– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade
(bernardinodandrade@gmail.com)
Shortly after World War II, the bombed-out city of Naples was filled with bands of young orphans and outcasts called scugnizzi. These scugnizzi lived on the streets, begging, pilfering, and sometimes assisting older criminals. These kids were tough, wily, and apparently unreachable. But 25-year-old Father Mario Borelli wanted to try. He felt it was his responsibility to love in the way Christ has loved. So, each night right after his regular duties, he became a scugnizzi. Dressed in a ragged and filthy get-up, he started begging at the Naples railroad terminal. The other young toughs were impressed by his style; just the right mixture of humor and pathetic humility.
When a gang leader swaggered up and demanded half his take, Mario beat him up. That really impressed the guys. This incognito priest slept on basement gratings covered with old newspapers, just like the others. Soon he was getting to know his new companions well as they talked around fires, heating up their scraps of food in old tin cans. He had something to express about the God who took on human flesh. And Mario discovered that all of them, even the most bitter and hardened, had a longing for home, affection, and security.
After winter arrived, Mario informed the gang that he’d found a place for them to stay: the abandoned ruins of the church of Saint Gennaro. Slowly he transformed the structure into a home and started providing the boys with nourishing meals.
One night Mario appeared in full clerical robes. After his buddies stopped laughing, he explained that he was, in fact, a priest. By this time, the bonds he’d established were strong enough to make them stay; Mario had won their respect. And so the House of the Urchins was established, where young throwaways could find a home, hope, and the streetwise spiritual guidance of Mario Borrelli.
Christ is not asking most of us to make that drastic a change in our lifestyle, but he is asking us to be in mission. There is no other path to true happiness. We are to be in mission in our family, in our community and in our world and to have a consciousness that we are the people of God, bringing God’s light to the world.
Love and Peace!
Fr. Bernardino Andrade
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.