RELIGION

The Church of the first centuries greatly flourished from the witness and vitality of the early Christians, some of whom gave their lives and shed their blood like Christ. The Church of our time and place will be fruitful if each one of us intends to be Christians and witnesses of Christ to the last consequences, as was James, as were so many apostles and martyrs throughout history. Giving life, so that others may have life … tremendous challenge that, with Christ by our side, is attractive and achievable.

In recent days, the gestures of solidarity that many people have expressed towards the people of Matanzas move to tears. It is known that these actions multiply. It is about that genetic solidarity that accompanies us and that does not need slogans or ideologies to be present when it is most needed. To speak of initiatives of this type, the example of the one promoted by the Daughters of Charity can illustrate the response of the many Havanans who have known how to share what little they have. Many have even decided to keep little or nothing to give more, to share and help.

This July 19 we said goodbye to a man with many defects, who made mistakes during his life, but who, like all the saints we know, had more than good works and good decisions. From Bishop Siro we inherit his firmness and courage, his testimony of dedication and commitment to God; But above all he taught us love for Cuba, like the land where we are born and which we have to love if we say we love God, and he taught us to love the Church, to feel with her, to defend her from the storms; she is us; and as children and members of her, we have to take care of her and each one of us assume the responsibility that we have with her, without expecting others to do our part.

Her body defeated by covid-19, buried in a friend’s vault, in a grassy cemetery and without sidewalks, María Teresa Varela Suárez (Mayte), Sister of Jesus, has been the living image of poverty. However, the person who writes these lines assures us, “his tunic has not been stained nor has his foot been injured”, because his faith and his brotherhood with Jesus remained intact despite the fear he felt when he entered Intensive Therapy, or of the difficult moments that his previous life had: that faith and that brotherhood are “the foot” and “the robe” of which the sacred author speaks, keeping them is the true protection that God offers to those who decide to accept his friendship or fulfill his mandates, said in biblical language. “Mayte helped me understand that life is precisely the rugged path to the Light, with the shadow behind you: those shadows of envy, resentment, fear or oppression. As if that were not enough, she helped me bear the consequences of walking towards that Light in Cuba ”.

When the apostles return, happy with the mission held, Jesus invites them to go to a quiet place to rest. In its Sunday Aocution, Cardinal Juan de la Charity García, Archbishop of Havana, reminds us that a quiet place to rest can be our house, the place where we spend the greatest time of our lives and where the greatest richness of our Existence: the love of our parents, husbands, grandparents, brothers, grandchildren and other relatives. “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, who lived in Nazareth in a palace of love, peace and concord, pray for our families to always live in a quiet and full place.”

They are also pastors of society, all those who have publicly assumed a charge that implies dedication and service, people who, from their responsibility, lead the destinies of the peoples, societies, and not only from the Church. God complains about the negligence, poor work, of delays, of the ill will, of the selfish and irreflexive attitude of who he only thinks of his own good, who prefers to close his eyes and look elsewhere against suffering alien . Today Christ behaves for the crowds who are without course because the pastors of him have abandoned them. He will never leave us alone. Our crosses are the cross of it; Our deaths are the death of it; Our hopes of a better life light up from the light and the joy of the resurrection of it, which is victory of good about evil, of love on hatred, of life on death.

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.