Pope Francis tells Cuban faithful that victory comes to those who don’t get discouraged

Posted on Monday, 09.08.14

Pope Francis tells Cuban faithful that victory comes to those who don't
get discouraged
The pope sends a powerful message to Cuba on the feast day of our Lady
of Charity of El Cobre, patroness of Cuba.
BY MIMI WHITEFIELD
MWHITEFIELD@MIAMIHERALD.COM

Pope Francis delivered a powerful message of hope and perseverance to
the Cuban faithful Monday on the feast day of Our Lady of Charity of El
Cobre, Cuba's patron saint.

Some saw a veiled political message in the pope's call for Cuban
Catholics to take to heart the lessons of the Virgin Mary and arise.
"The victory is for those who arise again and again without being
discouraged," the pope wrote in a letter sent to Santiago Archbishop
Dionisio García Ibáñez, who is also president of the Catholic Bishops
Conference of Cuba.

Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, known affectionately as La Cachita, has
a special place in the hearts of Cubans both on the island and abroad.

Across Cuba, thousands of people took part in religious processions
Monday and in Coral Gables, thousands attended a Mass celebrated by
Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski, who was joined by local priests as well
as visiting Cardinal Raymundo Damasceno Assis of Aparecida, Brazil.

Veneration of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre dates from 1612 when three
Cuban salt collectors found a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary bobbing
in the Bay of Nipe after a violent storm. Neither the statue, which was
attached to a plank that read "I am the Virgin of Charity," nor her
clothing were wet. The 15-inch statue is now ensconced in a church on a
hill overlooking the copper mining town of El Cobre, about 12 miles from
Santiago.

In the letter, Francis noted that when Mary was pregnant with Jesus, she
still took care of her aging cousin Elizabeth and whoever else needed her.

"She did not think of herself; she overcame all setbacks and gave of
herself to others," Pope Francis said. "If we imitate Mary, we cannot
just do nothing and merely complain, or perhaps pass the buck on to
others for something that is our responsibility."

Andy Gomez, a Cuba analyst who took part in a 2012 pilgrimage to Cuba
when Pope Benedict XVI visited for the 400th anniversary of the
discovery of the Our Lady of Charity statue, found the pope's sentiments
not only beautiful but "probably the most powerful message sent by a
pope since the start of the revolution.

"It's clearly a message that the pope cares very deeply about the Cuban
people and is asking them to arise — not in the sense of a revolt — but
to ask for freedom and change in a peaceful way," he said.

Gomez said that should have been the message of Benedict when he visited
Cuba.

"I have no doubt this letter will be read if not today, then next
Sunday, in every Catholic Church in Cuba," said Gomez. "I view it as
asking for a rebirth of the nation."

Msgr. Terence Hogan, dean of theology at St. Thomas University, said he
viewed the letter as a powerful spiritual message of encouragement.

The pope, he said, was "looking toward a future when there is a unity of
all those in Cuba and those in exile based on the principles of love and
freedom. No matter what the political situation is in Cuba, the pope's
message encourages a spiritual understanding of the dignity of each
person's life."

The message comes at a time when the Cuban people are searching for
answers, the economy is sluggish and the repression of human rights
activists and dissidents continues.

"The agony that the Cuban people suffer is well known," Wenski said.
"One doesn't have to be Cuban to realize that. It's enough to be human."

In the letter, the pope highlights three words: Rejoice, arise and
persevere. Wenski urged those at the Mass to put those words into practice.

"How beautiful it would be if all Cubans, especially the young, could
say the same: 'I am a man or woman of charity. I live to truly love, and
thus could not be trapped in the toxic spiral of an eye for an eye,
tooth for a tooth,' " the pope said.

Francis also noted that Mary persevered by staying with her son when
others had abandoned him and asked the faithful to emulate that
perseverance.

"Lift up your heart and do not succumb in the face of adversities,
persevere in the way of good: tirelessly helping those oppressed by
sorrows and afflictions," the pope wrote. "These are the important
lessons taught to us by Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, useful both for
today and tomorrow."

This year, for the first time on the feast of the patroness of Cuba, a
replica of the statue found four centuries ago sits in a quiet corner of
the Vatican Gardens in front of an ivy-covered wall. The small stone
statue was brought to the Vatican in 2008 and blessed by Benedict. Last
month, it was enthroned in the garden.

"Its presence constitutes a moving reminder of the affection and
vitality of the pilgrim Church of those luminous lands of the Caribbean,
which for more than four centuries, has addressed the Mother of God with
that beautiful title," Francis wrote.

Not only is the feast of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre a special day
for the faithful in Cuba, it's also cause for celebration among Cuban
Catholics in South Florida who flock to La Ermita, the National Shrine
of Our Lady of Charity, in Coconut Grove.

But the feast day Mass was celebrated at the much larger BankUnited
Center. A replica of the virgin statue that was smuggled out of Cuba in
a suitcase in 1961 and is usually at La Ermita, made the journey for the
Mass.

"In particular let us pray for Cubans who have been exiles and had to
leave their homeland, accompanied by the Virgin Mary Our Lady of Charity
of El Cobre, whom we venerate today, and have come to Miami and the
entire United States," the Rev. Peter Baldacchino, auxiliary bishop of
Miami, said in his homily. "Also let us pray for all the Cuban people in
Cuba and around the world."

Miami Herald staff writer Matias Ocner contributed to this report.

Source: Pope Francis tells Cuban faithful that victory comes to those
who don't get discouraged - Americas - MiamiHerald.com -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/09/08/4335993/pope-francis-tells-cuban-faithful.html