This summer I spent a week with several priests. The oldest of them caught my attention: smiling, helpful, educated, close, humble. He had a something special. I remembered, in amazement, the news I had read a few years ago about a certain Geraldo Morujão, a priest of the Diocese of Viseu (Portugal)who suffered a cardiac arrest in a swimming pool in the Holy Land in 2013, from which he miraculously recovered. A miracle, by the way, which he attributed to the intercession of Blessed Alvaro del Portillo. I thought: "it can't be the same man, it has been a long time since that incident and by then he was already old, he had to die some time later". When we introduced ourselves, I almost fainted: yes, it was Father Geraldo. I waited a few days but ended up approaching him so that he would tell me so many things.
A Christian family
He is the eldest of nine siblings. He is 92 years old and about to turn 68 as a priest, but he is brimming with inner youth. He has two other priest brothers and a missionary sister. Two other sisters took care of their brother priests for many years: clothing, food, church, catechesis. They were his shadow. Always with affection. Without them everything would have been very different. "They could be professional decorators," he tells me with a laugh. One of them is already in heaven.
Father Geraldo studied in Navarra, Rome and Jerusalem. He prays the Rosary in nine languages and I have caught him reciting the Breviary in Hebrew. He is very fond of music: I was surprised how as soon as he saw a piano in the house he started to play. He was an organist: "I wanted to be a priest for the people and that's why I didn't study music.". He tells me that the year after he almost died he returned on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, stayed in the same hotel where it all happened and swam in the same pool: "You have swum where you were dead!"He was not a believer, but since then he has become closer to God. He has always been very sporty: "I swim almost every day at 7 a.m., after prayer.". But his great hobby is the mountain: he has climbed a lot in the Pyrenees, Monte Perdido from Torreciudad or the Aneto. He has a pacemaker, but that does not discourage him and he is in good shape.
Pastoral assignments
His ministerial work has had a frenetic pace: 13 years in youth ministry, attending almost every WYD. He is the Consiliary of the Scouts in Viseu since 1992. And it is still going on: it is dedicated to the training of chiefs so that they can educate the youngsters to live the law. scout. In April he recalls a beautiful Mass that he celebrated with a thousand scouts and the number of camps in which he has collaborated also come to his memory. The last one, just four years ago.
His grandmother had taken him years ago to a devotional work called "Nocturnal Adoration in the Home", founded by Father Mateo. The family had a whole night to pray in front of an image of the Heart of Jesus. He remembers with great affection those moments alone, which have marked his relationship with Jesus Christ. He tells me that he began this devotion on September 18, 1940. It was providential, but that same day, fourteen years later, he was ordained a priest. Before that he spent twelve years in the Seminary, five in the Minor Seminary and the rest in the Major Seminary. He returned there shortly after ordination, because he was appointed superior and professor. He taught music and Latin.
Father Geraldo knew and treated St. Josemaría. Their first meeting was in 1967 "I had expected to see a man with an overwhelming personality that would leave us all impressed, but as soon as he entered the room he knelt down in front of all the priests and asked for our blessing.". Confess: "I was completely devastated.".
I ask you for some advice for younger priests: "The first, the importance of prayer life and celebrating Mass well, but centered on Christ, so that it is Christ who shines and not the priest as an actor, because Christ is the one who presides.".
