1. From My Heart to Your Heart by Father Bernadino

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

Shortly after World War II, the bombed-out city of Naples was filled with bands of young orphans and outcasts called scugnizzi. These scugnizzi lived on the streets, begging, pilfering, and sometimes assisting older criminals. These kids were tough, wily, and apparently unreachable. But 25-year-old Father Mario Borelli wanted to try. He felt it was his responsibility to love in the way Christ has loved. So, each night right after his regular duties, he became a scugnizzi. Dressed in a ragged and filthy get-up, he started begging at the Naples railroad terminal. The other young toughs were impressed by his style; just the right mixture of humor and pathetic humility.

When a gang leader swaggered up and demanded half his take, Mario beat him up. That really impressed the guys. This incognito priest slept on basement gratings covered with old newspapers, just like the others. Soon he was getting to know his new companions well as they talked around fires, heating up their scraps of food in old tin cans. He had something to express about the God who took on human flesh. And Mario discovered that all of them, even the most bitter and hardened, had a longing for home, affection, and security.

After winter arrived, Mario informed the gang that he’d found a place for them to stay: the abandoned ruins of the church of Saint Gennaro. Slowly he transformed the structure into a home and started providing the boys with nourishing meals.

One night Mario appeared in full clerical robes. After his buddies stopped laughing, he explained that he was, in fact, a priest. By this time, the bonds he’d established were strong enough to make them stay; Mario had won their respect. And so the House of the Urchins was established, where young throwaways could find a home, hope, and the streetwise spiritual guidance of Mario Borrelli.

Christ is not asking most of us to make that drastic a change in our lifestyle, but he is asking us to be in mission. There is no other path to true happiness. We are to be in mission in our family, in our community and in our world and to have a consciousness that we are the people of God, bringing God’s light to the world.

Love and Peace!
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade

Jessica, a sixteen-year-old girl, had a beautiful and abundant bunch of hair covering her head, making her face even more beautiful and angelic. One day I was invited by her parents to have dinner at their house. I was surprised and actually shocked when I saw Jessica. Even with her same beautiful smile and brilliant eyes, she didn’t look the same. She had cut her hair.

– Jessica, – I said, – you look so so different.

That’s when Jessica told me about «Locks of Love». « Locks of Love » is a public non-profit organization that provides hair pieces to children who have lost their hair due to a medical condition called alopecia areata. But in this case Jessica’s hair was a gift she gave to a friend of hers who had lost her hair due to chemotherapy treatments.

Also, Jessica taught me that in many cases when women, especially young women, have to face an oncologic condition and have to go through chemotherapy, before the fear of losing their lives, they fear losing their hair. Feelings just happen. They don’t have to make sense.

Counting the hairs on your head («Even all the hairs on your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. » Matthew 10: 26-33):

It was just a few weeks after Kathryn Lay’s surgery; the chemotherapy treatments had begun. Every morning, she would comb her hair — and every morning she would pull out anther clump of her beautiful hair from the brush. This side effect was hitting her harder and harder.

One morning, she felt the top of her head and, for the first time, she could count the strands. But she felt strangely at peace. She held each strand — just as God, in his providence, could count them from the moment God breathed his life into her. She became aware of God present in the love of her family and friends who were supporting and suffering with her.

She remembers: « I felt comfort knowing that God knew how many strands were in my brush, on my pillow, in my hat, and in my hand. God had counted them all. With or without my hair, God knew me and what my future held. I was still afraid — of the cancer, of the chemo, the upcoming brain scan, and its results — but I knew that God would be with me through it all. »

May we find peace and reason to hope in the providence of God who has “counted . . . all the hairs of your head,” a providence that manifests itself in the love of family, the comfort of friends, the support of church and community.

« I lost my hair, », says Kathryn Lay, « but not my faith. ».

Dedication to a dear friend – Janice Contreras

My column and my Eucharist today are dedicated to my dear friend in the United States, Janice Contreras, the first coordinator of the «People Helping People», at the St. Anthony’s Church, City of Oakley, California. Janice has gone through some tough times also, like Kathryn Lay. Janice knows what chemo is and she knows what that means – losing her hair.

Janice! Tourists from all over the world visiting Madeira and attending the English Mass are going to be praying for you and for Larry, your husband, at the Mass I am saying today, in English in this beautiful Madeira Island. «People Helping People» which has been «your baby» for a long time, is still alive. God is in control of your life and your struggles.

The poorest of the poor you helped are your best advocates. We love you Janice and I thank you for inspiring my life to be spent at the service of the poorest of the poor. Starting today, your name and Larry’s name are going to be added to the prayer list of our “Joyful Gift”.

Please don’t quit before the miracle happens.

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

– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade

MY 52nd ANNIVERSARY

I was 12 years old. The youngest of 11 brothers and sisters, from a poor family. I was having a little informal conversation with my mother and my sister, when my sister, Agostinha, surprised me with this question:  « Bernardino, wouldn’t you like to be a priest? ». It sounded like a very strange question but without any hesitation I said yes.

My mother and I started getting all the necessary information and in a short period of time I entered the Seminary. It was October 15, 1950 when I entered the Seminary in Funchal. It was June 12th, 1965, when I was ordained as a priest in Quelimane (Mozambique).

One day, in California, a newsman, after a few questions, asked me: « But… Father, when you were 12 years old what did you understand about priesthood? ». My answer was: « I am almost 70 years old and I still do not understand it. »

Priesthood has always been a fascinating mystery that God has been slowly revealing to me through the celebration of the Sacraments, my Pastoral ministry, my prayer life and especially in my contact with the poorest of the poor.

Alleviating the suffering of the world, being a sower of hope and compassion, struggling for social justice,  combating cruel bureaucracies and social inequalities, preparing lay leadership and Small Communities have always been some of my biggest priorities with a few successes and lots and lots of failures. The poor have always been my main masters. They are the ones who have taught me what priesthood is about. When I entered the Seminary I didn’t do it to study my vocation. When I entered the Seminary I did it to be a priest.

Now I am 79 years old. If I could go back in life I would choose to follow the same road. I never thought that it would be so difficult to be a priest, but I never thought that it would be such a fascinating and happy life. Everything I do, I do it with love and passion. When I look at a host that I just consecrated during Mass, sometimes I still feel tears in my eyes. And I still do not understand why and I don’t care to understand.

I am passionately in love with Jesus and his project of «bringing good news to the poor» (Lk. 4:18) to build, starting in this world, the Kingdom of His Father who is «Our Father who art in Heaven and on Earth». To summarize my Mission Statement as a priest, it would be: « I came to bring good news to the poor» (Lk. 4).

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

– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade

In a mother’s womb were two babies, one asked the other: «Do you believe in life after delivery? ». The other replied «Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later. »

« Nonsense », said the first, « There is no life after delivery. What kind of life would that be? ». The second said «I don’t know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouth. Maybe we will have other senses that we can’t understand now».

The first replied – «That is absurd. Walking is impossible. And eating with our mouths? Ridiculous! The umbilical cord supplies nutrition and everything we need. But the umbilical cord is so short. Life after delivery is to be logically excluded. ».

The second insisted – «Well I think there is something, and maybe it’s different from life here. Maybe we won’t need this physical cord anymore. ».

The first replied: « Nonsense. And moreover, if there is life, then why has no one ever come back from there? Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery there is nothing but darkness and silence and oblivion. It takes nowhere. ». «Well, I don’t know, » said the second, «but certainly we will meet Mother and she will take care of us. ».

The first replied «Mother? You actually believe in Mother? That’s laughable. If Mother exists then where is She now? ». The second said: «She is all around us. We are surrounded by her. We are of Her. It is in Her that we live. Without Her this world would not and could not exist. ».

«Well I don’t see her, so it is only logical that she doesn’t exist», said the first, to which the second replied: «Sometimes, when you’re in silence and you focus and listen, you can hear Her loving voice, calling down from above. ».

Sometimes we are like the two babies in the story, and we ask: “Is there life after death?”… “Does God exist?”

I have heard that even though birds are surrounded by air, they don’t see the air. Fish are surrounded by water, but the last thing they see is the water. We are so immersed in God. We are completely soaked in God like a sponge with water.

We are completely surrounded by God like babies by their mother’s wombs, like birds by air and fish by water but we are so distracted by the «life» and the «needs» created by us that we make the mistake of saying and feeling that God doesn’t exist unless like the second baby says «Sometimes, when you are in silence and focus and listen we can hear HIS loving voice, calling down from above».

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

– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade

The Italian composer Giacomo Puccini wrote, among other operas, La Boheme, Madama Butterfly and Tosca. It was during his battle with terminal cancer in 1922 that he began to write Turandot, which many now consider his best work. He worked on the score day and night, despite his friends’ advice to rest, and to save his energy.

When his sickness worsened, Puccini said to his disciples, “If I don’t finish Turandot, I want you to finish it.”

He died in 1924, leaving the work unfinished. His disciples gathered all that was written of Turandot, studied it in great detail, and then proceeded to write the remainder of the opera. The world premier was performed in La Scala Opera House in Milan in 1926, and Toscanini, Puccini’s favorite student, conducted it.

The opera went beautifully, until Toscanini came to the end of the part written by Puccini. He stopped the music, put down the baton, turned to the audience, and announced, “Thus far the master wrote, but he died.” There was a long pause; no one moved. Then Toscanini picked up the baton, looked at the audience and, with tears in his eyes, announced, “But his disciples finished his work…”

The opera closed to thunderous applause and to a permanent place in the annals of great works.
Jesus instructs us in His Ascension message to finish His work of saving mankind by proclaiming His Good News by words and deeds.

Jesus brought to the world an enormous project. The project of Jesus sent by his Father was to build the Kingdom of God.

The Father didn’t send His Son to the world to build the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is just an instrument to build the Kingdom of God. But He didn’t finish his job. Now, like Puccini’s disciples, it’s up to us to continue His job. To build the Kingdom of His Father.

Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade

The phone rang at 1:00 AM in the home of Leo Winters, a brilliant Chicago surgeon. It was the Hospital telling him that a young boy had been tragically mangled in a car accident. Dr. Winters’ hands were probably the only ones in the city skilled enough to save that boy’s life. He put on his clothes, jumped into his car and decided the quickest route to the hospital would be to drive through a dangerous neighbourhood, but since time was critical, he decided to take the risk.

He came to a stop light and when he did, a man in a gray hat and a dirty flannel shirt, opened the door, pulled him out of his seat and screamed, «Give me your car».

The doctor tried to explain that he was on an emergency call, but the thief refused to listen. He threw the doctor out of the car, jumped in and sped off. The doctor wandered for more than 45 minutes looking for a phone so he could call a taxi. When he finally got to the hospital, more than an hour had passed. He ran through the hospital doors, up the stairs, to the nurses’ station. The nurse on duty looked at him and shook her head and said, «I am sorry but you are too late. The boy died 30 minutes ago. His father is in the chapel if you want to see him. He is awfully upset because he couldn’t understand why you couldn’t come to help his son. »

Doctor Winters walked hurriedly down the hallway and entered into the chapel. Weeping at the altar was a man dressed in a dirty flannel shirt and gray hat, whose eyes were blinded by tears. The boy’s father looked up at the doctor in horror, recognizing him from the car he had taken, and realized his tragic mistake. He had foolishly pushed away the only man in that city that could have saved his son!

There is only one person that can save your soul. When you exit this life, at the moment you die, you will enter eternity. If you intend to go to Heaven, you had better make sure you take the one Way, which is the only way and His name is Jesus Christ.

There is one more game around attacking the youth. They call it «blue whale». One of the basic needs of a human being is to find meaning for their lives. If they don’t have it, they will create their own. They will create games that kill. Jesus says «I am the way».
«I came in order that you have life and life in full». «I came in order that your joy may be complete». The tragic mistake is that, very often, the parents are the ones who throw into the streets the «Doctor that can save their children’s lives».

Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

– 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