Father Fábio de Melo pays homage to mother: ‘Today would be your birthday’

Father Fábio de Melo, 50, published on his Instagram this Sunday (28) a tribute to his mother, who died in March this year, a victim of Covid-19. “Dona Ana, today would be your birthday,” he began in the text.

“It was always a pleasure to fulfill your desires, like hiring a pagoda group to liven up the party. You were so much more festive than I was… She danced her feet, even when there was no music”, continued the priest.

He then describes the emptiness he has felt since his mother left, and says he imagines where she is now. “The lady living in a very nice house, on the corner, painted a pale blue, and I, the city priest, as you always imagined it would be,” he wrote.

“The two of us with all the time in the world, being each other, no diets, no restrictions, no bones that break, no tendons that snap, no lungs that fail, no hearts that stop…”. Then he recalls his mother’s presence at church.

“You always knew, my mother, but you died without telling me — because modesty was your mark — that everything I say about Jesus I learned was watching you live,” he added. “If so, my mother, save a little room in your house for me.”

Also this weekend, the priest showed that he underwent surgery after having one of the tendons in his arm torn, the one on the short head of the biceps, as explained by the religious on Instagram. “I lived with the partial laceration for 20 days, but it didn’t work anymore,” he said.

“In the last 10 years, I had the exquisite guidance of my dear Paulo Muzy. With him, I learned about the injury, shared the anxieties, walked the paths from within. Suddenly, the ‘only known’ started asking me: ‘and today , how are you feeling?'”, Melo said, referring to the professional specialist in sports medicine.

“From the aching arm to the pains of anxiety, everything was shared. Daily prose bonded the friendship. The acquaintance became my friend. I was on a pilgrimage, he knew. The risk of a permanent rupture terrified me, but his attention, his affection for me made me put my attention on the solution he proposed to me. It worked,” said the priest.

“Today was the day. What was on the line is whole again. I’m full of gratitude,” he concluded, thanking the family and medical staff who provided technical and emotional support for him both during surgery and preoperatively.