This Sunday, spend time with Father Andre exploring the profound teachings of the book of Proverbs, enriching our understanding of blessings, peace, and the necessity of unity within the Church. Reflecting on the Church’s role in preserving Christian values and spreading God’s gifts, Father Andre challenges listeners to consider their own role in living a life modeled on Christ. As we approach Lent, he emphasizes the importance of repentance and spiritual formation, inviting everyone to support the Mission of Hope and Mercy.
00:00:05 Introduction and Father Andre’s Background
At age 10, Father Andre escaped Christian massacres by living in caves in Mount Lebanon with his family. Today, Father Andre works tirelessly to encourage American leaders to keep God in the public square, defending religious freedom at home and abroad, so that all might live in peace for the glory of God. Founder and president of the Mission of Hope and Mercy, Father Andre has learned the secret to safety, joy, and peace. Love God and one another. Now, let us spend 33 minutes on the Lord’s Day, retuning ourselves to the truth of love in the hands of God.
SPEAKER 01 :
Praise be the most holy name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, now and forever and ever. Amen. Good Holy Sunday morning, my dearly beloved brothers and sisters in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. From the book of Proverbs, chapter 10. Blessings are for the head of the just, but a rod for the back of the fool. The memory of the just will be blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot. A wise man heeds commands, but a prating fool will be overthrown. He who walks honestly walks securely, but he whose ways are crooked will fare badly. He who winks at a fault causes trouble, but he who frankly reproves promotes peace. A fountain of life is the mouth of the just, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. Hatred stirs up disputes, but love covers all offenses. On the lips of the intelligent is found wisdom, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. Wise men store up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool is imminent ruin. The rich man’s wealth is his strong city. The real nation of the lowly is their poverty. The just man’s recompense leads to life. The gains of the wicked to sin. A path to life is his who heeds admonition, but he who disregards the reproof goes astray. It is the lips of the liar that conceal hostility, but he who spreads accusations is a fool. Where words are many, sin is not wanting, but he who restrains his lips does well. Like choice silver is a just man’s tongue, the heart of the wicked is of little worth. The just man’s lips nourish many, but fools die for want of sense. It is the Lord’s blessing that brings wealth, and no effort can substitute for it. Crime is entertainment of the fool, so is wisdom for the man of sense. What the wicked man feels will befall him, but the desire of the just will be granted. When the tempest passes, the wicked man is no more, but the just man is established forever. A vinegar to the teeth and the smoke to the eyes is a sluggard to those who use him as a messenger. The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked are brief. The hope of the just brings them joy, but the expectation of the wicked comes to naught. The Lord is a stronghold to him who walks honestly, but to evildoers they are downfall. The just man will never be disturbed, but the wicked will not abide in the land. The mouth of the just yields wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off. The lips of the just know how to please, but the mouth of the wicked how to pervert. Good Holy Sunday morning, my dearly beloved brothers and sisters. We just read from this wonderful meditation from the book of Proverbs, chapter 10, verse 6 to 32. There are so many ideas inside this wonderful, wonderful prayer, these wonderful good counsels that we see in the book of Proverbs. And of course, they are between blessings and curses. Let us take a minute in our life on this holy Sunday morning And think about ourselves in terms of blessings and in terms of no blessings. As we call them in the book of Proverbs, you know, there is blessings and there are people who cause actually blasphemies or unfortunately bad things could happen in this world. Ruination, if you want to call it. So between the ruination and blessings. Let us analyze our life on the Sunday morning and see how we in our lives are serving God in blessings, yet when we are faced with ruination, with accusations, with falsehood, with persecution, with hate, with failure sometimes, with envy, with jealousy, how can we in our faith in Almighty God, still promote peace, still not be a cause of trouble, still avoid violence. And how can we, amidst all of our tribulations, still be intelligent and find wisdom? With that, let us take a moment to call upon the Holy Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit, and they shall be created. and you shall renew the face of the earth. You know, there are these words from St. Thomas Aquinas in which he says, the more a soul has been modeled on its creator in this world, the more it will be like him in the life to come. And the more it will be like him, the greater will be its bliss. The more it will give glory to God, and the more it will be useful to every creature. I think the only way I could understand how to connect the words of St. Thomas Aquinas to the book of Proverbs, chapter 10, which we read today, is to look at the context, at the events, at the incidents, at the stories that we see on the news every day between our United States people, between what the reform that the current administration is doing the stories that we are uncovering from the USAID, and of course, more than all of this, we could see it reflecting in our own personal life from challenges, from things that we, I would say, could think about or meditate upon. But one thing stops me, and I’d like to discuss with you on this morning and start discussing it for a little bit longer. We live in this world in America between a scandal, a true scandal, and a persecution, which is a fake scandal. I do believe that at some point, probably back 30 years ago, 40 years ago, or 50 years ago, there was a hostile takeover. You know, my friends who are from all sorts of Christian traditions, Catholics and Orthodox and Protestants, Evangelicals, non-denominationalists, We cannot not see that our life with Jesus Christ depends to a large part on the course that has been taken by the Catholic hierarchy in the world. We cannot, no matter how we grow in our private and small communities. The Catholic Church is our main tree. The Catholic Church, being from its apostolic roots, might be wider and way bigger and way more important and way more ambient than what the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, given their probably extended or limited knowledge, extended or limited virtue, extended or limited charity and character and personal holiness, they might know or not want to know or not want to live or desire to live our future as Christians in the whole world. The peace in the whole world, the life in the whole world, and of course, the freedom in the whole world, the family and the future of the family, therefore, in the entire world, depends to a larger part on how the Catholic Church behaves itself. Why? Because it is a tree. Why? Because it will be held responsible. Why? Because it is the servant to whom the Lord has given the recommendation, the commandment to give the food to the brothers and sisters of the Lord in due time. And, you know, this is nothing for us to be upset with. This is not a time where we could start saying, no, it’s not true or it is true. It is a fact that the church grew up in its Catholic and Orthodox identity as a community of the believers, community of the faithful, which was organized by the 12 apostles and, of course, by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And then at the time of the Pentecost, the 12 apostles and the Virgin Mary, then we see how in the Acts of the Apostles, And Peter and Paul and many of the other apostles went and preached the entire world, forming communities and connected them to every community where there is a bishop, there is a presbyter, there are deacons, there are teachers, there are prophets, and there are interpreters of tongues, people who speak in tongues, or even widows or virgins. There are orphans, there are children, there are apostles, there are ministers. The church was organized as a living organism, as the mystical body, as St. Paul tells us, for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So we move in this world as a mystical body of Christ. So one way or the other, all of us who share in unity of our prayers, in unity with our profession of faith, In confessing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, our Catholics, our Orthodox, and what does that mean, our Catholics and our Orthodox? I mean Catholics by means we are apostolically universal. And do not be scared of the word apostolically universal. It means we have heard and listened and we believe in the duty that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ gave us in the Gospel of Mark chapter 16 to go and evangelize the whole world. In the Gospel of Matthew, in chapter 28, go to all the nations of the world, teach them what I commanded you, baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and behold, I am with you until the end of the age. So this is the Catholic Church by identity of its apostolic and universal rules. A church, a community of the faithful that was commended, that was given the duty by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to go to all the nations of the world and to preach the good news of salvation and to baptize, to call people to salvation basically, and to teach them the commandment of Jesus. So one way or the other, any community, any good shepherd, good pastor, and the people who are with them, who actually practice this type of ministry of evangelization, of baptism in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 11, every two or more are gathered in my name. I will be there with them. living and preaching the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ, are actually Catholics. And again, beyond being Catholic in this sense, we have to look at our identity as also being orthodoxos, meaning the people who glorify God the right way, who preaches the content of the faith, the depositum fidei, the deposit of the faith. has to be the material of our worship, has to be the content of our worship. We worship God with the right content, adoring God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, making the sign of the cross. When we see, glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. When we do the creed of our faith, the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed, You know, all of this is indicative of our orthodoxy, meaning we are the people who preach the valid faith because there is a valid faith. But then what happens in the world when somehow there are people who actually are shepherds and do not preach the right content of the faith? So they are strained from being Catholics and they are strained from being Orthodox or people who decide to build walls around their little city and then do not allow anybody in, anyone in. But then they become the masters of slaves instead of being the servants of the brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ. And instead of spreading the identity of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as the only son of our God and the Savior of the world, so the professional faith of Peter, actually they take this entire deposit of feeding or the entire deposit of the faith. knowing that they were given it as a trust. This is a trust given to them. See, you want to consider us as people who are the followers of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in this world. As little children, not mature yet. When I say not mature, trust me, it’s not a bad thing. You do not want to be mature too much and claim leadership in relationship to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, because those servants who claim maturity and in case they do something wrong, they become… so much under responsibility. It’s a big liability. They become beaten up so much. Jesus says somewhere in the gospel, if the servant knows his master’s will and does not do it, he will be beaten severely. And the servant who does not know his master’s will yet doesn’t come to do it in conformity with his master’s will gets beaten a little bit. And the servant who is faithful and given food on time and does not spend time in fornications, in accusations, in spreading violence, in beating up the brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ, instead will be a good and faithful servant that the Lord appoints to take care of his brothers and sisters, the flock of the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed is such a servant. So in all of these senses, anthropologically speaking, we have to feel that we have the obligation, we have the duty that we do not cut ourselves out of the Catholic Church. And that’s what I mean by that being the Catholic Church. And of course, the Catholic Church has ecclesiology, has a deeper sense of conciliar church, a church that walks through the bishop and then the presbyters and then the deacons and then the people of God. And then there is, of course, the sacraments of the church, starting with the baptism to the confirmation to the Holy Eucharist, to the confession or the sacrament of penance and reconciliation, uh to the marriage and then and then the sacrament of priesthood and the sacrament of the last rise so um the the sacraments of the church our component that makes a church being the mystical body of Christ. All of us are united in Jesus Christ in a sacramental way, in a mysterious and mystical way. We have been anointed. We have been anointed. And in such a way, we are the Catholic people because we are the image and likeness of the imago Christi imago Dei. We are in the image of Jesus Christ, basically, the children of God the Father, as Jesus Christ is his son. We are the redeemed flock of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Remember, at the time of our baptism, the oldest theological foundation or foundational understanding or dimension or qualities or natures we are dressed up with when we are baptized. And this is something no one can take away from us. No one, because Jesus commanded that we baptize all the nations in the name of the Father, of the Son, the Holy Spirit. So by virtue of that baptism, who do we become? Well, we become a priestly nation. So all of us become a priestly nation. That’s the general priesthood of the children of God. all of us become a nation of prophets, because we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And once we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit, here you go, in the book of Proverbs, we will have wisdom, we will have intellect, we will have peace, which is a fruit from the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Joy is a fruit from the gifts of the Holy Spirit. kindness is a fruit from the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But wisdom, knowledge, understanding, the fear of the Lord, the piety, and the glossolalia is one of the major observed things that we see as a mark of receiving the Holy Spirit. You know, when we speak in tongues and then people who interpret tongues, those various forms of ministries that make us speak the language of the angels and praise the Lord our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the language of an angel and some who interpret these languages that’s also another dimension of receiving the Holy Spirit the spirit of prophecy the spirit of understanding the spirit of teaching the spirit of teaching you know the spirit of shepherding the holy all these are gifts They are foundational gifts that come from the grace that we receive once we receive the Holy Spirit. And here, of course, we, as the children of God, it is sad that we disconnect ourselves from these sacramental realities. See, there are so many ways that makes us realize and know we are the one holy Catholic and apostolic church. We are, by virtue of that, the people of the orthodoxy, meaning we preach the correct teaching and we worship God with the correct worship, knowing that God is a Father, God is a Son, God is the Holy Spirit. Believe in God, the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit is one God and is a holy trinity. Confessing Jesus Christ as the perfectly son of God and the perfectly son of man, two natures in one person, those elements and the contents of our Christian dogma, of our Christian doctrine, the resurrection of the body, the baptism for the forgiveness of sins, the sacraments, as I was saying before, all of these elements are indicative that all of us in any community, we live and we exercise our faith. If we profess our faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and live the content of the creed, live the content of the founding councils of the Holy Church, and of course, expressing being ambassadors of Christ, as St. Paul tells us to be, we are the ambassadors of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In such a way, the words of St. Thomas Aquinas, the more a soul has been modeled on its creator in this world. And what is a better way for a soul to be modeled on its creator in this world and doing the will of the Lord? What are there as a better way than being in the image and likeness of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? He is the only son. the only begotten Son of God in heaven, who came onto earth as our Lord and our Savior. In such a way, the more we are being like him. You know, Jesus used to say when Philippos asked him, show us a father. And Jesus said, I’ve been with you all this time, and you ask me to show you the father. Amen, amen. I say to you, those who see me, they have seen the father. I and the father are one. We are coming near to the time of Lent in one week, a little bit over from now. We will begin in a season of Lent. My friends, the more we do the will of God in our lives, the more we will become like him and the more we have a source of blessings. And the more we will have blessings in our lives and we adore God, the more we will give glory to God. Yes, indeed. So the more we actually are living the content of our faith as Christians in this world. So it’s not only enough to give bread to the poor. We glorify God for being the source of giving the bread to the poor. This means we are being Catholics, meaning we are reaching out to all the world in the name of Jesus Christ, sacramentally, by our worship, by doing the will of God, by modeling ourselves on our Creator in this world, and by being more like Him in our daily life. That’s why Jesus tells us, you know, be perfect, be holy the way God the Father is holy, right? And when we give bread to the poor in the name of Jesus Christ, it is because we’re doing it in his name that it is counted for us as a reward in heaven. when we give a drink to the thirsty, when we dress naked, when we visit the sick, when we visit those who are in prison. when we host strangers, the more we do this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we should go back and pray, whether in our rooms, whether in privacy, whether with our families, or whether as a community, to glorify and to give glory to God. In such a way, the more we, as Christians in the world, become useful to every creature. And this is the key. How do we as Christians in the world become more useful to every creature in this world? Of course, according to St. Thomas Aquinas, is by modeling our souls on our creator in this world, by more being like him in the life experience. here so we will be like him in a life to come and consequently the more it will be like him in the life to come and the more it will be like him the greater will be its bliss so we have a lot of blessings that come to us from God However, my friends, the problem in this world is that there is a scandal because there is a separation, there is a divorce between the will of Christians, the will of the hierarchies of the church, and God’s mighty will. Christianity is changing somehow. So as we conclude this Sunday, think please about this. A church without the will of God, it’s almost like any communist formation, like any socialist formation, right? We have to do the will of God. Therefore, we have to be in this humanity, the people who proclaim and live the gifts of the salvation that we received in the Lord Jesus Christ. If we do not do that, if we exist as Christians without the will of God, that is the main scandal that is hiding in plain sight. And for that scandal, we need redemption. We need a remedy. And the remedy is repentance. Now, as we enter into the season of Lent, I invite you to join the mission of hope and mercy in our journey of repentance, of prayers, of fasting. of abstinence and of good acts of charities at the same time. So I really ask you to consider time for prayer, proclamation of the Holy Bible, examination of conscience. Do what you need to do as Christians in your own homes, in your own churches. And of course, the best thing, be kind, be merciful, and be generous as well by giving and sharing the bread with the poor. and freeing those who are oppressed and giving joy to those who are in consolation to those who are brokenhearted. My friends, let us utilize Lent season and use Lent as a season in which we could actually bring our will to be back in conformity with the will of God. In such a way, we will be truly Catholic. We glorify God in a real orthodox way, meaning in a just and a correct, giving God his glory on this earth. And in such a way, we will be more useful which means we are actually accomplishing love thy God from all your heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor as you love yourself. Please support the work of the Mission of Hope and Mercy. Go online and visit missionofhopeandmercy.org as we begin now our Lenten given season. I ask you to please think about us and send your gifts, whether via check to our mailing address in Lakewood, Colorado, 2459 South Chase Lane, Lakewood, Colorado, or by going on our website, missionofhopeandmercy.org. And may Almighty God bless us all, protect us from all evil, and forgive us all of our sins. And for those who want to leave us, I wish you a wonderful Sunday. And now, my friends, with this application that I was seeing, I was saying, I was speaking, laying the foundational relationship between God and between us as a human being comes actually through modeling of the human will. to be in conformity or in harmony or working in accord with God’s divine will. This has actually been the topic of this morning, of this wonderful Sunday that we spend with the Lord these 33 minutes. And of course, this is from St. Thomas Aquinas. Now, remember, to do the will of God, and we have to be knowledgeable of our own will. Our own will usually is a part of our nature as who we are as human beings, right? And God’s will is the grace we receive from heaven to know that this is God’s will. So St. Thomas Aquinas also says grace perfects nature. So the will of God comes to us in a form of light, in a form of grace. And that grace once received by us, it actually perfects our nature. The grace has to grow on the material. We are the material of God. We are the make of God. We have been created in his image and his likeness. So the grace comes, grows on what’s material in us, in our minds, in our hearts, in our soul, on our body, on our possession, on this earth, in this world. The grace of God meaning being the extended will of God for good. When God created everything, God saw that it was very good. This is the original grace that was ever received by us. It is the original will of God that everything he will do is good. However, because we have our human freedom, Sometimes we in our human nature, and due to the original sin, unfortunately, there has been a divorce, a schism, and a split, if you want, between the grace of God. Like life is being taken away from us because of the original sin. And of course, we have to bring it back onto us somehow. But in order to bring it back, we have to realize, first of all, that our human nature is very relevant. And once we know and realize our human nature is very relevant, we have to proceed by doing formational things that affect our nature by forming in our nature the will of God. yes we learn we explore our human will and we put it under the light of god and we do examination of conscience formation learning exercises and in such a way our moral will our intellectual will Our carnal will, our existential will, our conscientious will, our subconscious will, all sorts of our dimensions of our existence come in conformity. We discipline them in order to become in conformity with God’s will. And this is called a spiritual formation. I invite us at the end of this wonderful Sunday, my friends, as we spend these minutes with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To avoid every scandal in our life, let us again form ourselves spiritually, intellectually, and pastorally, and economically, and at home, and at work, and socially, and politically, and religiously, that we will be truthfully the image of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who is the true image of God the Father. And in such way, we are in this world, the mystical body of Christ, who are useful, to all creation and who are glorifying God and who are the ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, if you like this radio show, please don’t forget as we begin our lentil season very soon, within a week and a half or so, please go on our website, themissionofhopeandmercy.org and generously I ask you to support the work and the mission by donating to our mission activities. Thank you so very much. And I ask God to bless us all, protect us from all evil.
SPEAKER 02 :
forgive us our sins and bring us all to everlasting life amen thank you for listening to 33 minutes on the lord’s day to hear previous programs visit the show page at missionofhopeandmercy.org listen to father andre every sunday morning at 7 30 on klz as he speaks on the unity of christians religious freedom and the biblical foundation of judeo-christian values and traditions Join him in bringing hope and freedom to people across the globe while also strengthening your own faith, family, and community right here in Colorado. Reawaken the spiritual strength of America. Go to missionofhopeandmercy.org.
