Magazine Archives

The days of confinement led a woman, mother, wife, poet and novelist to create with their hands a Tree of Life to celebrate, in the midst of chaos, an action of worship of the created by God. When Yasmín Sierra Montes felt anguish, he would go to his tree and place something created by God and say, “If God created this world he will never destroy it. I must put your work on hold.”

On this occasion, the text of the series that we have published for a few days, at the request of our protagonist, presents it as an interview. A Cuban responds, from head to toe; a Catholic, the same, from the beginning and until it ends; proud of his land and his ecclesial community in that archdiocese. His greatest fortune on earth is the large family he has constituted, the parents he had… For five years now, this Cuban Catholic has emigrated to the United States. At this stage of pandemic, Osvaldo Gallardo González has understood as never before his own fragility and that of others. However, when he has reached the top of bewilderment, he has found God and the certainty of his will.

Recent times have uncovered the exercise of opinion, especially on social media. And there’s everything, like in apothecary. For example, when a Cuban issue is addressed, especially when critical points are made, some react with the old and useless dogma that the critic is an enemy, a mercenary. Some come to the terrible proposal that “should go away”, as if the simple geographical terrain where we live, is a kind of club exclusive to a card, a party or a political trend. Nothing makes us more human than the diversity of expressions, tastes, ideas and views. But respect for the other, the ability to hear and learn from the opinion of others, even those we do not share, makes us wiser.

Upon the arrival of the Covid-19 in Cuba and the obligatory social isolation, Orlando Fernández Guerra, permanent deacon of the Archdiocese of Havana, found on social media the ideal space to continue sharing Scripture. It was then that he decided to create on WhatsApp the group “Friends of the Bible”, a space that brings together many Lay Catholics, evangelical faithful and pastors from different congregations, including agnostics interested in a spiritual message and Hope for these times.

Havana returned to the indigenous transmission phase and many wonder what will happen from now on? By dawn on Monday, on central Monte Street and other Habaneras arteries nothing had changed. While it is true that the capitals were pushed and stumbled upon, it is also wise to rectify, we are now at that point.

Cuban narrator Lázaro Zamora gets up every day thinking about when he will start giving up the pandemic, whether he will ever disappear. So far he has not been able to find answers; neither do scientists. Still, he says, “I want to be optimistic, to think that finally this nightmare will pass and life will be back to the way it was.”