On the night of my first Mass almost ten years ago, I
found a gift waiting for me in the church.
Bishop Roman had sent the pilgrim Virgin of Charity from the National
Shrine to accompany me as I offered the Eucharist for the first time. This image was to travel from parish to
parish throughout the Archdiocese that year on the occasion of the 100th
Anniversary of the founding of the Cuban Republic, but he sent it to my parish
first for the most important day of my life.
It is was a gift and an honor that I have never forgotten, for it was on
that Mother’s Day Eve that my mother and I placed a dozen roses at the feet of
our Blessed Mother in thanksgiving for my priesthood.
Last night, this same image of Our Lady of Charity visited
my parish up here in Broward as it travels around the Archdiocese this week so
that people can pray for the success of the Holy Father’s trip to Mexico and
Cuba in the coming days. We offered Mass
and said a rosary with her at our side.
As I was helping to carry her into the church, which is an honor I have
never had, I began to get emotional because here we were, Mary and me, reunited
once again after ten years of the two of us traveling like pilgrims around the
Archdiocese spreading the love and joy of her Son. I said during the homily that Mary is the
model of hope for each of us during this Lenten season, and as the Pope travels
to Cuba next week to visit her in her tiny shrine in El Cobre, he carries with
him the hopes and prayers of a people longing to be free. We prayed that the Holy Father’s message may
tear down walls, not political walls, although that may be a byproduct of the
freedom of Christ’s message, but the walls of many hearts who are closed off to
this liberating message of the Gospel. I
knelt before our Blessed Mother and asked her to protect the Pope, to inspire
him, and to let the Holy Spirit speak through him. Our Lady of Charity was found 400 years ago
after saving three young men from a storm.
May her people see her and the glorious face of her Son in the midst of
this storm, and may she lead her people to the calm waters of peace and
freedom.
