For both Christmas Day and New Year's Eve, I visited two different communities in Fr. George's parish in São Paulo. In both communities we celebrated Mass in a family garage. I forgot my camera on Christmas Day, but I remembered to take it with me on New Year's Eve.
On the way we passed these houses, built on top of each other. As families grow, they just build another house or flat upstairs. I only hope the foundations are good! The people here are a little bit better off than the people in the Favellas {Shanty Towns}. I think the town planners at home would have a fit!
The pictures in the next two blogs are from the community called Santa Paulina.
George standing outside The Garage Church of Santa Paulina Community
The Sermon in Action
Public prayers during Mass. People are not shy here to stand up during the Prayers of The Faithful and offer their prayers out loud!
Santa Paulina was a local saint, who was born in Italy in 1865. When she was 9 years old, to escape their poverty her family emigrated to Brazil. She worked as a Religious all her life and was canonised by Pope John Paul II on the 19 of May 2002 and she is considered as Brazil's first saint.
Sister Paulina is the only saint known to have suffered with diabetes. In 1938 her eyesight began to fail and a cut on her finger led to gangrene and amputation of the finger. The gangrene continued to progress and her hand was amputated, then her arm. After these bouts of surgery, Sister Paulina also became blind. It was a combination of lung cancer and diabetes that eventually killed her, in 1942.
"The presence of God is so intimate to me that it seems impossible for me to lose it; and such presence gives my soul a joy which I can not describe." -Saint Paulina
More on the next blog ........
