Father Andre (Host) : 0:05

Angelus Domini nuncia vit Mariae

Father Andre (Host) : 0:12

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.

Father Andre (Host) : 0:50

Praise be the most holy name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, now and forever. My dearly beloved friends in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I want to thank you first of all for your support. You know, recently in Lebanon, activities have been really bad, unfortunately. The stories of the war and the stories of the many, many, many bombings that have been hit in this country are really, really sad. It seems literally that this country and its people may not have too many choices in their hands, actually, that depends on them. Lebanon is at the verge of a major possible, unfortunately, civil upheaval. If any… In any way, if the people try to react to assume responsibility to fight against terrorism, they are unarmed. They have no possibilities or means beside the freedom of speech, beside that legally they can fight against terrorism and say, we do not want war. And even if some of the Lebanese people or the people in Lebanon might see issues with neighboring countries, I think the best way to go about it is through the diplomatic problem resolution solving by going to the United Nations, by going to the international tribunals. I think conflict resolutions by means of diplomacy in the world are the best ways and the best means to identify problems. to limit the danger of major global wars and no victims and no death unnecessarily to happen. And of course, to get the best outcome and also to strive to reconcile with the nations around them. The situation in Lebanon is complex, but the good work of the mission of Hope and Mercy continues to be. You know, since early September 2024, The Mission Center for Blessings in Lebanon has been serving the community and running among the projects to assist and running many projects actually to assist dozens of patients with their medication bills, assisting in payments for life-saving surgeries, assisting teachers and students in schools, helping with education costs for school tuitions, many families. who are in need and assisting hundreds of internally displaced people who are affected by this current war. Unfortunately, the numbers are huge in Lebanon of the people who are affected by this war. The numbers, when I say the numbers are huge, remember Lebanon is a country of about 4 million in population. but also Lebanon has in it at the same time since 2010, almost 2,500,000, that is 2,500,000 Syrian refugees. And now since the last month and a half when the war broke out in South Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, unfortunately over 1,200,000 people have been internally displaced inside Lebanon. So you can only imagine Lebanon has become between four million population, two and a half million people from outside as refugees, non-Christians predominantly, Sunnis from Syria, who also suffered during the war inside Syria itself, and they ran away to Lebanon, they ran away to many countries in Europe, and in America. So that’s by itself as a major existential crisis and unfortunately human and humanitarian crisis for the many people inside Syria who suffered enough during the war. And, you know, probably they lost during the war in Syria between 2010 until the recent years. I bet you the number of losses is in a million, is in a million. The numbers of destroyed cities is in a million. Well, there was no solution except for many of these people came to Lebanon and Lebanon is a country that already had suffered also since 2019 a major economic collapse and there were some economic sanctions against Lebanon and there was financial corruption and political corruption Lebanon has been taken over since 2000. And since 1983, there was this growing section or sector of non-conventional armed forces in Lebanon. one of which the whole world knows about today is Hezbollah, who ended up acquiring and growing in a tremendous, exponentially actually, exponentially actually, in a huge way in the world, to probably cause a major, major threat against any sovereign nation. Now, whether we agree with the nomination of them being called a terrorist group or not, but the fact is that in Lebanon, they have an influence and they have planted over 150,000 rockets, 150,000 rockets that they aimed against Israel. And of course, with the attacks of October 7 of last year, October 7 of last year against the Jewish people, we’re 2,000 of them and more were in an ugly way violently raped and killed and decapitated and burned. It’s a disaster what happened on October 7 from Hamas and its supporters against Israel. And then the response of Israel against the Palestinian people and Hamas and in Gaza Strip, you know, people spoke about a measured response versus no measured response. Too many complications in the situation in the Middle East that were happening since that time. And then on October 8th, Hezbollah also launches missiles against Israel a year ago. So one day after the Hamas attacks against the Jewish state, against Israel, and the situation becomes very complex. But of course, the Lebanese people, the Lebanese official government, as we say, lacks a president. We do not have a president in Lebanon for the last two years, two and a half years. So We do not know who’s going to take the stand. We do not know. We don’t have the actual, the head of diplomacy, the head of government is missing in Lebanon. Of course, they say that Hezbollah and its powers and its allies in the Middle East, in the West, and in the East, they probably play a major role in keeping the seat of presidency vacant somehow. And of course, discord between the various Lebanese parties plays a role as well in this vacancy. But the Lebanese people are really suffering a tremendous amount of pressure, tremendous amount of oppression, tremendous amount of… Evil, unfortunately. Only in the last month, month and a half, more than 2,500 people have been killed. Many towns have been destroyed. And again, you have on top of the Syrian Sunni refugees in Lebanon, you have over 1,200,000 internally displaced people. So this is a really bad situation for this country. This is really a bad situation for peace in the Middle East. And it’s a bad situation also for the upcoming president. and the current president in the United States of America. What can we do? How can we stop this? We have to do acts of good. We have to do acts of peace. We have to really continue renewing our commitment to keep America as one nation under God, first of all, because America can lead the world in purity and charity towards a peace towards more equilibrium and balance, towards more conflict resolutions, and if we have the right administration in the United States, if we have the right mindset for people in the United States, if we really put our acts together and work in accordance with the will of God, we can deliver many peoples in the world from suffering this evil. But we first have to pray that deliver us from evil in the United States of America and in Lebanon. So our commitment today, I invite us to renew our commitment to keep America as one nation under God, because this is one of the best defenses to renew hope and peace in Lebanon, in Israel, in Palestine, in the world, in the Middle East. and for us in the United States of America. For this, my friends, the Mission of Hope and Mercy has been doing a lot of good work during this current war in Lebanon. And only in the last few days alone, the mission team at the Center for Blessings in Lebanon prepared, packed, delivered, and still is delivering food for central kitchens For instance, you know, we have a rehab center known as Youth Against Drugs, basically, where there are 80 people who are patients, inpatients who are being treated and they stay in the center. This center was about to close and the Mission of Hope and Mercy, thankful to your donations, was able to provide the food for three months supply for this rehabilitation center known as Jeunesse Contre la Drogue. or youth against the drug. And also we have delivered about two tons of food for central kitchen before that to another institution, a rehab center, also that takes care of over 120 inpatients also for drug addictions known as the Center for the Mother of Light or Umm al-Nur, the Center for the Mother of Light or Umm al-Nur. We also provided them with food in the last month and a half for three months supply. And also on top of that, the Mission of Hope and Mercy provided food for 2,000 people who decided in South Lebanon, in the High Galilee area on the side of Lebanon, in the eastern district of Al-Kulaiha, where most of the bombing is happening around these areas. villages, 2,000 Christian families decided to remain in their village. They did not want to leave, but they had to leave their homes. So they are internally displaced inside their own homes, town, inside their own hometowns, because they moved to the church, thinking that the church will be the safest place to be. So imagine you have many women, many elderly, many children many younger people many families living with their priests in one church and in a place next to it and in the lounge of the church in the lower level of the church inside the church itself in a school that belongs to the parish and in the rectory of the parish as well you tell me how they do it i have photos i have videos i am in contact with the priest almost on weekly basis um father peter to always check on them and how they are doing so the beautiful thing what they did they formed a central kitchen where the women from the parish they actually cook for everybody in the parish and as they cook for the parish they need food supplies and because there are no ways to make food supplies arrive to them we have been in the mission of hope and mercy and thanks to you providing them with actual food as well for their central kitchen. So we thank God for all of these abilities that our donors in the Mission of Hope and Mercy have been allowing us to be able to support these families. More than this, we also have been receiving appeals from the mayor of Ramesh. Ramesh is the most extreme. Also, in the mid-range Galilee on the side of Lebanon bordering with Israel, about 7,000 to 8,000 families decided to stay with their priests, with their mayor. They stayed in town. They did not want to leave their town. They did not want to evacuate. This is a great courage from these people, and they stayed in prayer, and they also were internally displaced inside their own village, mostly to the church and to the local monastery and to the local public area. Remember, Lebanon will suffer major weather usually now. This is a time for cold. This is a time for snow. This is a time for heavy rain and high winds in Lebanon. We want to pray for the safety. So those people also needed food. From those people, 280 families from this town of Ermesh, they had to evacuate. They had to leave. Their homes were attacked. They live in a very unfortunate, bad areas where there was no way for them to fit in a village, and they chose for safety, for personal safety reasons, for emotional coping with the situation, to move out of town. And they actually were dispersed in many towns inside Beirut, east of Beirut, even all the way to Jbeil and to the north of Lebanon. So you’re talking probably about 100 kilometers away from their hometown. And the mayor wrote to us a letter of appeal and the mission of Hope and Mercy this week, two days ago, actually delivered 280 food boxes for these wonderful families with the mayor and our volunteers in Lebanon for the mission of Hope and Mercy. And also act beautiful, another act of mercy as well, that the mission of hope and mercy is preparing now. We received a letter of appeal from the bishop of Tyre, the Maronite bishop of Tyre, His Excellency, Bishop Sharbel Abdullah, and the monsignor who is in charge of the parish of Alma el-Shaab. This town, unfortunately, was demolished. When I spoke to the priest last week, they had to evacuate the town. So even the priest migrated. The bishop left Tyre, actually, and also migrated outside of Tyre. And all the people of the village also migrated, and they had to leave their town. They had to leave their village. And they lost many people, unfortunately. And amongst the people they lost, the priest was telling me the straw that broke the camel’s back, unfortunately, was there was an elderly woman. He tried to go every week to give her Holy Communion. And then on that Sunday, about a month and a half ago, right before they left, when he tried to go out, to give her communion. He didn’t find her house. He didn’t know where she is. They couldn’t find her. They couldn’t find the house. They couldn’t find the body, unfortunately, to even bury. So they decided to leave the town. The town has been gravely demolished, unfortunately. You know, sometimes the terrorists go around the churches and they occupy Christian villages. Israel response to basically attack the terrorists. But then the innocent civilians in this case were Christian villages, but also many of the Muslim people suffered as well, who do not have anything to do not with the terrorist group, and they presented no threat. But unfortunately, because they are found in the wrong place at the wrong time, they suffered great damages, including losses of lives. So for this time, the priest asked us to assist his village as well. So we are after providing hygiene supplies, boxes and kilograms and tons of beautiful hygiene supplies for these families and their areas in Beirut and where they have been dispersed to stay outside of harm’s way as well. Up to 200 families we are helping. You know, on the other hand, also in Eastern Europe, in Medjugorje, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, so away from Lebanon now, imagine that the Mission of Hope and Mercy now is assisting about seven Lebanese people to find a place for rest. These are individuals and family members who ran away from South Lebanon. They happen to have visas to come to visit the sanctuary of the Queen of Peace in Medjugorje, which is a place where there is a sanctuary for Our Lady in Bosnia-Herzegovina. And they couldn’t go back to Lebanon. Flights are not easy, actually. It’s dangerous to take a flight to Lebanon. Many of them lost homes in South Lebanon, so they decided to stay here. And meanwhile, the mission of Hope and Mercy is finding them a place, a house, and food, winter clothing, and supplies for them to stay in a safer place while, unfortunately, the war happens in Lebanon. So we are taking care of them for the next five months, hoping that after that they can either go back to Lebanon or they can find a refugee status for them. So we’ve been working very hard all over the place, as we say, in Lebanon, in Europe and in the United States. These are the updates I wanted to share. to share with you and to give you about the great and the lovely work that the Mission of Hope and Mercy has been doing on your behalf and because of your help. So for that, I am most thankful. Let us take a moment now and let us pray as we are renewing our lives We are renewing our commitment to our church. And as in the United States, we are now practicing our most important obligation and duty and right as American citizens voting for you as president. And let us pray for peace in the world. 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 forever. Amen. Let us praise the Lord with Psalm 145 together, as we praise God’s majesty. Remember what the book of Revelation, chapter 16, verse 5 tells us. Lord, you are the just one who was and who is. Day by day, I shall bless you, Lord. Hallelujah. I will give you glory, O God, my King. I will bless your name forever. I will bless you day after day and praise your name forever. The Lord is great, highly to be praised. His greatness cannot be measured. Age to age shall proclaim your works, shall declare your mighty deeds, shall speak of your splendor and glory, tell the tale of your wonderful works. They will speak of your terrible deeds, recount your greatness and might. They will recall your abundant goodness. Age to age shall ring out your justice. The Lord is kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love. How good is the Lord to all, compassionate to all his creatures. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning is now, and will be forever. Amen. Hallelujah. My friends, again, I wish you all a wonderful and holy good morning. I want to thank you all for your support. Every little good work we do makes a big impact on life and peace in the world. It is up to us to be the saints of this world. Unfortunately, for those who choose to be not on a saint’s side, this weekend we have celebrated all saints. Yesterday we have celebrated all souls. These are models in this life. The saints do good. The saints sacrifice their lives for others. The saints are people who are righteous, who are just, who repented from sin and evil, who forgave. who did conflict resolution, who pardoned the enemy, who fed the people, gave food and water to people, closed the naked, hosted the strangers. They were welcoming. They visited people in jails. These are people who suffered unfortunate and terrible injustices in life, yet they decided to maintain their faith in God. to maintain the light in this world. They impacted the world by doing good. We pray through the intercession of these saints who are now in heaven, they are the faithful departed, that they also assist us from heaven and intercede for us in heaven to support us in our life here on earth, to keep this life, to keep this earth as the image of heaven, to keep evil away from us, to maintain us in a plan of peace that God put for us. I feel bad for those people who choose to be evildoers in this world. They are causing a lot of sadness. This is a real scandal in this world. But you know, there is a big thing that we good people can do, is to do anything. Because the worst evil good people can do or can happen in this world is when good people Do nothing to prevent evil. At least we can pray to prevent evil. At least we can give a bit of our income, a bit of our resources, a bit of our time, a bit of our treasure, a bit of our talent. Share it in order to make the life of our neighbor a better life. Our neighbor in this case are people who are suffering terribly in the world. Just like when I was telling you about the situation that is happening in Lebanon, for instance. So I really ask you from the bottom of my heart, go to our website, missionofhopeandmercy.org. That is missionofhopeandmercy.org. And let us continue to promote and do the acts of the saints in this world who continue to bring light for others. They continue to heal the brokenhearted, to console those who are sad. They continue to act in righteousness and justice, just like our guardian angels. They protect us in our unity. They protect us in our peace. It is so scary, my friends, to know how much consequences we and our own personal actions can have over life, our lives, the lives of our families, the lives of others. Our choices impact the world. Our choices impact heaven and earth. It is so amazing, however, how much freedom God has given to us as human beings. I encourage you to tune in every Sunday to our radio show, Good Sunday Morning with Father Andre on KNUS and 33 Minutes on a Lost Day on KLZ. I always shall look forward to share with you words of wisdom that come from the Holy Bible, the teachings of the church, the learning we acquire in this life from our own experiences and from the academic experiences and knowledge and professional learning that we do, but most of all also from our spiritual experiences and conversions that we in our own lives we do. You know, every one of us could be beneficial for one another. It is so beneficial also to share our personal experiences, because from them we can learn something new, we can avoid something bad, and we can move forward the plan of peace and the action of peace in this world. I encourage us to do good acts, which will impact both our lives and the lives of others in a good and positive, uplifting way. On the other hand, I want to tell you, you know, no man is an island. No one lives alone. The world is too big for a man to be living in it by themselves or by himself. In my native culture from Lebanon, there is a semantic wisdom which states paradise without the people is like a big jail and no one wants to step in it. This saying tells us many things. For instance, it indicates that this earth, as big and wide as it is, as beautiful as it is, unless we have a people to enjoy it with, unless we can pass it on to future generation to take care of it, to make it productive and fruitful, it becomes meaningless. Therefore, today, this word begins in our families, begins in the way we vote, for who we vote, the principle for which we vote. Vote for life. Vote for peace. Vote for stability. Vote according to God’s will. With this, let us take a moment to pray for the unity in the United States of America and for the illumination of conscience. This is my message for us today. With this, let us take a moment and pray for peace. And I’m most thankful to those who have followed us on this beautiful radio show. I want to wish you all a happy and wonderful Sunday. On the other hand, our life could become very productive and very fruitful if we know how to take care of one another. Or it could become very meaningless if we act in a rebellious way, if we act in a hurtful way, if we act with envy or with jealousy, or if we ourselves decide to bully each other and hate each other and work to kill one another or kill the hope in each other’s heart and not do the will of God. You know, we could become crazy in this life if we take God out of the equation of our public behavior or private behavior or personal places such as our homes or places of work. No human being can live without communicative faculties, intellectual abilities, and feelings. Such a human being, if they exist without body, spirit, mind, heart, and soul, they are worse than dead. They are, in fact, accursed. Sharing our language, our thoughts, our values, our actions, our emotions, our goods, our prayers with others is the foundation of what builds up a nation, forms a homogeneous society in this world that aspires for a good future, establishes present peace, and honors the past. Consequently, it shows how important it is for us to realize that as human beings, we are to live as a group, starting by being a family, then a larger family, then a society, to form the entire humanity around us as a mystical body almost, as a big one small village. Once we form this humanity, it becomes developed and organized in the form of nations, kingdoms, races, religions, and communities. But we have to strive to live in harmony and in peace with the principles of good ethics, the Ten Commandments of the Bible, and good principle of coexistence. This is the life that we see before our eyes. And for the longest time, humanity was longing to live such a life. How beautiful it is to be able to travel across this globe, across this earth, to go from language to the other and feel the hospitality of the people, experience the local culture, share with them the values of our native lands, and then be in their lands, respectful of their own cultures, yet well-received in their lands. We can make the entire Earth a home, a sweet home for everybody. Yet, we don’t have to melt everything together. We don’t have to confuse everything together. Each one of us can still live within the boundaries of their own nations. Practice the principles that the founding fathers and mothers of each of these nations have decided that these were the best ways in the Constitution through which they can actually be members of a larger society, but without hurting their own independence, their own sovereignty. I believe in the bottom of my heart that people always live and search for others to be with and to share with them the heritage and the treasures of this life. We share love. And we can love and be loved. We share science and our sciences. We share the resources with the entire world. All of these are wonderful things to be around and to do in this world. I want to encourage you, my friend, that we in this world, remember that God created us as the expression of his love, as his expression for his love for the world and for us ourselves. This is why God created us in his image and in his likeness. This is our gift. And this is our responsibility to keep and to share. In one of the most visible places in which we experience such love, communication, and exercise our natural gift of being a society is when people choose the leader to govern them and the system of government which expresses the most their common good and peace. America is going through such time this week. We have a big responsibility ahead of us, and God help us in the choices we will or have already made in who and what we vote or voted for. The entire world depends on us. I like to warn us, however, that unless our vote in this time is focused on the plan of peace that God is inviting us to do, on his love and the love of our neighbor, that our community and our nation might become like a nation who left the grace and the light to fall in darkness and follow the evil path. I wish not such a thing for us, for America can live in its spiritual destiny to be a shining city on a hill, the light of this world and the good salt of this earth. So I encourage us, do not do compromise. Make sure in the choices we make, we are respecting the principle of life, the Ten Commandments and the will of God. Let God’s will be done so God can deliver us from evil, so our United States as a nation can deliver many other nations from evil as well. I think this is one of the best things we should consider as possible policies according to which we must choose our upcoming leader and to which who can restore our system of government to be a system that prevents wars and makes a peace in this world. Coming from Lebanon in my final words, I know, unfortunately, the experience of war. And I know how important it is that we in the United States, we fight. Always maintain amongst ourselves unity in our nations, the human rights, a good spiritual religiosity, not a corrupt one. Avoid violence and serve the poor. Avoid corruption. Fight against terrorism. Fight against hate. Fight against anti-Semitism. Fight against persecution, you know, and make sure we live and thank God for the grace of peace, prosperity, freedom, and the security which we have. And please, I encourage you one more time, go to missionofhopeandmercy.org and support the work of the Mission of Hope and Mercy. And may Almighty God bless us all, protect us from all evil, forgive us our sins, and bring us all to everlasting life. And have a wonderful and blessed Happy Sunday.

Father Andre (Host) : 32:26

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.