Author: ANTONINO

FROM MY HEART TO YOUR HEART – Is God Catholic or Protestant?

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

Huey Long was a very colorful Louisiana politician who had hopes of running for the presidency in 1936. He began as an unschooled farm boy and ended up in the governor’s mansion, one of the most popular politicians in the history of the state.

Long was born in the central part of Louisiana, and when he first campaigned for governor, he was given some advice about the voters in the New Orleans area: « South Louisiana is different from the northern part of the state, », he was told, «We have a lot of Catholic voters down here. » Long nodded knowingly and went out to make his speech. It began, “When I was a boy, I’d get up at six every Sunday morning, hitch our old horse up to the buggy, and take my Catholic grandparents to Mass. I’d bring them home and then take my Baptist grandparents to Church.” The speech was a rousing success.

Afterward, a New Orleans political boss said, “Huey, you’ve been holding out on us. We didn’t know you had Catholic grandparents.” Huey looked at him slyly and said, “We didn’t even have a horse!”.

Don’t let anybody mislead you. Around the banquet table of God there won’t be Baptists, or Catholics, or Methodists. There won’t even be a head table reserved for the very saintly. There will only be sinners for whom Christ died. That includes you and me. Everyone is invited.

Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

Scripture Readings 5th November 2017, 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Mal 1:14-2:2. 8-10; Ps 130(131); 1 Thess 2:7-9, 13; Matt 23:1-12

Malachi, which means “My Messenger”, was written about 500 BC, after the return from exile and shortly before the reforms by Ezra and Nehemiah. The Priests will be cursed because they despised the Lord’s Name by sacrificing imperfect animals. They were allowing mixed marriages and divorce, and leading the people astray by their bad example. They have broken the Lord’s covenant of peace, truth, integrity and honesty.

The psalm protests our humility and freedom from worldly ambitions.

After being treated “insolently” in Philippi, Paul, “with much struggle”, “drew courage from God” to speak the gospel to the Thessalonians. He neither flattered nor sought praise or payment, So great was Paul’s love for the Thessalonians that he shared his life with them, and took care to work hard to support himself. He is relieved that the Thessalonians’ faith is now strong even in the face of persecution.

After the last challenges to Jesus by the Jewish leaders in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus has now abandoned them. The Priests’ false teaching and bad example criticised by Malachi has returned. No-one should follow their example. He now talks to his disciples only, and goes on to direct seven “woes” against the scribes and Pharisees, detailing their wrongdoing. He ends by lamenting the coming destruction of Jerusalem.

Psalm Response: Keep my soul in peace before you, O Lord
Mal 1:14-2:2. 8-10; Ps 130(131); 1 Thess 2:7-9, 13; Matt 23:1-12

Scripture Readings 1st November 2017, All Saints

Films about “apocalypses” can lead us to misunderstand the book of Revelation. “Apocalypse” really means “revealing”. Cosmic battles are raging all about us: evil seems to triumph in our world, yet this revelation of Christ gives us confidence (hope) that He will save us. The previous chapter ended by describing the coming terrible day of judgement (Dies irae). But in this chapter there is a pause while the elect – the chosen ones – are sealed with God’s mark to show they will be protected. Not only many from Israel but numberless people from all nations. Our liturgies on earth have an effect in heaven. The chapter ends with the hope faith gives those who repent: “The Lamb … will lead them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes”.

The reading from John’s first letter emphasises that we are already God’s children, but we must try to prepare for the greater more joy still to come.

This liturgical psalm gives the moral requirements for assisting at divine worship, while confirming the hope the just may have in God.

In Matthew’s Gospel the beatitudes bring the Commandments up to date: positive actions, not just avoiding doing wrong, are necessary for us to be counted among the elect.

Psalm Response: Such are the men who seek your face, O Lord.

Scripture Readings 29th October 2017, 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Exod 22:20-26 (& cf 24:9-11) Ps 17(18):2-4. 47. 51. R.2 1 Thess 1:5-10; Matt 22:34-40

In our reading from Exodus the Lord expands the rather general Ten Commandments into detailed rules for living, with practical laws and punishments. In this covenant or treaty the Lord promises his favour and the people accept certain obligations. Moses sprinkled blood on the people to seal this covenant with the Lord.

The sacrificial meal, eating and drinking in the Lord’s presence, ritually confirms the people now belong to the family of the Lord.

Five verses sum up this very long psalm, thanking God for his help against enemies while welcoming his justice.

Continuing our reading from the earliest surviving Christian document, Paul concludes his address to the Thessalonians with fulsome praise for them. He knows they are chosen and loved by God because others have told him the examples they give. Especially their imitation of Christ, and their acceptance of the word of the risen Lord, in spite of suffering persecution.

In Matthew’s Gospel it is now the turn of the Pharisees to test Jesus. But they fare no better than the Sadducees heard last week. Again Jesus shows that he is the authoritative interpreter of the Jewish Scriptures. Even the detailed rules given to Moses can be summed up in the requirement to love God and your neighbour.

Psalm Response: I love you, Lord, my strength.
Exod 22:20-26 (& cf 24:9-11) Ps 17(18):2-4. 47. 51. R.2 1 Thess 1:5-10; Matt 22:34-40

FROM MY HEART TO YOUR HEART – Planting Dreams

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

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We plant little flowers that can become gorgeous gardens. We plant small trees that can be transformed into powerful and majestic sequoias, redwoods or oaks. We sow very small grains of wheat that can be transformed into baskets of bread able to feed thousands of people. I think that one of our main missions in our families should be to plant good and healthy ideas and dreams in our children’s brains. If we don’t do it, TV programs, confused friends, politicians, angry teachers… will do the job for us.

A few months ago a young child told me that he was an atheist. I don’t even think that he knows what the word atheist means. But what I think is that some «cute» teacher said that word in school and he thought that it would be «cute» to repeat the same thing. And the worst part was that he was not joking.

I don’t remember if I ever thought about being a priest but I still remember the day and the place (the kitchen of my parents’ house) when my sister Agostinha asked me: «Bernardino, wouldn’t you like to be a priest? ». And I said yes. I was 12 years old.

I am almost 80 and I have been a priest for 52 years. I don’t know if I have been a good priest but one thing I know: I have been a very happy priest. I never stop thanking God for my sister, Agostinha, who planted that seed in my brain that soon traveled to my heart and my life.

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The venerable servant of God, Canon Cottolengo, when but a boy of five years, was measuring with a cord, one room after another. His mother, rather confused, asked him what he was trying to do.

“Dear mother,” was the reply, “I want to see how many beds can be placed in this house: when I am grown up I should like to fill the whole house with sick people.”

A tear of emotion glistened in his mother’s eyes.

In 1832 he founded at Turin the ‘Little Asylum of Divine Providence’, and today it is world famous. It shelters 5000 men and embraces within its precincts a church, a number of houses, terraces and courtyards.

* * *

Please don’t be afraid of planting good dreams in your children’s brains. That’s what Jesus does with us and sometimes He is successful.

Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

FROM MY HEART TO YOUR HEART – The Least Compassionate People

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

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Michael Slaughter in his book «Unlearning Church» tells us about a religion editor from a local newspaper who came to his Church to interview him about a conference they were having.

At the end of the interview, he asked if she (the editor) went to Church. He assumed she did since she was a religion editor. She replied: ” No, I am a Buddhist. I was raised in the Church, but about ten years ago I became interested in Buddhism because the highest value of Buddhism is the value of compassion.”

Michael Slaughter said that her next comment made him feel as if she had put her hand in his chest and squeezed his heart.

“The people I grew up around in the Church,” she added, “were some of the least compassionate people I ever knew.”

“Ouch!,” says Michael Slaughter, and then he adds “yet Jesus is compassion made visible.”

And he’s right. Jesus is compassion made visible. Having Jesus’ name, but not his heart is a dangerous combination. It can make us turn away people that Jesus is calling us to embrace.

* * *

Brian, a very good friend of mine, is Mormon. One day we were talking about two women who worked with me in two different Parishes. I will call them Harriet and Tammy (not their real names). Their main job was to make my life miserable and put people against people. I will never forget what Brian told me: «Wherever you go, Bernardino, you will always find a Harriet and a Tammy». And I have.

Mother Teresa used to say: «I prefer a person making a mistake with kindness than doing something right with rudeness».

I believe that these kind of rude and intolerant people in our Churches are the ones who are emptying them, transforming them into interesting museums where people have stopped joining other people to pray together and to worship together in order to build and heal relationships. Our church is about relationships. Our Church is the Body of Christ where people take good care of one another. This is the main reason why we come to church.

Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

Scripture Readings 22nd October 2017, 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Isa 45:1, 4-6; Ps 95(96):1. 3-5. 7-10 r.7; 1 Thess 1:1-5; Matt 22:15-21

Second Isaiah insists that every event, good or bad, is part of God’s plan, including the conquest and exile of Israel by Babylon. And so does the freedom given them about 530 BC by Cyrus, King of Persia, whom God calls his ‘anointed’ or ‘messiah’, because he did God’s work. Thus all men, including Gentiles, though they do not know him, will know that there is only one God, the Lord.

The Psalm therefore calls on all men – and all creation – to worship and praise the one and just God.

For the last 5 Sundays of Ordinary Time we read from Paul’s first letter to the church in Thessalonika, which he founded about AD 50. Paul later sent Silvanus and Timothy back to support the new community. Written from Corinth, this letter is the earliest Christian writing we have. Centuries before the idea of the Trinity was formally defined, Paul distinguishes clearly between “God our Father”, “our Lord Jesus Christ”, and “the Holy Spirit”.

Over the next three weeks we hear the final three discussions in Matthew’s Gospel between Jesus and the Jewish leaders. They ironically address Jesus as “Teacher”, but he silences them: he does have full authority to interpret the Jewish Scriptures.

Psalm Response: Give the Lord glory and power.
Isa 45:1, 4-6; Ps 95(96):1. 3-5. 7-10 r.7; 1 Thess 1:1-5; Matt 22:15-21

Festa do Senhor das Milagres in Machico (October)

One of the most important religious festivals on the island is the “Festa do Senhor das Milagres”, which is celebrated annually in October in Machico

The occasion commemorates the floods of October 1803, when the chapel of the Senhor das Milagres was destroyed and a precious image bearing the same name was lost out to sea. According to legend, the image was recovered three days later by an American fishing vessel and returned to the cathedral in Funchal.

IN 1813 after the restoration of the destroyed chapel the image was sent back to Machico, where it resides in the rebuilt chapel of “Senhor das Milagres”.

The festival is marked by a solemn procession of people bearing the image to the mother church in Machico where it resides until the following day. Thousands of people bearing candles and lighted torches quietly proceed through the streets and there is an absence of loud music and other festivities which are typical of feast days in Madeira.

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FROM MY HEART TO YOUR HEART – I am the Jesus you say you love

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

There is a story that comes out of the Second World War that will haunt you if you think about it. It is about a little Jewish boy who was living in a small Polish village when he and all the other Jews in the vicinity were rounded up by Nazi troops and sentenced to death.

This boy joined his neighbours in digging a shallow ditch for their own graves. Then they were lined up against a wall and machine-gunned. But none of the bullets hit the little boy. His naked body was splattered with the blood of his parents, and as he fell into the ditch he pretended to be dead.

The grave was so shallow that the thin covering of dirt did not prevent him from breathing. Several hours later, when darkness fell, this 10-year old boy crawled out of his grave. With blood and dirt caked on his little body, he made his way to the nearest home and begged for help.

A woman answered the door and immediately recognized him as one of the Jewish boys marked for death by the Nazis, so she screamed at him to go away and slammed the door.

Dirty, bloody, and shivering, this little boy limped from one house to the next, begging for help. But he always got the same response. People were afraid to help.

Finally, in desperation, he knocked on a door, and just before the lady of the house could tell him to leave, he cried out, « Don’t you recognize me? I am the Jesus you say you love! ». The lady froze in her tracks for what seemed like an eternity to the little boy.

Then, with tears streaming down her face, she threw open her arms. She picked up the boy, and took him inside to safety.

Sometimes we need to be reminded that when we do it unto the least of these, we do it unto Him. Christian Discipleship is a call to availability. It is also a call to sensitivity.

Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

Scripture Readings 15th October 2017, 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Isa 25:6-10; Ps 22(23) r.6; Phil 4:12-14, 19-20; Matt 22:1-14

After the desolation of the earth and the final judgement, Isaiah describes in mouth-watering detail the great banquet the Lord will provide. It will be on Mount Zion and all peoples are invited. Not only will all sorrows be wiped away, but also the ultimate worry – death – will be destroyed.

The familiar psalm expresses our personal confidence that the Lord is preparing a beautiful surprise for us to enjoy after death.

Our readings from Paul’s letter to the Philippians conclude with Paul again thanking them for their continued support and the money they had sent him. God’s help enables him to be content whatever his problems, but their thoughtfulness is especially welcome now that he is in prison. He ends his letter with a fond farewell: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit”.

Matthew compares the kingdom of heaven to a wedding feast – the heavenly banquet to which all are invited. But if we accept the invitation we must prepare adequately and be willing to participate fully. Otherwise we may still be thrown out. Our membership must be visible to others. We must do more than just belong. Like the Philippians we must share what we have with the community we have joined, and with those in need.

Psalm Response: In the Lord’s house shall I dwell for ever and ever.

Isa 25:6-10; Ps 22(23) r.6; Phil 4:12-14, 19-20; Matt 22:1-14