Year: 2021

En su alocución dominical el cardenal Juan de la Caridad García, arzobispo de La Habana, nos recuerda que Dios regala los dones como tarea. “Jesucristo, quien nos invita a establecer su Reino de amor en medio de nuestras familias, iglesias y pueblos, nos envía a proclamar su evangelio de amor, paz, concordia”. Con nuestra misión, Él quiere que arranquemos el mal que nos impide ser amigos y el odio que no nos deja ser felices. Quiere que recemos por los enfermos y por quienes los cuidan, les hagamos llegar la buena noticia de que Él mismo los ama. “El Señor Jesús nos envía sólo con la Fe, la Esperanza y la Caridad y desea que les dejemos el consuelo, la paz, la fortaleza de la Palabra de Dios, y cuando se pueda, las bendiciones de los enfermos, las bendiciones de los sacramentos y la bendición de la penitencia y la eucaristía”.

Solo confiados y apoyados en el poder de Dios, solo desde la verdad del Evangelio, solo desde la humildad y la paciencia, solo desde la pobreza y la escasez de medios y recursos, quedará patente y manifiesto que es Jesús quien nos envía y actúa a través de nosotros, que es Él quien libera y da su gracia a quienes desde toda la eternidad mira con amor.

Havana without María Jesús would lose something of its “real and wonderful” being. Without people like her we lose the charm, the tenderness, the hope. Perhaps the “greatness” of her is precisely to cultivate simplicity, to serve as the most natural thing in the world, to let the affection come out for those gestures of hers “so Navarrese”, and that we all, once known, yearn for. On February 10, 1947, when the trips were one way but not back, she set sail for Havana, where she came to stay. Seventy-four years have witnessed the “Cuban” love that María Jesús has been developing in her heart, translating it into concrete gestures of welcome, closeness, openness to integrate cultural diversity, a different climate, the ups and downs of history.

With the pandemic and the emergency situation in Cuba due to the lack of food, medicine and many other basic necessities, people who previously did not knock on the door of the San Egidio headquarters in Havana, today they do. They are, fundamentally, elderly, who join the group of friends who live on the street and are usually cared for by the Community. Some are retired doctors, teachers, and they are ashamed to ask for food, but the members of this great Catholic family know how to help them and not feel uncomfortable. This has been a difficult period for everyone, but for the elderly and people who live on the streets much more so.

“It happens to many prophets that they ignore them, they make fun of them, they turn their backs on him. Many preachers of the Gospel are rejected ”. With this affirmation, Cardinal Juan de la Caridad García, in his Sunday address, evoked not only Jesus, who despite disbelief and lack of faith, preached the kingdom of God even nailed to the cross, but also remembered many fathers, mothers, grandparents, who teach good, honesty and getting along with siblings. He recognized all of them as prophets who persevered despite disinterest in his words.

God invites us to announce his love and mercy. He also pushes us not to remain silent in the face of lies and falsehoods, injustices and abuses, and so many personal or social contradictions. Being a prophet in our time means living in the truth and being consistent with the Gospel. Fidelity to God and to his Church implies assuming the risk of rejection, persecution, mockery, misinterpretation, even the sacrifice of one’s life. All this has already been lived and suffered by Jesus Christ, the Master, the Prophet of the Father. Living it and suffering it is an undeserved honor that God grants us, because in this way we become more and better like his Son Jesus Christ, who voluntarily offered his life on the Cross for the salvation of the world.