Allocution February 7, 2021

Por: Arzobispo de La Habana, cardenal Juan de la Caridad García

We thank all who make this radio, biblical, catechetical and prayeral broadcast possible. Today, Sunday, February 7, the fifth Sunday of the Ordinary Liturgical Time reads in all the Catholic churches of the world the Gospel according to St. Mark, chapter 1, verses 29 to 39.

(EVANGELIO)

All Bible scholars say that this text tells what Jesus did every day: He prayed. Prayer is present in all the great decisions and important events of the life of Jesus, who has said that it is necessary to pray always without fainting. He has inaugurated his mission at the baptism of John the Baptist and while in prayer he received the Holy Ghost. He does not immediately throw himself into preaching, but retreats into the wilderness to pray. Before choosing the twelve apostles, Jesus spent the night in prayer.

Luke tells us that Jesus took Peter, John, and James with him and went up to the mountain to pray. And as he prayed, his face changed his appearance and his clothes turned from a gleaming whiteness. These three apostles are present in the agonizing prayer of Jesus, in Gethsemane, when he dies of sadness and fear at the proximity of death. The next day, Good Friday, Jesus dies praying.

Prayer is not just any occupation in the life of Jesus, who has dedicated himself to the service of his brethren. The man who has lived on the watch of others has been someone who has not been overcome by activism, agitation, haste, dispersion, but has sought throughout his life silence and prayer, even when everyone was looking for him.

We ask ourselves: is my prayer like Jesus’s?

(CANTO)

Jesus preaches… Announce good news. A summary of Jesus’ preaching is found in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5, verses 1 through 12.

(EVANGELIO)

Good news for the sick of hospitals, of houses.

Good news for marriages that are in the “peak of the aura”; for abandoned and betrayed wives.

Good news for children without parents and lacking natural parental affection.

Good news for pregnant women who bear within themselves a blessed fruit, image of God.

Good news for inmates and their families.

Good news for the mothers of alcoholics, for young people and adolescents dominated by the idol of sexual debauchery.

Good news for those who heartbreakingly mourn the deaths of their relatives.

Good news for those who have an innate desire for God and want to approach that God they barely know, but willing to ask them to enjoy the life of that God.

God loves you. God has expressed his mercy to them and sends them missionaries, nuns, pastors, fathers. to manifest to them this immense love of God, who does not forget them or anyone else.

(CANTO)

Jesus heals bodies and souls; cast out demons possessed by the devil and evil. Heals Peter’s mother-in-law, many sick people. Heal lepers, paralytics, people with paralyzed hands. Heals the daughter of sirofenicia despised by the Israelites for being a foreigner, accompanies and restores health to the deaf, epileptic, blind… Resurrect Lazarus and Jairus’ daughter, expel Zacch paul’s evil, Matthew, the adulterer, the good thief. The Bible in James’ letter tells us how to treat the sick:

(EVANGELIO)

“The Pope, in his message to the sick, on World Day for the Sick, tells us: “The experience of the disease makes us feel our own vulnerability and, at the same time, the innate need of the other: Our status as a creature becomes even sharper and we evidently experience our dependence on God. Indeed, when we are sick, uncertainty, fear and sometimes dismay, take over the mind and heart, we find ourselves in a situation of helplessness, because our health does not depend on our abilities or that we are distressed

“In this regard, job’s biblical figure is emblematic. His wife and friends are not able to accompany him in his inconvenience, moreover, they accuse him by increasing in him loneliness and bewilderment. Job falls into a state of abandonment and misunderstanding. But precisely through this extreme fragility, rejecting all hypocrisy and choosing the path of sincerity with God and others, he makes his insistent cry to God, who in the end responds, opening a new horizon to him. It confirms that his suffering is not a condemnation or punishment, nor is it a state of remoteness from God or a sign of his indifference. Thus, from Job’s wounded and healed heart, this shocking statement springs to the Lord, which resonates with energy. ‘I knew you only by hearing, but now my eyes have seen you.'”

Closeness, in fact, is a very valuable balm, providing support and comfort to those who suffer in the disease. As Christians we live prosperity as an expression of the love of Jesus Christ, the Good Samaritan, who with compassion has become close to every human being wounded by sin. United to Him by the action of the Holy Ghost, we are called to be merciful to the sick, weak, and suffering. And we live this closeness not only in a personal way, but also in a communal way. Indeed, fraternal love in Christ generates a community capable of healing that abandons no one, which includes and welcomes above all the most fragile.

We pray for the sick of the Cathedral community: Dolores, Bertha, Alejandrina, Petra Rosa, Marta, Yolanda, Juan, Veronica, Sara, Ana, Josefina, Nadina, Gloria, Marina, Ricardo, Charity, Amelia, Katiuska, Lourdes, Mirtha Catalina, Barbarita, Charity, Beatrice, Francisco, Lucia, Lazarara, Ondina, Pedro, Sigfredo. Pray for them, St. Mary of Charity. Amen.

We pray for the sick of the Chapel Saint Catherine Labouré: Maria Caridad, Mercedes, Margarita, Mayra. In your hands, Lord, we place them.

We pray for the sick of the parish of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem: Juan, Silvia, Virtudes, Caridad, Carlos Manuel, Natalia, Rebekah, Amalia, Georgina, Hilda, Zayda, Cira, Haydee, Amelia, Sonia, Maria Caridad, Virginia, Elba Luisa, Mercedes, Teresita de Jesús, Josefina, Mirtha, Clarita, Margarita, Bernardo, Rosa, Adis. Saint Joseph, who was cared for by Our Lady and Jesus, cares for these sick.

Call 78624000 for the names of your sick people and we will place them next to the Sacrament where Jesus is sacramentd.

(CANTO)

On February 12th we celebrate the memory of Blessed José Olallo Valdés. 201 years ago, on Saturday, February 12, 1820, a child created in the image and likeness of God was born, delivered on Wednesday, March 15, 1820, at the Real Casa Cuna in San José in Havana, thus losing his parents who conceived him the best of his lives without knowing what they were doing. Not recognized by his relatives, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit recognized him as a son, giving him divine life through baptism on March 15. He felt Olallo Valdés such love of the people who treated him in the Cuna House as in the Charity House, that he found no other way than to multiply the love received. At the age of 15 he gave himself to God as the hospitable brother of St. John of God to serve children without parents like him, the sick, the poor, the dying, conflicting marriages, persecuted… In April 1835 he was in Santa Maria del Puerto del Príncipe, for 54 years in the service of his favorite brothers: those admitted to the hospital of San Juan de Dios. Surgeon, nurse, washerman, baker, catechist, prayer, epidemiologist, pastryman, winemaker, patriot next to the corpse of General Ignacio Agramonte, hospitable, accompanying his leper brother, advocate of the oppressed, instrument of peace in the midst of conflicts. Tell us, Blessed Olallo Valdés, how could you? Show us.

Blessed Father Olallo, who faced so many diseases and epidemics, pray for us now, that we may be healthy and sick, one heart and one soul. Amen.

We join spiritually with Christ singing, which is to pray spiritual communion twice.

(CANTO)

The blessing of God the Almighty Father, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit descend upon all of you, your family and friends, your sick and remain forever. Amen.

Below we offer in full the allocution of the Cardinal and Archbishop of Havana, Juan de la Caridad García.

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