The sole Augustinian Recollect community in the island is to be found at the geographic center of Cuba, halfway between Santiago and La Habana, two places to be visited by Benedict XVI. This religious community belongs to the Missionary Augustinian Recollects (MAR), a congregation founded in 1930 by the Recollect missionaries in China. To this day, the MAR are present in 11 countries. They arrived in Cuba in 1991 and settled in the city of Moron, northern coast of the island, province of Ciego de Ávila.
Since then, they live side by side with the poor population, with the exception of few persons who work at the tourist sector of Cayo Guillermo and Cayo Coco. They are workers, whose monthly salary is around 18 dollars, which fails to meet the basic necessities, even if medicine and education are free.
Three sisters, two old-timers and one young sister form the community. Both Geralda and Esther Julia have been there for 21 years. Geralda, the superior of the community, is Brazilian; Esther Julia is Colombian. Amparo is Colombian as well and she has been in Morón for only two years.
Health Ministry, a priority for the MAR
One of their important activities, in which the three sisters are involved, is health ministry: they visit the sick and the old, they pray with them and their families, they bring them Holy Communion… Likewise, they take care of collecting medicine, which they would distribute at home afterwards.
Since the beginning, the MAR are totally integrated in the life and ministry of the diocese, and they made themselves available for the parish of Morón. Amparo is responsible for the catechesis at the diocesan level and biblical animation of the Word, and the three sisters collaborate in many pastoral activities organized by the parish. They specially take care of the catechesis both for infant and adult baptism. At the moment, they are preparing the baptism of a group of 15 adults and 38 children ranging from 1 to 14 years old.
And aside from parochial activities, they also direct the communities of three towns: Morón, Patria and Los Naranjos. They are responsible for the Christian and spiritual formation there, and they organize the celebration of the Word, when priests are lacking. They say that among these people, there is no knowledge of religion nor of Jesus Christ. There is ignorance, but also hunger for the Word of God and for a greater religious culture.”
Visit during the 400th anniversary of the Patroness of the Island
Giving communion to an old woman The visit of Benedict XVI takes place during a very special moment, when the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the Patroness of the Island, the Virgin of Charity, is commemorated. On this occasion, a Marian Jubilee Year was declared, which was preceded by a three-year preparation, in the course of which, the image of the Virgin of Charity, known as “Mambisa,” has travelled to all the provinces and territories of the Cuban nation.
From the response of the people, the Cuban episcopacy, in their manifesto dated March 1, bears witness: “The journey of the image of the Virgin has convoked and reunited millions of Cubans, who prayed, sang, cried and lived emotion-filled religious experiences. Some felt that their hidden or slumbering faith is renewed. Others made themselves close to Jesus for the first time through the Virgin. The members of the ecclesial communities received the image and celebrated joyfully the presence of our Mambisa in their lives.”
And the MAR sisters conclude with anticipation and fervent desire: “The Holy Father, with his presence and his words, will affirm and, at the same time, animate the feeling and attitude of Christian love, mercy, gratitude and reconciliation among the whole Cuban people. With these same sentiments, we desire to welcome him, as the motto of this Jubilee Year says, “To Jesus through Mary, Charity unites us.”