Author: ANTONINO

– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade (bernardinodandrade@gmail.com)

1.
One day I was having a conversation with a friend of mine when he told me: “I am a good Catholic but there are many things in the Catholic Church that I don’t like and I don’t agree”. My answer was: “Welcome to the club. I am trying to be a good Catholic Priest, but there are many things in the Catholic Church that I don’t like and I don’t agree. I think that if you made a list, my list would be longer than yours.” But She (The Church) is my mother and I am passionately in love with her. There are many things in my family and in my country that I don’t like and I don’t agree, but my family is my family and my country is my country and I love them. And the curious aspect of this love affair is that the more I love my family and my country and my church, the more I love other churches, other families and other countries.

2.
Today (Nov. 25, 2018) the Church is celebrating the Feast of Christ the King. I like the idea of celebrating the Feast of Christ the King. Actually, becoming a King is part of the ritual of our Baptism when the Priest anoints us with the oil of Chrism and says: “As Christ was anointed Priest, Prophet, and king, so may you live always as a member of his body, sharing everlasting life” (Ritual of Baptism).

3.
Now my confession. I always feel uncomfortable with the way this characteristic has been interpreted by the life of my Church. Portugal has 33 Kings, and 2 Queens, in its History books. In my school book of the history of Portugal there was a picture of each one of them. All of them very sombre-looking, with a golden crown on their heads and a sceptre in one hand. The lives of many of them were involved in wars against other nations. They had many things in common and one of them was power over all the people. They used their power to do lots of good things but they also used their power to oppress people and cause bloodshed.

4.
The Catholic Church instituted the Feast of Christ the King in 1925. I think it was a great idea. However, every time I see a statue of Christ the King it looks exactly like the statues of the Portuguese Kings: a crown on His head, a sceptre in His hand, strange garments and very sombre. They really look like the figures I used to see in my school books. I really didn’t like them. Actually comparing them with what the Gospel says about authority and power they look ridiculous and don’t inspire me to be a Jesus follower. And I am afraid that worshipping a king according to the world’s values, the church is supporting power like the world sees it. Recently, Brazil elected Jair Bolsonaro to be its president. Before the elections, somebody said that if Bolsonaro was elected it would be a tragedy for the world, and for Brazil of course. He used the Bible and his church to implement his ideas.

After he was elected, it was said that the person that was more insulted in his campaign was God. He used God and His Word to propagate his diabolic ideas. And he won. God was the loser. And when God loses, all the people lose.

5.
For me, the true images that express the Kingship of Jesus, and inspire me, are:
Jesus the Good Shepherd (Lk.15: 3-7), Jesus washing dirty feet (Jo.13:4-15), Jesus touching an unclean and dirty leper (Mk.1:40-45), Jesus embracing children (Mk.10:13-16) and finally a bloody body crowned with a crown of thorns (not gold) and mocked at the cross (Mat. 27:27-56). Actually I prefer what Jesus says about power and authority. «You know that among the Gentiles whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you: But whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and give his life a ransom for many». (Mk. 10: 42-45).

One of the recent books of Pope Francis has the title of «The True Power is to Serve»
Love and Peace, Fr. Bernardino Andrade

World Day or a Web Summit of the Poor and the Rich?

The Web Summit and World Day of the Poor (18.11.2018), invite us to reflect on the poor. A day of the poor is impersonal for them; they are poor also in name; hardly anyone calls them by name. When a poor man dies, a few know who he is. It is strange that the miserable of the Gospel gave a name to Lazarus, while not to the rich man. On the other hand, the news give names to the richest men and their ranking of wealth, banks, and all their assets. I will propose a World Day of the Rich even if it could offend the poor.

It would be good to bring the two sides together on the same day: World Day of the Rich and of the Poor. The very, very rich and the very, very poor, the miserable, face to face as in the last judgement. It would be a “RPSummit”. In any case, relations between rich and poor are the key to almost everything going on, from Trump, Putin, Bolsonaro, Maduro, refugees dying by thousands in the Mediterranean; relations between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, slums and palaces, etc.

It would be a challenge to compare the very rich with the very poor. Who would pay the RPSUMMIT? Hardly the richest themselves. Even harder, the Poor! A site on the Web invites you to meet the 10 richest people in the world. Imagine! Each one would be responsible for more than 100 million very poor people. If the richest were 20 (and only two are women), as another website says, it would give more than 50 million poor people to every rich person; but it seems that, according to another updated website, it will be 80 very, very rich people. And yet another advances that only 15 people, with name and photo, control much of the world’s money. It’s curious! Speaking of the poor, the news from various sites no longer speak of the number of poor people, but of poorer countries, and even say that there are 9 of the poorest and some of them have percentages of 8% of the population.

It is claimed that less than a hundred super-rich people have appropriated 82% of the wealth increase in 2017 in the world; and half of the poorest population will have been left with nothing. Blacker is the fact that very, very poor children are 400 million; and 1.4 million of them are at risk of starving in Africa. Some rich, very rich, tend to react: if we were to worry about the poor, “at our gate”, and give them crumbs, we would cease being rich and others would pass us by. Will psychiatry ever decide whether, scientifically, the greed and the craving to be the richest is pathological addiction, cleverness, or heart indifference and contempt towards the poor and miserable?

The very, very rich man of the parable of the Gospel had only one very poor man at his gate. Today the very rich do the same with many poor people. The very poor do not need only crumbs. They need a Rich and Poor Summit every year not to make the richest richer as in Web Summit. Why do the great politicians, the powerful and the richest of this world, not want to share the common wealth of the planet, even knowing, scientifically, that at the end they do not take anything of it? I think the main reason is because they reject Jesus Christ.

Whoever explicitly or implicitly rejects Jesus Christ rejects also the poor. How difficult it is for a very rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. Even so, the poor will continue to be a summit judgement of the very rich and powerful people. This concentration of means in less and less people is progress, or stupidity? Some rich men do good things; they only need to do good to the poor at their gate. The poor people, in painful silence, repeat: we are the criteria and judges of your greatness and your inhumanity. Poor people shout continuously: kings, you are naked and your savants are blind. Even without organized summits, “startups” work permanently in the human forums and ask: what is your purpose of life? Money or Jesus Christ who said: I was hungry and you gave me eating. Do as Martin, who still pagan, gave half of his cape to a poor man.

Funchal, World Day of the Poor, 2018
Fr. Aires Gameiro

– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade

When Doug Meland and his wife became missionaries in an Indian village in Brazil the Indians used to call him the «White Man».
Actually this was not a nice name. The memories of the white men in the middle of the Indians were very traumatic. The memories of the white men were memories of houses being burned, land being stolen, women being raped and other very bad experiences. To the Indians, Doug was just another «white man».
But after the Missionaries learned the language and began to help the Indian people with medicine and in other ways, they began to call Doug the «Good White Man».
And when the Melands began adopting the customs of the people, the Fulnio Indians spoke of Doug as the «White Indian». Then one day as Doug was washing the dirty, blood-caked foot of an injured boy, he heard a bystander say: «Whoever heard of a white man washing an Indian’s foot? Certainly this man is from God»: From that day, whenever Doug entered an Indian home, it would be announced «Here is the man God sent us».

That’s the secret of greatness: SERVICE (Mk. 10).

That’s also the chief characteristic of those who follow Jesus. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve (Mk. 10, 45; Math. 20:28).

Peace and Love,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade

EMBARRASSING PAGE OF THE GOSPEL

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I fell deeper in love with the Bible when I discovered that the Bible was a parable of our lives. It is a parable of my life. It is like a mirror where I can see me, my Church and the world. I can see me in some good moments, like when I try to behave like Jesus. But also it is a mirror where I can see my stupidities and my embarrassing moments. I felt very good when someone one day told me: «You speak with the accent of Jesus». But in that mirror I can see so many dark sides of me and my church.

Today’s Gospel (Mark 10) is one of those embarrassing pages of the Bible. Two brothers – James and John approached Jesus and asked Him «Allow us to sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory». «When the other ten heard this they began to feel indignant with James and John». Hunger for power and jealousy invaded Jesus’ community. They were the chosen ones.

This is a real embarrassing page of the Gospel. But Jesus was so polite to them, so patient, so kind and ended his conversation like this «Anyone who wants to become great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be slave to all. For the Son of Man himself did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many».

LOVE IS SERVICE

A boy was consistently coming home late from school. There was no good reason for his tardiness, and no amount of discussion seemed to help. Finally, in desperation, the boy’s father sat him down and said: «The next time you come late from school you are going to be given bread and water for your supper, and nothing else. Is that perfectly clear son?» The boy looked straight into his father’s eyes and nodded. He understood perfectly.

A few days later the boy came home even later than usual. That night however, when they sat down together at the table there was only one slice of bread in his plate and a glass of water. His father’s and mother’s plate were full of food. The father waited for the full impact to sink in, then quietly took the boy’s plate and placed it in front of himself. He took his own plate and put it in front of the boy. The boy understood what his father was doing. His father was taking upon himself the punishment that he, the boy, had brought upon himself by his delinquent behaviour.

Years later the boy recalled the incident and said: «All my life I’ve known what God is like by what my father did that night.» «The Son of Man came to give his life to redeem many people».

Peace and Love,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade