The Archbishop of Santa Cruz (Bolivia), Mons. René Cesarí, presided this Sunday the Eucharist in the Basilica Cathedral of San Lorenzo, with a call to the Bolivians to respond with hope to the reality of uncertainty in the country.
The prelate began its homily Reflecting on the beatitudes, focusing on the importance of prayer. Being the Son of God, Jesus “teaches us how to pray, how to do it and, perhaps also, how long to dedicate to prayer,” he said, encouraging “a constant state of communication with the Father.”
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When Jesus presents the beatitudes, he explained, “he is not saying: ‘If they now have difficulties, do not worry, because it only depends on you to be happy.’ Rather, it teaches us that if we are with God, happiness is possible, even in adversity. ”
He also stopped in Jesus’ words about wealth, clarifying that “it is not bad in itself; The problem is to stay with her alone and not think about others. ”
“Jesus does not say that the rich do not have the opportunity for salvation or that wealth is bad by nature. What he warns is that if you cling only to that, there will be a problem. ”
“It is not that the Lord does not want us to have; He is saying: ‘Oh from you if you move away from me for following material things!’ So see it on that part, aren’t it? And happy those who have this now because, what is the happiness we find at the end? Well, if right now there are some who go hungry, there is always the hope that, if I don’t have today, tomorrow. There is that hope in God, ”he deepened.
In that sense, Mons. Leigue Cesarí raised the need to live with hope in God, especially at the moments that the country lives, where uncertainty abounds; and not to remain silent about the things that are wrong.
“If we stay alone in the regret and say nothing, what are we doing?” “There are many things that we regret, but when do we say it? When do we notice that person or that group that are doing things wrong? If we stay alone in lament and say nothing, what are we doing? Maybe we know how to get out of this, but we don’t say it, ”he warned.
“Let’s be brave in this. We do not stay licking things without saying anything or doing anything to compose them. Let’s not continue with the same, ”he encouraged.
As for the situation in Bolivia, the archbishop acknowledged: “We are living a very difficult, very complicated moment. There is uncertainty, we don’t know where we are going, what are we going to stay or where we are going to get. ”
“But there is a hope, maybe, of an exit, and that is that we have to act. We do not stay with the same; Let’s try to look for other paths, another way of doing things, ”he said.
Within the framework of the election year, he warned that perhaps “later they will choose the same people, they will be there … What change will there be in this?”
“Let’s be brave in this, to see where to go, what to do, what opportunities we have. Hope is in a change, in better days. How to do it? It depends on each of you, ”he said.
“The Lord invites us today, on this day, to happiness, to be happy, but it depends on us,” the prelate synthesized.
“Blessed the man who trusts the Lord and has all his trust,” blessed that person. But damn the one who looks at himself and does not think about others, and instead of doing something for others, they are still hurting them, ”he added.
Finally, remembering that the solution to the problems “is in our hands”, asked “that the Lord give us wisdom to be able to do things better, to give us that ability to see reality beyond”, as well as to dialogue to Find solutions.
On August 17, Bolivia will hold general elections to elect the new president and vice president of the country, as well as the 130 members of the Chamber of Deputies of Bolivia and 36 members of the Senate Chamber for the period 2025-2030.
The socialism movement, currently in power, is divided, with a faction headed by the current president Luis Arce, who will seek re -election; and another by former President Evo Morales, who was disabled by the Plurinational Constitutional Court for having governed three periods.
The opposition, meanwhile, promised to present itself as a unified block and try to achieve the country’s government for the coming years.
Julieta Villar
I am a journalist, a graduate in Communication from the National University of La Matanza in Argentina. I have work experience in non -governmental organizations. Since 2016 I dedicate myself to Catholic journalism, first in the Argentine Catholic Information Agency (AICA) and, since 2022, as a correspondent for ACI Press for Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Bolivia.