The auxiliary bishop of Managua, Monsignor Silvio José Báezinvited Nicaraguans not to allow history to repeat itself with “dialogues” in secret that seek the permanence of the tyrants in power.
The message was shared during the homily for this Sunday, January 8, on the Solemnity of Epiphany from Santa Brígida Church in Brooklyn, New York, in the United States. The Gospel of this day recounts the long journey that the “wizards” undertook until they reached the place where the Messiah was born, whom they recognize and adore.
Monsignor Báez recalled that King Herod also tried to deceive the “wizards” by asking them to find the Child so he could also go and worship him, when his intentions were to eliminate him.
“The tyrants of yesterday and today disguise themselves as defenders of peace and order, but they are cruel and heartless and, like Herod, they always end up causing a lot of pain and shedding innocent blood,” the bishop said.
“The lie is a privileged weapon of tyrants,” Báez reiterated, when in Nicaragua there was talk of a rapprochement between the dictator Daniel Ortega and his brother, the retired general Humberto Ortega, to achieve “dialogues” between Daniel Ortega and the international community.
According to sources, the president would be using the former head of the Army to be a channel between the parties. Ortega asks for relief from sanctions in exchange for the release of a group of political prisoners. Version that has been denied by the regime.
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The Catholic hierarch, forced into exile, recalled that “tyrants appear to be brave and appear arrogant and aggressive, but they are very fearful. They constantly feel threatened. For them, the others, the entire town, even those of their most intimate circle, are always rivals or enemies against whom they must fight and who must be deceived or eliminated».
In addition, “their repeated signs of lack of integrity and the many promises they have broken in the past require us to be alert so as not to fall into the trap of false solutions to the country’s problems that the only thing they try to do is ensure their permanence in the power and continuity of the system.
Monsignor Báez emphasized that “truly democratic changes do not come with dark dialogues, carried out under the table and behind the backs of the people, much less by negotiating the dignity and freedom of people as if they were bargaining chips. We must not allow history to repeat itself if we want to build a new and truly democratic society.
He asked not to be afraid of power or to be intimidated by fallacies.
changes are slow
In his reflection on the journey and “constant search” for the “wizards”, Monsignor Báez urged the parishioners “not to resign themselves to things continuing as they have always been” or to be discouraged by uncertainty.
«People and societies make mistakes (…) Great social changes are slow and complex, they are not achieved overnight, especially when it comes to overcoming so many social and political vices that have dominated our history, such as submission of the law to the arbitrariness of the powerful or the indifference of a large part of the citizenry in the face of social and political reality,” he said.
For the bishop “one must have historical patience” and persevere in the ideal of society that one wishes to achieve, putting aside “petty ambitions” and committing to the re-education of the new generations.
“Tirelessly seeking the Lord in tenderness and simplicity, next to the poor, always fighting for freedom and justice, never despairing or ever resigning,” the Catholic leader concluded.
