A few weeks ago we received the news of the serious illness of our colleague Fernando Cardenal, SJ, National Director of Fe y Alegría Nicaragua.
On February 20 we confirmed what we expected but we were reluctant to admit it. Fernando went to rest with the Lord; he, who had a life of tireless dedication, was invited to complete rest.
In Entreculturas we wanted to give thanks for his life as well as what we have received from his person and mission, and we celebrated a Mass last Monday, the 22nd, to start our workday, accompanied by our director Dani Villanueva SJ at the same venue Pablo Aranda.
There we recalled memories, experiences, emotions, anecdotes … in the light of the Word: “There is a time for everything …” and “Come, ye blessed of my father because …” and songs that had much meaning for him: “Thanks to life”, “What I can give you that you have not given me?”
Poems like the one that Gioconda Belli made for his funeral or his own oath.
The sweet eyes of Fernando
The fiery eyes of Fernando
¿How many closed eyes,
eyes for those who were denied reading and writing;
the magical world of poetry, fiction,
science, mathematics, opened wide
in that, the most important battle of the Revolution?
We wanted to make ours speaking together his words, confirming that commitment with gestures from the heart, outstretched hands and circle of union because we want to make it alive and always with other men and women, feeling part of the great family of Fe y Alegria now extended through Latin America, Europe and Africa.
His photos, memories, so many publication that speak of him these days… accompanied us, but above all that presence that we kept feeling was alive as we have experienced throughout his life, so fruitful in favor of education; always so consistent with his conscience, with God, with the Society of Jesus …
When I met him –2004 in the Fe y Alegria Congress in Madrid– his final sentence in a conference really touched me: “Hope has not died in me” … in successive encounters I was able to continue enjoying his friendship, his love, that commitment to education which was so contagious, for which I feel privileged with such a gift.
Thank you, Fernando! Help us make your commitment a reality:
“Before God I promise that wherever I may be in the future, I will work for justice, for the construction of a new society, for the liberation of the poor in Latin America, of all those marginalized and excluded from the mainland. This I will do in any country where I may live, in any task that my superiors may send me to perform. “
María Luisa Berzosa fi