Author: ANTONINO

Hello my Brothers and Sisters.

I am supposed to talk to you about my Uncle, Father Bernardino, but in these recent days, I’ve heard so many amazing testimonies from so many of you, that I fear I have very little to add. I could tell you he had a golden heart and a willingness to put others before him, but you already know that. I could tell you he had a contagious laughter and could raise the spirits on any occasion, but I think you know that too. I could tell you that he brought out the best in the people around him, but yeah, nothing new there.

So instead, I would like to delve with you, about one of the most significant lessons he imparted to me.

I recently discovered that there are multiple interpretations of one of my uncle’s favorite biblical stories: “The Good Shepherd”.

I thought there was only one interpretation. The one my Uncle taught me. The one that I believe is the foundation that permeated all of his philosophy and beliefs.

In John 10 14-15 Jesus says, “I am the good Shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
You see, some interpretations focus on Jesus as the Shepherd, and us as the sheep. In other words, all we need to do, is revere our Shepherd, and passively leave the flock in his hands. But as you probably know, my Uncle had a different vision about many of Jesus’ teachings.

You see, as many people do, my Uncle believed that Jesus was not simply our Savior, he was also a reference, a guide. He came to us to teach us how to navigate God’s creation.

You know the phrase “What would Jesus do?”? That phrase was his compass.

So for him, this story wasn’t about finding safety in Jesus embrace, it was about recognizing how anyone can be the sheep, but anyone can also be the Shepherd. For him, this story was about how despite some sheep being terribly annoying, some noisy, some even smelly, some weak, or hurt, or lost, we are all in the same flock, we are all family. A big family for sure, but a real true family, and as the “great poet” Stitch said, Ohana means family, and in a family, no one is left behind.

In Luke 15, on the parable of the lost sheep, Jesus makes exactly this point: even with 100 sheep in your care, if one is weak, lost, afraid, a Shepherd is always ready to find her, bring her back to safety and nurture her back to health.

We are all sheep in this huge flock, and we are all our brothers and sisters Shepherds, and we should never, ever, leave anyone behind, especially the ones that are more fragile.

So to bring this interpretation home, i’d like to read you another passage from Mathew 25 on the Sheep and the Goats:
“He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

And here, against any other interpretation, he is directly saying that the sheep, were also the shepherds of their brothers and sisters.

There is a saying in Portuguese that roughly translates as “He who kisses my children, sweetens my lips”. I think God would like that saying.

I apologize for turning this into a sermon rather than a more traditional eulogy about my uncle’s life, but I’m confident he would appreciate that my tribute to him centers on his favorite teaching: “we were put here to love” – “We were put here for each other”. Think about it, without love and care for each other, we would all die alone.

And you know it’s true because we do love, and we do care for each other. The hard part is caring for those sheep that are too noisy for our delicate ears, or too smelly for our nose, or too weak for all the work they give us, or too lost for our comfort. Fr. Bernardino would argue that those are precisely the ones that need the Shepherd’s guidance the most.

So I challenge you to ask: “how can I bring safety to my fearful brother? How can I guide my lost sister? How can I nurture my weakened family? How can I be the Shepherd that works for a better flock?”.

Of course this doesn’t mean that you should always be looking for ways to intervene, nor spend your life in service of others the way my Uncle and many others did and do, but at the very least, if you find any of those hurting sheep, don’t turn away. Just ask that very, very simple question: How can I help?

If you do that, I promise you there will be one very happy Bernardino up there, thanking you for being your brother’s shepherd.

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WHO SPILLED THE COFFEE?
I was conducting a Bible class to a group of parishioners. They had planned that, each day, one of them would bring a cake and a pot of coffee to be shared after the class. The meeting had ended and people were gathering their things. In this moment I heard something, I looked and saw coffee on the floor. Being very «righteous» I looked and the first thing that came to my mouth was a question: «Ho… who spilled that coffee? ».

When I asked the question there was a lady already cleaning the floor. Without raising her head, she answered:
«Father, now we don’t ask who spilled the coffee. Now we clean it».
Today´s gospel reminds me of the story of the «spilled coffee».
«As Jesus went along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. His disciples asked him:
«Rabi, who sinned, this man or his parents, for him to have been born blind? » (Jo. 9: 1-2)

I heard many years ago a conference delivered by the captain of an Airlines Company. And one thing that I never forgot was what he said about «blaming». He said that this society will be remembered as the «blaming society». If something goes wrong, very often the first reaction is not
to solve the situation. If something goes wrong the first reaction is to find whom to blame. It seems that the normal reaction should be: «What can I do to solve this problem?» or «What can I do to help»? But the most common reaction is: «Who did that»? «Whose fault is it»? «I am glad I was not there. They cannot blame me». «Who spilled the coffee? ». «Who sinned?
In this story of the blind man, it seems that there was a conspiracy to hurt and humiliate Jesus and to hurt and humiliate the blind man. It seems that the first reaction should be of compassion for the blind man. Besides he was not just blind but also very poor. He was a beggar. The second reaction should be of joy and celebration. They had all the reasons to celebrate and rejoice.  A member of their community whom they knew very well had been blind duringa ll his life and now by Jesus’ intervention he can see.
«It’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. »
2.
THE WORST BLINDNESS IS TO HAVE EYES AND NOT SEE
I was driving my car, with two ladies inside, in one of the busiest streets of Funchal. It was 2PM on one of the hot summer days. It was very very hot. On the sidewalk there was a man sleeping under that sun, covered with a heavy coat. One of the ladies said: «Look at that man laying down
under this hot sun». And then she added:
«But nobody stops. Nobody stops. They don’t even look at him. They don’t even see him».
We all have blind spots that prevent us from paying attention to the human tragedies, and all
kinds of human suffering. LORD HELP ME TO SEE.

Love and Peace
Fr. Bernardino Andrade Andrade

A NAP, A CUP OF COFFEE, CONFESSION AND TODAY´S MASS
1.

The «mountain top» experience of my life in Africa was the experience of organizing and conducting retreats for the youth and smaller groups of children. In May of 1966 we started a small group of young adults that we called «Juvenile Center». The group started with twelve boys and girls. All of them were working in different professions. Then students started joining them and pretty soon the group was a large group of different ages. Then the Juvenile Center started growing, up to the point of being able to mobilize the entire city of Quelimane, which is not a big city. There were always different activities happening and those activities created among them a sense of community.

2.

Retreats were the main event that used to congregate boys and girls for three days in a retreat house for prayer, meditation, silence and adoration. In all retreats the main theme was the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman.
«If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you «give me a drink» you would have asked Him and he would have given you living water. » (Jo. 4:10).

This was the highest event of each retreat.

«If you knew the gift of God…» Conducting this meditation my concern was to put in their hearts and their minds that this «Gift of God» was something very real. It was not just an idea or a feeling. This gift of God had the power to transform their lives. This was the moment when many of them changed their lives and started a new relationship with God. This Gift of God was an exciting gift that changed many lives during the retreats.

3.

Because I was aware of this responsibility, every time I conducted a retreat, I used to prepare it very well. Like as if it were the first time. There were three tools that I used to prepare this meditation: a nap, a cup of coffee and Confession. I wanted to be sure that I was not tired. That’s why,before the meditation, I used to do anything to take some time for a nap. I wanted to be rested and full of energy. The other thing was to drink a cup of coffee. I believed (I don’t know if it was true) that a cup of coffee would help me to be awake. One third thing was to look for a priest, and have a good Confession. I wanted to be full of that «Gift» Jesus is talking about. With these three «crutches» I was usually on fire and I started talking about the «Gift of God» Jesus was talking about with the woman at the well.

This «Gift of God» is offered to each one of us today during this Holy Mass where we all heard the Gospel of the encounter of Jesus and the Samaritan woman who was considered an outcast. But that «Gift of God» performed a miracle. She became a missionary who
brought many people to Jesus.

Fr. Bernardino Andrade 12-03-2023