1. From My Heart to Your Heart by Father Bernadino

– 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:

Dear Friends!

I am in California to spend one month in my former field of work that I loved and where I felt loved. I am going to relive part of my story. I really love stories. Each one of us is a story written by our loving God. Even if we try to sabotage his work God never quits on us. And in spite of all my failures God has been the main author of my story and that’s why I also love my story. From Madeira to Africa, from Africa to California and from California to Madeira… If I could go back in life I would choose to travel the same road with less mistakes.

This Sunday is the 1st WORLD DAY OF THE POOR, established by Pope Francis at the close of the Year of Mercy. The poor are the heart of the message of Jesus. Here is something that I found in the Ecclesia Agency website about the 1st WORLD DAY OF THE POOR…

Vatican: Pope makes a surprise visit to small field hospital for people in need

Vatican City, Nov 16, 2017 (Ecclesia) – Pope Francis made a surprise visit today to the small field hospital set up on Pius XII Square (St. Peter’s Square) near the Vatican on the occasion of the 1st World Day of the Poor to be celebrated on Sunday November 19th.

The space, with several tents, offers medical and nursing consultations to needy people living in the Italian capital. The Pope greeted the medical staff, volunteers and several people standing in line waiting for a free consultation. Pope Francis also spoke with volunteers from the Italian Confederation of Mercies, who offered him, as they do to everyone who moves into that space, a hot drink to fight the cold. This is one of the initiatives promoted by the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization (Holy See), which on Sunday 19th November, brings together around 1500 people for a festive lunch on the First World Day of the Poor.

The Holy See informs that the meal will take place in the Paul VI Audience Hall, after the celebration of the Mass and the recitation of the Angelus, and will gather together, people in need, accompanied by volunteers. The Pontifical Council that promotes the event also says that the Mass presided by the Pope in the Basilica of St. Peter, from 10am will count on the participation of 4000 poor people from Rome and other dioceses in the world. The creation of World Day of the Poor was a decision announced by Pope Francis at the conclusion of the Jubilee of Mercy (December 2015 – November 2016).

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

I saw Dr. William Magee Jr. crying in a TV program. It was the program Hour of Power with the Rev. Dr. Robert Schuler in California. Both could not contain their tears in this TV program.

Dr. William Magee Jr. was a plastic surgeon in Norfolk, Va. In 1981 when he decided to travel to Philippines to operate on children with cleft lips and other facial deformities. Unfortunately, there were so many children with this deformity, a deformity that can render it impossible for them to speak or eat, that hundreds had to be turned away.

This caused Dr. Magee and his wife, Kathy S. Magee, a nurse, to found an organization called Operation Smile.
Operation Smile sends volunteer doctors to perform reconstructive facial surgery for children worldwide. «It wasn’t a strategic plan», said Magee. «It was just a matter of emotion and passion to make sure children didn’t have to live this way.»

The group, which already has treated 50,000 children worldwide, also trains doctors in other nations to perform the procedure. Magee hopes to use satellite technology in the future, so he can teach a greater number of medical professionals the necessary techniques.

Dr. Magee didn’t have to do that. He could have justified himself. «What’s in it for me? There are so many children in my own city whose parents or whose insurance company could pay for this surgery. I’m a busy doctor here. I don’t have to go half way around and minister to indigent children. Not my problem».

I doubt if Dr. Magee even wondered if this act of service would get him into Heaven. He simply saw a need and filled it. He became a Good Samaritan, encouraging fellow surgeons to become Good Samaritans.

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

You can read more about Operation Smile on their website: https://www.operationsmile.org/vision/our-story

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

A few years ago that wonderfully creative Christian sociologist, Rev. Tony Campolo, traveled to Honolulu, Hawaii, for a speaking engagement. He flew all the way from Pennsylvania to Hawaii and had an awful case of jet lag. Therefore, at 3:00 AM, he was wide awake. Tony found a donut shop near his hotel. As he sat there sipping coffee and glancing at a newspaper, the door to the diner swung open and in marched eight or nine provocative and boisterous prostitutes. Their talk was loud and crude.

Tony was just about to make his getaway when he overheard one of the women say, “Tomorrow’s my birthday. I’m gonna be thirty-nine.” One of her friends responded in a sarcastic tone, “So, what do you want from me, a birthday party?” “No,” she said. “I’ve never had a birthday party in my life. Too late to start now.”

Suddenly, Tony Campolo had an idea. As soon as the women had left, he said to Harry, the owner of the diner, “Do those women come in here every night?” “Yep,” he said, “about this same time. Hope they weren’t bothering you.” “No,” Tony said, “but I have an idea. The one sitting next to me is going to have a birthday tomorrow. I’ll pay the bill if we can have a little birthday party for her.”

A smile spread across Harry’s face. “That’s a good idea. Her name is Agnes.” He called his wife out of the kitchen area and told her about it. They agreed to bake the cake.

The next morning by 3:00 AM Campolo had decorated the diner with crepe paper and had made a big sign reading, “Happy Birthday, Agnes.” Word had gotten around somehow because by 3:00 AM every prostitute in Honolulu was in the place. Wall-to-wall prostitutes and Tony Campolo. At 3:30 AM on the dot, Agnes walked in and confronted the cake with burning candles and the crowd singing loudly, “Happy Birthday.” She was flabbergasted, stunned, shaken. Her eyes moistened. Then after she blew out the candles she completely lost it and openly cried.

After the party was over, Tony asked the group if he could say a prayer. He prayed for Agnes and everyone else in the group. Then after everyone was gone, he thanked Harry for going along with the party. Harry said, “Hey, you didn’t tell me you were a preacher. What Church do you belong to?” In one of those moments when just the right words came, Tony answered, “I belong to a Church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3:00 AM.” Jesus in the Gospel describes a King’s party for the ordinary people.

Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

– 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

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


1

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.

2

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

– 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

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

NO STRINGS ATTACHED

This was in the city of Half Moon Bay, California; a beautiful city with a beautiful beach and all the characteristics of a countryside city. Farming, flowers, cows and dairies were still the main scenery of that place. Also in this city there were many poor Mexican undocumented families with lots of children.

A young couple, with a few children, had the routine every Saturday morning of going together to a local restaurant and enjoying a non-expensive but delicious breakfast. No school, no work and no hurry. Just enjoying a nice meal in the presence of the family. The father of the family decided to consult with his family and share the same experience with the rest of the community. – Love is not love until it is shared.

They borrowed a hall from the City and started going to the supermarkets asking for eggs, bread, milk, vegetables, and anything else they could get. Then they started inviting people to join them every Saturday to also enjoy a nice breakfast. The young father and some volunteers prepared the food, and any person could take a plate, sit down and eat. The hall was big enough where the children could run, play, make friend and just be children. There were also tables with lots of bread and cakes, and also vegetables donated by the supermarkets for people to take home. This was something that I had never seen before.

The food was good, the company was excellent, but what impressed me the most was that there were no lists, nobody asking for documents, not even anybody asking for their names. There were just people eating together, enjoying the company of one another and building relationships.

A new program had started and its name was NO STRINGS ATTACHED.

This program had lots of influence on me when I started in my parish the project «People Helping People». No names, no lists, just people in need and people helping them. Very often bureaucracy kills programs, kills dreams and kills people. People Helping People should never be a program or an institution. People Helping People should be a way of life 24 hours a day.

CASA = HOME

Last Sunday, I had in this city of Funchal, an «impossible» experience. It is called CASA = HOME. In Portuguese it means «Support Center For the Homeless». In this world, and country, where the rules become heavier and heavier (no papers no food) I had the privilege of eating with the homeless the best food that can be served at any table. However, you don’t have to be a homeless to eat there. Just show up or ask somebody to bring you food and that will be available for you. No questions asked. No strings attached.

A few fine hotels in Funchal share their left overs with this association called «Casa» (Home). Some volunteers pick up the food, bring it to this place where people are waiting for their meals. The little inconvenience is that it has to take place after 10:30 PM when the hotels finish serving meals to their guests. People can bring their Tupperware and bags and take home how much food they want. Again… «No strings attached» or «No questions asked». Nobody asks for their names, addresses, IDs or whatever.

Along with «No Strings Attached», it is the most revolutionary association I have ever seen in my life. On the other hand, I have heard yesterday that some Catholic Associations just received instructions to be stricter in their rules in helping the poor in order to prevent abuses. Mother Teresa says that «When you start by judging you have no time to love».

«Casa» started to help the homeless but anybody even if he is a millionaire is welcomed. No questions asked. Like People Helping People, «Casa» is a combat against bureaucracy, against social inequality and against a society of waste.

Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

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

JUMP MY SON… JUMP!…

The building was engulfed in fire. Coming from one of the windows everybody could hear the cries of a panicked eight-year-old child. From the streets the firemen, after preparing a safety net to catch him, kept shouting: «Jump… we are here to save you… please jump… You will be safe».

The cries of the child kept growing in volume and in panic. After trying a few times without any success, the firemen had the good sense of asking the child’s father to help them to convince the child to jump. The father was horrified but anyway he tried: «Jump my son jump… you will be OK… a safe net is here to catch you. You will be OK ».

The boy didn’t move. He just cried. Answering to his father he said: « But Daddy, I can not see anything. The only thing I see is smoke and it is very hot. I can not see you ». At this moment the father had the inspiration to tell his son: « It doesn’t matter if you can’t see me. The important thing is that I can see you… I can see you, my son. Jump my son… jump! ».

Listening to these words the boy lost his fear and jumped into the darkness. A few seconds later he was completely safe in the arms of his father who now cried of joy.

We all pass through some horrifying fires and violent storms in our lives. But on the other side of the storm we have a Father, a loving God, who tells us: «Jump! Do not be afraid, I am here to catch you. Jump my son… jump » !

« PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE » IS A JUMP IN THE DARKNESS

After the terrible floods that destroyed part of Madeira Island in 2010 we got more in touch with the reality of the poverty that affects so many families. Some people live in poverty and some in misery. In the words of Pope Francis: « Misery is poverty without any hope ».

Because our main point of reference are not rules but the suffering of the people, without any plans and no budgets, we embarked on something that we had never done before. We started taking people who live and sleep in the streets and giving them a decent place to sleep and to live like human beings. When they look for a job, at least they can say that they have a mailing address. The majority of the money that supports this cause comes from the generosity of the tourists that attend the English Mass at Penha de França.

MOYNIHAN’S FUNDRAISER DINNER

Sometimes we feel like the frightened boy. Sometimes the only thing we see is suffering people and an empty bank account. But then something happens where we listen to God saying: «Jump, my son, jump. That battle is not yours. That battle is mine. Jump». That’s what I felt last September 16th at Moynihan’s Restaurant. A Fundraiser dinner took place and it was a huge success. The restaurant took a small amount to help with the expenses and donated all the rest to the poor. People Helping People got the amount of 710,00 Euros. Amazing!

We want to thank all the people involved, especially Sinead and Tadhg Moynihan, Avril, Alan and Anne O’Brien, Dr. Vittorio Ventura, Manolo Borrero and the list would be longer if I had written their names. But there is no doubt that the employees who worked so hard to provide such a wonderful meal with so much extra work and extra kindness deserve a big applause and especially our prayers.

Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade