March 31, 1997

FROM CUBA

HOLY WEEK IN CUBA: THE PEOPLE CARRYING THEIR CROSS TO CALVARY

By Obet Matos Rodriguez, Baptist Pastor from the Union of Christians for Dignity, and contributor from the Buro de Prensa Independiente de Cuba

HAVANA, March 28 (BPIC).

- Many scenes from Holy Week are re-enacted here today. Undoubtedly, we are facing difficult times. Economists speak with intelligent words looking for a solution. We look at tomorrow with fear and in a bad mood. Our misfortune overwhelms us, and its heaviness outweighs our strength. It's the people carrying their cross to Calvary.

There are victims and executioners. There are improvised judges and defendants; abuses and loud calls for retaliation. There are indifferent stares, and water to wash your hands with, as if conscience could be washed up that easily. There are children who cry because they lack everything. It's the people carrying their cross to Calvary.

There are Pilates, cold and calculating, who look with arrogance after their selfish interests. There are drunken Herods who label as crazy, and crucify those who become redemptors. There are Caiphases dressed in sacred clothing who call upon the name of a God in whom they don't believe. There are those who laugh at the pained Cuban people, who carry a heavy cross on their backs. It's the people carrying their cross to Calvary.

There are mothers who are scared, because they have nothing to give their children to eat. But there are also men and women who come nearer with slow footsteps and a serious gaze, and help their brother carry the cross, relieving his pain and cleaning his bleeding face. There are good people who come nearer to the cross, and parents who stay and hold their dying offspring. It's the people carrying their cross to Calvary.

It's as if the entire Cuban society participated in a Passion play. It is the penalty of a simple people, who love, suffer and hope. But the cross is not the last word from God. After it is the Resurrection. Yes, today's Passion is only the painful childbirth of a better society, because after a long night there always is the dawn of a day full of hope.

Translated for CubaNet by Lorenzo Rodriguez