Author: ANTONINO

– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade (bernardinodandrade@gmail.com)

I saw Dr. William Magee Jr. crying in a TV program. It was the program Hour of Power with the Rev. Dr. Robert Schuler in California. Both could not contain their tears in this TV program.

Dr. William Magee Jr. was a plastic surgeon in Norfolk, Va. In 1981 when he decided to travel to Philippines to operate on children with cleft lips and other facial deformities. Unfortunately, there were so many children with this deformity, a deformity that can render it impossible for them to speak or eat, that hundreds had to be turned away.

This caused Dr. Magee and his wife, Kathy S. Magee, a nurse, to found an organization called Operation Smile.
Operation Smile sends volunteer doctors to perform reconstructive facial surgery for children worldwide. «It wasn’t a strategic plan», said Magee. «It was just a matter of emotion and passion to make sure children didn’t have to live this way.»

The group, which already has treated 50,000 children worldwide, also trains doctors in other nations to perform the procedure. Magee hopes to use satellite technology in the future, so he can teach a greater number of medical professionals the necessary techniques.

Dr. Magee didn’t have to do that. He could have justified himself. «What’s in it for me? There are so many children in my own city whose parents or whose insurance company could pay for this surgery. I’m a busy doctor here. I don’t have to go half way around and minister to indigent children. Not my problem».

I doubt if Dr. Magee even wondered if this act of service would get him into Heaven. He simply saw a need and filled it. He became a Good Samaritan, encouraging fellow surgeons to become Good Samaritans.

God loves you and so do I.
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

You can read more about Operation Smile on their website: https://www.operationsmile.org/vision/our-story

– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade (bernardinodandrade@gmail.com)

A few years ago that wonderfully creative Christian sociologist, Rev. Tony Campolo, traveled to Honolulu, Hawaii, for a speaking engagement. He flew all the way from Pennsylvania to Hawaii and had an awful case of jet lag. Therefore, at 3:00 AM, he was wide awake. Tony found a donut shop near his hotel. As he sat there sipping coffee and glancing at a newspaper, the door to the diner swung open and in marched eight or nine provocative and boisterous prostitutes. Their talk was loud and crude.

Tony was just about to make his getaway when he overheard one of the women say, “Tomorrow’s my birthday. I’m gonna be thirty-nine.” One of her friends responded in a sarcastic tone, “So, what do you want from me, a birthday party?” “No,” she said. “I’ve never had a birthday party in my life. Too late to start now.”

Suddenly, Tony Campolo had an idea. As soon as the women had left, he said to Harry, the owner of the diner, “Do those women come in here every night?” “Yep,” he said, “about this same time. Hope they weren’t bothering you.” “No,” Tony said, “but I have an idea. The one sitting next to me is going to have a birthday tomorrow. I’ll pay the bill if we can have a little birthday party for her.”

A smile spread across Harry’s face. “That’s a good idea. Her name is Agnes.” He called his wife out of the kitchen area and told her about it. They agreed to bake the cake.

The next morning by 3:00 AM Campolo had decorated the diner with crepe paper and had made a big sign reading, “Happy Birthday, Agnes.” Word had gotten around somehow because by 3:00 AM every prostitute in Honolulu was in the place. Wall-to-wall prostitutes and Tony Campolo. At 3:30 AM on the dot, Agnes walked in and confronted the cake with burning candles and the crowd singing loudly, “Happy Birthday.” She was flabbergasted, stunned, shaken. Her eyes moistened. Then after she blew out the candles she completely lost it and openly cried.

After the party was over, Tony asked the group if he could say a prayer. He prayed for Agnes and everyone else in the group. Then after everyone was gone, he thanked Harry for going along with the party. Harry said, “Hey, you didn’t tell me you were a preacher. What Church do you belong to?” In one of those moments when just the right words came, Tony answered, “I belong to a Church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3:00 AM.” Jesus in the Gospel describes a King’s party for the ordinary people.

Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade (bernardinodandrade@gmail.com)

Huey Long was a very colorful Louisiana politician who had hopes of running for the presidency in 1936. He began as an unschooled farm boy and ended up in the governor’s mansion, one of the most popular politicians in the history of the state.

Long was born in the central part of Louisiana, and when he first campaigned for governor, he was given some advice about the voters in the New Orleans area: « South Louisiana is different from the northern part of the state, », he was told, «We have a lot of Catholic voters down here. » Long nodded knowingly and went out to make his speech. It began, “When I was a boy, I’d get up at six every Sunday morning, hitch our old horse up to the buggy, and take my Catholic grandparents to Mass. I’d bring them home and then take my Baptist grandparents to Church.” The speech was a rousing success.

Afterward, a New Orleans political boss said, “Huey, you’ve been holding out on us. We didn’t know you had Catholic grandparents.” Huey looked at him slyly and said, “We didn’t even have a horse!”.

Don’t let anybody mislead you. Around the banquet table of God there won’t be Baptists, or Catholics, or Methodists. There won’t even be a head table reserved for the very saintly. There will only be sinners for whom Christ died. That includes you and me. Everyone is invited.

Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade (bernardinodandrade@gmail.com)


1

We plant little flowers that can become gorgeous gardens. We plant small trees that can be transformed into powerful and majestic sequoias, redwoods or oaks. We sow very small grains of wheat that can be transformed into baskets of bread able to feed thousands of people. I think that one of our main missions in our families should be to plant good and healthy ideas and dreams in our children’s brains. If we don’t do it, TV programs, confused friends, politicians, angry teachers… will do the job for us.

A few months ago a young child told me that he was an atheist. I don’t even think that he knows what the word atheist means. But what I think is that some «cute» teacher said that word in school and he thought that it would be «cute» to repeat the same thing. And the worst part was that he was not joking.

I don’t remember if I ever thought about being a priest but I still remember the day and the place (the kitchen of my parents’ house) when my sister Agostinha asked me: «Bernardino, wouldn’t you like to be a priest? ». And I said yes. I was 12 years old.

I am almost 80 and I have been a priest for 52 years. I don’t know if I have been a good priest but one thing I know: I have been a very happy priest. I never stop thanking God for my sister, Agostinha, who planted that seed in my brain that soon traveled to my heart and my life.

2

The venerable servant of God, Canon Cottolengo, when but a boy of five years, was measuring with a cord, one room after another. His mother, rather confused, asked him what he was trying to do.

“Dear mother,” was the reply, “I want to see how many beds can be placed in this house: when I am grown up I should like to fill the whole house with sick people.”

A tear of emotion glistened in his mother’s eyes.

In 1832 he founded at Turin the ‘Little Asylum of Divine Providence’, and today it is world famous. It shelters 5000 men and embraces within its precincts a church, a number of houses, terraces and courtyards.

* * *

Please don’t be afraid of planting good dreams in your children’s brains. That’s what Jesus does with us and sometimes He is successful.

Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade