Fr. John Swierc and 8 SDBs Presented at the Vatican as Martyrs

"Positio super martyrio" of Servants of God John Swierc and 8 Companions Submitted at the Vatican

(ANS - Vatican City – July 28, 2022) – On July 21, the Positio super martyrio of the Servants of God John Swierc and 8 Companions, priests of the Society of St. Francis de Sales, was consigned to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican.

Fr. John Swierc, pastor of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church

and Salesian director in Krakow

The Positio had Fr. Szczepan Tadeusz Praskiewicz, OCD, as the rapporteur, Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni as the postulator, and Dr. Mariafrancesca Oggianu as the collaborator. Structural elements of the Positio – which presents in an articulate and thorough manner the entire documentary and testifying apparatus concerning the martyrdom of the Servants of God – are: a brief presentation by the rapporteur; the “Informatio super martyrio,” that is, the theological part in which the material and formal martyrdom of the Servants of God is demonstrated; two “Summaries” with the testifying and documentary evidence; the last sections and iconographic apparatus.

After delivery, the Positio will be examined by the historical consultors of the dicastery, then by the theologians. Then it will be studied by the cardinals and bishops of the dicastery; these articulated stages of study and evaluation will allow the Supreme Pontiff, in case of a positive outcome, to declare Fr. John Swierc and 8 Companions martyrs and thus proceed to their beatification.

These 9 Polish Salesian priests belong to the number of presumed martyrs of Nazism. Besides Fr. Jan Świerc they include Fr. Ignatius Antonowicz, Fr. Charles Golda, Fr. Wlodzimierz Szembek, Fr. Francis Harazim, Fr. Louis Mroczek, Fr. Ignatius Dobiasz, Fr. Kazimierz Wojciechowski, and Fr. Francis Miska. As priests, all these Servants of God were engaged in various pastoral and governmental activities and teaching in Poland. They were completely uninvolved with respect to the political tensions that agitated Poland during the wartime occupation. Nevertheless, they were arrested and martyred in hatred for the faith for the very fact of being Catholic priests.

On June 27, 1941, in the Auschwitz concentration camp, Fr. John Swierc, Fr. Ignatius Dobiasz, Fr. Francis Harazim, and Fr. Kazimierz Wojciechowski died at the hands of the SS. The latter two Servants of God, specifically, were killed, alongside each other, at the same time. Servant of God Fr. Ignatius Antonowicz died three weeks later, on July 21, 1941, as a result of the mistreatment he suffered on that same June 27. On Jan. 5, 1942, Servant of God Fr. Louis Mroczek also died in the Auschwitz as a result of the torture he underwent and the numerous surgeries that followed. A few months later, on May 14, 1942, Fr. Charles Golda was shot in the same camp, accused of administering the sacrament of confession to two German soldiers for the sole purpose of deceitfully extorting important secrets of the Nazi regime. Servant of God Włodzimierz Szembek also died in the Auschwitz camp on September 7, 1942: in his case, too, it was mistreatment that caused his death. Those 8 Servants of God belonged to the Salesians’ Krakow Province. Servant of God Fr. Francis Miska, however, who belonged to the Salesians’ Pila Province, died in the Dachau concentration camp (in Germany) on May 30, 1942, as a result of mistreatment and torture.

The reputation of sanctity and martyrdom of the Servants of God Fr. John Swierc and 8 Companions, although hindered during the Communist period, spread as early as their death and is still alive today. They were considered exemplary priests, devoted to pastoral work and works of charity, affable, always available, in everything interested in giving glory only to God, for whose sake they were faithful even to the shedding of blood.

[Fr. Swierc and several of the others were the parish priests of St. Stanilaus Kostka Church in Krakow, and thus were the spiritual guides of university student Karol Wojtyla, who joined the parish when he came to Krakow to study.]

Homily for 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
18th Sunday of Ordinary Time

July 31, 2022
Eccl 1: 2; 2: 21-23
Ps 90: 3-6, 12-14, 17
Col 3: 1-5, 9-11
Luke 12: 13-21
Ursulines et al., The Fountains, Tuckahoe, N.Y.
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx

“Vanity of vanities!  All things are vanity” (Eccl 1: 2).

One commentator has summarized the Book of Ecclesiastes as “all is hot air.”[1]  It seems to be a pessimistic Scripture, proclaiming that all our toil is useless, all our days are filled with grief, both the wise person and the fool have the same end.  “A live dog is better off than a dead lion” (9:4).  Ecclesiastes is a book to cause us to think about who we are, why we’re here, where we’re going.

The Garden of Earthly Delights (Bosch)

Qoheleth, the preacher, whose words fill this book, laments that someone who works diligently and wisely must leave his property to someone else.  In my experience, the only man since ancient times who “took it with him when he died” was Salesian Fr. Wallace Cornell.  Fr. Wally came to New Rochelle in the summer of 1986 to make mission appeals in various parishes on the weekends.  He got started on that; but on the morning of July 10, he was found dead in his room at our residence, having had a heart attack during the nite.  Because of rules about moving money from one country to another (which I don’t know), someone decided that the easiest way to send Fr. Wally’s funds to Australia would be to enclose them in his casket before his body was sent home.  I have it on reliable authority that there was a communications lapse between our mission office and the superiors in Australia, and the money went into the ground with Fr. Wally’s casket—and later had to be dug up and retrieved.  However unintended, he really did take it with him!

Of course, whatever went to Australia with Fr. Wally was useless to him:  vanity of vanities!  He was no fool like the rich man in Jesus’ parable, like those who measure the success of their lives by the size of their bank accounts and investments, the number of rooms in their mansions (like you see in the real estate section of the Sunday NYT), their glamorous cars, their fashionable wardrobes, their amorous conquests, the vacations they take in the Alps and Polynesia, the lies told by their make-up.  “The things you have prepared,” all that you’ve accumulated and enjoyed during your life, “to whom will they belong?” Jesus asks the rich man in his parable (Luke 12:20).  “One’s life doesn’t consist of possessions” (12:15).

Who are we?  Why are we here?  Where are we going?  Read St. Paul:  “If you were raised with Christ, seek what’s above. . . .  When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory” (Col 3:1,4).

We’re God’s children, not merely the dust to which we’ll return, not merely “the changing grass” (Ps 90:3,5), as Qoheleth and the psalmist may have thought in their ignorance about immortality and the great gift of life in Christ.  “We may shout for joy and gladness all our days” (90:14) because God has created us for life, not for vanity, not as hot air.  You remember the old words of the catechism:  “God made me to know him, to love him, and to serve him in this world and to be happy with him forever in the next world.”  Well-intentioned Qoheleth didn’t know that, thru no fault on his part, nor did the self-centered rich fool in the parable.

Therefore St. Paul urges us to “put to death” all earthly vanities—he names several vices of which we may have been guilty before committing our lives to Christ, and perhaps after, too (Col 3:5)—and urges us to “put on the new self” re-created in God’s image (3:10), the image of our Risen Lord Jesus.  In this holy Eucharist, Christ comes to us bodily, sacramentally, to renew and reinforce in us his sacred image, the image of a virtuous woman or man, preparing us for immortality, “to appear with him in glory.”

---

[1] Days of the Lord: The Liturgical Year (Collegeville: Liturgical, 1991), 6:148.

Don Bosco House Museum Helps Train Young Leaders

Don Bosco House Museum Helps Train Young Leaders

(ANS – Turin – July 20, 2022) – The training program for animators of the Salesian Central Italy Province (ICC) took place July 19-22. Included in the program, organized by the ICC Province Youth Ministry Team, was a visit to the Casa Don Bosco Museum at Valdocco, which allows SYM youths literally to follow Don Bosco’s steps at the birth of his mission in Valdocco.

Fr. Michael Pace, SDB, deputy director of the Don Bosco House Museum (a member of the New Rochelle Province), tells ANS, “In the basement, we delve into the protagonism of the young and the origins of the family spirit shared in the refectories, the kitchen, and even the cellar of the first permanent home of the Oratory. On the second floor, young people appreciate the architectural development of the Salesian citadel, three charismatic dreams of Don Bosco, and his main collaborators. The hall of paintings presents original masterpieces from the 19th century that not only adorned the Oratory churches but were an integral part of the educational-pastoral project that matured at the Oratory. On the third floor, the humanity of Don Bosco, meditated on in the room of his life and in the room of his death, opens to the contemplation of his holiness from which the holiness of the great tree of the Salesian Family in the world, now rooted in 32 branches, is born. Young people make the synthesis of all this by living the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist, right here where Don Bosco made his boys love these privileged encounters with the Lord.”

"Giant Dreams" at the Vatican's Youth Summer Camp

“Giant Dreams” at the Vatican’s Youth Summer Camp

(ANS - Vatican City – July 20, 2022) – In 2020, Pope Francis asked the Salesians, true professionals in the field, to coordinate the youth summer camp in the Vatican, an initiative aimed at the families of the Holy See’s employees, to give children the experience of a summer youth center within the Vatican walls. The initiative was so successful that it was repeated again in 2021, and now it’s in its third year.

Estate Ragazzi in Vaticano, the youth summer camp, began on July 4 and will continue until August 5. During this month, many children will be able to take part in the summer youth center, in dedicated spaces equipped to carry out play and recreational activities.

It is, as said, an initiative much desired by Pope Francis and promoted by the State Governorate, to offer the children of employees between the ages of 5 and 13 a five-week experience of formation in an atmosphere of festivity and strong sharing of Christian values.

The animation is taken care of by a team of Salesians, Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, animators belonging to the Tutto in Una Festa association, and teenage animators who want to get involved in an experience of service for younger children. This last presence is this year’s great novelty as, for the first time, the transition from “being animated” to assistant-animators has been created, a decisive and charismatic step to making this experience a true youth center with the style of Don Bosco.

This year’s theme is “Giant Dreams,” inspired by the children’s book Big Friendly Giant by Roald Dahl. At the center of the educational program, they decided to place the dreams of each of the children and the accompaniment of Jesus in their difficult realization, encouraging them to look a little further, beyond the daily challenges of life.

St. John Bosco is the perfect example of a boy who believed God’s dreams, becoming a priest, and dedicating his entire life to his young people. Each week, in fact, as an example of a “giant” dream, one will be offered by a master or teacher in the field, namely Don Bosco. His stories still make today’s youngsters grow and make them understand that one should not be afraid to do big things, to bring joy in every moment of the day, to be kind even after a defeat, to come up with brilliant ideas, to generate genuine friendships and to learn through play. A beautiful program of and for life!

A Salesian community has been present in the Vatican since 1937 and was canonically erected on April 12, 1946. Today it is incorporated among the communities of the Rector Major, who is directly responsible for them. In addition to the director, the community includes Fr. Franco Fontana, chaplain of the gendarmerie and the Vatican Museums; the vice director, Fr. Mauro Mantovani, dean of the School of Philosophy at the Salesian Pontifical University; the treasurer, Bro. Roberto Bava, who works in the office of the Vatican Secretary of State; Fr. Kureethadam Joshtrom, who serves in the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development; Fr. Miguel Angel Ruíz Espinola, who serves in the first section of the Holy See’s Secretariat of State; and Fr. Padinjarathala Anton Paul, who works in Propaganda Fide.

The Salesian presence in the Vatican highlights the ecclesial dimension and a strong sense of belonging and availability to the Universal Church, where each one offers his service for the good of the Church.

On August 3, the Pope received the camp staff in audience, and then all the campers at the end of his Wednesday general audience. See Pope greets children attending Vatican summer camp - Vatican News

Rector Major Presents 2023 Salesian Strenna

Strenna 2023 title and guidelines presented

AS THE YEAST IN TODAY’S HUMAN FAMILY

The lay dimension in the family of Don Bosco

Fr. Angel Fernandez leading a song at Don Bosco Retreat Center, Haverstraw, N.Y.

(ANS – Rome – July 28, 2022) - After consultation and discernment with the Salesian Family leaders, experts, and members of the general council, Fr. Angel Fernandez has unveiled the theme and guidelines of his strenna message for 2023: ”AS THE YEAST IN TODAY’S HUMAN FAMILY: The lay dimension in the Family of Don Bosco.”

In his presentation, Fr. Fernandez immediately specifies that this strenna will have two target groups: not only all groups of the Salesian Family but also “young children, adolescents, and older youths wherever Don Bosco’s Family is to be found in the world,” because, he explains, “in the light of what most characterizes our pedagogy and spirituality, we intend to help children, especially adolescents and young adults, to discover that each of them can be like the leaven of which Jesus speaks.”

At the same time, “for Don Bosco’s Family it aims at being a clear and thought-provoking message directed to discovering the lay dimension”; and specifically for consecrated members of the Salesian Family, it is an invitation to be “leaven in the dough of the bread of humanity” and “to live alongside one another, allowing ourselves to be enriched by evangelical secularity.”

Leaven, an element also used metaphorically by Jesus to present the Kingdom of God to the apostles, is “the only living ingredient,” that element which is used in small quantities but which “has the ability to influence, condition, and transform the whole batch of dough,” says the Rector Major.

This is why the text proposes that every member of the Salesian Family and young people should be leaven in the world, spreading the Word and the Kingdom of God just as leaven transforms bread dough.

The Rector Major’s reflection also draws attention to the importance of the work of the laity in the works of the Salesian Congregation, recalling that “well over 99% of the Church is formed by lay people.... Imagine how the proportion increases if we consider and embrace the whole world: the laity are the dough as well as the leaven of the Kingdom.”

The full text with the initial guidelines for the Rector Major’s strenna message for 2023 is available in Italian, English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French:

Download attachments: 

• ITALIANO_-Strenna_2023_-__ITA.docx (109 Downloads) 
• ENGLISH_-Strenna_2023_-_Presentazione_EN.docx (42 Downloads) 
• ESPANYOL-AGUINALDO_2023_espanYol.docx (99 Downloads) 
• EYTRENNE_2023_-_PREYSENTATION_-_FR.docx (18 Downloads) 
• PORTOGHESE_-AGUINALDO_2023_PORT.docx (2 Downloads)

Homily for Wednesday, 17th Week of Ordinary Time

Homily for Wednesday
17th Week of Ordinary Time

July 27, 2022
Matt 13: 44-46
Provincial House, New Rochelle, N.Y.

We continue hearing Jesus’ parables of the kingdom:  What’s God’s kingdom like?  What’s the realm in which God rules?  How do I become and remain a citizen of the kingdom?

(from the Scots' church, Melbourne)

Pope Francis proposes 2 takes on today’s twin parables.  In the 1st, a man—perhaps a tenant farmer, perhaps a traveler—by chance finds treasure buried in a field.  In the 2d, the merchant has been intentionally seeking a really valuable pearl.  By accident or by deliberate search, each discovers God’s kingdom.  They take immediate action to possess this wealth; they risk all they possess.  Francis says, “They immediately perceive the incomparable value of what they’ve found, and they are prepared to lose everything in order to have it.”[1]

What precisely have the man in the field and the merchant found?  According to the Holy Father, it’s simply Jesus.  To possess him, to know him personally, is the greatest treasure in the world, worth any sacrifice to attain and to keep.

Or one might reckon the treasure to be what Jesus preached:  that God loves you, and his infinite, tender mercy saves you.  Which isn’t all that different from what Francis says, to know and be in a relationship with Jesus.  Countless believers have staked their lives on that:  thousands of missionaries, tens of thousands of martyrs, hundreds of thousands of priests and religious, millions of everyday Christians.

Whether the love of God has found you without your intending it, or you’ve sought it diligently, this treasure, this pearl, is all that matters.

---

[1] “Discovering the Kingdom of God,” in The Infinite Tenderness of God: Meditations on the Gospels (Frederick, Md.: The Word Among Us, 2016), p. 116.

Homily for Tuesday, 17th Week of Ordinary Time

Homily for Tuesday
17th Week of Ordinary Time

July 26, 2022
Matt 13: 36-43
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.

(by Domenico Fetti)

Most of us would probably be happy to zap people whom we perceived to be evil.  Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the weeds—darnel—which we heard on Saturday (Matt 13:24-30) tells us that God is far more patient than most of us.  Than all of us, really.

Today the evangelist offers an allegorical interpretation of the parable, and we, his readers now, interpret the interpretation.  The Son of Man, final judge of humanity, is content to wait for the harvest of souls, when it’ll be clear who’s good and who’s evil—who’s only appeared to be one or the other, but whose heart and secret deeds the Son of Man knows; who was evil but became good, or vice versa.

Not only are good people and evil intermixed thruout society, but good and evil are jumbled up in each individual, even in us, even in the saints.  God patiently gives us a full growing season to make our identity clear.

The parable states plainly that there will be a final judgment.  It’s not Jesus’ only parable on that subject.

The Son of Man has planted the seed of righteousness in our hearts.  We pray that the seed will grow and flourish in spite of any evil that threatens it—from our own concupiscence or from evils around us.  We pray that we’ll persevere to become shining stars in the firmament of God’s kingdom, to be saints.

After the 2022 Provincial Chapter

After the 2022 Provincial Chapter

Our Eastern U.S.-Canada Province held its every-3-years provincial chapter from July 10 to 15.  At the "invitation" of Fr. Provincial, I'd been working on its preparation and organization since last September.  The chapter ended on Friday (except for remaining paperwork), I prepared for and celebrated one Sunday Mass, and I had 2 medical appointments on Monday.  Then, as soon as I could "escape," I took a clear-my-mind camping trip in Harriman State Park on Tuesday-Wednesday, July 19-20.

Photos:  https://link.shutterfly.com/rjuAR4vHQrb

I parked along Rte 106 (Kanawauke Rd) in the lot where the White Bar Trail crosses the road. There were 4 or 5 cars there 

(and when I returned on Wednesday nite, no others), but I didn’t encounter anyone on my trails.

Instead of going straight up Island Pond Road, the easier way to go, the way Fr. Jim Mulloy and I've used too many times to count, for a variation and some exploration, I hiked up the White Bar and Nurian trails (a combined 1 mile, thus .25 mile longer than the direct road) to the Nurian's intersection with Island Pond Road.  (On my way back, I took the direct IPR route all the way).

Another hiker reports the same basic hike, adding a couple of side trips: https://scenesfromthetrail.com/2017/05/20/boston-mine-and-island-pond-harriman-state-park/

There's a secluded, shaded camping area just before Island Pond where Fr. Jim and I have camped several times.  I reached it in about an hour, set up camp, 

and ate lunch (peanut butter and Ritz crackers).  I hung up my bear bag 

so as not to have to worry about my food while I was at the pond.  

At the pond I met a couple of seniors and 2 dogs enjoying the sun and the water.  I fetched about 4 liters of water from the pond (filtering, of course) and swam.  Before I retired for the nite, I took a couple more dips--such a relief from the heat!  Other traffic on the pond included a few kayakers.  

If it hadn't been so hot (above 90 degrees), I'd have pitched my tent inside the ruins of the ranger station at lakeside. 

But there's precious little shelter from the heat there.

Back in camp, I read, prayed, and had supper around 5:30.  In the sun the heat was oppressive; it must have been 10 degrees cooler in the shade, not really uncomfortable.  I didn’t need my tent fly in the warm, dry weather.  Insects weren’t bad at all on Tuesday and most of Wednesday, but I did come home with several itchy bites.  The site includes a fine fire pit, but no fire was necessary.  I slept better than I usually do when camping, and better than I did at the chapter.

I heard more visitors heading to the pond in early evening but didn’t see them (the campsite is well off the trail); judging from the noise they were pre-adolescent females screeching (anyone who has a sister or has worked a day camp understands!).  

On Wednesday, I was up at dawn and went to pond but only took pictures.  I celebrated Mass, ate, 

Coffee and oatmeal for breakast

prayed, read some more.  I had to move my chair from time to time to keep in the shade. 

No real napping.  Another gent and pooch visited the lake.  I swam some more.

I’d considered staying out one more nite but decided I’d had enuf R&R.  So I packed up gradually, alternating with reading and a bit of prayer (no ecstasies or other mystical experiences).  I had my freeze-dried supper between 5:00 and 5:30, 

Mac and cheese with Crystal Lite, 

followed by freeze-dried chocolate cheesecake (not shown)

finished packing, and was on the outward trail (Island Pond Road) at 6:25, back at the car at 7:20, home at 8:30.  On my hike out, I saw a flock of turkeys, 1 little snake in the road, and 1 deer 20 feet off the road that didn’t even go bounding off into the woods.  I hope no one’s disappointed that I had no ursine encounters.

It was a nice, relaxing, peaceful trip.  Solitude is good for the soul and even for the body!

Homily for 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
17th Sunday of Ordinary Time

July 24, 2022
Ps 138: 1-3, 6-8
Luke 11: 1-13
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx

“Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me” (cf. Ps 138: 3).

Abraham and his 3 guests (Rembrandt)

The 1st reading (Gen 18: 20-32) is the immediate sequence to last week’s 1st reading—the only time in the Sunday lectionary when we get such a sequence on consecutive Sundays.  Today’s passage concerns Abraham’s pleading with the Lord, one of the guests whom he’s entertained with a meal and conversation.  The conversation with the Lord reported today is a prayer on Abraham’s part, an extended dialog with God, in the form of bargaining like someone in the village market haggling about the price of a goat or a bolt of cloth.  What Abraham aims to purchase is the life of his nephew Lot, who lives in Sodom.  And the Lord hears Abraham’s prayer.

That leads us to the psalm response:  “Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.”  Ps 138 is a prayer of thanksgiving to God for deliverance from enemies and for other blessings, including the possibility of worshiping the Lord in the temple in Jerusalem.

When we pray, we’re often asking the Lord’s help in some fashion.  We need an abundance of his help in numerous aspects of our lives.  This psalm prayer, Ps 138, like our Eucharist, is thanksgiving for the help the Lord has already provided.  The psalm begins, “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with all my heart.”  That’s what we do at Mass, thanking God for the great gift of Jesus Christ:  for the deliverance he has won for us from our sins and from eternal death.  In the Eucharist Christ is personally present to us not only with his body and blood, his soul and divinity, but also with his grace and power for us to have a right and holy relationship with his Father.  In the Eucharist we pray that, persevering in grace, we may come to be counted among God’s saints, and we pray for the eternal life of all believers who’ve gone before us—indeed, we pray for the whole world.  Baptism has made all of us a priestly people thru our relationship with Christ, and we exercise our Christian priesthood by interceding with Jesus’ Father for the salvation of the whole world.

(by Maximilian Piotrowski)

The psalm praises God for helping us on our day of need:  “You have heard the words of my mouth.  When I called you answered me.  Your right hand saves me” (138:1,3,7).  The psalm refers to our enemies.  The original composer of the psalm probably had in mind personal enemies, as David might have had Saul in mind when Saul was seeking his life, or when David had to flee Jerusalem when Absalom rebelled against him.

Certainly it’s fitting for us to pray for deliverance from enemies or anyone who wishes us harm, or from danger when we travel or from illness.  We can pray very appropriately for others who are oppressed unjustly, like the people of Ukraine and Hong Kong or villagers in El Salvador terrorized by gangs.

More important is to pray for deliverance from our ultimate enemy, the one who seeks our eternal damnation.  We pray with the psalmist, “Against the anger of my enemies you raise your hand” (138:7).  Christ has been raised from the dead to overcome the hatred of Satan and all the demons of hell.  Christ teaches us to pray, “Do not subject us to the final test” (Luke 11:4) and to pray with persistence for the gift of the Holy Spirit (11:8,13).

Every schoolchild and a lot of college students dread “the final test”—even graduate students facing a comprehensive exam or defending a dissertation.  The followers of Jesus are tested every day.  Our sisters and brothers in China, Pakistan, Nigeria, and other places live in constant danger of persecution:  arrest, mob violence, kidnaping, etc.  Their faith in Christ is constantly put to the test.  So is our faith, specifically in adhering to the moral teachings of the Scriptures in the face of relentless “progressive” policies on matters of human life and sexuality, and in the face of “regressive” policies on migration and asylum, the climate and the environment, and capital punishment.  (Last week Pope Francis reminded us that protecting God’s creation is not optional for Christians.)  In the Lord’s Prayer we pray that God’s kingdom come (Luke 11:2), that God be the ruler of our lives.  If we mean that, we’ll stand up for what Christ and his Church teach us on such public policies, regardless of opinion polls, the media, and our political leaders.

“Do not subject us to the final test” might also take a more personal meaning.  It may be something like what Jesus faced in the Garden of Gethsemane, so afraid of his coming passion and death that he sweated blood.  Our own approaching death—we always have to keep before our eyes the fact that we’re going to die and come before Christ to give an account of our lives—the approach of death might fill us with a dread like Jesus’.  The thought of judgment might tempt us to despair of our salvation—a “final test” thrown at us by Satan.  Do we really trust the great mercy of God, mercy he readily bestows on repentant sinners?  Jesus tells us to be persistent in begging God for what we need (Luke 11:8)—and that’s forgiveness, mercy, salvation.  He tells us to keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking at the Father’s door (11:9-10).  Our heavenly Father, he says, is far better than any earthly parent and won’t hesitate to “give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (11:13)—the Spirit who makes us holy temples of God, the Spirit who unites us firmly with Jesus our Savior.  Fortified by the Spirit, we can face any assault, any trial, any test of Satan.

When we’re tested, may God in his kindness and his truth deliver us; may his right hand save us; may he complete his work of salvation in us (Ps 138:2,7-8).

Celebrating 30 Years of Church's Presence in Mongolia

Celebrating 30 Years of the Church’s Presence in Mongolia

(ANS – Ulan Bator – July 15, 2022) – In a mission country like Mongolia – where there are about 1,300 Catholics out of a population of more than 3 million people – remembering one’s roots and joining forces with all those involved in evangelization are two fundamental attitudes in order to be able to continue sowing the Gospel message. That is why the Salesians in Mongolia were pleased to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Catholic Church’s presence in Mongolia with the rest of the country’s small ecclesial reality.

In July 1992, after the fall of the Communist regime, the Church was able to return to the country: the first missionaries sent belonged to the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and were Frs. Wenceslaus Padilla, Gilbert Sales, and Robert Goessens.

So on July 9, Abp. Alfred Xuereb, apostolic nuncio to both South Korea and Mongolia, and his secretary came to the tomb of Bp. Wenceslaus Padilla, together with the prefect apostolic of Ulan Bator, Cardinal-elect Giorgio Marengo, and all the missionaries of Mongolia – including the Salesians – and some Mongolian friends. Fr. Gilbert Sales came specially from the Philippines. Bp. Padilla had been the head of the mission “sui iuris” since 1992, and then the first prefect apostolic of Ulan Bator, until his death in 2018.

For the occasion, the apostolic nuncio blessed the new altar next to Bp. Padilla’s tomb and celebrated Mass. Then Bp. Marengo shared some information about the Church’s mission in the country and what is being accomplished and said that all together they were building the dream of the late Bp. Padilla, “who today will be happy to see us from Heaven gathered around him, humbly loving and serving our beloved Mongolia.”

The main celebration took place the following day, Sunday, July 10: early in the morning many parishioners arrived at the cathedral from many places, the most distant from more than 250 miles away, some bringing food and drinks for the feast day, while others started cooking in the area. By 10:00 a.m., many priests were invited to hear confessions for the many attendees as the cathedral filled with people: guests, visitors, many leaders of different religions.

During the solemn Eucharist, the nuncio expressed a message of gratitude: to God, the pioneers, and the missionaries who still live and work for the mission of the Mongolian Church! But his words of gratitude were also extended to the local government, the people, the faithful, and all the friends inside and outside the country who accompany in various ways, factually or with prayers, this mission.

“The mission started 30 years ago: it seems a long time, but for God, it will seem to be yesterday ... and the mission still goes on with many challenges and changes, but all in hope, faith, with sacrifice and witness!” commented Fr. Andrew Tin Nguyen, a Salesian originally from Vietnam who is serving in Darkhan.

The Salesian presence in Mongolia is under the care of the Province of Vietnam and was started in 2001, with a technical school and oratory in the capital, Ulan Bator. In 2004, a parish with youth center was started in Darkhan, in the north-central region of the country; finally, since 2016, they have also taken over the pastoral care of the mission in Shuwuu, not far from the capital.

Homily for 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
16th Sunday of Ordinary Time

July 17, 2022
Psalm 15: 2-5
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx

“He who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord” (Ps 15: 2).

Abraham hosts 3 visitors (Gerbrand van den Eeckhout)

The responsorial psalm praises the just person.  In today’s liturgy it’s a response to the actions of Abraham, one of the biblical models of a just man, a man who strives to be close to God and carry out what God asks.  That’s demonstrated in our 1st reading by his hospitality to strangers—who are in fact the Lord and 2 angels.  These respond to Abraham’s graciousness by telling him that the promise which God made to him years earlier is about to be fulfilled:  his wife will finally bear him a son.

The psalm is for us more than for Abraham.  It promises eternal life to the just person:  he or she “will live in the presence of the Lord.”  The basic question is, what makes us just?  How do we merit eternal life?

The psalm identifies behaviors that a just person does, like thinking truthfully (15:2), or doesn’t do, like slandering other people (15:3).

Other faults brought out in the psalm include causing harm to someone (15:3); taking up a reproach against one’s neighbor (15:3), which I suppose means gossiping and publicizing someone’s faults for the sake of tearing down that person; lending money at usury (15:5), which we could say means taking financial advantage of people; accepting bribes, especially in the execution of justice (15:5).

The psalm also points to 3 positive behaviors.  I already mentioned truthfulness.  Another is “despising the reprobate” (15:4), i.e., looking down on wrongdoers, not approving of evil actions, not honoring or celebrating criminal or immoral behavior (e.g., drug dealing, human trafficking, adultery, abortion).  And there’s “honoring those who fear the Lord” (15:4).

On one level, these are very personal qualities.  Being a just person before God means being a man or woman of truth and integrity, one who respects the reputations of others, gives reverence to God, uses one’s resources fairly and compassionately, honors good people.

On another level, the psalm refers to all of us, to society.  Are our communications, our mass media, our social media just and truthful in their reporting and their opinions?  Sex and violence sell newspapers and generate box office ratings.  Do we promote violence and sexual immorality by what we watch, the video games we play, the supermarket tabloids we read?

Are we as a nation compassionate toward the needy—the victims of natural disasters, refugees from war, persecution, the rampant violence in some countries, economic hardship?  How is it that some Western societies, including our own, practically reject refugees from civil wars in the Middle East and gang violence in Central America but are far more welcoming to refugees from Ukraine?  Is there a double standard there, a discriminatory standard?  Instead of despising the reprobate, to use the psalm’s words, do we despise people who disagree with us in politics, practice a different religion, or have a different-colored skin?

The mass media and so-called “progressive” politicians, including our governor, have been giving loads of attention to abortion for the last several months, mostly lamenting that in many states it will become harder for women and their doctors to kill unborn human beings.  The psalm identifies the just person, the one who walks blamelessly, as one “who harms not his fellow man.”  Killing a human being in the womb is harm to that person, and nothing justifies it—not even cases of rape or incest, which punish the innocent—the unborn—for the crime of the father.  When did it become just to execute children because their fathers are criminals?

Let’s concede that all of us act or speak unjustly sometimes.  Sometimes we resist the truth, sometimes we’re not generous with our money or our time, sometimes we pay tribute to behavior that’s wrong.  Sometimes we physically or emotionally abuse other people.  Sometimes we abuse God’s name instead of honoring it.  The responsorial psalm says, “He who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord,” but all of us are sinners.

Yet that’s not cause for despair.  Jesus Christ justifies us, that is, makes us just before God.  St. Paul writes to the Colossians, “It is he whom we proclaim, admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone perfect in Christ” (1:28).  We were washed clean and made perfect in Christ by Baptism, and now, after Baptism, we receive the same undeserved grace from Jesus Christ in the sacrament of Reconciliation—which reconciles sinners with God, as the name says.  We can bring our falsehoods, infidelities, gossip, unjust anger, and all our sins to Jesus and be cleansed, be made whole, be made just in God’s eyes.  We can’t do it ourselves, but thru his cross Christ has done it for us.  Perhaps this was “the better part” that Mary was choosing as she sat at Jesus’ feet in our gospel story this morning (Luke 10:42), letting the words of Jesus wash over her and renew her.  That’s what he desires for each of us.

 

Meet Brother Rob Malusa

Meet Brother Rob Malusa

by Fr. Steve Ryan, SDB

Bro. Rob in the chapel 

of the SDB provincial center in New Rochelle

In June Brother Robert “Rob” Malusa, SDB, came back to the USA for the summer. He arrived on June 16, and is staying in New York for a few months. Originally from Long Island, Bro. Rob was with the Salesians in the U.S. for several years before going to Africa as a missionary. For nearly ten years, he has served first in Malawi and then in Zambia.  

Bro. Rob began his time in Zambia as the assistant principal of a big technical school. “The government loves the place since it creates lots of work,” he explained, having beamed that the school had 1,000 students learning 12 different subjects.

After three years, Bro. Rob was called to another school due to an emergency. They had no principal! Located in an extremely rural part of the country, Lufubu sat 800 miles from the capital, Lusaka, and 180 miles from the nearest store. “Although I had been hesitant, it all worked out beautifully,” Bro. Rob reflected. The agricultural school had a farm attached to it, which helped make the community self-sustainable. Brother worked hard to make the farm and the school work more closely together.

His latest assignment was in the training of young Salesians. Bro. Rob worked on the formation of novices and is now setting up a program for the young Salesians.

Bro. Rob loves his life as a missionary and expressed his appreciation for all those he has encountered. “I love the people in Malawi and Zambia,” he shared. “They are very caring and sharing people. If they have even one grape, they’ll give you half.” Bro. Rob also noted how the youths are open to faith and spirituality. Despite the language barrier at first, they love to sit and talk, and, eventually, everyone understands one another. “They are open in terms of their life, their faith, and their love of God,” Bro. Rob stated. “That’s what brings me the most joy.”

Homily for 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
15th Sunday of Ordinary Time

July 10, 2022
Deut 30: 10-14
Luke 10: 25-37
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx

“If only you would heed the voice of the Lord, your God, and keep his commandments … when you return to the Lord your God, with all your heart and all your soul” (Deut 30: 10).

The verse preceding that verse from our 1st reading this morning states, “The Lord, your God, will again take delight in your prosperity, even as he took delight in your fathers’ prosperity” (30:9) before speaking of the condition attached to that prosperity, the prosperity of God’s people. That condition is a return to wholehearted obedience to the commandments of the Lord.

(by Aime Morot)

In the gospel reading, a scribe, a scholar of the Jewish Law, asked Jesus what he had to do to inherit eternal life—not earthly prosperity but everlasting prosperity with God.  When Jesus questioned him, he summarized the Law as wholehearted love of God and love of his neighbor as much as he loved himself.  To which Jesus said simply, “Do that, and you’ll have eternal life” (Luke 10:25-28)

So, in both Deuteronomy and Luke’s Gospel, the condition of prosperity—in this life and for eternal life—is faithfulness to what God commands, and his fundamental command is love:  to love God himself completely, wholeheartedly, without reservation, and to love one’s neighbor.

The Hebrew people in Moses’ time were falling short of that.  Hence the challenge to “return to the Lord, your God, with all your heart and all your soul.”  The Son of God, Jesus, came to us with the same challenge:  “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15), i.e., turn away from your sins and return to the Lord your God, who loves you.

Is there anyone who doubts that our society, like the Hebrews in Moses’ time and the Jews in Jesus’ time, has a prosperity problem?  I don’t mean in an economic sense, altho we all recognize that, what with the price of groceries, gasoline, rent—among other problems.  I mean in a deeper sense, the deficit in recognition of “who is my neighbor?”, the question the scribe asked Jesus (10:29).  Jesus tells one of his most famous parables to answer that question, and Jesus’ answer tells us something about our need to “return to the Lord, our God” if we want the human race to prosper, if we want personally to enter eternal life.

The nation was shocked 2 weeks ago by the deaths of 53 migrants who were, in effect, baked in an abandoned trailer in San Antonio.  Who were neighbors to those Mexicans and Central Americans?  Certainly not the coyotes who transported them across the border for thousands of dollars each.  Certainly not our politicians, who can’t fix our immigration laws and procedures.  Certainly not a population that’s hostile to immigrants regardless of the violence, famine, and poverty that compels them to flee their homes.

The nation may be losing its sense of shock when young black men are shot down by police officers, by gang members, or in street crime.  If all men are created equal, as we proudly maintain in our Declaration of Independence, when are we going to regard everyone as a neighbor to love like ourselves, regardless of color—or sex or language or creed?

According to the mainstream media, polls inform us that most Americans want abortion as allowed by Roe v. Wade to be maintained.  Polls also inform us that most Americans don’t know that Roe v. Wade allowed abortion at any time during pregnancy right up to a complete birth without any restrictions whatever and without any interference from parents, husbands, or boy friends.  Unrestricted abortion funded by taxpayers remains the position of the President of the U.S., the governor of New York, the Democratic Party, Planned Parenthood, and of many other people; but of only a minority of Americans, according to polls that the mainstream media won’t tell you about, about how many people want a good many restrictions on abortion, e.g., parental consent, how many weeks of pregnancy, practice only by doctors, etc.

Further, if we follow the science—as the President, academics, and the mainstream media selectively urge us regarding climate change and Covid-19, for example—we know indisputably that a pregnant woman carries an unborn human being.  Abortionists try to disguise that fact by calling that human being a fetus, or even “the product of conception”—which is technically correct but deliberately obscures what the “product” is, what the “fetus” is.  It’s not a dog, a monkey, or a sheep but a separate, distinct human being—a person.  Killing that person, Pope Francis has said more than once, is like hiring a hitman to solve a problem.  He’s also called it murder.  A human being as a problem—that’s what the Nazis said of the Jews, the Serbs said of Moslems in Bosnia, the Hutus in Rwanda said of the Tutsis, jihadists say of Christians.

If abortion is the taking of an innocent human life, it’s no different from what happened recently in Buffalo, Uvalde, or Highland Park or what Russia is doing in Ukraine.  Is that how Jesus tells us to recognize our neighbor?

I may be preaching to the choir here.  I hope so.  Yet each of us needs to ask whether there’s anyone whom we don’t recognize and treat as a neighbor, anyone to whom we are not a good Samaritan.

God told the Hebrews:  “This command that I enjoin on you is not too mysterious and remote for you. . . .  It’s something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out” (Deut 30:11,14).  If we’ll hear the voice of the Lord our God, if we’ll return to him with all our heart and soul, then a path of well-being and prosperity will be open before us:  on our borders, in Ukraine and the Middle East, in our inner cities, in our schools and on our city streets.