Join Father Andre as he takes you on a transformative 33-minute journey every Sunday morning. In this episode, Father Andre delves into the significant work of the Mission of Hope and Mercy, a beacon of support for Christian families facing persecution in the Middle East. Discover how Father Andre and his team work tirelessly to provide aid and advocate for the religious freedom of our brothers and sisters in faith. Through personal stories and reflections, Father Andre highlights the importance of love and unity in bringing hope to Christians around the world.
00:00:05 Introduction of Father Andre and His Mission
00:00:50 Mission Lenten Appeal and Charity Navigator Accountability
00:04:29 Current News in Syria and Importance of Support
00:10:09 Historical and Spiritual Context of Syrian Cities
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 02 :
Praise be the most holy name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, now and forever. Amen. Amen. Today, Mission of Hope and Mercy continues with its 2025 Mission Lenten Appeal, asking the support of all of us, from all of us, to give now and be the hands and feet of Christ during this Lent. We shall continue with the season of great land as we are reminded of Christ’s 40 days in the desert. We shall continue to stand in support with thousands of Christian families and people who are under great need, who are really hungry, living in their own desert, displaced, living in fear, and have desperate needs of help. What is a better way to give hope to these people more than us, the children of God, the brothers and sisters of them in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to come and assist and help them? So please, go to missionofhopeandmercy.org, missionofhopeandmercy.org. Share with your friends, with your family members, with your business networks, with your social networks, this link. this website of themissionofhopeandmercy.org. I ask you to kindly share it with as many people as you can. Share it with your congregation on Sunday. How beautiful it is to go to your pastors on Sunday and tell them, listen, did you know what is happening in the Middle East? Did you know the good work of the Mission of Hope and Mercy that is doing? Did you know that the Mission of Hope and Mercy has a four-star credit with the Charity Navigator? Did you know that if you donate, we are actually been measured by Charity Navigator to be a four-star nonprofit at a rate of 94%. 94% of your dollar will go to actual programs, will go to actual things that we are doing to make a transformational difference in people’s lives. So we are good stewards. We have been wonderful people who have been doing what we can in our ability to the best of our knowledge with the transparency and there was full accountability to be effective stewards in extending the good that you have desired to do with the little brothers and sisters of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and to extend food. to extend medication, to extend clothing, to extend housing, to extend services, to extend advocacy, and to defend the persecuted Christians. About a week and a half ago, I had met with, along with key volunteers from our Mission of Hope and Mercy. We gave a presentation to a local church here in Denver, Colorado, who I cherish so much and I love so much. They’ve been so committed to the cause of supporting the Christians. And they support missions all around the world. In India, in Africa, in the Middle East, they support the work. of the mission of hope and mercy they are the denver france church and i’m so thankful for them and their commitment to help and assist with the work of the mission of hope and mercy our meeting together included the prayers included a presentation that i had to give after being four years in the lands of the missions basically in the middle east in bosnia herzegovina in lebanon and in Italy and doing a pilgrimage in Europe following the path of the invasions and the counter-invasions. You’re going to ask me, Kev, who is my assistant and is here with me in the studio, a good Sunday morning to you. How are you doing?
SPEAKER 01 :
Doing well, thank you.
SPEAKER 02 :
I know you’re not used to me to speak a lot because usually when you come to help me in our office in Lakewood, I’ll be most of the time silent because I would really be thinking or working on some other things. But this is a beautiful opportunity. Thank you for being in the studio. You’re welcome. I’m talking about the mission of Hope and Mercy. And the work we do. There was, this past week, we spoke about the news from Syria. We spoke about the news from Syria. And I would love for you to remind our people, because we have to put in context the necessity, the importance, and the value of the mission of hope and mercy. Because people need to know. that the reason why we are asking them to support is because the Christian health in the world is not well. There are people dying. There are people being killed. So, you know, over two and a half weeks ago, massacres started in Syria. They were still at a phase of only a few thousands of people were being killed at the time, and now things are being more aggressive. Would you please give us some update from Syria of how originally things were at that time?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, so earlier this week, Sunday to Monday night, there has been a major massacre, like he was just talking about. And unfortunately, it took place in many places in north and central Syria, also along the borders of Lebanon. Many of the Christians were left internally to seek hiding in the Russian military base in Latakia, northern Syrian Mediterranean seashore. So some of them, I’m assuming, probably got away.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, some of them start hiding, and we know that the news is even more distressing this week, because I was telling the people last week, I do not know if you had the chance to search it, I’d love for you to search it, and next Sunday we probably can tell people about the cities of Sydenia and Malula, M-A-A-L-O-U-L-A, Malula, M-A-A-L-O-U-L-A. And I was almost concluding the show last Sunday speaking about those cities, this small Syriac kingdom that survived all forms of huge empires in the world until this past Christmas, now 2024, and the change of administration in the United States between the former President Biden and our current President Donald Trump. There was this regime change in Syria all of a sudden, the Assad regime fell, was ousted. And then that town of Malula, which is the oldest continuously populated city of the people who still speak Aramaic, living Aramaic language. You know, I pray in Aramaic. I could tell you the entire document and read the whole Bible in Aramaic and interpret it. But for people to greet one another, to say, like we say in Hebrew, to speak in the Aramaic language with you, it’s an amazing phenomenon. It’s a vivid culture that kept being the living witness that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. He belonged to a specific culture. The people kept the specific traits of the same cultural, social, spiritual, and of course ethnic traits that Jesus himself had at the time when he was here on planet Earth. We are still living in a season of great Lent. And of course, the purpose of the show during Lent now is to gather as much support as we can through the work of the Mission of Hope and Mercy that people go online and they support the missionofhopeandmercy.org by giving continuous donation and frequent donations. So when you speak about… The Christians who are seeking hiding, and you said probably, oh, they got away, they got away, they got out, basically. It’s true. People are looking to get out from Syria. Those cities, those towns, those villages who have been continuously populated by Christian testimony in the Middle East are now just a vacuum. They are emptied. They have been deserted somehow. And that is not right. So the massacres against Christians in the Middle East, in fact… They do not only indicate a religious massacre, but it’s a massacre of an entire civilization. I do not know how else I can put it in nice words or to speak about. You know, this is a civilization that was intactly surviving for 10,000 years. People lived… were born and died and were born again and died again and from generation to generation in these little beautiful towns. Actually, Sinai and Malula, looking at the studio behind Kelly, it looks like the Red Rocks Theater. I do not know if you’ve been to Red Rocks. Here in the state of Colorado, my friends, near us in Lakewood, the stones were made into monasteries. People actually live inside the earth with a facade of big monasteries. So they build an in front wall and then the back. They actually still live till today in a fantastic way inside those beautiful grottoes and caves. Well, some people who know me very well, I lived in one of these caves when I was a child, but it didn’t have a facade. We had to actually fill up huge sandbags, like you have at checkpoints. If you watch the movies of World War II, you see a lot of sandbags in checkpoints. When I was a child, most of my life, if I remember, until the age of at least 20, My life on daily basis was that we had to fill and refill sandbags because we had to fortify our homes. We had to strengthen the gate of that cave. And honestly, we learned how to put it in an architectural way. So the entrance… to the cave had to be in a Z form, like the letter Z. So you put your front facade of three layers behind each other of sandbags, you fill them, and you raise them up for about probably three or four meters high. And then you go inside, you create the first hallway, and you put, looking at a Z or an S shape or an M shape, but like a tilted M shape, basically. So you go, what do you call this, a maze, I believe. You create a maze so you can enter into the cave. So we had to fill up those bags of sands. And of course, the sands bags who were in the front, they were the most damaged. But at least if I remember, the most famous bomb or the most famous rocket that dropped on us or around us when we were children in Lebanon was called 255. It’s a huge bomb, 255 they called it, 255. and honestly the sound if it fell in denver you would hear it in lakewood you would if it fell in denver you would hear it in highlands ranch the sound of it was so deep so big so flagrant like like a big noise imagine if you have the best sound system for instance with those huge equipments of a mega theater and all of a sudden these speakers pop all at the same time with It blows your ears. And you know, for minutes afterward, and at least, you know when I was a child, a bomb dropped in front of me, right? It was a Sunday morning. Did I ever tell you that story?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, I believe so.
SPEAKER 02 :
So it was Sunday morning, quarter to nine. I do not know if you should laugh, but the purpose of all these stories, my friends, to tell you, never question yourself, why do I have to help? Your duty is to help. Because the wave of persecution is like a tsunami. It’s like a big wind. It’s going to come. And I’m not preaching the doomsday. I mean, look what’s happening. Just a few weeks ago, there was this cyber attack on Twitter, right, on X. And then many of the accounts were taken down somehow. Attacks happen. We see airplanes in the United States falling. Until now, nobody wants to talk about it. Why? And how is it happening? We see people go into specific companies because they hate, let’s say, Elon Musk. May God protect all of our people, especially when they’re trying to do something good. And may God protect that man as well. They go because they have hate against him. They blow up his car dealerships, you know, blow on the Teslas, for instance, and the parking lots as they are apart. Violence is in the United States, and violence is occurring in the United States based on hate. And what is persecution? Persecution is killing somebody because you hate their religion, because you hate their faith, the way they express it, the way they live it, the way they testify, and somehow incorporate it in their daily life when they say, I am Christian. And of course, you cannot be removed from this reality because you too in the United States, me as well in the United States, in Colorado, in Denver, in wherever we are living, we are Christians. You can say because simply I have the right to express my faith and I’m free. First of all, look at the school chapters in the United States. Look at the way the Bible was canceled in the United States. Look at the way Christmas was canceled in the United States almost at some point. You know, Ronald Reagan said, freedom is one generation away, right, from being lost, basically. And I always said to that, and now in our days, losing freedom, it’s almost on our heels. If we make the wrong step now, there won’t be freedom tomorrow. If we make the wrong vote now, there won’t be freedom tomorrow. If we make the wrong assumption of facts now, there won’t be freedom, nor private property, nor house. Look what they did to our income tax. Look what they did to our property tax. Look how they’re using the money that we’re paying right and left from our own taxes in every decision we’re making or not being well informed. I am here. This is Father Andre. This is Mission of Hope and Mercy. This is Good Sunday Morning with Father Andre. These are 33 minutes on the Lord’s Day to warn you, to tell you, be vigilant. You have the duty to be vigilant because you do and I do. We live in the best nation on earth. And it is a leading nation. And now this leading nation is being asked in the season of Lent to come to the support and to the rescue of many of our Christian brothers and sisters in the Lord who are being persecuted. So yes, please pray during the season of Lent that the passion of Christ, his death, his resurrection will defeat all evil in this world. And pray as well that God will open your hearts and God will abound your richness. That you go on our website, the missionofhopeandmercy.org, and you support the work of the Mission of Hope and Mercy. And you do support the work of the Mission of Hope and Mercy. Before we go to pray, I want to give you the time to go to Psalm 35. So please open your Bibles, open your Bibles, and go to Psalm 35 in your Bibles. And I want us to take a moment that we can probably, inside this season of Lent, remember the season of Lent is like a big battle. It’s like a boxing match. You know, in the West, what is the gospel that we read? I’m not going to test any one of you, not in the studio and not those who are listening to us. Do you remember what is the gospel we read on the very first Sunday when we begin the season of Lent that was like three weeks ago, let’s say? Anybody knows? Yes, if you know it, that’s fine. If you don’t, I’m going to remind you. The gospel of the temptations of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ when he was led in the desert. So that’s in the West, right? We read this gospel of the temptations of Christ when Satan tempted Jesus in three different occasions at the same time. After 40 days and nights, Jesus was fasting. He was tired. And when he became tired, Satan tempted him. You know, my friends, in the East, we read this gospel at the end of Lent, not in the beginning. So both of them are very cherished Christian traditions. In the East, actually, after 40 days, so right before Palm Sunday, right before Palm Sunday, so I think Palm Sunday now is the beginning of April, sometime in April, I believe, a little bit mid-April, if I’m not mistaken, what is the right date. Friday before Palm Sunday, the last of Friday, before Palm Sunday, we call this in the East the Friday of the temptations. Why? First of all, let’s go back to the book of Genesis. God created the world in seven days. On the seventh day, he rested, the Sabbath day. But on Al-Jum’ah, the sixth day, what did God create? Who did God create? Adam and Eve. And they were tempted right then and there. They were tempted on a Friday, according to our Midrash, according to our Aramaic tradition and to the fathers of the church. It was on a Friday that Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan. And when Satan came to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to tempt our mother Eve, he tempted her there. And then Adam fell because both they ate from the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. Jesus comes on planet Earth. At the fulfillment of time as the Bible tells us. And then he goes to the desert. And there he stays for 40 days and nights. In prayer. In vigilance. in dialogue with his divine father, and in fasting, and in prayer. And the Gospel of John tells us after 40 days, Jesus is tired. And that’s when the devil tempts him. And according to our tradition, it was a Friday. And we in the East kept this tradition going that after the 40 days of Lent, Friday, which is the last of Friday before Palm Sunday or Hosanna Sunday, Two beautiful three stories happened that weekend, which is one weekend before Easter. One weekend before Easter. Friday, Christ is tempted and he defeats the devil. And then the gospel concludes, and Satan left him for a while. Because he was going to come back at him in the image of the betrayal. In the mystery of the betrayer. Do you remember? We’ve been talking throughout the season of Lent about the mystery of betrayal. How Jesus Christ was betrayed by a betrayer. And this betrayer was a mystery. Because that’s how Satan came back at Jesus. After he had left him. When Jesus did not succumb, did not fall into the temptations. Because he told the demon, your God you shall not tempt. And God alone you shall adore. And of course Satan left him. So that’s the Friday of the temptation in the East, which is 40 days after Lent and towards the end of Lent. And then Saturday, something else happened before Jesus goes into Palm Sunday and walks into Jerusalem. Does anybody know what happens on Saturday before Palm Sunday? I tell you, in the East, it is the resurrection of Lazarus, the friend of Jesus. It was the days of the feast. Everybody was going to Jerusalem. Jesus moves in a spirit and he tells his disciples, Lazarus is sleeping. And then they look at him and they say, okay, Lord, he will wake up. And he’s said it clearer. No, no, he’s dead. And Jesus loved Lazarus so much. And then, of course, Jesus goes to Bethania. And there, his sister Mary and Martha, they meet him. And they told him, Lord, had you been here, my brother would not have died. But now it’s been four days. Does anybody know the significance of the four days in a Jewish tradition? When somebody has been dead for four days, it means the soul left them. So in a Jewish midrash, for the soul to completely leave the sphere of the body, At to no return. It will no longer recognize the body. No longer. It’s after four days. Lazarus basically entered into the world of corruption. And he was totally dead. That’s why this miracle was important. That Jesus rose a man from the tomb after four days to his passing. Not three days. That’s why the death of our Lord Jesus Christ happened on the third day. Because he was not corrupted. Death could not corrupt the Lord of life. It’s a beautiful, I mean, I know there’s a lot of stories, and we’re going to come back to our radio show, but this is a fantastic thing to do during this season of Lent. You know, this beautiful hymn in the Greek Byzantine tradition, when we chant during the vigil mass of Easter Sunday at night, we say, Christos thanesti eknikrom thanatum thanatum patissas, keitisentes imnin masizoyin kharisan menos. In Greek, which means Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And he trampled death by death. And He gave life. He brought back to life. He freed those who have been held captive by the evil in the world of death. That is the authority of Christ. So on that Saturday, one week before Easter, which is the Saturday before Palm Sunday, the second event happens and Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. And that’s when the people were making a big noise and they said, this is Him. This is the Messiah. And they walked after him to welcome him into the city of Jerusalem. And he walked in to take possession of his city. And meanwhile, the high priest, what were they doing? They were plotting to kill him. And they delivered him to the nations. And in fact, we as Christians in the world, we worship, we adore, we bless, and we follow a publicly executed Lord. Because he himself became sin. Who knew no sin for our sake in order to save us. So my friends, pray with Psalm 35. Contend, Lord, with those who contend with me. Fight against those who fight against me. Take up shield and armor. Arise and come to my aid. I want to say, don’t forget, go online. Please visit missionofhopeandmercy.org. That is missionofhopeandmercy.org. And please support your brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ by becoming a recurring donor and share, be stakeholders in the good work we’re doing at the Mission of Hope and Mercy. With this prayer in Psalm 35, you know, make sure you carry your cross. Make sure you walk behind Jesus to his passion, death, and his glorious resurrection. Because a thousand might fall on your right, a thousand on your left, but nothing will happen to you. For your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has defeated death, and he conquered all of your and my enemies, and he will bring us to salvation and eternal life. Amen. And now, my friends, we’re going to continue with the prayer. In Psalm 35, we’re going to continue with verse 3. And I know by now you probably have time to open your beautiful Bibles. My recommendation to you, please, when you come to open the Holy Bible, please wash your hands. Let there be silence in your home. Light a candle. Make sure you have a light lit candle in your house because this is the living word of God. So have in the spirit of God and a fervor and with a piety. Go ahead and pray with us, starting with verse three. Brandish spear and javelin against those who pursue me.
SPEAKER 01 :
Go ahead. brandish spear and javelin against those who pursue me. Say to me, I am your salvation. May those who seek my life be disgraced and put to shame. May those who plot my ruin be turned back in dismay. May they be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them away. May their path be dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them. Since they hid their net for me without cause, and without cause dug a pit for me, may ruin overtake them by surprise. May the net they hid entangle them. May they fall into the pit, to their ruin. Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord and delight in His salvation.
SPEAKER 02 :
My whole being will exclaim, Who is like you, Lord? You rescue the poor from those too strong for them, the poor and needy from those who rob them. So my friends, in the psalm you notice that the work of the angel of the Lord is a key, right? It is important that we, during the season of Lent, connect with our guardian angels. It is very important that we connect. Can you give me a name of an angel that we know in Christianity? Kev, do you know of any name of an angel, for instance? Michael. Michael, the archangel. Does anybody know that there is a famous prayer which was given over 100 years? Over 100 years ago to Pope Leo XIII, Pope Leo XIII, and that prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel goes, Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and the snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou a prince of the heavenly host. by the divine power of God thrust into hell Satan and all the other evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the runes of souls. Amen. So my friends, during this great season of Lent, it is very important that we actually do connect to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by calling upon us the powers of the holy angels. Before we continue with verse 11, because now the tone is going to change. You notice verse 35 is a battle. It’s a battle psalm. It’s a psalm that tells the Lord during this Lent, Lord, I am tired. Lord, I am weak. Lord, I can’t battle anymore. I am hungry. I need to eat my steak, right? I mean, for us Americans, we have to have our steak. And if us, during the season of Lent, we gave up the steak for 40 days and 40 nights, and after that, we have to give it up for one more week until Easter, Or for those who gave up their cigarettes, for those who gave up their cuss words, for those who gave up their chocolates, their sweets, or their potato chips, or their favorite food. You get tired after 40 and 50 days and you desire you want to eat it again. That is when you call upon the Lord to fight on your behalf. Because He will free you. He will strengthen you. He will put in your dying body the force of heaven, the Holy Spirit. He will make you the temple of the Holy Spirit. He will Himself take possession over you to give you the life for which He created you from the very beginning. To be in His image and likeness. The children of God. Because that’s who we are. So we’re going to notice with verse 11 that… You know, bad things happen to us, right? The just and the world, they suffer a lot from horrible accusations, from false witnessing, from people who come and for free, they hate us. and they try to demolish our lives. Let’s see some of the description of how the just suffer. And you in a season of Lent and myself, let us meditate upon our personal suffering and in the end remember, forgive them. Go ahead, Kev, and continue to pray with verse 11.
SPEAKER 01 :
Ruthless witnesses come forward. They question me on things I know nothing about. They repay me evil for good and leave me like one bereaved. Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting. When my prayers returned to me unanswered, I went about mourning, as though for my friend or brother. I bowed my head in grief, as though weeping for my mother. But then when I stumbled, they gathered in glee. A salience gathered against me without my knowledge. They slandered me without ceasing. Like the ungodly, they maliciously mocked. They gnashed their teeth at me. How long, Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from the ravages, my precious life from these lions.
SPEAKER 02 :
That is an amazing description, my friends. You see, I’m sure each and every one of us might have a personal story to tell of a good deed you did with somebody and then they returned it was evil. You know, in my personal life, you know, I support a lot of people, right? I do not know if this is a place to tell my personal story, Kev. What do you think?
SPEAKER 01 :
Maybe bits and pieces.
SPEAKER 02 :
Maybe bits and pieces because it’s a mystery. It’s so deep.
SPEAKER 01 :
Don’t give him everything, you know.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right. You know, even here in Lakewood, when I was in charge of a big church, before I took upon myself the service of the mission of hope and mercy, you know, I recall that there was stories where people needed my help. Needed my help to survive in this country. I needed my help in times of terminal illnesses. I needed the blessing that I was able to share with them. And then when somebody came and attacked me, they were the very first ones to stand off, stand away, to give false witnesses. I do not want to go into particularities, but I am sure, my friends, in the season of Lent, every one of us has a story of how you were mistreated by somebody you loved. But you know, we just celebrated the feast day of Saint Joseph on March 19, Saint Joseph. And now we are entering to celebrate the feast day of Our Lady, her Annunciation. March 25 actually marks nine months before December 25. What happens on December 25? What do we celebrate? Christmas. Christmas. So Jesus was conceived on March 25. Saint Joseph’s feast day is on March 19, was on March 19. So this month is very important. Look how amazing it is in the season of Lent where our humanity is tired, where we have a lot of sickness and frailties and weaknesses and sins to worry about. Enjoy as well. With Felicia Colpa of St. Augustine, the joyful and the happy mistake that we have done, the happy guilt that we have done, enjoy the redemption of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because our patron saint of the Holy Family, St. Joseph, who we celebrate his feast day is with us. And the conception of Jesus Christ happens in the womb of the Virgin Mary as now we are exactly nine months before we come to celebrate the Christmas, the birth of the Savior, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So don’t forget, my friends, keep up your hope. And please keep fighting and continue with fasting. Give up your meat and please share some of your treasures with the good brothers and sisters of our Lord. And again and again, I ask you and I thank you for supporting the Mission of Hope and Mercy Lenten Appeal. Go online, missionofhopeandmercy.org and make sure you donate and be a recurring donor to support our work. Again, may Almighty God bless us all, protect us from all evil, forgive us our sins, and bring us all to everlasting life. Amen.
SPEAKER 03 :
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.
