Author: ANTONINO

– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade

It is common for any priest to be approached by people asking if he can say a Mass for a special intention, like the health recovery of a family member, somebody who died, in thanksgiving for a special favour from God and so on. The intentions vary and we, the priests who are closer to the people, try to meet them wherever they are, especially if there is any suffering involved.

I was in one of the corridors of the hospital in the city of Funchal when this young lady approached me asking if I could say a special Mass in thanksgiving for her six-year-old daughter’s first smile. This was the first time that, in my almost 50 years as a priest, someone had asked me for a special intention like that: Thanking God for the first smile.

The story behind this request is very simple, and very tragic:

Sara, a six-year-old girl, was crossing a road with her family when she was badly hit by a car. She flew over the car and in seconds she was laying on the pavement, full of blood, all broken and unconscious. Just in seconds. But in those few seconds, Sara and her family’s lives were changed forever. But Sara’s mother, a very strong and positive woman, supported by her husband Manuel, a very strong and positive man, in the middle of such a tragedy found something very very good. Sara was alive! One of the first things she did was to approach a priest and ask him to say a special Mass in thanksgiving for her daughter’s life. Sara was alive! Thanks God! Sara was alive. No time or energy to complain. Only to thank God because Sara was alive.

Her agonizing recovery was very slow. Sara was surrounded by good doctors and nurses but also by lots of love. Her parents, Sandra and Manuel, never gave up. Every time Sara moved, or opened her eyes, every time she breathed was a moment to rejoice and celebrate.

Her godfather always acted as a clown doing his little tricks to attract her attention and make her smile. But something was missing. In spite of all the love and all the tricks nobody had seen a smile on Sara’s angelic face since the accident.

Finally, one day, I don’t know how many people were in the hospital room when there was an excitement and clapping and tears around Sara’s bed. Finally Sara had shared with her family her first smile! There was no doubt that smile was one of the biggest events in the life of that family. That’s when Sandra approached me and asked me to say a special Mass in thanksgiving for the first smile of her precious angel.

Meanwhile Sara moved to a different hospital and for six years I lost track of her and her family. About two weeks ago I entered a restaurant and guess whom I saw? Sara! She was having lunch with her family. She did not recognize me. She is still very special. Sara, twelve years old now, doesn’t talk and was not able to learn how to read or to write, but now she smiles a lot. And there is some kind of food that Sara can eat by herself with a spoon in her left hand. And she does it by herself. But what I found interesting is that every time Sara smiles is a moment of celebration for her family. That’s why I am not surprised that I never heard a complaint from her parents. When you have an attitude of thanksgiving you have no time to complain.

Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

When I first arrived in California in 1974 there was a song calling California a «melting pot». This was the American concept. America, that was full of immigrants from all over the world, was considered a «melting pot». Different cultures were supposed to be «melted» and integrated in one culture only. It was like a juice maker. We put oranges, apples, bananas and any kind of fruit together and each one was supposed to lose its identity and become one kind of juice with one kind of color and one kind of taste.

In 1976 the American Bishops wrote a Pastoral letter and stated that America was not a «melting pot» but a «mosaic» with different colors, different cultures, different languages, and so on.

To emphasize this beautiful concept of respect for diversity we built, in my parish, what we called a «Marian Garden». All nationalities were invited to paste on the outside walls of the church in a garden that looked like a cloister, on tile, the image of their patroness with her name, a story of the image and the Hail Mary in their language.

I was surprised to find out that some people, when I asked them the name of their patroness they answered that it was «Our Lady of Fatima». One day, in Madeira, I was with a group of Portuguese people and also asked the name of our Patroness and the answer was the same. It was Our Lady of Fatima when it is the Immaculate Conception.

When I heard that Pope Francis was coming to Fatima to preside to the First Centennial Celebration of the Apparitions I became convinced that he was going to proclaim Our Lady of Fatima the Patroness of the World or the Patroness of all Nations. He is not going to do it but People already did it. FATIMA IS THE ALTAR OF THE WORLD. During these last two days all the world, Catholic and non Catholic, had their eyes on Fatima.

2

On May 13, 1917 Mary, the Mother of Jesus, appeared to three little Shepherds: Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta. It happened between two world wars. My father was an illiterate and simple military man, who spent 4 years in the military life. He married my mother in March 1917, two months before the Apparitions. I heard him many times talking about the Apparitions saying: «We heard that Our Lady had appeared and had said that the war was going to end and the soldiers were going home».

I still feel my father´s emotions when I was a small child hearing the same story so many times without ever getting tired of his repetition. Especially «the soldiers are going home».

Maybe because of this little story told by this small man in this small place I always associated Fatima with the suffering of the world. «The soldiers are going home» always meant for me the end of the human suffering.

3

Pope Francis is coming to Fatima as a pilgrim to celebrate with the entire world the first Centennial of the Apparitions. It is not an official visit to Portugal. Just a pilgrim to remind the world the message of Fatima. He is bringing a message of Mercy and Peace and also to canonize the two youngest Shepherds who saw Mary, Mother of God and our Mother.

Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade

When I visited Brazil for the first time in1983 there were no emails, no telephones. Letters only. So one day I received a letter from my housekeeper just to give me some special and exciting good news: her four-year-old son didn’t need diapers anymore. Her son was a very special and challenging child – he was autistic. I didn’t think that it was a big deal.

One year later I had my Sabbatical in Notre Dame University (in the USA) and I attended part of a graduation ceremony of the new doctors. One of the mothers there to see her son graduating was from California, and because I am also from California, we started talking. I mentioned what a big accomplishment it must be for a mother to attend her son’s graduation ceremony « However, » – I added – « an accomplishment like this is a sum of many, many little accomplishments in a mother’s life.». Then I mentioned the big accomplishment of my housekeeper when her son had learned how to use the bathroom and didn’t need diapers any more. I was amazed with her answer: « Father, that is one of the biggest accomplishments in a mother’s life. ».

I was surprised that she didn’t even smile. She really meant what she said.

Since then I understood that life is made of many little accomplishments and I am sorry that I have missed so many opportunities to celebrate them. I am sorry that I have seen so many people like me, missing these opportunities…

Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade
(bernardinodandrade@gmail.com

– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade

DIVINE MERCY IN ACTION

A TIME magazine issue in 1984 presented a startling cover. It pictured a prison cell where two men sat on metal folding chairs. The young man wore a blue turtleneck sweater, blue jeans and white running shoes. The older man was dressed in a white robe and had a white skullcap on his head. They sat facing one another, up-close and personal. They spoke quietly so as to keep others from hearing the conversation.

The young man was Mehmet Ali Agca, the pope’s would-be assassin (he shot and wounded the Pope on May 13, 1981); the other man was Pope St. John Paul II, the intended victim. The Pope held the hand that had held the gun whose bullet tore into the Pope’s body.

This was a living icon of mercy. John Paul’s forgiveness was deeply Christian. His deed with Ali Agca spoke a thousand words. He embraced his enemy and pardoned him. At the end of their 20-minute meeting, Ali Agca raised the Pope’s hand to his forehead as a sign of respect. John Paul shook Ali Agca’s hand tenderly.

When the Pope left the cell he said: « What we talked about must remain a secret between us. I spoke to him as a brother whom I have pardoned and who has my complete trust. ».

This is an example of God’s Divine Mercy, the same Divine Mercy whose message St. Faustina witnessed.

A BLANKET AND A BOTTLE OF MADEIRA WINE

Carmina, one of the leaders of People Helping People and of the English Mass, was driving through one of the streets of Funchal on a cold and dark night. All of a sudden her sight was caught by a homeless man sleeping (was he sleeping?) on the street’s sidewalk.

Carmina stopped her car and approached him. Her heart was broken. She knew that she had found Jesus by surprise. [This is the point where mercy meets misery.] Standing before this misery she could not be indifferent. Something needed to be done, but what?

It didn’t take too much time to decide: Carmina went home, brought a blanket and something else. Kindly, like a mother covering her baby, she extended the blanket over him. And at his side she gently left a delicious bottle of Madeira Wine.

This is Divine Mercy.

MY THREE FAVOURITE THOUGHTS OF MOTHER TERESA

“Small things done by small people in small places change the world.”

“What I do for others is just a drop of water in the ocean. But without that drop of water the ocean is smaller.”

“I would prefer to have a person making a mistake with kindness than being right with rudeness.”

Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade