Author: ANTONINO

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

Brought to you by: Father Ricardo Teixeira

The recent opportunity during the month of September to celebrate mass in the Chapel of Penha de França was a wonderful moment to recall the celebrations with the foreign communities in China.
In fact several times I had to go to other cities to help the local Chinese priest for the English mass. At the beginning I was a little afraid, nevertheless it made me really impressed with the amount of people that during their vacations, or at the weekend of their hard working week got some time to celebrate mass with a community.

In Shanghai, where I gave most of my help for the English mass, I could find a wonderful international community where, like the Chinese, all would follow their books and take part in the hymns. It was really amazing. Something I still miss in the other Portuguese celebrations – if there is the choir, the people just “forget” to sing. And sure, sadly, no one has a book to follow the answers of the mass.

The celebration of Mass at the Chapel of Penha de França made me remember the communion of different people and talents all working together for a more lively celebration. And after the celebration, the good moments in the “tea house” where we continue to celebrate the wonders of God in the nature and in the person that share their ideas, their time and their goods, people that really help people.

I want to thank you all for this wonderful opportunity. 谢谢 *
My best wishes,
Fr. Ricardo Teixeira, scj *(Editors note: “thank you” in Chinese)