– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade
DIVINE MERCY IN ACTION
A TIME magazine issue in 1984 presented a startling cover. It pictured a prison cell where two men sat on metal folding chairs. The young man wore a blue turtleneck sweater, blue jeans and white running shoes. The older man was dressed in a white robe and had a white skullcap on his head. They sat facing one another, up-close and personal. They spoke quietly so as to keep others from hearing the conversation.
The young man was Mehmet Ali Agca, the pope’s would-be assassin (he shot and wounded the Pope on May 13, 1981); the other man was Pope St. John Paul II, the intended victim. The Pope held the hand that had held the gun whose bullet tore into the Pope’s body.
This was a living icon of mercy. John Paul’s forgiveness was deeply Christian. His deed with Ali Agca spoke a thousand words. He embraced his enemy and pardoned him. At the end of their 20-minute meeting, Ali Agca raised the Pope’s hand to his forehead as a sign of respect. John Paul shook Ali Agca’s hand tenderly.
When the Pope left the cell he said: « What we talked about must remain a secret between us. I spoke to him as a brother whom I have pardoned and who has my complete trust. ».
This is an example of God’s Divine Mercy, the same Divine Mercy whose message St. Faustina witnessed.
A BLANKET AND A BOTTLE OF MADEIRA WINE
Carmina, one of the leaders of People Helping People and of the English Mass, was driving through one of the streets of Funchal on a cold and dark night. All of a sudden her sight was caught by a homeless man sleeping (was he sleeping?) on the street’s sidewalk.
Carmina stopped her car and approached him. Her heart was broken. She knew that she had found Jesus by surprise. [This is the point where mercy meets misery.] Standing before this misery she could not be indifferent. Something needed to be done, but what?
It didn’t take too much time to decide: Carmina went home, brought a blanket and something else. Kindly, like a mother covering her baby, she extended the blanket over him. And at his side she gently left a delicious bottle of Madeira Wine.
This is Divine Mercy.
MY THREE FAVOURITE THOUGHTS OF MOTHER TERESA
“Small things done by small people in small places change the world.”
“What I do for others is just a drop of water in the ocean. But without that drop of water the ocean is smaller.”
“I would prefer to have a person making a mistake with kindness than being right with rudeness.”
Love and Peace,
Fr. Bernardino Andrade
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