A visit full of hope
Four superior generals have visited the Marist Brothers’ communities in Cuba, Brothers Stratonique, Leonida, Sean and Emili. Each visit has responded to an historic moment with the different circumstances of the Institute and the Brothers in Cuba.
Our dear Br Emili Turú visited us from 7 to 14 December. We felt it has been a blessing for the Brothers of La Havana and Cienfuegos, full of hopeful joy. He was welcomed by the Brothers at the José Martí airport and travelled immediately to the city of Cienfuegos. The following day, he had the opportunity to take part in the festivity of the Immaculate Conception, patronal feast of the diocese where the Brothers offer our services. He joined the pastoral workers and our Bishop, Mons. Domingo Oropesa, at supper, Mass and the procession around the José Martí Park. He also visited some places of interest in the city of Cienfuegos and shared with the children and youth of our Marist youth centre.
In the city of La Havana, Br Emili visited the centres where the brothers exercise their pastoral ministry, greeted Cardinal Jaime Ortega, and toured significant places of the city. He also met with the coordinator of Religious Affairs of the Communist Party of Cuba.
Br Emili can surely communicate his own experience of life in Cuba, but for us the most important, the most significant thing was to have shared our life and mission with our superior general in a simple and brotherly way, in which personal encounter, daily life and lengthy after dinner conversations helped us drink deeply of the spirit of Champagnat.
Our time with Br Emili culminated in an intercommunity meeting held in La Havana, in the parish of Jesus, Mary and Joseph on Saturday 13 December. We were able to have the latest news of the Institute at first hand as a privileged time of communion with our congregation. In the evening, we celebrated a Eucharist during which our Br Mario renewed his vows as a Little Brother of Mary.
Thank you, Br Emili, for the opportunity of sharing life with your Brothers of Cuba, thank you for devoting a whole week of your tightly-packed agenda to us. Your presence among us inspires us to continue serving our Cuban Church with mysticism and asceticism, gratuity and efficacy, prophecy and wisdom, a sense of utopia and germination. Yes, may the few, the little and the insignificant inspire us to continue with the well-dressed apron in the style of Champagnat and so many of our Brothers who have preceded us in the faith in the Pearl of the Caribbean.
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Br Héctor Avalos