At the Eucharist this Tuesday, August 16, from the Episcopal Curia of Matagalpa, Monsignor Rolando Álvarez asked the Catholic people to continue entrusting themselves to God.
After serving 13 days as a de facto prisoner together with priests and laity, the bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa pointed out that they continue to gather in prayer. “Once again we find ourselves gathered and retained on this thirteenth day (…) but around the altar of the word and the altar of the Eucharist that nourish our spirit; they give us strength, joy, peace and inner serenity».
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“Under the most pure, most sacred mantle of Our Lady of Fatima, pilgrim in our Diocese of Matagalpa, who is already in the parish of Our Lady of Fatima in Rancho Grande to make a pilgrimage through all the communities; We entrust ourselves to its interception,” added the Catholic hierarch.
The prelate urged the Nicaraguans to continue commending the 11 detainees, “because we remember that our strength and our power is prayer.”
“We must carry our cross”
The hierarch pointed out during his homily that every Christian must “take up his cross” and follow Christ. “Getting rid of, denying oneself so that Christ may be the one who wins, reigns and reigns, so that glory, honor and power may be given to him forever.”
In reference to the situation that the Church is experiencing at the hands of the Ortega regime, Álvarez indicated that by “denying ourselves to carry the cross, he is not looking for a way to save himself, certainly something very painful for our human nature, and In fact, it could be that we reject it from the start, but that is the way of the gospel, that is the way of the Lord, that is the proposal of Christ».
“Carrying our cross, denying ourselves not to seek how to save ourselves, but to know that whoever loses life is really the one who wins it,” added the religious.
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He emphasized that the path “towards the cross” is always difficult, but “it is the path of the resurrection, it is the path of the glory of God; it is the way through which we see the glory of the Lord.”
Álvarez affirmed that as a Church they cling to the word of God that cites that “many first will be last and many last first.” We, dearly beloved, cling to that word, because the word of God is fulfilled».
“Heaven and earth can pass before they stop fulfilling a single letter of the word of Two, because their words and their promises are for us,” he concluded.
The bishop from Matagalpa is one of the most critical religious voices against the Ortega regime, which has led him to be subjected to siege, persecution, defamation and is currently accused by the Ortega Police of creating “anxiety in the population.”
