Vatican City, 6 September 2014 (VIS) –
On 8 September, the festivity of the Nativity of Mary, Cubans also
celebrate the feast day of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, the
patroness of the island. To commemorate the occasion, the Pope has
written a letter to the metropolitan archbishop of Santiago de Cuba,
Dionisio Guillermo Garcia Ibanez, president of the Conference of
Catholic Bishops of Cuba (C.O.O.C.), extensive extracts from which
are published below:
“Every time I read the Sacred
Scripture, in the passages that speak about Our Lady, three verbs
come to my attention. I would like to pause and look at these, with
the intention of inviting the pastors and faithful of Cuba to put
them into practice.
“The first is to rejoice. It was the
first word that the Angel Gabriel addressed to the Virgin: “Rejoice,
full of grace, the Lord is with you”. The life of those who have
discovered Jesus is full of an inner joy so great that nothing and
no-one can take it away. Christ gives his people the necessary
strength not to be sad or overwhelmed, thinking that their problems
have no solution. Supported by this truth, the Christian has no doubt
that what is done with love engenders a serene joy, the sister of the
hope that breaks down the barrier of fear and opens the doors to a
promising future. … How good it would be if all Cubans, especially
the young, could say: “I am a man of charity”; I live truly to
love, and not to be trapped in the vicious circle of an eye for an
eye, a tooth for a tooth. What joy there is in loving authentically,
in our daily actions, and not with plentiful but empty words that
amount to nothing”.
“The second verb is to rise. St. Luke
says that, with Jesus in her womb, Mary rose and promptly went to
help her kinswoman Elizabeth, who in her old age was about to become
a mother. She fulfilled God's will, making herself available to
anyone in need. She did not think of herself, but instead overcame
setbacks and gave herself to others. Victory belongs to those who
rise again and again, without giving up. If we imitate Mary, we
cannot do so while sitting down, merely complaining, or even at times
passing the buck to others rather than facing our own
responsibilities. … Mary was always with her people, especially the
least among them. She knew loneliness, poverty and exile, and learned
how to create fraternity and to make her home any place where
goodness grew. We implore her to give us a poor soul without pride, a
pure heart that sees God in the faces of the disadvantaged, and
unwavering patience that does not give up when faced with the
difficulties of life”.
“The third verb is to persevere.
Mary, who had experienced God's goodness, proclaimed the greatness He
had worked in her. … For this reason, she stood by her Son, when
everyone else had abandoned Him; she prayed without fail alongside
the apostles and other disciples, lest they lose their mind. ...We
too are called upon to continued in the love of God and to continue
loving our neighbours. In this world, in which eternal values are
discarded and everything is subject to change, in which a throwaway
mentality triumphs, and in which there is fear of lifelong
commitments, the Virgin encourages us to be men and women constantly
engaged in good work, who maintain their word, who are always
faithful”.
“Be joyful and share this with those
around you. Lift your heart and do not succumb to adversity, stay on
the path of good, tirelessly helping those who are oppressed by
sorrows and troubles. These are the important lessons Our Lady of
Charity of El Cobre teaches us, and which are useful to us now and in
the future”.
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