Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade
A Jewish Rabi has shared that he learned what real love is from two drunkards talking in one of his friend’s bar. One day the Rabi entered the bar to visit his friend. While waiting, he overheard a conversation between two men who were drinking whisky at the next table. – «Joel, we are really good friends and I am proud of that». After saying this, the man took the glass to his lips and half of the whisky was gone. – «You are right David. We have been friends all our lives and we will be forever! ». And he did the same: Joel lifted the glass to his lips and half of the whisky was gone. Then there were a few moments of silence. Joel sat staring at the liquid inside the glass. And then he took one more drink. – «I really love you» he said to his friend. – «I love you too. Never doubt of my love for you. We have been friends since our childhood and we will always be».
The whisky kept being poured into the glasses and kept disappearing. Then they put their arms around each other’s shoulders, kept drinking and declaring their love for each other, even though the words were becoming more and more difficult to pronounce, and more and more difficult to be understood. It was obvious that the whisky was goooood.
All of a sudden, Joel took his arm from David’s shoulders and asked him: – «David. Tell me one thing. What is my biggest source of suffering»? – «What a stupid question. Of course I don’t know! How can I know your biggest source of suffering»? – And Joel’s reaction was: «How can you say that you love me if you don’t know my biggest source of suffering? How can you say that you love me if you don’t know my biggest pain? »
The level of a society, a church, a group, a spouse, a neighbor, a friend and so on, must be evaluated by how much we know of, and act towards the suffering of any human being. It doesn’t matter the cause of the suffering. It doesn’t matter if it is, or was, his/her fault. Suffering is suffering, and one of my most important jobs is to alleviate the suffering of the world. «If you knew the pain of your worst enemy, you would become his best friend». Christmas is God touching and healing the wounds of every human being. It was for that purpose that God created me.
MERRY CHRISTMAS.
Fr. Bernardino Andrade
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