A Wizard on a Special Mission The Magician Merluzzo, a lion-tamer, SherlockHolmes, a ghost, a pirate... these are only a few of the thousand faces which disguise this middle-aged man, with his comical roundglasses and great desire to enchant and amuse children. He's known as Sales the Wizard, but his real name is Father Silvio Mantelli, a Salesian priest who brings Don Bosco's message to the young through his "magic" tricks, illusions, and animated shows. After years of teaching, he decided to put his tricks, costumes, "magic" wand, and top hat into two large cases and to leave his native land in order to offer his show to others. He has managed to bring laughter to the shy little girls from the Bolivian Andes, amuse the children from the Brazilian "favelas", and amaze the lively children in the villages of Nigeria, Kenya, and Madagascar. Recently, he has brought cheer to schools in the Philippines and fascinated thousands of youngsters in the Salesian missions in Macao, Hong Kong, and Indonesia. He does all this in the spirit of Don Bosco who, as a young man, fascinated his companions by his own "magic" acts. In his most recent journey, Sales the Wizard fascinated the young people of the Philippines. He entertained both big and small during his shows, which were performed in the most desperate places... from the schools swarming with thousands of young people to the slums of the large metropolis, from the mountain villages in the north with their terraced paddy-fields to the beaches in the southern islands. The youngsters kept their eyes - and mouths - opened wide in front of a stream of magnificent tricks. Everywhere he visited, Sales was welcomed with great joy and friendliness but, above all, by the smiles of the children. In particular, he remembers his performance at San Fernando in the north of Manila, in the big island of Luzon. Here the volcano Pinatubo has left vast traces of devastation in its wake and still continues to drag down mud and various forms of debris. The "magic" powers, although not capable of cancelling discomfort and misfortunes, help the young to forget the sad flavor of them, if only for a moment. This is only one of the adventures which Sales has experienced during his journeys. Among all the wonderful experiences, Sales the Wizard remembers with nostalgia one special day. In the huge Campogrande Hospital he met a man suffering from leprosy. His name was Paolino. He was almost completely destroyed by the disease: he was without legs, his hands had been amputated, and during that year he had become dumb. Nevertheless, he hadn't lost his courage and his joy of living and watched the performance in the front row. The next day he wrote this poem: "THE MAGIC PRIEST" The children sat on the floor around the stage to get a closer look at the show. Paolino was anxious. His eyes shone with great expectancy... When the magician, with a long beard, a hat, and cloak adorned with stars, came onto the stage, he called a child to him and put an object into his hand. He danced around him a couple of times... pulled off the silk scarf, and a bunch of flowers had blossomed in the child's hand. "Incredible!" thought Paolino. Now, from a magic tube, the magician pulled forth colored hankies each of a different hue. Then he placed them all inside a bag. He turned the bag over, tapped it with his magic wand, and took out a big sheet, made up of all the colored hankies he'd inserted... "How is it possible?". Then, out of the magician's hands, came shining rings which linked themselves together in mid-air, chained one to the other. His hands did extraordinary things. "Could he make my mother love me and let me go home again?". Paolino died in the spring of the following year, but his poem, has deeply penetrated the heart of Sales the Wizard who, like Don Bosco his model, used wonder and joy to touch the hearts of the young. "The Salesians showed us how we could have income for life... and help the poor, too! "They told us about the Salesian Annuity Plan. All we had to do was invest a minimum of $1,000 in the Salesians. Now, we receive a check from them on a regular basis for the rest of our lives! Not only that, but both our gift and the return checks are tax deductible in part! "This gift is more than a life-time investment - it brings us peace of mind... and financial security. Because our annuity will help the needy around the world for many lifetimes - long after we've been called to God. "Yes, the Salesians pay us a guaranteed rate of income, based on our age. We feel financially secure thanks to the Salesians."