RAPHAEL'S STORY-HAPPY MEETING OF HEALING | KAIROS GLOBAL | JUNE 2022

Author: Dr Sunny George

Intro: Avenues of healing in the Church are plentiful. To illustrate, Dr Sunny George tells the story of Raphael Ferreira de Brito.

It was the summer 2018, when I was in Medjugorje, I had an opportunity to hear about the life of Raphael Ferreira de Brito. It was like discovering unexplored aspects of the Merciful Heart of God that one may think, is crazy! Crazy with love! Abundant love! 

Raphael is a young Brazilian, full of energy and filled with joy and life. His mother, Ruth, was sexually assaulted at the age of sixteen by a man in his twenties from Barretos, Brazil. And that was how Raphael was conceived, in violence, and absence of love. A few months later, Ruth’s uncle, intoxicated with alcohol, beat her up cruelly. Seriously injured, she was rushed to a hospital that only had bare minimum facilities and dangerously lacked hygiene. The doctor who attended them was unable to save them both. He had to choose between the mother and the baby. Ruth, who considered her own life a disaster, decided to give hers up for the baby.

Raphael was born at 25 weeks and three days. The doctors granted him only a few hours to live because his lungs were not yet fully developed. A religious sister, Sr Brigida (who died a few years later), with a reputation for heroic virtues and sanctity, served as a nurse in the ward. She asked the dying Ruth if she could baptise the baby boy. Ruth accepted the sister’s request. The baby was supposed to be named Marc Aurelius, but the sister insisted that he receive the name Raphael so that the baby could enjoy strong angelic protection. The sister poured a few drops of holy water taken in a syringe through the incubator, where the baby rested, and pronounced, ‘I baptise you Raphael, in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit!’

Sr Brigida took good care of the baby for six months. To everyone’s surprise, Ruth survived and was able to return to work in the cotton fields. Eight months later, Raphael emerged from his life’s battle, and was entrusted to his grandmother for four years, and then to his aunt until eight. The aunt, a practicing Jehovah’s Witness, influenced Raphael to have a strong dislike for Catholics and the Blessed Virgin. When he turned eight, he was sent to the street after school hours to sell ice cream to make a living. 

Raphael was a charming boy with an angelic face. One day a tragedy struck that changed his whole life. It was Father’s Day, and Raphael was nine-years-old. All of his friends at school were making cards for their dads and he also attempted to make one. But Raphael was so upset that he didn’t have a dad to whom he could present the card to. During family prayer in the evening, he happened to open the book of Prophet Jeremiah and read:

Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations (Jeremiah 1:5). 

A flash of light sparked in his heart, ‘If God is my father, then he knew me when I was conceived!’ That night Raphael asked the Lord to visit him and collect the gift he had prepared for Fathers’ Day. His tender heart was so certain that God would come in person to receive his gift! But nothing happened; God did not come, and the gift was still there. Deeply disappointed and hurt, Raphael was convinced that like his father, God also abandoned him. Years passed by and influenced by his friends, Raphael began to inhabit the world of destructive behaviour, plunging into drugs, sex and alcohol.  

At 15 and completely high on drugs, one day – in the middle of a party – the life that he had been living for the past three years turned upside-down. This was the day God chose to flood Raphael’s life with abundant mercy. All of a sudden, one of his friends suggested they leave the party immediately. To everyone’s surprise, he said, ‘Today I am going to receive my First Holy Communion, you guys are invited. Let’s go to the church.’ Though astonished, and with his Jehovah’s Witnesses upbringing, had never visited a Catholic Church, Raphael ended up going. Drunk and high on drugs, he sat in the pew at the very end of the church. Suddenly an altar server asked the congregation to pray for fathers both present and absent, because that day happened to be Father’s Day. Raphael was furious at this. Father’s Day had become the most sinister day of the year for him. The server continued his prayer and, at the end, he began to read a passage from Jeremiah: ‘Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.’

Raphael found himself kneeling, copious amount of tears rolled down his cheeks. This was the second time he heard the passage from Jeremiah and the words echoed deeply in his heart. He saw his entire life flash by, and heard a soft loving voice in his heart, ‘My dear child, Raphael, you are my son! I did not come to receive the gift that day, because my gift is you, you are my greatest desire! Get up and follow me!’

Raphael realised that the Mass was over. He got up, and to his great surprise found himself completely sober. Seeing a priest, Raphael told him what had happened. The priest said, ‘Rejoice, my child, because today you have been visited by God!’

After that day, Raphael completely abandoned his old life. He began to attend catechism to prepare for his Confirmation. His godfather was strongly opposed to it, but Raphael held out. One day, when he was getting ready for Mass, his godfather violently beat him. Bloody, upset and very angry, Raphael begged the Lord to help him. 

To his amazement, the first reading for the Mass was again, the passage from the Prophet Jeremiah:

Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations (Jeremiah 1:5). 

Following the Gospel reading, the priest gave a homily on loving one’s enemies and praying for those who persecuted. Raphael understood the Gospel’s message and when he got back home, he took his godfather in his arms and began to pray over him. After a few moments, his godfather experienced an instant conversion. Raphael shared God’s mercy with his godfather throughout that night and the man desired to go for confession. But on their way to the church, he collapsed, whispered words of gratitude to Raphael, and died from a massive heart attack. 

From all these events, Raphael understood that God was calling him to a special mission. He was eighteen and met the Community of the Covenant of Mercy. He spent a year in the community as a lay missionary and proclaimed the great love of God that he had experienced. 

Raphael went to see his mother in Barretos. He took advantage of his stay to do some pastoral work in the streets, including visiting the homeless. There he saw five beggars and invited them to his mother’s place. To his great surprise, only one of them accepted his invitation. And he was more pitiful than the other four. 

Raphael lovingly washed him, shaved and dressed him in new clothes, and led him to the table for a good meal, just the two of them. He was very affectionate with his guest, so that the man was courageous enough to open his heart. And his was indeed a wounded heart!

During the quiet, joyful and trusting conversation, Raphael was taken back to hear, ‘… her name was Ruth, and this happened in Barretos…’

Raphael understood that the young girl whom this man had violated was his mother! And that this poor beggar before him, was his own father! In shock, he began to kiss his father and kept thanking God for his unfathomable gift he had been given. After having revealed Himself as the Father, the Heavenly Father granted Raphael’s wish as a nine-year-old boy with a broken heart, to know his dad. 

Today, Raphael continues his mission with his wife Lilian and their son Daniel in Italy, with a single goal: help as many people as possible, to know and experience, as he did, the infinite mercy of God!

The Church is a wonderful place for healing. It is a mystical area which is meant to be safe for us. We, as citizens of heaven, must promote all that is dazzling about the Catholic Church. The presence of Christ in the Eucharist alone is enough to prompt rejoicing in each member of the mystical body if they are given even a small understanding of the Mass. Let us cling to the merciful hearts of Jesus and Mary to enjoy the many avenues of healing in the Church.

Dr Sunny George is a Professor of Food Technology, Amal Jyothi College of Engineering. He holds a Master’s degree in Theology and is founder of two start-up companies. He lives in Kanjirapally, India with his wife, Dr Mini Mathew and their four children.