“A word that springs from the pastoral heart”

Holguin, 21 August 2018

Dear priests, deaconos, religious and members of the diocese’s communities:

I convey my greeting to you in the same words with which the Apostle did it at the beginning of his Letter to the Ephesians: “To you, grace and peace on the part of God our Father and Jesus Christ, the Lord” (Eph 1:2).
This greeting includes a desire for grace and peace, but not of peace that is defined as “absence of war”, but inner peace (the one experienced deep in the heart), which is offered only by Jesus Christ. Let us remember that He said, “My peace I leave you, my peace I give you. A peace that the world cannot give them. Do not be uneasy or afraid” (Jn 14:27).
The reason that motivates these lines is to offer you a word that springs from the pastoral heart and which, I believe, I must express it with simplicity and serenity of spirit, especially to illuminate – from the Gospel and the Magisterium of the Church – this moment when, as Cuban citizens, we are consulted in relation to the text of the Draft Constitution of our homeland. In later days, I look forward to rewriting you to discuss other topics that need to be thought out and prayed from Christian ethics and the teachings of the Church’s Social Doctrine.
On this occasion, I share some criteria that can support a serene, free and voluntary participation, which take away from us any attitude of fear, apathy or indifference in order, in this way, to provide our sincere contribution with the desire to move forward in the construction of a homeland that, repeating what José Martí expressed, is “with all, and for the good of all”.
I merely make two references: one to remember a basic principle of the nature of the Church and another related to our participation in the process of study, exchange and opinion on the Draft Constitution of the Republic of Cuba.

1. Nature and mission of the Church
The Cuban Bishops, on September 8, 2003, we directed them a Theological-Pastoral Instruction entitled “The social presence of the Church”. In paragraph 23, we read: “Jesus entrusted to the Church the mission of proclaiming the Gospel. She must preach in time and time to Jesus Christ, enabling all men to meet Him to partake of their divine life and come to salvation. This life is born of the Love of God that Christ places in the hearts of Christians, who can thus commit the way to the coming of the Kingdom of God: Kingdom of truth and life, holiness, grace, justice, love and peace”.
In this quotation is synthesized the truth of the nature and mission of the Catholic Church and of each and every one of us, according to our own vocation, aware that everything we do as children of this Church, cannot lose sight of its essence that arises from the Mystery of the Love of a God who gave to his Son , “becoming obedient to death, and death on the cross” (Phil 2:8).
The death and resurrection of Christ are fruits of fidelity to what He announced and lived, and they must be the inspiration for the life of the Church as the Holy People of God, called to assume the realities that it is for Him to change from its structures and roots. Everything must be transformed by the grace of Christ and, as the fruit of his own vocation, each layman is called to be, before the world, a witness of the resurrection and life of the Lord Jesus and a sign of the living God: “What the soul is in the body, that must be Christians in the world.”1

2. The future Constitution is called to be part of the “common good” of our people
Dear Brothers, I have often had the experience that, because we live in such an ideological environment, we find it difficult to exchange on political issues. We drag prejudices, predispositions and even painful experiences that have marked and influence many of us and, in some, generates and justifies a withdrawal posture waiting for someone else to say or do. To this it should be added that, not always, people have the necessary preparation for understanding the legislative texts and analyzing the opinions that are necessary in this case.
I quote Pope Benedict XVI in his homily in Aparecida on 13 May 2007: “Evangelization has always been linked to human promotion and authentic Christian liberation […] for this reason, social catechesis and adequate formation in the Social Doctrine of the Church will also be necessary. […] Christian life is expressed not only in personal virtues, but also in social and political virtues.”
Therefore, we understand well what social and political virtues are when we wonder what affects us and try to seek common solutions, even when we discern from our experience of faith how to react and act, we are entering politics, since the “polis” (city) is the public sphere where the interests of all citizens are articulated as a social whole , the space for the development of freedom among human beings in order to achieve the common good. To deepen this teaching, I invite you to read and exchange Chapter IV of the Constitution Gozo y Esperanza (Gaudium et Spes) of the Second Vatican Council.
Understood in this way, the Church plays from her nature and mission, an inescapable role with her public presence, for by the “incarnation of the Son of God has been somewhat united with all man” (GS 22). The Gospel and the Social Doctrine of the Church illuminate the “high politics” and the exercise of political power, respecting the just autonomy of that area.
Finally, I encourage you, next Thursday 30, to begin the Ninth Preparatory to the Feast of the Virgin of Charity of Copper, as Mother of Cubans. How good it would be if, in all the communities and houses where they come together to share prayer, reading the Word of God and the teachings of Pope Francis, let us not forget to ask Our Lady to help us live from our ecclesial identity, the responsibility to contribute to the common good of our people, as citizens and as members of the believing people , concerned about cuba’s future.
Wishing them a good week, I bless you with all my heart, Ω

+ Emilio Aranguren Echeverría
Bishop of Holguin
President of the Conference
Catholic Bishops of Cuba (COCC)
Holguin, 21 August 2018

Dear priests, deaconos, religious
and members of the diocese’s communities:

I convey my greeting to you in the same words with which the Apostle did it at the beginning of his Letter to the Ephesians: “To you, grace and peace on the part of God our Father and Jesus Christ, the Lord” (Eph 1:2).

This greeting includes a desire for grace and peace, but not of peace that is defined as “absence of war”, but inner peace (the one experienced deep in the heart), which is offered only by Jesus Christ. Let us remember that He said, “My peace I leave you, my peace I give you. A peace that the world cannot give them. Do not be uneasy or afraid” (Jn 14:27).
The reason that motivates these lines is to offer you a word that springs from the pastoral heart and which, I believe, I must express it with simplicity and serenity of spirit, especially to illuminate – from the Gospel and the Magisterium of the Church – this moment when, as Cuban citizens, we are consulted in relation to the text of the Draft Constitution of our homeland. In later days, I look forward to rewriting you to discuss other topics that need to be thought out and prayed from Christian ethics and the teachings of the Church’s Social Doctrine.
On this occasion, I share some criteria that can support a serene, free and voluntary participation, which take away from us any attitude of fear, apathy or indifference in order, in this way, to provide our sincere contribution with the desire to move forward in the construction of a homeland that, repeating what José Martí expressed, is “with all, and for the good of all”.
I merely make two references: one to remember a basic principle of the nature of the Church and another related to our participation in the process of study, exchange and opinion on the Draft Constitution of the Republic of Cuba.

1. Nature and mission of the Church
The Cuban Bishops, on September 8, 2003, we directed them a Theological-Pastoral Instruction entitled “The social presence of the Church”. In paragraph 23, we read: “Jesus entrusted to the Church the mission of proclaiming the Gospel. She must preach in time and time to Jesus Christ, enabling all men to meet Him to partake of their divine life and come to salvation. This life is born of the Love of God that Christ places in the hearts of Christians, who can thus commit the way to the coming of the Kingdom of God: Kingdom of truth and life, holiness, grace, justice, love and peace”.
In this quotation is synthesized the truth of the nature and mission of the Catholic Church and of each and every one of us, according to our own vocation, aware that everything we do as children of this Church, cannot lose sight of its essence that arises from the Mystery of the Love of a God who gave to his Son , “becoming obedient to death, and death on the cross” (Phil 2:8).
The death and resurrection of Christ are fruits of fidelity to what He announced and lived, and they must be the inspiration for the life of the Church as the Holy People of God, called to assume the realities that it is for Him to change from its structures and roots. Everything must be transformed by the grace of Christ and, as the fruit of his own vocation, each layman is called to be, before the world, a witness of the resurrection and life of the Lord Jesus and a sign of the living God: “What the soul is in the body, that must be Christians in the world.”1

2. The future Constitution is called to be part of the “common good” of our people
Dear Brothers, I have often had the experience that, because we live in such an ideological environment, we find it difficult to exchange on political issues. We drag prejudices, predispositions and even painful experiences that have marked and influence many of us and, in some, generates and justifies a withdrawal posture waiting for someone else to say or do. To this it should be added that, not always, people have the necessary preparation for understanding the legislative texts and analyzing the opinions that are necessary in this case.
I quote Pope Benedict XVI in his homily in Aparecida on 13 May 2007: “Evangelization has always been linked to human promotion and authentic Christian liberation […] for this reason, social catechesis and adequate formation in the Social Doctrine of the Church will also be necessary. […] Christian life is expressed not only in personal virtues, but also in social and political virtues.”

Therefore, we understand well what social and political virtues are when we wonder what affects us and try to seek common solutions, even when we discern from our experience of faith how to react and act, we are entering politics, since the “polis” (city) is the public sphere where the interests of all citizens are articulated as a social whole , the space for the development of freedom among human beings in order to achieve the common good. To deepen this teaching, I invite you to read and exchange Chapter IV of the Constitution Gozo y Esperanza (Gaudium et Spes) of the Second Vatican Council.
Understood in this way, the Church plays from her nature and mission, an inescapable role with her public presence, for by the “incarnation of the Son of God has been somewhat united with all man” (GS 22). The Gospel and the Social Doctrine of the Church illuminate the “high politics” and the exercise of political power, respecting the just autonomy of that area.
Finally, I encourage you, next Thursday 30, to begin the Ninth Preparatory to the Feast of the Virgin of Charity of Copper, as Mother of Cubans. How good it would be if, in all the communities and houses where they come together to share prayer, reading the Word of God and the teachings of Pope Francis, let us not forget to ask Our Lady to help us live from our ecclesial identity, the responsibility to contribute to the common good of our people, as citizens and as members of the believing people , concerned about cuba’s future.
Wishing them a good week, I bless you with all my heart, Ω

+ Emilio Aranguren Echeverría
Bishop of Holguin
President of the Conference
Catholic Bishops of Cuba (COCC)

Note
1 Letter to Diognetus, 6.

Note
1 Letter to Diognetus, 6.