Jesus takes up his Cross

Speaking of taking up the Cross makes me think about our daily lives as Cubans and to ask myself, what are the crosses we bear today? We see the Cross being carried by the young people whose dreams and desires are unfulfilled; by men and women who spent their lives believing in an idea and today carry the weight of regret and frustration; by old people with anguish in their eyes because they have lost hope and haven given their lives to promises that were never kept; words that remain unspoken because of the requirement to say nothing; friends and families who emigrated carrying a backpack filled with the pain of those who go and those who stay behind… Families divided, broken generations, values that are violated, the luxury of having bread on the table, basic needs that are increasingly difficult to satisfy with dignity. Pain, despair and powerlessness… Today we carry all this, but with our eyes fixed on Jesus who promised never to abandon us.