Author: ANTONINO

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

Today I took my IPhone and “pretended” that I knew something about technology. Believe it or not it worked.
I asked the Siri for “How many Portuguese People are in California”? The answer was: In California there are 79.572 Portuguese people.

The Portuguese Community in California has always been very large. And the Portuguese, like the other ethnic migrant communities, wherever they go, they take with them their language, their traditions, their culture, their food, their dances and, especially, their faith. For this reason it is common to find, in a few cities, Catholic Churches built by the Portuguese to practice their faith.

One of the examples is the Five Wounds Church in the city of San Jose with its beautiful old architecture, built over 100 years ago. This church became a Parish Church and from the beginning has always had a Portuguese Priest as its Pastor who would say Mass, preside to the Sacraments and Funerals and also all other services in Portuguese, even if it was also available for other languages especially the English language.

There was a time when there was no Portuguese Priest available to continue that tradition. The Bishop assigned an American priest to be the pastor of the Five Wounds Portuguese Parish.

One day I visited the Five Wounds Church and spent some time talking with the American Pastor who was presiding to a Portuguese Community without knowing how to speak the language.

That’s when he told me about the way the Bishop approached him for this assignment. He said that he had reacted to the Bishop saying:

– But, Bishop I don’t know how to speak any Portuguese and that is a big responsibility. I don’t feel prepared for that job. What am I going to do when they need me?

The Bishop answered:

– “Just love them”. It worked.

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

An Indian chief knew he was about to die. He was in bed thinking about the future leadership of his tribe.
After some time thinking, he decided to call his three sons to his bedside and ask them:

“My sons..! You know I am about to die. For the continuation and survival of our tribe I need to choose the future chief. It is a very important task full of big responsibilities. I want the three of you to climb that mountain and bring me the most precious thing you find on top of it. Just one thing. Nobody has climbed that mountain before. Nobody knows what’s there. Please go and may the gods of our ancestors bless you on your journey.”

Some weeks passed by and finally the three brothers returned from their journey to the mountain.

The oldest son approached his father and showed him a beautiful little rock.

“My father, here is the most precious thing I found in that mountain. The mountain is full of rocks like this. They look so great and they help the mountain to look solemn and strong.”

The second son approached his father and showed him a little beautiful plant.

“My father,” said the second son. “This is the most precious thing I found in that mountain. There are many of these plants. Some smaller, some bigger but I think they are the most precious thing that exists on the top of that mountain.”

The youngest son was feeling embarrassed. He approached his father with his empty hands and was afraid that his father would feel disappointed with him because he was the only one who had brought nothing.

Then after a few moments of silence he told his father

“My father, I am sorry. I didn’t have the time to look for anything special and precious on the top of the mountain because I was so fascinated by something that I saw a far away from our village. What I saw almost took my breath away. I saw a big, big valley. It is so green. With a large river of crystal clean water and a few lakes. I thought that it would be the answer and the miracle for our starving tribe. Our people could work the land, plant their vegetables, use the abundant water to drink, to water their plants, to cook, to swim, to play, to feed and grow their animals. Oh my father, I am sorry. I was so obsessed with this new finding that I had no time to look for other important things on the top of the mountain.”

“My dear son,” said the chief. “You brought the most precious thing from the top of the mountain. You brought a vision that is going to change and save our families and our tribe. Thank you, my son. You are going to be my successor. You are going to be the future chief of our tribe, because you have a vision, you brought a vision that is going to free our people from poverty and restore in them human dignity. Now I can die in peace. My life was worth living. I raised and left a son with a VISION.”

***

We are the followers of Jesus. We have been grafted in Him. Through Baptism we are mandated to carry out His vision, His project and His work. For some of us the vision of Jesus is to play with beautiful rocks, for other is to carry beautiful little plants and flowers because we have to look good and go to heaven, yet for others it is to restore the dignity of every human being.

«It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me» (Gal. 2, 20).

God loves you and so do I,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

– by Father Bernadio

In 1895, Henry van Dyke wrote “The story of the Other Wise Man”, telling of a Fourth Wise Man called Artaban. Our hero is not mentioned in the Gospel because he missed the caravan. He got to Bethlehem too late to see the Baby Jesus. But Artaban did make it in time to save one of the Holy Innocents by bribing a soldier.

For 33 years Artaban searched for Jesus. He did not find Jesus, but all the while the Fourth Wise Man fed the hungry and helped the poor. Then one day in Jerusalem Artaban saw the “King of the Jews” being crucified.
He started to offer a pearl as ransom. But then he saw a girl being sold into slavery to pay family debts. Artaban gave his pearl to buy freedom for the girl.

Suddenly the earth quaked as Jesus died on the cross and a stone struck Artaban. Dying, he heard a Voice saying: « When you helped the least of my children, you helped me. Meet me in Heaven! ».

Artaban, the Fourth Wise Man, had been making God present in his community for years by helping others. God asks each of us on the feast of Epiphany to be a fourth Wise Man by becoming God’s Epiphanies, making His love present in the world around us by our acts of love and kindness.

THREE WISE WOMEN

While they were talking about the story of the three wise men, a woman asked her parish priest this question: « Do you know why God gave the star to the wise men? » When he professed his ignorance she told him –

« God knows men are too proud to ask directions. If there had been three wise women instead of three wise men, they would have asked for directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, and given some practical gifts! »

God has a sense of humour. Good and healthy people have a sense of humour.

A child´s prayer: Lord make the evil people good and the good people kind.

Love and Laughter Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade (bernardinodandrade@gmail.com)
Message of Pope Francis for the Celebration of the 51st World Day of Peace
On Monday, January 1, 2018, we celebrated the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. That day was also the 51st World Day of Peace. The motto of reflection that Pope Francis proposed for this year was: “Migrants and refugees: men and women in search of peace.” Here is part of what Pope Francis shared during the celebration:

Pope Francis:
“Offering asylum seekers, refugees, migrants and victims of human trafficking an opportunity to find the peace they seek requires a strategy combining four actions:
Welcoming, Protecting, Promoting and Integrating.

“Welcoming” calls for expanding legal pathways for entry and no longer pushing migrants and displaced people towards countries where they face persecution and violence. It also demands balancing our concerns about national security with concern for fundamental human rights. Scripture reminds us: “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:2.)

“Protecting” has to do with our duty to recognize and defend the inviolable dignity of those who flee real dangers in search of asylum and security, and to prevent their being exploited. I think in particular of women and children who find themselves in situations that expose them to risks and abuses that can even amount to enslavement. God does not discriminate: “The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the orphan and the widow.” (Psalm 146:9.)

“Promoting” entails supporting the integral human development of migrants and refugees. Among many possible means of doing so, I would stress the importance of ensuring access to all levels of education for children and young people. This will enable them not only to cultivate and realize their potential, but also better equip them to encounter others and to foster a spirit of dialogue rather than rejection or confrontation. The Bible teaches that God “loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:18-19.)

“Integrating”, lastly, means allowing refugees and migrants to participate fully in the life of the society that welcomes them, as part of a process of mutual enrichment and fruitful cooperation in service of the integral human development of the local community. Saint Paul expresses it in these words: “You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people.” (Ephesians 2:19.)
Read the full address on the Vatican’s website

God loves you and so do I.
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

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

HOLY FAMILY – THE SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS

The Catholic Liturgy celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family on the Sunday after Christmas. Church is about relationships. Family is about relationships. The difference between a good family and a bad family is the level of communication.

Last Monday, on Christmas Day, a large family with 7 children attended Mass here at the Chapel. They were on holiday in Madeira, visiting from France. During Mass I invited the family to come up to the altar and introduce themselves to everyone. I asked if each member of the family could say their name, age, and something that has been good about being part of a large family. The father of the family spoke first, and what he said was beautiful.

He said:

“Thank you very much Father. We have what can be considered a big family… seven children! Seven reasons to be happy; and Seven reasons to be sad sometimes. Seven people to love, and to be loved by…
And I would say… seven reasons to thank God!”

ADOPT A FAMILY FOR CHRISTMAS

Related with the «People Helping People» project, my Parish in California, started another project we called «Adopt a family for Christmas».

My Parish already had a program called «Christmas Baskets». But Christmas baskets had their rules and their paralyzing bureaucracies. It was supposed to be for Parishioners only with proof of residence. I have never been famous for following rules especially in dealing with people’s suffering. When we build boundaries (“Parishioners only”) we build walls that exclude people. Exclusion is the opposite of the Good Shepherd’s dream. It is the opposite of church that is supposed to be a family. Besides I always believe that in Liturgy my main job is to mobilize many people to involve many people, and the same in dealing with the poor. My main job should be «to mobilize many people to help many people».

«Adopt a family for Christmas» consisted in taking the names of the people who needed help and the names of the people who were willing to help. Families willing to help would adopt a needy family and they would take care of their needs, like toys for the children, food or clothes or whatever. No association would be controlling them or telling them what to do or how to do it. The main thing would be to build a kind and loving relationship between the two families. The results were excellent.

HOLY FAMILY SUNDAY

ADOPT A HOMELESS PERSON FOR CHRISTMAS

Carla Rodrigues, one of the leaders of the People Helping People project in our Community decided to do, for the first time, something similar to «Adopt a Family for Christmas». But she went a little further. In the project People Helping People, Carla is dedicating her ministry towards the homeless. The results are slower but Carla is a woman who doesn’t believe in quitting. Or, as she says, she will quit only when God quits. That means never. God never quits on any of His children.

She knows the statistics. When a person sleeps in the streets during three days, it takes three months to recover and to integrate that person back into society. When a person is homeless for three months it takes three years to recover that person and to integrate him/her back into society. That’s why Carla knows that failures and lack of success are part of her job.

The most important thing like Mother Teresa says, is not success but fidelity.
This year, December 25, Christmas Day, instead of preparing food and clothes for the homeless she invited one of them to join her family and have Christmas dinner at her home. Her parents were very cooperative and it was a great experience.

Beto (not his true name), joined them, very clean and had also his Christmas present like anybody else. On Christmas Day, a new program was established with the name of «ADOPT A HOMELESS PERSON FOR CHRISTMAS». Thank you Carla. This is just the beginning of many beginnings and many failures. Maybe next Christmas we will have more people adopting a homeless person for Christmas.

Love and Peace
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

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

I DON’T BLAME THE JEWS:

All the Jewish traditions and teachings indicated that the Messiah was going to be a powerful leader trained to conduct wars against their enemies and the powerful especially against the Roman Empire that had them oppressed under political and financial laws.

One day they heard some news that the Messiah had come. But he had come as a poor and fragile baby. Mary «gave birth to her first born son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn». (Lk. 2: 7). For the poor this was good news. God became one of them. «The Word became flesh» (Jo.1:14).

For the rich and powerful this was bad news. This news became a threat. This was a scandal. And it has been a scandal ever since. That’s why the world of business took the place of the Messiah and Christmas was transformed into a «pagan winter festival» with a crib.

JESUS WAS A HOMELESS person: There was no place for him in the inn (Lk. 2:7)

JESUS IS A HOMELESS person: My friend Sara (not her real name) lives in Funchal. She attended the University of Madeira. Sara finished her studies. She is beautiful and full of dreams. No job, no money, no house. She has a precious child with a little mental challenge. A very «nice» and «cruel» state institution decided to «help» her. Took from her this precious child and put him in his grandparents’ house where he was physically abused. What happened to my friend Sara? The street became her «house». The streets are a horrible place to sleep in. But it is even more horrible when you are a woman and when you are beautiful. Jesus was born a homeless person. Jesus is homeless person.
JESUS WAS A REFUGEE: The angel told Joseph: «… flee to Egypt. Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him». (Lk.2:14)

JESUS IS A REFUGEE: Thousands of people are, today, fleeing from their homelands because others want to destroy them.

Jesus is a homeless person. Jesus is a refugee. If I don’t understand this I will not understand Christmas.

Fr. Bernardino Andrade

MY CHRISTMAS CARD TO YOU: