Some of you are familiar with the musical Man of Lamancha.
1. It is the story of Don Quixote, the weird character who jousts with windmills and envisions himself as a knight slaying dragons.
2. The most poignant part of the musical is his relationship with Aldonza.
3. She was a woman of immorality, the town prostitute, and to many, just human trash.
4. To Don Quixote, however, she was Dulcinea – a new name that means “Sweet One.”
5. The townspeople would howl with laughter when the crazy knight called her by so tender and flattering a name.
6. But he never relented. To him, she was always and only “Dulcinea.”
7. He loved her with a pure love that was unlike any she had ever known.
8. He refused to see her as others did.
9. Near the end of the musical, Don Quixote is dying; Aldonza is with him.
10. When he has taken his last breath, she begins to sing “The Impossible Dream.”
11. It is an inspiring song that dares the human spirit to dream, to soar, to achieve.
12. As the last note of the song fades away, someone shouts, “Aldonza!”
13. And the woman stands up and defiantly says, “My name is Dulcinea!”
14. She had been transformed by the kindly love of a would-be knight.
15. The woman utterly without self-respect had come to believe she was a lady – a lady who deserved to be treated with dignity.
Brothers and sisters, although we used to be “Aldonza,” God has declared that we are “Dulcinea.”