Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade
(bernardinodandrade@gmail.com)
Portugal celebrates Father’s Day every year on March 19 when the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Joseph, husband of Mary, Mother of Jesus. It can fall on a Sunday, just as it can fall on any day of the week. We thought that it would be a good idea to celebrate Father’s Day on the Sunday after the Feast of St. Joseph. That’s why… Happy Father’s Day.
«MEN DON’T CRY»
I had never left my country until I said good bye to my parents, my family and my Island, entered a boat called “Funchal”, and disappeared into the infinite blue of the Atlantic Ocean. The boat started navigating and I could see my parents standing on the harbour. At a certain point they looked so small and finally they disappeared, and I disappeared. I felt so lonely even if there were many people onboard. It was March 1st, 1964, when I went to Africa (Mozambique) for the first time.
Dressed in my black cossack from neck to toes, I knelt and cried and cried. I knew that I wouldn’t see them for a long time. It was then that I realized that being a missionary had always been a fascinating dream for me, but it was not as romantic as I thought it would be. It was really hard to leave my father and mother, brothers and sisters and go to a land I knew almost nothing about.
One day I came home on holidays. At this time, I already came by airplane. When I disembarked at the airport of Madeira, many members of my family were expecting me but there was one whom I really didn’t expect to be there. It was my father. Because I didn’t expect him to be there I ran to his arms and said: «Oh father… I didn’t expect to see you here waiting for me». His answer was: «I was missing my son so much». He didn’t say «I was missing you». What he said was: «I was missing my son so much…».
Maybe it doesn’t seem that different but for me «you» and «my son» seemed so different. We fell in the arms of each other and started crying, but then we stopped, turned our backs to each other and kept crying. We both were feeling a little embarrassed because «men don’t cry».
From that day on, I decided to break this myth. On that day I decided that it is OK to cry. And the most interesting thing I discovered is that tears can have more power to strengthen relationships than smiles and laughter. Thank you my father for all the times you laughed with me and all the times you cried with me.
Happy Father’s Day!
Fr. Bernardino Andrade