Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade
My life and my ministry as a priest can be and has been, sometimes, very tiring but it is never boring. Even when I used to say seven and eight Masses in a weekend I never felt that it was a repetition. I never felt bored. It was always unique. It was always a surprise.
I have been performing Weddings for over fifty years and I feel that every Wedding I perform is like the first in my life. Actually it is the first with that particular couple, family and friends. Last month I had a Wedding that impressed me in a very special way.
David is from Iceland and a member of the Lutheran Church. He is fluent in English but not in Portuguese. That´s the reason why the Ceremony was bilingual.
Linda is a very proud Portuguese girl, a member of the Catholic Church, born and raised in Venezuela. Very deep in her heart, and in her purse, she carries two passports with two Nationalities.
We had a few meetings to prepare the ceremony. David and Linda were more concerned about their married life than about their marriage day. We talked about marriage, about married life, about the church, about prayer and about the world with its deep problems. We talked about the homeless, about the project «People Helping People», about the suffering, about the poor, about the refugees. We talked about the tremendous crisis that is affecting Venezuela. Linda is very conscious of all the troubles that are affecting her people in Venezuela and among them the supermarkets with empty shelves. People there have a card that assigns them the day of the week when they can go to the supermarket to buy their groceries, and where they can find almost nothing to buy. We talked about this man who spent four hours in line to pay for two kilos of rice.
Then we went back to the ceremony. Beautiful readings were chosen, the vows, the music and we also talked about the rice that is becoming a tradition to throw to the newly weds. Together we realized that throwing rice is transforming food into garbage. How can we do that in a Wedding when there is so much hunger in Venezuela and in the world? Together we realized that transforming food into garbage was an insult to the people in Venezuela and an insult to all the poor of the world and an insult to God. Somebody told Linda: «But it is your Wedding. To make the Wedding of Cana a special Wedding, Jesus transformed water into wine». «You are right», Linda answered, «but He did not insult the poor by transforming food into garbage».
Then Linda and David decided to prepare a big basket of groceries that was carried to the altar at the moment of the Offertory. Then all the people who had rice to be thrown to them brought their bags of rice and respectfully deposited them inside the basket. After the wedding, with the help of a volunteer, I carried the basket and on behalf of Linda and David I delivered it to a family of six people who saw in this action one more sign of hope. The poor and the hungry had been invited to their Wedding. Linda mentioned a very powerful word from the Gospel. «We need to be YEAST of the Kingdom of God» (Mat. 13:33).
Linda and David understood what a Sacrament is about.
By the way, I forgot to say that Linda and David were not victims of rice thrown against their faces but they were «buried» under beautiful and aromatic flowers.
God loves you and so do I,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade
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