The Dawn of a Great Vocation
The childhood of Monsignor João bears witness to how the light of innocence can determine the course of a unique vocation.
Silent Contemplation
As an only child, his early years were spent in isolation, which engendered in his soul a great propensity for contemplation. He was particularly attracted by the harmony of the starry firmament. He observed the constellations at night sitting on his bedroom windowsill, as he himself recounts in the third person in one of his works:
“Everything spoke of mystery… All the more so, for a child! This silent contemplation went on for one, two, or even three hours… Over the lapse of time, the constellations changed position, altering the configuration of the celestial dome. Yet, unaware of the earth’s rotation, the Author imagined that the stars had ‘travelled’ […]. Impressed, he asked himself: “How does all of this work? How is it ordered? What power must lie behind the ‘travelling’ of the stars!”
In this way, grace opened up the horizons of his soul, accustoming him to discover the Divine Craftsman in His work:
“I learned to live in relationship with what God has created, in a conversation not of words but of soul, with all the beauties He has placed in the world.”
Energetic opposition to evil
As his contact with the supernatural world grew, the need to identify with God emerged in João’s soul, while a keen insight, born of the gifts
of the Holy Spirit, led him to discern the evil that existed in the world. The Revolution began to threaten the paradise instilled by his springtime innocence. It was necessary to resist it radically in order to choose the path of good.
When he was around six years old, he was playing quietly and innocently under a table during a family gathering at his home. Two of his
uncles were there, his father’s younger brothers. Both drew near the boy and, brutally disturbing his peace, began playing a series of rough games with him. Even boxing his ears and taunting him with all kinds of insults.
Outraged to see that good was always considered weak and that evil always won, he decided to turn the tables. He firmly told one of his
uncles: “Look, either you stop that or I will kick the china cabinet!” In fact, there was an antique furniture piece in the living room. In it were some treasured family possessions. Since the uncle did not stop his aggressions, the little boy did not hesitate to carry out his threat, and the glass came crashing to the floor.
Seeing what had happened, the relatives turned against the uncle who, from then on, never dared to provoke the child again. However, João
had realized that if he remained calm and peaceful in the face of evil, the whole world would continue to attack him. He then made the
decision to adopt a more assertive character, complementing his serenity acquired through his contemplative character.
To fight for virtue and harmony
In Msgr. João’s journey, trials were not lacking. Through these, Providence wanted to strengthen his virtues. Consequently, his innocence acquired a state of pugnacity.
One of these trials particularly marked the beginning of his youth. It was when he was about fourteen years old.
He was walking through the streets of the Ipiranga neighborhood in São Paulo. He came across a boy he knew, only seven years old, who was smoking. The scene wounded his moral sense, and he did not hesitate to question the offender, expressing his astonishment.
The boy merely made a gesture of defiance with the smoke coming from the cigarette. Young João then said to him: “I will tell your father!”, to which the child replied by trying to push the lit end of the cigarette into his eye. João turned his face away, but could not prevent the ember from burning his lower left eyelid.
This episode convinced him of the pervasive power of evil, and it further confirmed his determination to be a great warrior for good.
An ideal was then born in his soul: “As a young man, he ardently desired to somehow project that enchanting sidereal harmony [that he had
contemplated as a child] into the social life of his companions.
Maternal preparation
Without realizing it, the young João was being prepared by Mary Most Holy to one day give himself entirely to her as a son and slave. A maternal preparation that would blossom in the future into an ardent devotion.
She was also who inspired, in the depths of Monsignor João’s soul, the inner certainty that there existed somewhere a man, “who he would one day encounter, entirely virtuous, selfless and motivated by pure love for God.”
A Vocation emerges in the Horizon
Impressed by such a clear and simple argument defending the existence of Hell, João took the opportunity to explain to his teacher his aspiration to found a youth society. The teacher invited him to visit him at his home to discuss the project.
On the appointed day, however, the conversation turned to Protestantism, Luther’s depravity and, above all, the immaculate holiness of the Church founded by Our Lord Jesus Christ…
While the teacher was talking, a grace struck like a flash in his soul, leading him to conclude: “The Catholic Church is the only true religion. I will belong entirely to the Church.”
And this grace, having fallen onto the good soil of a generous soul, soon began to bear fruit. Everything in his life took on meaning, everything took on light. Innocence had found its dwelling place in the Holy Church!
The only thing missing was to meet that good man whom he had to follow… The next morning, he awoke early and went to the Church of St. John Climacus, near his home, where he made a general Confession, attended Mass and prayed the entire Rosary.From then on, he never let a day go by without receiving Communion and offering Our Lady a crown of roses.
After two months of attending meetings at that teacher’s house, the latter invited him to meet his mentor, the founder of the Catholic group to which he belonged. This encounter took place on July 7, 1956, in the Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
