Author: ANTONINO

Part 1

Yes! It happened on June 12, 1965. It was 53 years ago this week! In a sports field, in the city of Quelimane, Diocese of Quelimane, Mozambique (Africa), the Bishop D. Francisco Nunes Teixeira, who always maintained with me a father and son relationship, imposed his hands on me and on two other young African men (Vasco and Benjamim), anointed our hands and told us that we were ordained priests forever.

Since then I have embarked on a fascinating and passionate journey. I felt like when God called Abraham, telling him: «Go… to the land I will show you» (Gen. 12:1). No maps, no GPS, no travel checks, no hotel reservations, no Insurance plans. He just said «Go». And Abraham went.

He just said «Go». And I went without knowing the roads and not knowing where I was going to. Abraham just knew one thing: Abraham knew Whom he was walking with. I knew just one thing: I knew Whom I was walking with. I was walking with God, Who is my Father and my Mother and my Abba, and Who was guiding me and had a special plan for me.

The youngest of eleven children, I was born in Madeira Island, in Ponta do Sol, on November 29th, 1937. I came from a place where very few children attended school. Most of the adults were illiterate, including my parents and my oldest brothers. It was a poor farming community. Most of the children had no shoes to go to school or to walk around. But we didn’t know that we were poor because all of us had the same way of life. Some rules and traditions like family meals, daily Rosary and Sunday Mass were not negotiable. The children had no toys but we knew games and how to play together.

The only Christmas gift I had in my childhood was an orange. I don’t remember where it came from. Also I don’t remember if I ate that orange. It looked so yellow, so beautiful, so attractive that I spent my Christmas day showing it to my friends who were surprised to see such a beautiful Christmas Gift. I never had a dream of continuing my studies after my four years of primary school. I didn’t even know why I had to go to school when I «knew» that I would have no choice in my life but digging the land, watering the plants and everything my parents and my brothers and sisters were doing.

Then all of sudden something happened. One day, without any plans, I was in my kitchen in the company of my mother and my sister, Agostinha. I don’t remember what I was doing. I was 12 years old and had finished my four years of my primary school and I was very happy that I didn’t have to go to school again.

My philosophy was that I didn’t need studies to milk a cow (my father had just one cow to milk, and one cow to work), to plant potatoes, beans, corn, sugar cane and so on. But that day my sister asked me a very unexpected question.

She just asked: – «Bernardino, wouldn’t you like to be a priest»? Without thinking, my answer was «Yes». I don’t know why she asked me that strange question and I still don’t know why I gave her that quick and strange answer. I was just 12 years old.

[One day, in America, a news reporter asked me: «But when you were 12 years old, what did you understand about priesthood? » My answer was: «Now I am almost 70 years old and I still do not understand. Priesthood is a mystery that is being revealed to me daily, through prayer, through my ministry to the world and especially to my service to the poorest of the poor. »]

My mother started inquiring about the requirements to enter the Seminary and on October 15, 1950 my father and my mother took me to the Seminary of Funchal. It was an agonizing transition. I was just a child and Ponta do Sol, because of lack of communications, was so far away from Funchal.

——- (to be continued in next week’s issue)

Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

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

Dominic Tang, the courageous Chinese archbishop, was imprisoned for twenty-one years for nothing more than his loyalty to Christ and Christ’s one, true Church. After five years of solitary confinement in a windowless, damp cell, the Archbishop was told by his jailers that he could leave it for a few hours to do whatever he wanted. Five years of solitary confinement and he had a couple of hours to do what he wanted! What would it be? A hot shower? A change of clothes? Certainly, a long walk outside? A chance to call or write to family?
What would it be, the jailer asked him.
“I would like to say Mass,” replied Archbishop Tang.

2
A CLANDESTINE MASS

The Vietnamese Jesuit, Joseph Nguyen-Cong Doan, who spent nine years in labour camps in Vietnam, relates how he was finally able to say Mass when a fellow priest-prisoner shared some of his own smuggled supplies. “That night, when the other prisoners were asleep, lying on the floor of my cell, I celebrated Mass with tears of joy. My altar was my blanket, my prison clothes my vestments. But I felt myself at the heart of humanity and of the whole of creation.” (Ibid., p. 224).

COMMUNION ON THE MOON
The Lord’s Supper ensures that we can remember Jesus from any place.

Apollo 11 landed on the moon on Sunday, July 20, 1969. Most remember astronaut Neil Armstrong’s first words as he stepped onto the moon’s surface: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” But few know about the first meal eaten on the moon.

Dennis Fisher reports that Buzz Aldrin, the NASA Astronaut, had taken aboard the spacecraft a tiny pyx provided by his Catholic pastor. Aldrin sent a radio broadcast to Earth asking listeners to contemplate the events of the day and give thanks. Then, blacking out the broadcast for privacy, Aldrin read, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit.”

Then, silently, he gave thanks for their successful journey to the moon and received Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, surrendering moon to Jesus. Next, he descended on the moon and walked on it with Neil Armstrong. (Dan Gulley: “Communion on the Moon”: Our Daily Bread: June/July/August 2007).

His actions remind us that in the Lord’s Supper, God’s children can share the life of Jesus from any place on Earth — and even from the moon. God is everywhere, and our worship should reflect this reality.
In Psalm 139 we are told that wherever we go, God is intimately present with us.

Buzz Aldrin celebrated that experience on the surface of the moon. Thousands of miles from earth, he took time to commune with the One who created, redeemed, and established fellowship with him. (Dennis Fisher)

Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

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

The Italian composer, Giacomo Puccini, wrote La Boheme, Madama Butterfly and Tosca. It was during his battle with terminal cancer in 1922 that he began to write Turandot, which many now consider his best work. He worked on the score day and night, despite his friends’ advice to rest, and to save his energy. When his sickness worsened, Puccini said to his disciples, “If I don’t finish Turandot, I want you to finish it.” He died in 1924, leaving the work unfinished. His disciples gathered all that was written by Puccini, studied it in great detail, and then proceeded to write the remainder of the opera.

The world premier was performed in La Scala Opera House in Milan in 1926, and Toscanini, Puccini’s favorite student, conducted it. The opera went beautifully, until Toscanini came to the end of the part written by Puccini. He stopped the music, put down the baton, turned to the audience, and announced, “Thus far the master wrote, but he died.” There was a long pause; no one moved. Then Toscanini picked up the baton, turned to the audience and, with tears in his eyes, announced, “But his disciples finished his work.” The opera closed to thunderous applause and found a permanent place in the annals of great works.

Jesus instructs us in his Ascension message to finish his work of saving mankind by proclaiming His Good News by words and deeds.

Jesus didn’t say: «If I don’t finish my job, I want you to finish it». He didn’t say it because He knew He wouldn’t. He sent His disciples do the world to continue His job. Before ascending to heaven He sent you and me to the world to continue his job. To proclaim the Good news of liberation and salvation. He sent you and me to bring good news to the poor and transform this world into a family where we take care of each another and together we arrive to our final destination which is Heaven.

Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

FROM MY HEART TO YOUR HEART
– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade (bernardinodandrade@gmail.com)

VI SUNDAY OF EASTER.
Introduction: Today’s Scripture passages declare the profound truth that those who believe in Christ are to obey his commandment of love – “Love others as I have loved you.” When we celebrate Mother’s Day, let us remember with gratitude that it is generally our mothers who practice the agápe love of Jesus

1 – THAT IS THE KIND OF LOVE I WANT IN MY LIFE

It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his 80’s arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am. The medic took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would be able to see him. Since he, himself, was not busy, the medic took time to evaluate the man’s wound.

The wound was well healed, and so he talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound. While taking care of his wound, the medic asked his patient if he had another doctor’s appointment as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman said that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. In answer to the medic’s question about her health, the old man responded that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer’s disease.

When the medic asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late, the man replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now. The medic was surprised, and asked him why, if his wife didn’t know who he was, he went every morning faithfully for breakfast with her. The old man smiled and said, “She doesn’t know me, but I still know who she is.” The medic, with tears in his eyes, said to himself, “That is the kind of love I want in my life.”

True love is neither physical, nor romantic. True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be. In today’s Gospel Jesus commands us to practice this type of sacrificial and selfless agápe love as he practiced it.

2 – RUNNING TO HER MOTHER’S ARMS

Claudia, a successful 31-year-old girl, has lived with her mother in her mother’s apartment all her life. Her mother is a very simple woman with no studies, no driver’s license and no job.

Because she was already 31 years old, Claudia decided that it was time to leave the nest and decided to rent an apartment close to her mother’s house. All the arrangements were finalized. According to her, to avoid the «temptation» of returning to her mother’s home she even bought new furniture. The day came and she moved. Claudia changed her clothes and was ready to go to bed. Then all of sudden she got this strange feeling: «This is my first night alone. This is my first night away from my mom. What if I am afraid? ». Claudia got up, changed her clothes again to her working clothes and went to bed properly dressed just in case she felt the need during the night to run to her mother’s arms. Just in case.

Looking at that beautiful and professional woman, who would ever guess that inside of her there was this «baby» permanently in need of a mother’s presence, affection and protection? Then I realized that inside a gentle lady or inside a tough man there is always a baby in need of a mother’s presence, affection and protection.
I keep believing that a mother’s love is the most profound image of God’s love for us. Even when we try to run away from God we always have this strange feeling. Away from God is very dangerous, very lonely and very scary.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

Love and Peace, Fr. Bernardino Andrade