Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our death.
So ends the prayer known as the “Hail Mary” or “Ave Maria”, which has been recited by billions of Catholics countless times over the centuries.
Yes, we ask Mary to “pray for us sinners.”
We all need forgiveness. All of us are capable of breaking every commandment constantly, and of doing so enthusiastically.
No human being is pure or sinless. That is the very essence of the Christian message. We all fail, constantly, and need forgiveness constantly. Only Jesus Christ was sinless, though he was as sorely tempted as all of us.
What was my worst sin today?
Not finding the time to phone my brother at his nursing home in Illinois? Spending more time on my work than on my family? Cursing at the colleges that rejected my youngest son, and calling their admissions wizards “bastards” and “cabrones”? Not answering about a dozen emails I couldn’t deal with?
I don’t know. But I do know this: I harbored genuine hatred in my heart today for the current occupant of the White House and for those who not only allowed him to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity in Miami, but escorted him and gave him the opportunity to pose for photographs and to pretend that he really cares about Cuba and Cubans.
Time to be honest: that hatred is real, it’s deep, it’s white-hot, and it’s burning me up, turning me into a hellish, jagged lump of coal.
My faith requires me to forgive and to turn the other cheek when I’m slapped around.
Today, I just don’t feel like doing what is required of me. Instead, I feel like screaming at the top of my lungs at the current occupant of the White House and at all those who allowed him to profane the sacred space of the most important Cuban shrine in the United States.
Was the White House Hypocrite-in-Chief really there at that shrine to show his respect for Cuban exiles, or to honor us? No, of course not. He hates most of us. And he has proven this time and time again.
He was there to flaunt his hypocrisy, and to lend a phony aura of sacredness to his profound contempt for human rights in general and for Cubans in particular.
No one who has shaken hands with Raul Castro and promised to uphold his dictatorship should walk through the doors of that shrine unless he or she is ready to beg for forgiveness from God and from all Cubans.
Someone who constantly finds fault with Christians and their religion has no right to be there either, unless he or she is ready to kneel out of shame and regret.
And no one in that shrine should have aided and abetted the shameful display of utter hypocrisy that unfolded today in front of the cameras.
Of course, a great number of people will be easily fooled by this ghoulish carnival trick, so this stunt will actually pay off, at least on this side of eternity.
Take a look at the spin placed on this event by two leading purveyors of information — down below.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Wisdom, Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.
Jesus Christ, Son of David, Love incarnate, expert on all temptations, have mercy on me, a sinner, do not abandon us, even when we abandon you.
The hate I feel is burning me up. Searing me. Incinerating my soul, my mind, my spirit, and my will. My anger is incandescent.
Rescue me, Jesus, Redeemer. Rescue us, Our Lady of Charity. Monstrosities such as this one are way too hard to forgive, and so are the individuals who make them possible.
From Granma Lite (Associated Press):
Obama visits shrine to honor Cuban Americans
President Barack Obama has visited a shrine in Miami to honor Cuban Americans.
The White House says Obama stopped at the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity on Thursday. He’s honoring the sacrifices Cuban Americans have made in pursuing liberty and recognizing their contributions to the U.S.
The president said “hola” to a group of worshippers as he arrived, and got a tour of the church.
The U.S. and Cuba are close to resolving issues that would allow both countries to re-open embassies for the first time since the U.S. severed diplomatic relations in 1961.
The president’s visit comes one day before a 45-day period expires for Congress to challenge Obama’s decision to take Cuba off a list of state sponsors of terrorism.
From Granma Euro-Lite (Reuters)
Obama visits Miami shrine in nod to Cuban Americans
President Barack Obama toured a Catholic shrine beloved by Cuban Americans on Thursday, a nod to his pledge to end more than 50 years of hostilities with Cuba and restore diplomatic relations and commercial ties.
The Cuban exile community in south Florida has been split on Obama’s move to normalize relations with Cuba – a deal that Pope Francis and other Catholic officials helped broker.
“The president is visiting the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity in Miami to pay his respects to the Cuban-American diaspora that worship there,” said Bernadette Meehan, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, in a statement.
“He will honor the sacrifices that Cuban-Americans have made in their pursuit of liberty and opportunity, as well as their extraordinary contributions to our country,” Meehan said.
The Miami shrine features a replica of a statue of the Virgin Mary known as Our Lady of Charity found floating on the coast of Cuba by fisherman. The original statue is at the shrine of El Cobre near Santiago, Cuba.
I guess this is payback for the pope. Remember that Cuba is a joke to practically everyone except “those people,” so of course it’s treated as such. That explains a lot, if not everything.
Carlos, it’s just more of the same, and if we don’t harden ourselves to such things, they will tear us up. Is this any worse than Raúl Castro being warmly welcomed into the Vatican by the pope himself? Do you think Fidel, Raúl or Obama would be denied entry into the shrine at El Cobre in Cuba, which is far more important and significant than the one in Miami? Perhaps I’m cynical, but while I see this “historic gesture,” as the Miami Herald calls it, exactly for what it is, I’m way past being shocked by it. Incandescent anger is fully justified, but I strongly recommend ice-cold contempt instead.
While one may certainly wish those who run the Virgin of Charity shrine in Miami had refused to allow Obama to defile it with his presence and crass political stunt, that would obviously have flown in the face of what the pope himself has been doing regarding Cuba, meaning they would have been in clear defiance of the head of their organization. In other words, that was never going to happen, barring a Luther-like break with Rome, because Obama absolutely had the pope’s approval. This is a rotten business all around, but don’t blame Obama, who only bothered with visiting the shrine to emphasize and highlight the major papal role in his “normalization” of relations with Castro, Inc. The responsible party here is a certain Bergoglio.