The Bishop of Angra, Armando Esteves Domingues, called for unity within the Church in Ponta Delgada yesterday.

“Do not tire of being witnesses of unity, love, and peace of God. We need to be together,” asked D. Armando Esteves Domingues during the Eucharistic celebration for the Brotherhood of the Holy Christ and its benefactors yesterday morning at the Sanctuary of Hope, which he presided over.

“We have been a single team these past few days, feeling that this was a mission for the whole Church. Closeness is essential. The world needs to experience this unity,” said the diocesan prelate, who concelebrated with the Archbishop of Boston, the Rector of the Sanctuary of Hope, and several other priests, including the ombudsman of Ponta Delgada.

“We want to be close and build unity with everyone. There should be no one and nothing within the Church that could prevent intimacy with God, the symbol of unity. Let us bring to the world the strength of the spirit that is communicated to us,” he added.

D. Armando Esteves Domingues, who yesterday afternoon also presided at the Bom Jesus Clinic, as part of the Festivals of the Holy Christ of Miracles, with the priestly team residing at Casa Betânia, the clergy residence in Ponta Delgada, said, on the other hand, that “no one can remain indifferent to these manifestations of faith before a friendly God, a God of love.”

“For a long time, I wondered what the tears shed meant, and I remembered someone saying that it is those tears that make the rainbow appear… Dear brothers and sisters, it is always this connection between God and us,” he said.

The Bishop of Angra also spoke of fragility and gratuitousness, “key words in Christianity.”

“God loves us freely! It is an adjective that comes from an adverb, that is, it does not so much indicate something to do or believe, but a style, an attitude, a way of doing things, a way of living: one in which one lives ‘freely’, without having to pay,” he emphasized.

“How many things do we do in the Church for free?” he asked, pointing out that ‘Christian salvation is always the work of love’ and, therefore, ”we respond to God’s gratuitousness with gratuitousness towards everyone.”

After the Eucharist, police, firefighters, taxi drivers, and motorcyclists paid their usual tribute to the Holy Christ of Miracles, parading around the Campo de São Francisco.

Some stopped to pay a more personal tribute, kneeling or blessing themselves outside their cars and motorcycles.

The festivities of the Holy Christ of Miracles end next Thursday with the musical show “Via Lucis da Esperança” (Way of Light of Hope).

The show, performed by young people, is scheduled to begin at 9:00 p.m. at the Fort of São Brás, with admission being free.

In Diário Insular, José Lourenço-director.

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.