Tag: Cuba

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Happy birthday, Momma Mary!

virgenToday is the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The celebration of this day has grown as my understanding of the faith has grown — a little bit at a time, more often than not in baby steps, and then, pow! Suddenly I got it.

from amerciancatholic.org:

 If Jesus is the perfect expression of God’s love, Mary is the foreshadowing of that love. If Jesus has brought the fullness of salvation, Mary is its dawning.

 

I’ve commemorated this day quite differently, mostly as  a cultural observance with other Cubans and Cuban-Americans celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, the patroness of Cuba. But like I said — I wasn’t quite grasping the immensity of Mary’s life in salvation history.

I’ve gone full circle, from having a child-like understanding of Mary as a mommy, to a deeper understanding of Mary as the spouse of the Holy Spirit, and the Mother of God. To call her, affectionately, Momma Mary, my mother, too.

This is significant for me this year because I am about to embark on a pilgrimage I never believed would happen. I will be going to Cuba next week, coinciding with Pope Francis’ trip. I will arrive in the province of Holguin and  pay a visit to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity.

It will be almost 50 years to the day I left Cuba as a child. To say I am in a whirlwind of emotions is an understatement. It will be a return to family. An opportunity to see places I’ve only heard about from my parents and grandparents. It will be … something I can’t begin to imagine. But whatever it is — I know I’m going to be received with open arms by the virgencita who longs to have all her children together.

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Thoughts on Cuba and My Conscience

Earlier this week, the Cuban embassy opened up in Washington, DC and an American embassy opened quietly in Havana, and the world went back to whatever it was that I was ignoring in the news cycle. Irresponsible? Maybe, but I didn’t want to hear about it — and certainly not from pundits with no skin in the game.

But Elizabeth Scalia invited me to share my thoughts on the renewed diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba, and frankly, I couldn’t say no. In fact, I delivered a blog post pretty quickly. It had been sitting on my heart for some time, and I’m grateful that she asked — if only for the catharsis that writing would give me. She graciously opened up her own blog, where I guest-posted the following. Here is the opening, but I do hope you’ll follow the link and read the whole piece:

When the news that Pope Francis had a hand in talks between the U.S. and Cuba came to light, I received an emoji of “Dead Fidel” on my phone: a bearded, military-cap-wearing, cigar-smoking, cross-eyed caricature of an aging dictator.

 

I laughed when I got it. And yet, I didn’t forward it, as I once might have. I was conflicted.

 

Conflicted. That about sums up the surge of emotions after this week’s opening of embassies, thus re-establishing diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Cuba.

 

I think it can be a good thing; I think little good can come of it.

 

Except, perhaps, the lifting of the embargo.

 

And I mistrust that, too.

 

See what I mean? I can’t commit to one view, because there’s more to this situation than an opportunity for trade and travel between the two countries. It’s not about vacationing on beautiful beaches. It’s not about a time capsule for car enthusiasts. It’s certainly not about Cuban cigars (and I know where I’d like to put a Cohiba the next time somebody asks me for one.)

[….]

Please read the rest at The Anchoress.

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A conversation with Liz Lantigua

I’m over at CatholicMom.com today with a review and interview with author Liz Lantigua and her new book, Mission Libertad.

Check it out, the review, and the book! It’s a great adventure that takes us on a wild mid-night escape from Cuba, and the adventure doesn’t stop there.

See what Liz has to say:

Imagine the risk a family like Luisito’s takes even before they decide to get on a raft and cross the Florida straights. They must find scraps to build their homemade raft in a country that lacks basic needs. They need a place to hide the raft. They need to be extremely secretive so they won’t end up in prison. They have to make sure they are not caught trying to reach the beach by the vigilant comite de barrio, the neighborhood watch committee, who informs the government on the neighbor’s whereabouts. Then the most difficult part, saying good bye to the relatives they are leaving behind if they trust them enough to divulge their secret.

Read the rest here.

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