20 years and was the founder of Amor en Acción (Love in Action), a Catholic missionary group that, against all odds, has consistently served poor communities in the Caribbean and beyond.

The symbol of Amor en Acción is a heart, and Alicia was all heart. She had so much love to give that even the chronic physical ailments that she suffered for years could not stop her devotion to doing God’s work.

The hundreds who gathered at Saint Dominic’s Church in Miami on Feb. 5 to honor her legacy came from a multitude of nations and walks of life. I had the blessing of encountering her as a student at Immaculata-La Salle High School High School in Miami, where she was a multifaceted theology teacher.

Alicia counseled me toward the sacraments of First Communion and Confirmation. I learned from her knowledge, her moral decisions and commitments. As a deeply conscientious exile, she harbored a deep love for the Cuban land she could not return to. She refused to give up hope for its liberation, but she didn’t petrify that love.

Instead, she magnified it into a systematic plan of devotion to the poor communities of Haiti, the Dominican Republic and beyond, flying missions of her high school and college students for weeks of social work with the downtrodden.

As her casket was moved out of the church, applause timidly began among us and then grew to a thunderous ovation. We recognized Alicia’s victory over the world in loving service to Christ.

– Orlando Gutierrez Boronat,

Miami