Homily for 1st Sunday of Advent

Homily for the
1st Sunday of Advent

Nov. 29, 2020
Communion Rite
Holy Name of Jesus, Valhalla, N.Y.

I once heard a preacher proclaim on this Sunday, the 1st Sunday of Advent, “Welcome to the year of Mark!”  We begin a new church year in which most of our Sunday gospels will come from the 1st of the 4 evangelists, chronologically speaking, who is, after the Holy Spirit, the major inspiration for Matthew’s and Luke’s gospels.

(source unknown)

But I’m going to preach this afternoon on a text from what we call the Ordinary of the Mass, the texts that make up our celebration of the Eucharist all the time:  “By the help of your mercy, may we be always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”

How many times have you heard that prayer?  If you’re a regular Mass-goer, too many times to count.  We pray it after the Our Father at every Mass.

This prayer could be prayed as a sort of expansion on the Our Father, in which we pray that God’s kingdom might come.  The coming of that kingdom is our “blessed hope,” so that we look eagerly toward its coming, i.e., its fulfillment when OLJC comes again.  The coming of that kingdom, the 2d coming of Christ, is in fact the 1st theme of this Advent season, as you can tell from the readings of last Sunday, which segue us into Advent, and from today’s readings.

Yet another possibility for our waiting expectantly for the blessed coming of our Savior is right here in the liturgy.  We make this prayer as part of our preparation for Holy Communion, for the sacramental coming of our Savior.  We pray to be kept free from sin and thus to be worthy to receive the Lord.  Then we’ll pray that the Lamb of God have mercy on us and take away our sins.  Finally, we’ll confess our unworthiness to receive the Lord:  “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof,” the faith statement of the Roman centurion who came to Jesus to seek healing for his slave (Matt 8:5-13); and we’ll follow our confession of unworthiness with a plea for the healing of our souls so that our sacramental Savior might come to us.

In the context of this Advent season which the Church began last nite, however, “the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior” that we’re watching for is his return, Christ’s return, which we remember in the 3d Eucharistic Prayer:  “We celebrate the memorial of the saving passion of your Son [and] his wondrous resurrection and ascension into heaven, and we look forward to his second coming….”  Likewise, the 1st of the acclamations we may use after the consecration of the bread and wine into Christ’s sacred body and precious blood states, “We proclaim your death, O Lord, and profess your resurrection until you come again.”

That Jesus will come again is as certain as sunrise and sunset.  Or, if you’d like to quote Ben Franklin, as certain as death and taxes.  The certainty is enshrined in our Creed:  “He will come again in glory to judge the living the dead.”  Last Sunday’s gospel pictured that coming and that judgment (Matt 25:31-46).  Our sins may make us nervous, even fearful, about his coming and his judgment.  Certainly, our sins ought to concern us. On the other hand, Jesus’ public ministry offers abundant hope to repentant sinners, and in today’s 2d reading St. Paul comforts us that by grace God “will keep you firm to the end, irreproachable on the day of OLJC” (1 Cor 1:8).

If we repent and do our best to live irreproachably, as Paul says, then we’ll do as the Collect prayed we will:  “run forth to meet Christ with righteous deeds at his coming” and then be “gathered at his right hand”—like the sheep in last week’s parable—and “be worthy to possess the heavenly kingdom,” that kingdom for whose coming we pray in the Our Father.

In today’s gospel, Jesus addresses a word of caution to us about his return:  “Be watchful!  Be alert!  You don’t know when the time will come” (Mark 13:33).  We don’t want to caught sleeping (13:36), i.e., still in our unrepented sins.  Our watchfulness, then, leads us to turn to Jesus now for forgiveness, and to turn to him for daily strength and courage to stay away from sin and practice virtue:  “By the help of your mercy may we be free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”

Homily for Solemnity of Christ the King

Homily for the Solemnity
of Christ the King

Nov. 22, 2020
Collect                                      
St. Pius X, Scarsdale, N.Y.

“Almighty God, your will is to restore all things in your beloved Son…” (Collect).

Christ the King window
Holy Name of Jesus Church, New Rochelle

In the biblical picture of the universe, God created an orderly, harmonious world.  The order and harmony were shattered by sin, by the rebellion of human beings and demons against the Creator and his work.

God the Father gave his Son the mission of “restoring all things,” of freeing us from our sins, which so terribly shattered creation, and thus of enabling us to live in harmony with one another and with the universe.  So the eternal Son entered our created world with all its miseries.  He took flesh of the Virgin Mary, so that “in Christ all shall be brought to life” (1 Cor 15:22).

The Scripture readings today illustrate the Son’s restorative work.  The prophet Ezekiel (34:11-12,15-17) tells how the Lord acts like a good shepherd to care for his flock, an image reinforced by the psalm response (Ps 23).

Jesus tells a parable in which his followers are rewarded because during their lifetimes they provided the necessities of life for those lacking food, clothing, shelter, medical care, social inclusion, and freedom.  These followers have restored human dignity to the poor and abandoned, the endangered and desperate.  One of the central messages of our Holy Father during his 7 years as Pope has been this very message:  to care for our brothers and sisters in the human family.  In fact, his most recent encyclical is titled Fratelli tutti:  “We are all brothers and sisters.”

The Collect that we addressed to God the Father moments ago speaks of “the whole creation” being “set free from slavery,” i.e., from the disorder in which we see it.  The book of Genesis tells us how God ordered the world by his creative power.  Then sin introduced chaos, brutality, alienation, and murder, even alienating humanity from the rest of nature.  We see daily how alienated nature is from us:  hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, droughts, floods, and other disasters make life terrible for tens of thousands of people and kill thousands of us.  How can nature be at peace when those whom God has put in charge of his creation are themselves in rebellion against him?

God’s will is to restore all things, to make all things new, to create a new heavens and a new earth under the lordship of his Son Jesus Christ.  When Christ conquers sin and all the rot and chaos that follow from sin, then, as we prayed, “the whole creation” will be “set free from slavery.”

There have been in history, and there still are, awful forms of human slavery:  slave labor, serfdom, sexual exploitation, and human trafficking, for instance.  All of these, and our personal susceptibility to greed, laziness, lust, anger, gossip, selfishness, environmental degradation—all these are forms of slavery.

How are we—how is “the whole creation”—to be “set free from slavery”?  Only by recognizing Jesus Christ as our Lord, as our king, as the only one who guides, rules, and saves us.  An honored philosopher recently stated:  “No society can exist without a principle of community.  It is precisely what is missing in all societies, both in the U.S. and in Europe.  There is a deficit of community.  And the role of Christians is to create communion out of a community within societies.”[1]  Our communion is based on the lordship of Jesus Christ, and only this can heal our shattered society, our divisions, our hatreds, our slaveries.  This recognition of Jesus Christ as Lord may be implicit, i.e., by adherence of non-Christians to his principles, values, and truths and by the rejection of sin.  It’ll never happen, however, so long as Christians or anyone else adheres to the principle of looking out for #1, every man for himself, my way or no way—be that in family life, business, or politics.

Good Shepherd fresco from the catacombs

The Lord promises to “look after and tend” his sheep (Ezek 34:11), to “bind up the injured” and “heal the sick” (34:16), and to defeat all the enemies of God’s rule; and “the last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor 15:26).  Therefore, brothers and sisters, let’s let the Lord Jesus rule us and heal us, and thru us bring about a greater sense of communion in our society—in the Church, in our country, in our culture—so that the “goodness and kindness” of the Lord our shepherd may follow us “all the days of [our] life,” and we may “dwell in the house of the Lord for years to come” (Ps 23:6), in fact, forever and ever.

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    [1] Jean-Luc Marion, “Christianity Offers Best Hope for Restoration of Community…,” interview in National Catholic Register online, 11/13/20: https://www.ncregister.com/blog/christianity-offers-best-hope-for-restoration-of-community-says-ratzinger-prize-laureate?utm_campaign=NCR%202019&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=99915033&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_d1LEN-dWTZhOG5xdv5eyRJIVyv1OUP2XTyN21ex3OkziQfjQLs3uBcpH3IXY1ikJ6oAcCFa7CMme0qwzFfXHUV22Vhv0y2Pcu3A84eiGt9m0s4nQ&utm_content=99915033&utm_source=hs_email

Homily for Wednesday, 33d Week of Ordinary Time

Homily for Wednesday
33d Week of Ordinary Time

Nov. 19, 2020
Rev 5: 1-10
Provincial House, New Rochelle, N.Y.

In yesterday’s episode (Rev 4:1-11), our heroes—the 24 elders and 4 living creatures—were engaged in the heavenly liturgy before God seated in splendor on his throne.  John the Seer’s vision reflects OT imagery from Ezekiel, Isaiah, Zechariah, and Daniel; the God whom Christians adore is the same God of the earlier covenant.  The 24 elders are usually taken to represent the 12 tribes of ancient Israel and the 12 apostles of the new Israel, while the 4 living creatures represent Earth’s 4 directions—thus the whole of creation.  All of these join in worshiping God the Almighty.

That much from ch. 4, yesterday, continues in ch. 5 today.  But a new element is introduced, the 7x-sealed scroll that no one can open (vv. 1-4).  Written on both sides, it contains divine richness.  It is, in fact, God’s plan for the universe, solemnly sealed, hidden from humanity—until the triumphant lion of the tribe of Judah, the offspring of David, comes with power to open the scroll, to unfold the Almighty’s plan (v. 5).

Then the Lamb appears, endowed with supreme power and wisdom—the 7 horns and 7 eyes (v. 6)—the Lamb who triumphed (v. 5) over death after having been slain in sacrifice for the sins of the world (v. 9).  

The elders take up a new chorus of praise because the Lamb has won for God a kingdom, a priestly people whom he will lead in heavenly worship (v. 10).  This is the divine plan hidden in the secret scroll.

Many of you have probably heard the story of how the Rus, the ancestors of Russia, became Orthodox Christians.  According to the story, Vladimir, prince of Kiev, toward the end of the 10th century wanted to convert his people from paganism but was unsure which faith they should adopt.  Accordingly, he sent ambassadors to Crimea, where a Muslim people dwelt, to investigate their religion.  The envoys weren’t much impressed.  He sent other ambassadors to Germany to look at Latin Christianity and, sad to say, they weren’t much impressed either.  He sent a third delegation to Constantinople, where the ambassadors witnessed the glories of Byzantine liturgy:  beautiful vestments, majestic icons, golden vessels, incense, chanting, and all the ritual—and they were very much impressed, reporting to Vladimir, “We didn’t know whether we were in heaven or on earth.”  So Vladimir and his people converted to Eastern Christianity.

Altho our liturgy isn’t so elaborate, and very few Catholics are carried into ecstasy thru it, still, our earthly liturgy—the sacred mysteries—is our entry to the heavenly liturgy.  Yesterday’s reading began, “I had a vision of an open door to heaven” (4:1).  We are privileged to approach that door every morning, to worship the Lamb of God, and thru him, God the Almighty on his throne.

We are further privileged to unroll for God’s priestly people the sacred scroll, to open up for them, as St. Paul writes to the Ephesians “the plan of the mystery hidden from ages past in God, who created all things, so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known thru the Church” (3:9-10).

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to break open the 7 seals, and worthy are we whom he has purchased with his blood.  Thanks be to God!

Padre Chava Refectory assists up to 2,000 people a day

 Salesian Padre Chava Refectory assists up to 2,000 people a day

(ANS – Tijuana, Mexico – November 18, 2020) – The Salesian Padre Chava Refectory of Tijuana, directed by Fr. Agustin Novoa Leyva, SDB, has been serving meals for over 30 years, accompanying and welcoming the most vulnerable people, especially migrants. Currently, “the number of people who come to the Padre Chava Refectory has increased; usually we assist between 900 and 1,000 people daily, and with the pandemic we come to assist up to 2,000 a day,” said the coordinator, Claudia Portela. In recent days, all the staff, users, and guests of the Salesian Padre Chava Refectory have been vaccinated against the flu.

Homily for 33d Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
33d Sunday of Ordinary Time

Nov. 15, 2020
Prov 31: 10-31                           
Holy Name of Jesus, Valhalla, N.Y.

“When one finds a worthy wife, her value is far beyond pearls” (Prov 31: 10).

Our 1st reading today consists of 8 verses excerpted from a passage of 22 verses at the very end of the Book of Proverbs, a passage in praise of good wives.

The 1st readings on Sundays are chosen to go along with the gospels.  It might appear that this reading about “a worthy wife” has nothing to do with Jesus’ parable of the talents (Matt 25:14-30).  On the contrary:  both the “worthy wife” and the “faithful” servants carry out their responsibilities diligently.

What does the “worthy wife” do?  She and her husband have bonded in a warm relationship.  He “entrusts his heart to her” (31:11), and she “brings him good all the days of her life” (31:12).  Nowadays we like to say that spouses ought to be each other’s best friend, one’s other self, one’s soulmate.  That’s akin to what Proverbs presents.  The relationship between this wife and her husband doesn’t rely upon superficialities:  “charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting” (21:30).  Rather, it has a solid basis in their mutual respect and appreciation.

2d, she diligently does her work.  The complete, 22-verse passage presents her mostly as a well-to-do housewife, appropriate for Jewish society hundreds of years B.C.  One of the verses not included today, however, does speak of her as a businesswoman, selling her cloth and other wares to the town merchants (31:24), and another verse speaks of her “wisdom” and “kindly counsel” (31:26).  Thus she can be a model for the modern married woman who manages her household, holds a job with responsibility, and is discreet, wise, and prudent.

3d, the “worthy wife” “reaches out her hands to the poor, and extends her arms to the needy” (31:20).  She’s not centered only on herself or her family.  She’s concerned about the people of her town who aren’t well-off—and in pre-Christian Israel that meant the vast majority of people, whether they were humble artisans or, mostly, dirt-poor peasant farmers.  She works for the common good by sharing her abundance with those less fortunate.

Finally, the clincher for this wife’s worthiness, for the praise she merits, is that she “fears the Lord” (31:30).  This is her true beauty, the source of her charm and her wisdom, the motivation for her diligence and good works.  “Fear of the Lord” in the Scriptures doesn’t mean being scared or afraid, but, rather, “a reverential and loving obedience to the will of God.”[1]  She’s not at all like the servant in Jesus’ parable who buried his master’s money “out of fear” (Matt 25:25).  She worships the Lord and keeps his commandments.  She serves him devoutly in her daily work at home, in the marketplace, in her care for the poor, and in her relationship with her husband.

All the qualities of this proverbial “worthy wife” can be practiced by women today, including single women—who, altho they don’t have husbands, ought to have close friends both male and female whom they cherish and assist—and by men too:  faithful execution of one’s responsibilities, love for spouse and family, concern for the poor, and devotion to God.  All of us can be “good and faithful servants” (Matt 25:21) who will merit the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ when he returns on the Last Day to “settle accounts” with us (25:19).

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     [1] Thomas P. McCreesh, OP, “Proverbs,” in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1990), p. 455.

Salesian Solidarity Is a Network

 Salesian Solidarity Is a Network

From the U.S. to Italy in response to the pandemic

(ANS – Rome – November 12, 2020) – The U.S. government Agency for International Development (USAid) has decided to finance the project “Salesian Solidarity with Italy: the Emergency Response to Covid-19.” It aims to address the economic, social, and educational consequences of the pandemic. Led by the Salesian NGO International Volunteers for Development (VIS), the project also involves three other Salesian entities: Salesians for Social Aps; Salesian Missions of New Rochelle; and the Italian National Center for Salesian Works - Ongoing Vocational Training (CNOS-FAP).

The intervention program will run until October 2021 and will see 16 Italian regions involved; 24,480 people will be reached, belonging to vulnerable categories; 380 families shall receive food aid. Also, 249,000 individual protection devices (masks, gels, gloves), 7,500 educational kits, and 470 computer supports will be distributed.

The project is developed on three components:

-- digital resources, such as educational kits, online courses, videos with reading of the stories of L'orizzonte alle spalle, the book created by VIS on the stories of migrants, and educational courses for children, families, and teachers – the hashtag: #restiamoactive;

-- support for vulnerable students who have undergone a suspension of their Salesian vocational training courses, so that they can continue their studies through distance learning with the motto “FormAzione per la ripresa, FormAction for recovery”;

-- finally, continuing the #noicis(t)iamo campaign, the distribution of individual protection kits and basic necessities to families in need is foreseen – through a prepaid card with which they can shop on their own, choose what to buy, accompanied by awareness-raising actions on responsible consumption and recycling; and they will also continue to work in support measures for migrants and refugees in the centers of Sicily.

VIS was selected to lead the project. “Salesians from all over the world have mobilized, since March, to try to be close to the neediest, even in the months of the lockdown,” explains Nico Lotta, president of VIS. “We have converted our ongoing projects in the global South to try to respond to the new needs that have emerged with the pandemic. At the same time, we felt called urgently to intervene in Italy as well. This is why we joined three other Salesian entities, Salesians for Social Aps, Salesian Missions, and CNOS-FAP, in a project that could respond to the consequences of the health emergency in our country.

“According to the charism of Don John Bosco, we operate in the conviction that only through education can rights be promoted, inequalities overcome, and the causes of poverty fought at the root. For this reason, for example, even in projects that more generally concern the environment or the fight against irregular migration, there is always a component linked to formation that allows true autonomy and true development of people and the community,” Mr. Lotta said.

500th Anniversary of 1st Masses in Argentina and Chile

500th Anniversary of 1st Masses Celebrated in Argentina and Chile

Pope Francis writes to one Salesian bishop, sends one Salesian cardinal in observances

(ANS – Rome – November 11, 2020) – On November 11, 1520, 500 years ago, Fr. Pedro de Valderrama, chaplain of the expedition led by the explorer Ferdinand Magellan, celebrated the first Mass in the territory that is now Chile on the hill of Monte Cruz on the strait that would take its name from the navigator.

Pope Francis recalls this in his message for the occasion, citing the motto of the diocese of Punta Arenas: “God entered from the South.” The recipient of the papal message was the local bishop, Bernardo Bastres Florence, a Salesian, to whom the Pope expresses his sorrow that the ongoing pandemic rendered it impossible to celebrate the happy anniversary with liturgical acts for crowds of celebrants, as planned. He reaffirms his closeness to the Chilean Church in a particularly difficult time for the country and for the Christian community itself.

The same happened months ago, on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the first Mass in what is now Argentina, at Puerto San Julian, province of Santa Cruz. That Mass was celebrated on Palm Sunday, April 1, 1520, in the presence of 200 adventurers who spoke different languages, plus a few locals who watched with curiosity. On this anniversary, Pope Francis sent Cardinal Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet, archbishop of Montevideo, Uruguay, also a Salesian, as his representative.

This presence of Salesian bishops in the places of Magellan takes on considerable significance: they are a further sign of the great missionary work carried out by Don Bosco’s sons in those lands at the “ends of the earth,” populated by indigenous populations that have disappeared today, and by immigrants from various nations. To find out more, see the book Magellano e don Bosco intorno al mondo, by Nicola Bottiglieri (published by LDC, 2019) and the film A sud del sud by Salvatore Metastasio (2014).

The hope is that the Salesians and the Salesian Family today will know how to maintain their active presence in Patagonia in the footsteps of the Salesian missionary heroes of the past, as has been requested several times by Pope Francis.

In Fortescue Bay (called “Puerto de las Sardinas” by shippers), 120 miles from Punta Arenas, the place where Magellan’s expedition celebrated their first Mass in 1520, the Chilean Navy has erected a cross. Erected in June 2020, it was officially inaugurated in October as part of the events celebrating the 500th anniversary of the discovery of the Strait of Magellan, which unites the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. A video of the cross being raised is may be viewed online.

Fr. Francesco Motto, SDB
Salesian Historical Institute, Rome

See CNS story on the Pope's letter: https://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?h=Pope_pens_letter_marking_500th_anniversary_of_first_Mass_in_Chile&utm_source=ConstantContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Dailynewsletter&ID=188805

Homily for 32d Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
32d Sunday of Ordinary Time

Nov. 8, 2020
Matt 25: 1-13                                    
St. Pius X, Scarsdale                       
St. Joseph, New Rochelle

November is popularly known as the month of the holy souls.  On Nov. 2 we commemorated all of the faithful departed who have not yet reached their goal of perfect union with Christ and face-to-face vision of the Holy Trinity, which theologians call the beatific vision, the blessed vision of God, the vision that fulfills the deepest desire that every one of us has for perfect and unending happiness.  The holy souls, also called “the poor souls in purgatory,” are still being cleansed of the last traces of sin from their hearts.

Every human being at the end of his or her life must come to a reckoning before Jesus Christ, who—as the Creed states—will come to judge the living and the dead, those who are still living on earth at that moment as well as those who’ve already died, as St. Paul discusses in the 2d reading (1 Thess 4:13-18).  Our Lord today tells us, his disciples, a parable to warn us to be ready for his coming.

The Bible is full of comparisons and contrasts about wisdom and foolishness, including in Jesus’ teachings.  In general, wisdom means listening to and obeying God’s law, and foolishness means ignoring it.  Wisdom means living a virtuous life, and foolishness means leading a wicked life.

Thus in the parable, 10 virgins—representing the Church—are waiting for a bridegroom to arrive.  Since apostolic times, the Church has understood that Christ is her bridegroom.  The 5 wise virgins have oil for their lamps.  Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount that Christians are the light of the world, and they must let their light shine upon all of humanity so that people may see our good works and give glory to God (Matt 5:14-16).  This light is our love, our fidelity, our devotion, all manner of goodness.

And the 5 foolish virgins are lacking all that.  When the bridegroom arrives—when Jesus returns for the Judgment—it’s too late for his negligent would-be followers to get ready, to light their lamps.  They’ll be left out in the dark, out in the cold, out of the wedding feast, the banquet of eternal life, while the wise will be admitted and will enjoy an eternal party with Christ our Lord.

Jesus concludes with a stern warning:  “Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matt 25:13).

What does it mean to stay awake?  The same as to have our lamps alight:  to practice virtue day by day, to pray diligently, to deal honestly with everyone, to care for our families and those who are in need.  “Thus we shall always be with the Lord,” as St. Paul says (1 Thess 4:17), both now and forever.

Pope writes to his old Salesian school

Pope Francis writes to “his” school and encourages education in Don Bosco’s style

[School Photo: AICA]

(ANS - Vatican City – November 6, 2020) – Due to the 90th anniversary of the foundation of the Salesian school Wilfrid Baron de los Santos Angeles in Ramos Mejia, Argentina – where young Jorge Mario Bergoglio attended sixth grade in 1949 – Pope Francis has sent a letter to the vice principal of the work, Daniel Joaquin Blanco Mengoni. Below is the text of the letter.

Dear brother,

On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the foundation of the work of Don Bosco in Ramos Mejia, I turn to you and to all the members of this beloved Salesian Family. I join in your thanks for all these years spent sowing the joy of the Gospel in so many children and youths, and in reaching the hearts of so many families and the peripheries of society.

I remember with gratitude when I attended the sixth grade of the Wilfrid Baron de los Santos Angeles school in 1949, and received that formation in the style of Don Bosco, open to work, creativity, and joy. School life was a “whole,” and there was no time to get bored: study, sharing, prayer, attention to the poorest, manual activities; everything we did and learned had a harmonious unity and prepared us for life with a sense of responsibility and a horizon of transcendence.

I encourage you to continue your daily work in this perspective, bearing in mind the words of St. John Bosco: “Holiness consists in always being happy.” May the joy that comes from the encounter with the Lord be reflected in all your activities, so that the Gospel may radiate and reach everyone.

May Jesus bless you and Mary Help of Christians watch over you with maternal protection. And please don’t forget to pray for me.

Fraternally,

Francis

Homily for Saturday, Week 31 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Saturday
Week 31 of Ordinary Time

Nov. 7, 2020
Phil 4: 10-19
Provincial House, New Rochelle, N.Y.

“I rejoice greatly in the Lord that … you revived your concern for me” (Phil 4: 10).

We’ve been reading from Philippians since last week.  Our passage this morning is the letter’s conclusion except for Paul’s final greetings; it’s a note of thanksgiving for that church’s gifts to him, delivered by Epaphroditus.

The church at Philippi was the 1st that Paul founded on European soil after he, Silas, Timothy, and Luke had crossed over from Asia Minor.  Paul and Silas had been beaten and imprisoned there. Now Paul’s in prison again, somewhere unspecified, perhaps in Ephesus, as he writes this letter.  The gifts that Epaphroditus brought from his congregation at Philippi may have been intended to sustain Paul in prison.  These weren’t their 1st assistance to Paul, since he speaks of their “reviving” their concern for him “at last” but having lacked an opportunity to show that concern.

Paul goes on to tell his Philippian friends that he has managed even tho he’s been in want:  “I have learned, in whatever situation I find myself, to be self-sufficient” (4:11).  He’s had lots of experience in being well provided for—usually earning his own living when staying somewhere—and in having to do without during his extensive travels on land and sea, in being warmly received here and persecuted there.  He finds his strength to deal with all situations in the power that Christ gives him (4:13).  But now he’s grateful to the Philippians for their concern, for “sharing in my distress” (4:14) even tho they themselves aren’t well off (cf. 2 Cor 8:1-5).

He goes on to credit this church so dear to him for their unique care for him, alone among all the churches that Paul had established or visited, assisting him “not only once but more than once” (4:16).  He’s most pleased that their kindness toward him “accrues to [their] account” before God; it’s the equivalent of a fragrant sacrifice and pleases God greatly.  God, for his part, “will fully supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (4:19)—not material goods but the goods of divine favor.

Paul is expressing gratitude to his benefactors.  In Don Bosco’s lexicon, gratitude is a most important word.  He constantly voiced his gratitude to God and to Mary Help of Christians for blessings received and urged the faithful who received graces thru Mary’s intercession to express their gratitude in prayer, at least, and often enuf, with a donation.  “Every brick in the church of MHC represents a grace from her,” he attested.  He urged gratitude to God for one’s intellectual and spiritual gifts.  He expressed everlasting gratitude to his supporters like Fr. Cafasso, Fr. Borel, Pius IX, and countless benefactors.  He even thanked God for misfortunes averted, an indication of divine protection.

Don Bosco taught us to do likewise.  Those of us who had the blessing of having known Fr. Joseph Stella know that one of the keys to his prodigious ability to come up with money for Newton, East Boston, and Goshen was that he spent hours and hours writing thank-you notes to benefactors or even calling on them in person.  E.g., in one of his famous “Do you have a minute?” occasions, he had me drive him from Newton to Philadelphia (that was quite a minute!) to visit some benefactors.

Obviously, we owe our benefactors our thanks, in our prayers, and when possible with something more personal—a handwritten note, a visit, or at least an email.

Beyond our benefactors, we owe much gratitude to so many other people, as Fr. Paul said last evening—our families, our confreres, even the people to whom we minister in school or parish or the confessional (many of whom testify to us of God’s grace).

Another note that St. Paul strikes today—it’s incidental to his gratitude toward the believers at Philippi—is his detachment in the face of physical want.  Sometimes we handle physical want well, e.g., during the power outage last August.  Sometimes we’re not quite so good, e.g., when something we want from the pantry isn’t there.  Don Bosco certainly followed St. Paul:  “I know how to live in humble circumstances. . . .  I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need” (4:12).  I’ve got room for improvement there, and maybe you do too.

We’re also ready to imitate the Philippians by supplying the needs of people, whether it’s thru the mission office or an appeal from the provincial, or even little things like helping out “Homeless John.”  May the Lord receive such offerings from us as “a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice,” and bless us as well as those whom we help.

Finally, and most important, is the one verse in which Paul credits Christ for being the power in his life (4:13).  May we always bear that in mind, always turn to Christ in our needs, in our weakness, and with our gratitude.

Blessed Artemides Zatti, religious

Blessed Artemides Zatti, religious

November 14 will be the obligatory memorial in the U.S. of the first Salesian brother to be “raised to the honors of the altar” as a “blessed.”

By Bishop Enrico dal Covolo, SDB, and Father Giorgio Mocci, SDB*

Artemides Zatti was born at Boretto in the province of Reggio Emilia, Italy, on October 12, 1880. His parents, Louis and Albina Vecchi Zatti, were farmers. [One of Bro. Zatti’s nephews, Fr. Juan Edmundo Vecchi, was rector major in 1996-2002.] From his earliest years Artemides was accustomed to work and sacrifice. At age nine he was already working as a day laborer.

Driven by poverty, in 1897 the Zatti family emigrated to Argentina and settled in Bahia Blanca. There Artemides began to attend Mass at the Salesian parish and to assist the pastor, Fr. Charles Cavalli, with whom he soon shared both work and prayer.

He felt the desire to become a Salesian and was accepted as an aspirant by Bishop John Cagliero, SDB, vicar apostolic. Already 20 years old, he entered the house at Bernal. He began to study diligently in order to make up for the years he’d lost. Providence entrusted to him the task of caring for a young priest who was suffering from tuberculosis; he died in 1902.

The day on which Artemides was to be vested with the cassock, he too contracted TB. He returned home, and Fr. Cavalli sent him to the missionary hospital at Viedma. Fr. Evasio Garrone, SDB, bolstered by experience he’d picked up in the army, ran the hospital. The two of them, Fr. Garrone and Artemides, asked for and obtained from Mary Help of Christians the grace of a cure. The young man promised that he would dedicate his life to caring for the sick.

He was healed and kept his promise. First he began to work in the pharmacy attached to the hospital, where he learned Fr. Garrone’s logic: only those who could, paid. When the priest died in 1911, the full responsibility became Zatti’s.

In 1908 Bro. Artemides made his perpetual profession. He dedicated himself completely to his patients. People sought him out and esteemed him. For the hospital’s professional personnel he was not only the best of administrators, but he was above all an exemplary Christian.

This is how someone described his day: “Up at 4:30. Meditation and Mass. Visit all the wards. Then he took his bicycle to visit the sick around the city. After lunch, he played an enthusiastic game of bocce with convalescing patients. From 2:00 to 6:00 p.m., more visits to the sick both in and out of the hospital. Until 8:00 p.m. he worked in the pharmacy. Then another tour of the wards. Until 11:00 he studied medicine, and finally, some spiritual reading. Then some rest, but always available to anyone who might call.”

Bro. Zatti in his pharmacy (www.sdb.org)

He attained certification as a pharmacist. In 1913 he led the construction of a new hospital that was subsequently demolished, to his displeasure. Not discouraged, he built another. Like Don Bosco, he made Divine Providence the first, sure line of the budget for the works entrusted to him. Mary Help of Christians never abandoned him. When Don Bosco dreamt of his Salesian coadjutor brothers, he certainly wanted them to become saints like Artemides.

In 1950 he fell from a ladder and was forced to rest. Several months later, symptoms of cancer showed up. He passed away on March 15, 1951. His body reposes in the Salesian chapel at Viedma.

Bro. Artemides Zatti was declared Venerable on July 7, 1997, and beatified by St. John Paul II on April 14, 2002. [His memorial is observed in the Salesian Family on November 13 except in the U.S., where it is superseded by the memorial of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, mother of immigrants, friend of New York City’s Salesians, and first U.S. citizen to be canonized.]

*Santi nella Famiglia Salesiana, 2d ed. (Turin: LDC, 2009), pp. 46-47. Translated by Fr. Mike Mendl.

Homily for Solemnity of All Saints

Homily for the Solemnity of All Saints

1 John 3: 1-3
Nov. 1, 2020
Holy Name of Jesus, Valhalla, N.Y.
St. Joseph, New Rochelle, N.Y.                                   

“See what love the Father has bestowed on us” (1 John 3: 1).

Virgin & Child with the apostles, prophets, martyrs, & all the saints

St. John states that the Father has bestowed his love upon us, and he tells us to “see” that love.  How do we see it?  Thru his Son Jesus Christ.  God’s love took on flesh, our humanity, and lived among us (cf. John 1:14).  Jesus showed God’s love by making people whole in body and soul, by forgiving sins, and just by being present among us; by empowering his disciples to forgive sins, to comfort suffering souls, to help people confront the power of evil in the world—which the Church continues to do, taking up his charge to “go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

St. John then teaches us why the Father has shown us so much love thru his Son Jesus:  “that we may be called the children of God” (3:1).  And not only “called” his children, but “so we are” (3:1).  It’s a spiritual fact.  Thru Jesus Christ we’ve become God’s sons and daughters.  The Gospel of John tells us, “To those who did accept [Jesus Christ] he gave power to become children of God” (1:12).  In the sacrament of Baptism we were sealed—a word the 1st reading, from Revelation, used twice—or stamped or branded (maybe today we say “tattooed”) as his own.

Jesus Christ, of course, is the Son of God by nature, the Son of God from eternity.  We’re God’s children by adoption, by our union with Jesus in sacrament and grace.  God is offering us still more, according to St. John:  “Beloved, we are God’s children now,” in this life.  “What we shall be” in eternal life “has not yet been revealed” (3:2).  We already share in God’s holiness thru our relationship with Jesus—who gives us his Holy Spirit.  We are already saints, God’s holy ones—as St. Paul often addresses the Christians he writes to.  We are called, by God choice, by God’s gift, to be his holy ones forever.  It is precisely God’s holy ones in heaven whom we celebrate today, those who are so close to the Father that they are like Jesus and see the Father as he is (cf. 3:2), like our brother Jesus.  The saints already experience the fullness of God’s love thru Christ our Lord; we pray in today’s Collect that they intercede for us that we might remain on their path of holiness until we join them and “what we shall be” is revealed to us, until we become the creatures God made us to be.

The passage from St. John ends with an aspiration.  “Everyone who has this hope based on him”—this hope of becoming even more than God’s children, of becoming more like Jesus—“makes himself pure as he is pure” (3:3).

When we hear of purity, most likely we think of sexual purity, of the virtue of chastity lived according to our particular state of life.  In 1 John, it has a broader meaning.  In the last verse of ch. 2—the verse before today’s reading—John wrote, “Everyone who acts in righteousness is begotten by him” (2:29). 

“Righteousness” came up twice in the Beatitudes in the gospel reading.  It means being in a right relationship with God, in a state of grace, in God’s favor.  When we are God’s children, that’s how we act.  That relationship begins with Baptism, but it has to be lived.  This is the purity John speaks of.

Earlier in ch. 2, John wrote, “Do not love the world or the things of the world” (2:15), and then:  “All that is in the world, sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life” are inclinations or temptations that would destroy our right relationship with God.  So, not only sexual lust, sexual immorality, but also greed, glitter, and gluttony, things that entice our eyes, and “a pretentious life”—pride, self-importance, arrogance, the pursuit of fame and fortune.

From all of that, God’s children strive to keep away, to make themselves pure, as our Lord Jesus is pure.  This is a daily challenge for all of us, but by God’s grace we “have this hope based on him.”  For God has chosen us, has called us, to be his children, and more:  to “be like Christ, for we shall see the Father as he is,” as his saints in heaven already do.  Thanks be to God!

Don Bosco Always Asked Others for Help

THE MESSAGE OF THE RECTOR MAJOR

Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime

DON BOSCO

THE MAN OF GOD

WHO ALWAYS ASKED OTHERS FOR HELP

Dear readers of Salesian news media and, above all, friends of Don Bosco and his charism—

I greet you as we near the end of 2020, this year which we’ll remember as a hard year to have lived through and which was painful in many ways. It’s a year that has changed us – without our wanting it – in our lifestyle, habits, and customs perhaps but, certainly, at least in the rhythm of our personal, family, and community life.

We may already be acquiring calendars for the new year, 2021, which we hope will come filled with blessings. While thinking about all that a year means, I pondered on something that I keep very much in my heart. I don’t know whether it’s due to how I was raised or to my own nature, but I have engraved into my very being the need to give thanks constantly and to be grateful for the very many things that I receive in my life as free gifts, having  nothing to do with personal merit. I don’t know whether others feel this way. Maybe other people consider that everything they have is owed to them, even life itself, but this is not how I feel.

I wish to use this November message to thank, in Don Bosco’s name, the thousands upon thousands of people who are our benefactors, helping us Salesians in our works around the world.

A few days ago I thought of something very simple that I could do: following the experience of these past six months, I felt that I should make a video message that could be broadcast via the internet to thank the very many people who have responded most generously, as their means allow, to help those most affected by Covid-19. So I did just that – in all simplicity and truth. (The video is available on ANSChannel in Italian and Spanish.) Afterwards, I received dozens of messages thanking me for this act of transparency in explaining what had been done with those monies and the total amount received. Certainly, it cannot and should not be otherwise.

Like Don Bosco

Don Bosco spent his life asking hundreds and hundreds of people for help. He wasn’t asking for himself, but for his boys. At the same time, he strongly believed in Divine Providence, and for that very reason he went tirelessly knocking from door to door.

He asked for monetary aid and for physical and material help from people to carry out the work entrusted to him. He didn’t hesitate to ask anyone who could, to dedicate some of their time or assets in favor of needy youth. He was helped by lay people, both women and men, and by priest friends, who collaborated with him in many ways.

Above all, he had the very special help of his beloved mother, Mama Margaret. I think I can say truly, and with historical accuracy, something I love to say: that together they founded the Oratory: to Don Bosco’s creative and apostolic genius was added the maternal delicacy of his mother, who gave feminine warmth to that house. She accompanied and encouraged her son through all the difficulties of beginning the Oratory and of working with the boys who knocked on the door of his house.

Alongside Margaret was Michael Rua’s mom. Michael Rua was the first to become a Salesian and was Don Bosco’s first successor. Others joined him on December 18, 1859, when they, too, pledged to practice the Salesian way of life traced out by Don Bosco. Then, too, there was the mother of Archbishop Gastaldi and the father of Dominic Savio who helped out at the Oratory. This group of people, who knew and loved Don Bosco well, gave his work a nuance all its own, one that distinguished it from other institutions of the time. They gave the entire educational environment the imprint of a “family atmosphere.”

With his ability to ask for help, Don Bosco knew right from the start how to count on priests who offered some of their time to the oratories – the work that was taking shape through the industry of Don Bosco, his priests and friends, even a spiritual teacher such as St. Joseph Cafasso, Fr. John Borel, and St. Leonard Murialdo. Other benefactors and supporters helped to finance the works that Don Bosco began – in Turin, as well as in various places in Italy, France, Spain, and the missions of South America.

Don Bosco, Founder of the Salesian Family

The term “Salesian Family” was officially uttered for the first time by Pope Pius XI on April 3, 1934, just two days after Don Bosco’s canonization, to the pilgrims who had come to Rome for the occasion: “You represent all those whom you have left behind in the various places from which you have come – all the great Salesian Family.”

Times have changed, but I can assure you that the situations that are experienced today in the world, in the Church, and in Salesian presences are very similar to those of Don Bosco’s time. When I visited our works among the poorest boys of Latin America, Africa, India, and some nations of Oceania, it seemed to me that I saw situations that were no better than those that Don Bosco had to deal with in Valdocco.

I can assure you that this does not discourage me in the least; rather, it renews in me the conviction that at every moment the Spirit of God raises up millions and millions of people with hearts that want to make this world more and more human. Without a doubt, you and I are in that number.

Thanks for all your hard work. Thank you for believing it’s worthwhile. Thank you for not allowing yourselves to be engulfed by the “acid reflux” of people who always doubt everything and everyone. And thank you for believing that we can live with hope. This is precisely what I shall propose to our Salesian Family for the new year: in this difficult time of Covid-19, now more than ever, we are moved by hope.

I wish you all well.