Author: ANTONINO

– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade
The Pastor of a Church in New York, conscious of his responsibility as a presider of a good Liturgy, spent hours preparing what he considered should be a good sermon for the Midnight Christmas Mass. He read about the birth of Jesus, he took notes and rehearsed the sermon he was supposed to deliver.
A Christmas play, mobilizing a group of children and young people, was very well prepared to act after the reading of the Gospel, right before the sermon. It was a very inclusive church where everyone would have a chance to participate.
To emphasize inclusion, they decided to invite Tom to act as a shepherd. Tom was a very special 17-year-old boy with learning difficulties because of his down syndrome condition. After trying a few rehearsals, there was a little frustration due the difficulty Tom had to learn a very simple role as a shepherd. Then they decided to change roles. Maybe Tom would be a good innkeeper. Tom was open to anything as long as he could be part of the play.
Great. After the first try, it was easy to decide that Tom would be the perfect «actor» to act as an innkeeper. The only thing he had to do was to wait in front of the altar, put his hands on his hips, look tough, and when Joseph and Mary came asking for shelter he would say: «No room for you at the Inn».
It took some time and lots of work but there was no doubt that Tom was ready. Even at the last minute they were whispering: «Don’t forget Tom… put your hands over your hips, look tough and say: – there is no room for you at the Inn. Are you ready?
– Yyyyes. I am… am ready».
The moment came. Joseph and Mary walked slowly towards the altar. Tom was standing there. They approached Tom and asked for a place to spend the night. Besides, Mary was ready to give birth to her baby. Both looked very tired. But Tom did as he had been trained to do: He put his hands over his hips, looked tough and yelled in a loud voice:
«There is no room for you at the Inn! ».
Joseph and Mary did as they have been trained to do too. They looked very sad, turned around and started walking towards the front door. Just a few seconds after they left, Tom started crying, with tears rolling down his face, and ran after them and repeated a few times: «Wait… wait… you can stay at my house… You can stay at my house. Please, don’t go»!
At that moment, the pastor approached the microphone and with tears in his eyes, said:
«I couldn´t make a better sermon than the one that was just done by Tom. «Please Jesus stay at my house». Merry Christmas».
The Priest then went to his chair and spent a few moments in silent meditation, which inspired all the congregation to do the same.
Fr. Bernardino Andrade
Dec. 25-2016

– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade
1
One Hasidic story tells of a pious Jew who asked his rabbi: “For about forty years I have opened the door for Elijah every Seder night, waiting for him to come, but he never does. What is the reason?”
– The rabbi answered: “In your neighbourhood there lives a very poor family with many children. Call on the man and propose to him that you and your family celebrate the next Passover at his house, and for this purpose provide him and his whole family with everything necessary for the eight days of Passover. Then on the Seder night Elijah will certainly come.” The man did as the rabbi told him, but after Passover he came back and claimed that again he had waited in vain to see Elijah. The rabbi answered, – “I know very well that Elijah came on the Seder night to the house of your poor neighbour. But of course you could not see him.” And the rabbi held a mirror before the face of the man and said, -“Look, this was Elijah’s face that night.”
2
After I returned from California, ten years ago, there is no doubt that the best programs I have been involved with, are programs connected with my ministry at the Chapel Penha de França in Funchal. We started People Helping People Association, Bread with my Brother program and at this Christmas Season I would like to propose another one. It would be called «Adopt a Family For Christmas»
MY FIRST ALTERNATIVE: Since the Catholic Church is about relationships, my first alternative would be that one family or a group of two or more families or individuals, attending our English Mass would contact the «People Helping People» Association and would offer to donate to a poor family a Christmas Hamper. And, of course, the ideal would be to meet that family in person and find out about their main needs, from food to toys. Hopefully the needy family would make the Agenda.
MY SECOND ALTERNATIVE: The same people would go to the supermarket and buy food to donate to a needy family. This would be their Christmas Hamper.
MY THIRD ALTERNATIVE: The same one or two or three people would donate a money gift. With that money, People Helping People would acquire vouchers from a supermarket. We would put those vouchers inside a neat envelope, wrapped in a gift paper with a loving Christmas card inside of it. Since we are already a little late for the ideal I believe that the third option would be the easiest one for now. If you want to be part of this program, there is a coordinating team at our Sunday worship that will be happy to assist you. They are: Alan O’Brien 96-91-43-732, anniegob@yahoo.ie;
Manny de Ponte, 96-91-33-074, tracyp1973@gmail.com;
and Carmina da Mata 96-36-61-835, carminadamata@hotmail.com.
Please get in touch with them and «Adopt a Family for Christmas».
For sure you will look into a mirror and see the Elijah’s face who entered a house of Jesus disguised in a needy family.
Merry Christmas! Fr. Bernardino Andrade

Isaiah 7:10-14; Psalm 23; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-24

First Isaiah was prophesying before 700 BC, when Judah was under attack. Isaiah promises that a time of peace will come when Israel returns to living simply, with no riches to make others envious. But only if they keep their faith in God. Without being asked, God gives King Ahaz a sign of his support: a young woman will bear a son, to be named Immanuel, “God with us”. Israel will still suffer. But a remnant of David’s house will survive, like the stump of a fallen tree.

Paul begins his letter to the Jewish Christian community in Rome very carefully. They did not know him, so he assures them that he shares their beliefs, especially that Jesus, a descendant of David, is the Christ, proclaimed Son of God through his resurrection. That God raised up a man hung on a tree, and so “condemned by the Law”, implies that the Jewish Torah is not enough to enable humanity to become right with God.

Before Matthew describes Jesus’ birth, he lists 42 ancestors linking Jesus firmly with Abraham, David and Israel’s kings. The list includes four women, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and the wife of Uriah. Through their unconventional behaviour, a remnant of David’s line survived, reminding us of the important roles women have always played in God’s plan.

Psalm Response: Let the Lord enter! He is the king of glory.

Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade

A Jewish Rabi has shared that he learned what real love is from two drunkards talking in one of his friend’s bar. One day the Rabi entered the bar to visit his friend. While waiting, he overheard a conversation between two men who were drinking whisky at the next table. – «Joel, we are really good friends and I am proud of that». After saying this, the man took the glass to his lips and half of the whisky was gone. – «You are right David. We have been friends all our lives and we will be forever! ». And he did the same: Joel lifted the glass to his lips and half of the whisky was gone. Then there were a few moments of silence. Joel sat staring at the liquid inside the glass. And then he took one more drink. – «I really love you» he said to his friend. – «I love you too. Never doubt of my love for you. We have been friends since our childhood and we will always be».

The whisky kept being poured into the glasses and kept disappearing. Then they put their arms around each other’s shoulders, kept drinking and declaring their love for each other, even though the words were becoming more and more difficult to pronounce, and more and more difficult to be understood. It was obvious that the whisky was goooood.

All of a sudden, Joel took his arm from David’s shoulders and asked him: – «David. Tell me one thing. What is my biggest source of suffering»? – «What a stupid question. Of course I don’t know! How can I know your biggest source of suffering»? – And Joel’s reaction was: «How can you say that you love me if you don’t know my biggest source of suffering? How can you say that you love me if you don’t know my biggest pain? »

The level of a society, a church, a group, a spouse, a neighbor, a friend and so on, must be evaluated by how much we know of, and act towards the suffering of any human being. It doesn’t matter the cause of the suffering. It doesn’t matter if it is, or was, his/her fault. Suffering is suffering, and one of my most important jobs is to alleviate the suffering of the world. «If you knew the pain of your worst enemy, you would become his best friend». Christmas is God touching and healing the wounds of every human being. It was for that purpose that God created me.

MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Fr. Bernardino Andrade

Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade

There once was a little boy who wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of root beer and started his journey.

When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old woman. She was sitting in the park just staring at some pigeons. The boy sat down next to her and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the old lady looked hungry, so he offered her a Twinkie. She gratefully accepted it and smiled at him. Her smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a root beer. Once again she smiled at him. The boy was delighted!

They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.

As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was, and he got up to leave; but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old woman and gave her a hug. She gave him her biggest smile ever.

When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, “What did you do today that made you so happy?” He replied, “I had lunch with God.” But, before his mother could respond, he added, “You know what? She’s got the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen!”

Meanwhile, the old woman, also radiant with joy, returned to her home. Her son was stunned by the look of peace on her face; and he asked, “Mother, what did you do today that made you so happy?” She replied, “I ate Twinkies in the park with God.” But, before her son responded, she added, “You know, he’s much younger than I expected!”

It is so easy and so rewarding to have lunch with God.

Life is about looking around with the eyes of our hearts to meet and have lunch with God.

God loves you and so do I,