Bishop Challenges Faithful to be Transformed Like Blessed Karl
Photos by Duarte Gomes. Text by Luisa Gonçalves of Jornal de Madiera.
On Thursday, October 21, 2021, Bishop Nuno Brás celebrated Mass in the Church of Nossa Senhora do Monte in memory of Blessed Karl of Austria.
In his homily, Bishop Brás reflected on the readings and on the importance of “putting on the armor of faith,” saying that it does not make us “insensitive to the realities of this world, but gives us this ability to look at and live these realities not only from man's perspective, but from the perspective of God.”
Faith, he recalled, "is a theological virtue", that is, a virtue " born in us not from a human thought, not from a human conclusion, but from God." It is He who “truly gives us this possibility of believing”.
And from the moment that “we accept this relationship with God, everything else starts to be understood, lived, felt from this relationship with God”. And from there, too, we became “God's presence, God's word, God's gesture, God's gaze, God's heart”.
And the saints, recalled the bishop of Funchal, "are those who lived the faith, who lived by faith and who lived with it in a more perfect way, in a fuller way." They were “men like us, flesh and blood, but they dared to let God work and live his life; they had the audacity to let themselves be transformed, converted by God”.
In this context, the Bishop stressed that “Blessed Karl of Austria is truly an example of a man of faith,” that “in the midst of all vicissitudes, in the midst of political intrigues, in the midst of all setbacks, in the in the midst of a war he has always sought not the human gaze, but the gaze of God.” As a matter of fact, he once said, “I always tried to do God's will.”
Marked by piety from the beginning of his existence, Blessed Karl becomes even more humble when, in the midst of his illness, he gives himself into the hands of the Lord, which constitutes an example to humanity of one “transformed…by the presence of faith."
“Let us ask you for this grace of opening ourselves fully to the word of God, of letting it become life, of living the faith without 'buts' or 'ifs', in its entirety and in its radicality”, appealed Bishop Brás. Remember that "everything that is contrary to God and human beings is not defeated by technologies, not defeated by weapons, not defeated by human thoughts", but rather by faith, "when we put God there, the one who is the source of life.”
In concluding, the Bishop urged the assembly to “ask the Lord that, through the intercession of Blessed Karl, we too are able to live by faith in this way, to be able to bear witness to the faith, to be able to put on this armor of God that we put on this new principle in the midst of our world: Jesus Christ, God with us, giving life to all that we live, all that we are and all that is beside us.”
The Mass was attended by members of Funchal’s Board City Council in addition to numerous faithful. Father Vitor Sousa, the parish priest of Monte concelebrated the Mass. At the conclusion of the Mass, all prayed in a moment of silence at the Tomb of Blessed Karl.