“For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. ‘Therefore turn and live!'”
Scripture tells us in the Book of Ezekiel that God does not rejoice in the death of a sinner. We all know that when death calls us, all are alike and all end up in the grave. But, this week, I find myself ignoring those Scriptures and wise sayings. Fidel Castro has died. The man who has figured as a devil in all the mythology of the Cuban Exile has died. I know that Cuba will not change. In fact, there is no guarantee that Cuba will get either better or worse. But, for those of us who are Cuban and who have lived in exile, this is a grand week. Fidel Castro is dead! He has gone to meet his judgment.
Of course I know that Raul Castro will simply continue his policies. I know that change may not come at all before my death. But, Fidel Castro is dead. Part of me urges me to be rational. I would not have met my wife except for Fidel Castro. I would not have the same children I now have if I had stayed in Cuba. I might never have become a missionary and a practicing Christian had Fidel Castro not existed. But, Fidel Castro is dead! That is a refrain that keeps running through my mind. But, it does not simply run through my mind. It gallops. It leaps. It laughs. It says that the man who caused so much pain to my family and to so many other Cubans has finally had to answer for his crimes. Fidel Castro is dead. I am not supposed to rejoice in the death of a sinner, and yet I find myself breaking out in laughter every so often and in rejoicing that he has died. Fidel Castro is dead.
My daughters and my grandchildren are citizens of the USA and will never be citizens of Cuba. They may never know the island where I spent my childhood. His actions changed my history to another history. Yet, Fidel Castro is dead. I do not regret my wonderful children and my wife. I do not really want another life than the life that I have. I could hypothesize forever over what might have been. It is not worth it. I love my wife and my children and cannot imagine not having them. But, Fidel Castro is dead. And, part of me rejoices in his death. So, I have these conflicted feelings.
I am supposed to forgive. I realize that some of what Castro did was not evil. But, I also have family that I have never met. I do not have the typical extended family network that a Latino would have. I have gone through poverty and hardship thanks to that man. And, Fidel Castro is dead and I cannot summon up that bit of Christian piety and mercy that I am supposed to have toward another human being. Fidel Castro is dead and I find myself only saying, “good.” I have gone through all my intellectual and biblical arguments and all I can think about is that Fidel Castro is dead.
May God forgive me better than I am able to forgive at this point. But, all I can think is that Fidel Castro is dead. And, for better or for worse, I am indeed rejoicing in the death of a sinner. May Our Lord have mercy on me and forgive my impious thoughts.
As a Cuban my self this sums up my feelings well. Thank you for this.
Thank you for writing that, Ernesto.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. — 1 John 1:9
The Lord may not rejoice in the death of a sinner, but everyone, indeed everything else does, even the fir trees — Isaiah 14:4-20.
One of the things that strikes me most strongly about the death of Castro, however, is the almost absolute division — people seem to see him either as all good or all bad. They either remember only the good things and forget the bad, or they remember the bad things and forget the good.
So with Castro, some remember only the brutal repression, the lack of freedom of speech or freedom or religion, imprisonment without trial and such things. Others remember only the free health care, the high literacy rate, and things like that.
But Castro was only flesh and blood, fallen like the rest of us, and St Paul says our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against rulers and authorities, the spiritual powers of wickedness in the heavenlies. As the Roman Catholic historian Lord Acton said, all power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
So it is not flesh and blood but political power, an abstract thing, an invisible thing, that is the real enemy; not the flesh and blood of a Castro, a Bush, a Cameron, a Blair, a Putin or a Zuma that is the problem. It is the miasma of corruption in a fallen world.
It is that which turned the Cuban revolution from liberation to oppression, and similarly with every other movement for liberation in this fallen world.
And that is why the Church Fathers take the passage from Isaiah that I quoted as also referring not just to the flesh and blood of the oppressor, the King of Babylon, but to the spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies that lies behind it.
Well written and a good answer to my plaint.
Thank you for your “confession”, Father…
If I may contemplate a bit on this:
-Did the Bolshevik coup d’etat “help” the Orthodox faith spread around the world (through the Diaspora of the Russian emigres)?
-Did Stalin’s governance (with its millions of victims) help the USSR modernize its industry and weaponry and thus stand up to the Nazi war machine?
-Did the Castro regime (with its millions of exiles etc) help poor African people (against Ebola last year, or in S.Africa against the “apartheid” etc)?
-Do the various neo-pagan sects (who destroy my peace and that of my family) “help” me search and ask for our Lord’s presence? (I also find it very hard not to think badly about these people…)
-Do the people who destroy my country (Greece) “help” us, Greeks, repent, search for God, and whole-heartedly embrace Him?
Satan may be allowed by God to temporarily rule over the earthly kingdoms… One could say, the Wisdom of God knows why…
There is a greek saying: “the devil may sow, but God harvests”
I like your Greek saying.
Excellent article, Padre. I think it pays to be honest, especially before God.
I have the luxury of being merely fascinated with Castro and Cuba. No doubt others rejoiced when Castro overthrew Batista, and they had their own good reasons for rejoicing. It’s good finally to turn this page in history.