Author: ANTONINO

– Brought to you by Fr. Aires Gameiro (aires.gameiro@isjd.pt)

In all periods of time there is a lot of talk on the poor… on trying to solve the problem of poverty. It always remains unsolved. In all talks, culprits are found. On the other hand, some give food, clothing, and shelter to many poor people. There are a large number of theories on how to end poverty. Even some very rich people are doing much to end, not poverty, but the poor victims of poverty, disease and misery. Many are inventing techniques so that there may be no poor, sick and weak people; ranging from abandonment, to technologies of not letting them be born, and to discarding the disabled.

For 2000 years the words of Jesus have been remembered and misunderstood: “You will always have the poor among you” (Jn 12: 8) and forgotten the parable: there was a rich man and a poor man, Lazarus, with wounds at his door, to whom not even crumbs the rich man gave (Luke 16: 19-31).

It is little remembered that Jesus receives what is done to the poor. They “are” Him. Many reject the poor because they reject Jesus. They do not want to accept a weak and poor Saviour Messiah, nor those who believe in him and are by his side; they only accept powerful and rich saviours who crush the poor. This is what led Jesus to the cross. They admired and preferred Barabbas, the robber, to a “meek and humble of heart” Messiah.

They do not accept the poor, so they do not accept a poor and weak Jesus; they do not accept Jesus, so they do not accept poor people. Christ, Son of God, and the poor, are inseparable. One accepts each other or rejects each other.

Darwinism, Nietzsche (ism), Marxism, Leninism, Nazism, Stalinism, Maoism and other ideologies are implacable examples of rejection of weak, poor and miserable people. Nazism seems to be the first anti-Christian ideology that made laws to favour animals more than poor and weak people.

On the contrary, thousands of merciful men help their poor brethren because they accept Jesus Christ and see them as images of Jesus. The rejection of the poor and the sick makes it difficult to accept Jesus Christ and His true word. Big titles world events that are contradictory can be better understood in the light of what is done or not done to the poor / weak and to Jesus Christ. To respect the dignity and life of the poor; to give them food, clothing, home, school, health care even if they are incurable patients, is wisdom of the heart, which improves givers and receivers’ quality of life. Without this wisdom, humans despise diamonds because they are dirty.

Are not abortion, euthanasia, putting animals before children, the poor and refugees comparable to throwing away the baby with dirty water? Are they not similar practices to Darwinism and Nazism? The poor, and Jesus Christ, are always together in the heart of merciful people.

Aires Gameiro, OH

COME TO WORSHIP – GO TO SERVE!

It was my first and only visit to Pennsylvania (USA) to visit my friends Michael and Olivia, and their children, who had moved from California. Michael was a Seventh Day Adventist and Olivia a devout Portuguese Catholic. They had two children, and I used to visit them like if we belonged to the same family. In spite of being Adventist, Michael never missed the Sunday Catholic Mass to accompany his children and his wife in their faith journey.

One day, he received orders from his work to move to Pennsylvania. Later on, I was surprised when I was invited to be Michael’s grandfather. Michael was going to be baptized in the Catholic Church! Of course when I visited this family in California, I always tried to behave like a Catholic, including prayer before meals. Also, I never pushed but I really, once in a while, invited him to become a Catholic and walk closer to his family in their faith journey.

During my visit to Pennsylvania, they took me around and of course I forgot many of the things I have seen. But there was one thing that I will never forget. This church was open and we decided to visit the church. I don’t remember the size or the structure of the church. But one thing I do remember: at the front door of the church there was a gigantic door mat. In the direction to the altar we could read these three words: COME TO WORSHIP. Then, on the same door mat, when leaving the church we could read, in big letters, these three words: GO TO SERVE. Then I thought to myself: this door mat and these words should be mandatory in every church of the world.

Today’s Gospel (Mark 6:7) starts like this «Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs…». We don’t come to church mainly to be protected. We come to church mainly to be sent. The world is waiting for us. Go to serve.
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An important part of Evangelism is the simple act of inviting a friend or a family member to join us in worship. Let us try. You will be surprised to see how many people are going to feel happy to say one day: «I was very lucky to find a friend like him or like her». And this person can be you or me.

TURN YOUR SCARS INTO STARS

When, last Sunday, I met Dr. Luisa, MD, for the first time, I immediately realized that I was standing before a golden vase.

Very gently she approached me with such a beautiful smile, to inform me that she was going to spend part of the Mass looking at her telephone. The reason was that she was deaf and she was going to use the telephone to accompany the celebration of the Eucharist, especially the readings.

I didn’t resist the temptation to ask her if she wouldn’t mind to give her testimony to our congregation; if she wouldn’t mind to tell her story. Dr. Luisa immediately said yes. Before the Mass ended, I invited her to come to the pulpit and tell her story. It was a very moving story.

Her grandfather had been a physician. Her father had been a physician. She never doubted that her way of staying in this world would be to become a physician too.

Dr. Luisa is a Medical Doctor and spends the best of her time and the best of her skills in helping deaf people like herself.

That reminds me of a 13-year-old girl in California, daughter of a Protestant Minister, Dr. Robert Schuller, who lost one of her legs in a motorcycle accident. After a long and painful recovery journey, she told her story by writing a book called “TURN YOUR SCARS INTO STARS”. This is what Dr. Luisa did. She turned her scar into a brilliant STAR.

Since I am saying Mass in this Chapel I have seen people many times applauding other people and other stories. Last Sunday July 8th was the first time that I saw people standing for a long applause to Dr. Luisa who for a few times repeated that she lived to help people. Thank you Dr. Luisa for turning your scar into a beautiful and brilliant STAR.

Thank you Dr. Rui and Dr. Cristina Silva for being the guiding star that guided Dr. Luisa to our Mass. Thank you Dr. Rui, my personal friend, for being the Guardian Angel (as she called you) of Dr. Luisa in her professional life as a Medical Doctor.

Love & Peace, Fr. Bernardino Andrade

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

In a mother’s womb were two babies; one asked the other: «Do you believe in life after delivery? ». The other replied «Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later. » …
« Nonsense », said the first, « There is no life after delivery. What kind of life would that be? ».
The second said «I don’t know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouth. Maybe we will have other senses that we can’t understand now».
The first replied – «That is absurd. Walking is impossible. And eating with our mouths? Ridiculous! The umbilical cord supplies nutrition and everything we need. But the umbilical cord is so short. Life after delivery is to be logically excluded. ».
The second insisted – «Well I think there is something, and maybe it’s different from life here. Maybe we won’t need this physical cord anymore. ».
The first replied: « Nonsense. And moreover, if there is life, then why has no one ever come back from there? Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery there is nothing but darkness and silence and oblivion. It takes nowhere. ».
«Well, I don’t know, » said the second, «but certainly we will meet Mother and she will take care of us. ».
The first replied «Mother? You actually believe in Mother? That’s laughable. If Mother exists then where is She now? ».
The second said: «She is all around us. We are surrounded by her. We are of Her. It is in Her that we live. Without Her this world would not and could not exist. ».
«Well I don’t see her, so it is only logical that she doesn’t exist», said the first, to which the second replied: «Sometimes, when you’re in silence and you focus and listen, you can hear Her loving voice, calling down from above. ».
Sometimes we are like the two babies in the story, and we ask: “Is there life after death?”… “Does God exist?”
I have heard that even though birds are surrounded by air, they don’t see the air. Fish are surrounded by water, but the last thing they see is the water. We are so immersed in God. We are completely soaked in God like a sponge with water. We are completely surrounded by God like babies by their mother’s wombs, like birds by air and fish by water but we are so distracted by the «life» and the «needs» created by us that we take the risk of even saying and feeling that God doesn’t exist unless like the second baby says «Sometimes, when you are in silence and focus and listen we can hear HIS loving voice, calling down from above».

Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

One of my first small cultural shocks, when I went to live and work in California, happened in one of my first Baptisms. I baptized a beautiful little girl with the name of Victoria. I spent the Mass and the entire ceremony calling her Victoria. When I dropped the sacred waters of her Baptism on her head I knew that I had said: «Victoria, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit». I thought, and everybody was saying, that it had been a beautiful and meaningful celebration. However, as soon as the ceremony was over I heard all the people talking to the baby and calling her Vicky. « Hi, Vicky!»…«You are so beautiful Vicky!»… «You are an angel Vicky!» That’s when I got into some kind of panic. «Oh my God. I baptized the wrong Baby». Then it was when I realized that Vicky was a nickname for Victoria.

That’s when I started discovering that, in other countries, it was OK and cute to use nicknames even with adult people. That’s when I learned that Bill is William, Manny is Manuel, Jack is John, Tony is António, and so on. That’s when I learned that it’s part of the Anglo culture to shorten people’s names. That’s when I started understanding people when they would ask me: «Fr.Bernardino, can I call you Bernie»? And my answer was: «Of course you can, but it is not my name». «Fr. Bernardino, can I call you Dino»? «Yes, of course, but it is not my name»

You see, when I was a child, changing the name was one of the ways that people, especially children, had to insult one another, and very often that would cause physical fights. But finally I discovered that changing the name was neither right nor wrong. It was cultural. And cultures can only be understood by our hearts. Cultures are a sacred ground.

2.

Later in my life, just to make things easier and faster, I started signing my emails and my letters to my family just like this: « Tio B. »…That means « Uncle B. » short for « Uncle Bernardino ». My two nieces, living in different countries, (Ana in the USA and Noraima in Aruba), without talking with one another, decided to see in this «B.» a short for «bee», the simple name of a simple insect. What they never knew was that, one day, in a workshop conducted by a priest from Brazil, he asked all present to introduce themselves and say the name of an animal that would most identify us. And guess what. I chose the simple insect bee. And the three of us, without talking with one another, saw the same meaning of the insect bee.

It was like an inspiration to program my life and I wish this would become a way of life. The program for my life and for the life of each one of us, would be that when I contacted people it would be like the bees contacting the flowers of the fruit trees. The bees contact the flowers, gently touch them, are nourished by them, take the best of each one of them without hurting them, and then visit other flowers, sharing with them the best of each one of them. And from that hard work, they become powerful sources of life.

From that work, the trees produce beautiful, healthy and nourishing fruits. According to my nieces, that should be part of my job description: to touch people, and try to find and take the best of their stories and share with other people to inspire them and give them meaning for their lives; helping them to live their lives in full. This could mean bringing people together to help each other, healing their wounds, alleviating their suffering. This could be called «building common-union». This could be called «building Communion». This could be called «living a permanent Sacrament of the Eucharist». This could be called «Celebrating Mass, 24 hours a day».

Love and Peace, Fr. Bernardino Andrade

Being born poor, very early in life I felt the call to dedicate my life to the poor and the call to alleviate the suffering of the world. Very early in life I fell in love with Jesus and His project. I felt inspired by the «Mission Statement» of Jesus that is: «The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour». Luke 4: 18.

I finished my Seminary course on 1963. I was surprised, confused and hurt because my two colleagues had been invited to be ordained and I was not. My superiors were just ignoring me, my confusion and my pain. Nobody was talking with me about this strange situation. Until one day, on July 23rd, 1963, my superior called me and said: «You have to put away your priestly career because you are disorganized in doing charity to the poor». Just that. No suggestions and nothing in concrete. Not even an example of my disorganization in helping the poor. Actually he was right. After 53 years of serving the poor I still haven’t learnt how to be organized in my service to the poor. They are my Masters and every day they teach me new things.

I was 25 years old. It seemed that the world had ended for me. It’s because when I entered the Seminary my purpose was not to study my vocation. My only purpose was to be a priest. I felt lost. But I never forgot what my aunt Matilde told me after us crying together. «Don’t worry Bernardino. When men close a door, God opens a gate». It was true. God opened for me a very large gate.

Quitting is not part of my vocabulary. I asked a Bishop in Africa if he could take the risk of accepting me. After waiting for some time he said yes. On March 1st, 1964, I said good-bye to my family and I became a Missionary. Being a Missionary in Africa had always been one of my dreams when I was a young seminarian. Everything started working together. After spending five months in a very poor Mission, the Bishop called me to the city to teach religion in the secondary school and to be in charge of the youth ministry. It was a fascinating experience. Many youth retreats and the creation of the Juvenile Centre mobilized all the youth of the city, Catholics, Protestants, Hindus and Muslims working together and praying together and together helping the poor. Following my Master, the poor have been always the centre of my ministry.

Then a big jump. From one of the poorest countries of the world to one of the wealthiest countries of the world. In 1973 I left Mozambique for a period of vacation in Portugal. Then I visited the USA with a round trip ticket of two weeks. Things changed. Instead of two weeks, I spent 32 years. My Parish was always a point of reference to the poor. Even undocumented immigrants, arriving from Central America, knew about our Parish. They knew that in California there was a Parish that would welcome them. Many of them slept in my garage, in the class rooms, and in the rooms of my residence. They wore my clothes, ate my food in my dining room and took their showers in my bathrooms. It was a fascinating life. It was in my St. Anthony’s Church in California that we started the project “People Helping People”.

In 2006 I came back to Madeira where I was assigned to be the Pastor of a country Parish. After two years I became the chaplain of the Hospital. In 2010 we started in Madeira the project “People Helping People” whose main goal is to mobilize many people to help many people. (Especially those families and people who don’t qualify for help from official institutions, and especially to be an open door when all the other doors close).

Now I am 80 years old and I am celebrating my 53rd Anniversary of priesthood. I don’t know if I have been a good priest. But one thing I know: I have been a very happy priest. If I could go back in life and if I could choose, I would choose the roads I have travelled until now.

«Men closed one door but God opened a gate».

Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade