Holy Week at War

A few days ago I was talking with a friend about the strange phenomenon we Venezuelans are living through right now. Our quality of life (such a fashionable term in this century) has declined dramatically in recent years. But what we have lived through these last two months has gone beyond every limit. And the most extraordinary thing (not to say the worst) is that we are getting used to a pace of life like that of people living in a war. As my friend said to me, we really are living as if in a war!

People who live in a war (I know because I have relatives and friends in Lebanon) live with it: they live with bombs falling next to them, with extremists who come and kill several people in a public place, and so on. They cling more than ever to their faith, to God and to the Virgin, because they are their only hope.

And that is how a great many of us Venezuelans are right now. We believe only God can help us get out of this tragedy, which is like a monster with a thousand heads, each worse than the last. And the most incredible thing of all is that many of us are willing to stay here, even if death comes early, because we have definitely lost our fear of death.

That is because we are holding on to God so tightly that He gives us a strength we never dreamed of having, the strength we need to keep going, fighting so that one day Truth, Justice and Peace may triumph in our country for all Venezuelans. That has become the center of our lives and our thoughts. We have no head for anything else.

We saw it last Carnival. Who could think about a party or a costume? Not even those who were trying to sell us their fantasy Carnival. And from what I hear, we will see the same this Holy Week. I think that for the first time in a long while this holy season of the Church will be very different from the ones this country has lived in recent years, because today very few people are thinking about beach trips and parties.

A few days ago, for example, thousands of Venezuelans retweeted the message from the Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference asking Venezuelans to offer the Good Friday fast in solidarity with the families mourning the loss of their loved ones. Who would have thought so many people would retweet a call to fast, when before many were focused on buying liquor and meat for a celebration? Those are the good things that come out of tragedies. Venezuela is definitely! a different country today.

I have the feeling that this Holy Week people will pray in our churches much more than they have in recent years. The Stations of the Cross we make or watch will be led by citizens who are living a real Calvary in this country: children, young people, fathers and mothers, the elderly, the sick…

This Holy Week, in this Venezuela that is at war!, we will accompany in our own flesh that Christ who was humiliated, abused, beaten and persecuted for defending the Truth. We will help the Nazarene carry his cross, because we Venezuelans are carrying a heavy cross of injustice, lies and corruption, a gigantic cross of tragedy that has brought mourning to many Venezuelan homes for many years through crime, and now through the brutal repression of protest. The cross we carry today weighs tons, but God will give us the strength to carry it to the end.

Those of us who are here, seeing terrible things we had never seen before and never even imagined we would see, have a superhuman strength to bear it and keep going, carrying this Cross. And we will not grow tired of carrying it!

Those of us who remain here, and there are millions of us!, will carry on with fortitude (which God will give us through prayer), bearing the immense weight of that Cross. Even if we have to drag ourselves because it grows heavier and heavier, we will keep carrying it and not grow tired, because we know that the future of our children, our grandchildren… of all Venezuela’s children, depends on raising it up on the summit so that Truth, Justice, Freedom and Peace may shine.

This Lent and Holy Week, when we feel the immense weight of this Cross, let us think of our beloved Jesus Christ and his mother, the Virgin. They will help us bear this misfortune we are living through and give us the fortitude we need never to grow weary.

Let us use this holy season of the Church to grow as much as we can in our interior life; in our personal conversion, by going to the sacrament of confession; in our tolerance toward others; in rooting out any hatred we may have in our hearts; and in trying to forgive and love our enemies.

May God and the Most Holy Virgin of Coromoto bless Venezuela and all those who are fighting for a country where Truth, Justice, Freedom and Peace shine for all!