Rector Major's January Message

THE RECTOR MAJOR’S MESSAGE

Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime, SDB

A YEAR OF DREAMS FROM ON HIGH

Dear friends: we are at the threshold of a new year, 2024, a truly special year because we remember the bicentennial of Don Bosco’s dream at age nine. This dream was much more than a pleasant episode in the life of a nine-year-old boy; it was like a dream-vision and a premonition of what he was to do in the course of his life.

Sixty-two years later, while celebrating his first and last Mass in the basilica of the Sacred Heart in Rome, which had been consecrated two days earlier, Don Bosco burst into tears more than 15 times because he saw all the scenes of his life unfold, in quick succession as though as in a movie. He understood that he had always been guided by Divine Providence and, in particular, led by the hand of her, the Help of Christians, to the point that he said, “It is she who has done everything.”

New Year’s Day of 1862

This commemoration leads me to think of a significant New Year in Don Bosco’s life. It is the first of January, 1862.

The Biographical Memoirs tell us that Don Bosco, who had been ill until that first day of the year, announced that he had important news to give to everyone living at the Oratory, both big and small. “The excitement caused by Don Bosco’s promise [of a personal strenna] defies description. How slowly the hours dragged that night of December 31 and all the next day. How eagerly the youngsters awaited evening to hear what their good father had to tell them,” Fr. Lemoyne writes. “At last, night prayers were over and the boys, perfectly silent, stood waiting for Don Bosco. He mounted the little platform and unveiled the mystery, saying, ‘The strenna I am about to give you is not my own. What would you say if the Madonna herself were to come in person and say something to each one of you — if she herself had prepared a little note for each of you to tell you what you most need or what she desires from you? Well, that’s exactly what has happened. The Madonna gives a strenna to each of you…. I foresee that some will want to know more and will ask, ‘How did this happen?’ ‘Did the Madonna write the notes herself?’ ‘Did she speak to Don Bosco in person?’ ‘Is Don Bosco our Lady’s secretary?’ I shall not add anything to what I have already said. I wrote the notes myself, but I am not free to disclose how it all came about. Nor should anyone take it upon himself to question me, for this would place me in a very awkward position. Be satisfied with the assurance that each note comes from our Lady…. It’s an amazing thing! For several years I have been praying for this grace and have at last obtained it. Let each of you, then, take this advice as coming from our Lady’s very lips. Come, therefore, to my room, and I shall give each of you your note.’” Don Bosco could say this because he himself had received from our Lady, at the age of nine, the message that would mark the entire course of his life.

Then, continuing the narrative of that same evening, Fr. Lemoyne writes: “Those mentioned [the Salesians] followed Don Bosco to his room and that evening or the next received the first of those precious New Year’s messages. John Bonetti’s read as follows: ‘Increase the number of my sons.’ He at once recorded it in his chronicle, adding: ‘My loving Mother, along with this dear advice, give me also the means to carry it out. Grant me grace to succeed in this and to be included among your sons.’”

Fr. Rua’s said, “In your spiritual needs put your trust in Me.” (The Biographical Memoirs of St. John Bosco, VII, 1-7.)

Beginning on the following morning, the young men crowded to the door of Don Bosco’s room to receive their notes. I can easily imagine how Don Bosco knew how to reach the heart of every Salesian and every boy in the Oratory, not by means of some invention of his, but with the deep conviction of what our Lady wanted for each of them. At the same time, he managed to do so in the way characteristic of Don Bosco: always as a true teacher and a true genius. Here, I am referring to the art of personal encounter, of dialog, and of the gaze that reaches the depths of the heart.

As I read this, I wondered whether it would not be possible for this to happen also to us. We sent greeting cards to many people. If Mary Most Holy had sent a greeting card to the Salesian Congregation, to each one of us, and to the beautiful and great Salesian Family, the family of Don Bosco, what would she have written?

Walking the Way of Don Bosco

It is beautiful to imagine this. I assure you that in my imagination there are many beautiful things that our Lady would ask of us, both personally and as Don Bosco’s Family, which was raised up to accompany the boys and girls of the world – especially the poorest and neediest – in their process of growth, maturation, and transformation.

The mystery of the new year, which ultimately develops the mystery of Christmas, tells us: “You are not conditioned by the past. Today you can start anew because there is something new in you. Take into your arms the Divine Child, who brings you into contact with all the newness that is available there, genuine and intact, in your soul. Start over again with the little ones, the teens, and the young adults. Trust the newness in you! Each day is the first day.”

Perhaps it would suffice to make our own the words that Mary says to John Bosco in his dream: “‘This is your field; this is where you must work,’ the Lady told me. ‘Make yourself humble, steadfast, and strong.’” Perhaps advice that was a little more “spiritual” was expected, but only those who are humble can be kind because they are able to enjoy the presence of others. Humility is the gate of love to those who are little, defenseless, and wounded by life.

Only one who is steadfast and strong can follow Jesus today, in spite of everything, because we want to see the prisoners free and the oppressed no longer oppressed, and to know what message the poor can still believe in.

This is listening to the voice of the burning bush that will never be consumed: “I will break your chains and make you walk with your heads held high.” Mary wants the Salesians, and all her Family, the beautiful family of Don Bosco in every age, to walk the way of Don Bosco. The best guarantee of this will always be to have her as the true Teacher who is first and foremost a Mother. This is a true grace for our Family.

This is how the Rectors Major have expressed it throughout our history, as my predecessor, Fr. Renato Ziggiotti, did: “I will give you a Teacher, under whose guidance you can become wise and without whom all wisdom becomes foolishness.” These are the fateful words of that first dream pronounced by the mysterious personage, “the Son of her whom your mother has taught you to greet three times a day.” (The Biographical Memoirs of St. John Bosco, I, 95) It is, therefore, Jesus who gives Don Bosco His Mother as his Teacher and infallible guide along the demanding path of his entire life. How can we give enough thanks for this extraordinary gift that was given by Heaven to our Family?

Happy New Year 2024, with my best wishes for each of you and your families. May it be a beautiful year for all of us and a year of peace for this humanity that is still suffering so much.

Fr. Angel

Homily for Feast of the Holy Family

Homily for the Feast of
The Holy Family

Dec. 31, 2023
Collect
Gen 15: 1-6; 21: 1-3
Heb 11: 8, 11-12, 17-19
Luke 2: 22-40
The Fountains, Tuckahoe              
Assumption, Bronx
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx

The Holy Family (Noel Halle)

In the collect this morning, we prayed that God our Father might grant us the grace of “practicing the virtues of family life” like the Holy Family of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, including the “bonds of charity.”  By doing so, “one day” we shall attain “eternal rewards” in God’s house as members of God’s family.

What are the virtues of family life?  The readings that we heard suggest several.  The 1st is prayer.  We heard Abram—eventually to be renamed Abraham—dialog with God.  Talking to God and listening to God is prayer.  Abram speaks frankly with God about not having a son and listens then to God’s extravagant promise.  Abram’s example suggests to us to bring our desires, our hopes, our joys, and our troubles to God—or to the saints, God’s friends.  Then in our hearts we listen to what God may tell us, perhaps aided by reading the Scriptures, the Word of God.  God speaks to us thru the Bible, and we need to read it and let it sink into our hearts.

The 2d virtue we observe in Abram and in his wife Sarah is faith.  They believed what God told them in spite of any reasonable objection, like their age and Sarah’s apparent sterility.  The reading from Hebrews also alluded to God’s testing Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice his son Isaac.  That seems horrible beyond words.  Thru this episode God not only reinforced Abraham’s faith but also taught him and his descendants that he doesn’t want human sacrifice, which is something many ancient peoples practiced.  And before we condemn such people, we ought to look at how our “civilized” societies butcher unborn human beings in the womb and how they tolerate all sorts of violence inflicted on innocent people thru war, forced migration, and human trafficking.  What is God’s will in our relationships with people?  How can we put his will into practice?  What does faith in God motivate us to do?  Within our families, how does our faith in God’s goodness and care for us affect how we speak to one another, treat one another, support one another?  Do our opinions or our pride cause us to sacrifice someone’s well-being?  Do couples have enuf faith in God to keep all their marital activity open to life?

A 3d family virtue presented in today’s Scriptures is piety or devotion.  Mary and Joseph are attentive to the law of Moses and carry out what it commands.  Likewise, Simeon and Anna are righteous and devout, frequenting the Temple, looking for God’s presence in their lives, and making him known to others.  So our families worship God in church, are reverent in church, pay attention to such laws as fasting before Communion and during Lent, and we make our faith known in our families and among others, e.g., by instructing our children in the faith, by saying grace before meals, by crediting God for blessings we receive.

The 2d aspect of the collect was our prayer that we might imitate the Holy Family “in the bonds of charity.”  Charity means authentic love—love for the members of our family and for other people:  our neighbors, our fellow parishioners, people we work with or go to school with, people we meet in our day-to-day lives, people in need anywhere.  We show our love for family and for others by courtesy and respect, by helpfulness, by generosity, by patience, by forgiveness, by carrying out our responsibilities, and in numerous other ways—not in heroic ways like rushing into danger but in small, ordinary ways.  Mother Teresa said, “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”  She also said, “What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.”

Living in the bonds of charity and practicing family virtues unite us to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph and set us on our pilgrim journey to the rewards of eternal life.  May our gracious God keep us safely on our journey.

Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime's Annual Strenne

Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime’s Annual Strenne

(ANS – Rome – Dec. 27, 2023) – On the day of the official presentation of the final strenna in Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime’s term of office, now that he has been a cardinal of the Holy Roman Church for a few months, ANS concludes its retrospective look at the strenne of Don Bosco and his ten successors so far. Therefore, if 2024 will open under the banner of the “Dream that makes you dream,” let us retrace together the journey in the almost 10 years that the Salesian Family has been under the guidance of Don Bosco’s 10th successor.

A Spaniard from Asturias, son of fishermen and planning a future as a doctor, Angel Fernandez Artime opted for the Salesian vocation after attending a high school run by the sons of Don Bosco. A Salesian since 1978, and a priest since 1987, he has held positions of responsibility since he was a young Salesian, as director of works and a member of the provincial council of the Leon, Spain. Already a 39-year-old provincial, he led the Leon Province from 2000 to 2006, and then the province of Southern Argentina, based in Buenos Aires, from 2010 to 2014.

In December 2013 he was appointed superior of the Seville Province, a position he never took up because on March 25, 2014, even before being installed as provincial, he was elected Rector Major by General Chapter 27 on the first ballot.

Confirmed in this position by General Chapter 28, he was named cardinal by Pope Francis at the end of the Angelus on July 9, 2023, and created a cardinal in the consistory of September 30.

With reference to the strenna, the current Rector Major has always considered it a constitutive element of the Salesian tradition – “a beautiful spiritual experience,” “a beautiful spiritual legacy,” he described it as early as 2014 – and a sign “of unity and communion” for the entire Salesian Family.

And this was the sense in which he proposed and shared it, aware that it “can help pastoral planning for branches and groups, ... but its purpose is not this, it is not to become a pastoral program for the year, but rather to be a creative message of unity and communion for our entire Salesian Family, in a common goal.”

In their formulations, the strenne of Don Bosco’s 10th successor have now made the short, concise message something stable, but one that is full of meaningful ideas, almost a condensation of key words around which to developed proposals and paths. In addition, the bipartite structure is almost always repeated, with two sentences that complement each other, one of which very often is a biblical or Salesian reference.

As for the contents, it is significant to note that, since the strenna is intended to be addressed to the entire Salesian Family, the Rector Major has often been able to count on the major superiors and world leaders of the different groups of the Salesian Family in his choice of messages, in the context of the annual appointment that is the Salesian Family consultative council.

And the themes have ranged from the most ecclesial – as shown by the strenne on family and holiness, proposed after Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortations Amoris Laetitia and Gaudete et Exsultate, to the most strictly Salesian ones.

In this 2d group, then, 2 other types can also be identified: strenne linked to the significant anniversaries recorded during his term of office – such as the bicentennials of the birth of Don Bosco (2015) and his dream at 9 years of age (2024), or the 4th centennial of the death of St. Francis de Sales (2022); and those linked to charismatic aspects, such as Salesian accompaniment or the “politics of the Our Father.”

Finally, attention to the world social scene has not been overlooked: the strenna about hope, which came after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, is a shining testimony.

Here are the 10 strenne of Fr. Angel Fernandez’s term of office:

2015: “Like Don Bosco, with the young, for the young.”

2016: “With Jesus, let us adventure in the Spirit together!.”

2017: “We are family! Every home, a school of life and love.”

2018: “‘Sir, give me this water’ (Jn 4:15). Let us cultivate the art of listening and of accompaniment.”

2019: “‘So that my joy may be in you’ (Jn 15:11). Holiness for you too.”

2020: “‘Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven’ (Matt 6:10). Good Christians and upright citizens.”

2021: “Moved by hope: ‘See, I am making all things new’ (Rev 21:5).”

2022: “Do all through love, nothing through constraint” (St. Francis de Sales).

2023: “‘Like yeast in today’s human family’: The lay dimension in the Family of Don Bosco.

2024: ‘The dream that makes you dream’: A heart that transforms ‘wolves’ into ‘lambs.’”

Here is Fr. Fernandez's commentary on Strenna 2024.

Fr. Pascual Chavez's Annual Strenne

Fr. Pascual Chavez’s Annual Strenne

(ANS – Rome – Dec. 22, 2023) – In 2002, the 25th General Chapter of the Salesian Congregation elected Mexican Fr. Pascual Chavez Villanueva as Rector Major. He was the first successor of Don Bosco of the digital age, but even if projected into modernity, the program of his term of office was still very much based on Salesian roots: it was well summarized by himself in the first message to the Salesians after his appointment, in which he invited them to “rediscover and imitate Don Bosco, who served the Church and man with the same love of Christ, dedicating every moment of his life to this.”

Fr. Chavez met the sons of Don Bosco as a child, attending a Salesian school and immediately experiencing the fascination of Don Bosco. After completing all his studies of initial formation and becoming a priest in 1973, he was sent to Rome, where he obtained his licentiate in Sacred Scripture at the Biblicum in 1977, and then returned home to teach in the theological studentate in Guadalajara.

He also held positions as director, was provincial of Guadalajara from 1989 to 1994, and regional councilor for the Interamerica Region, an assignment that was communicated to him, during the CG24, in 1996, in Spain, where he was finishing his studies in Sacred Scripture for his doctorate, through a phone call from Fr. Vecchi.

After a term as regional councilor, he had two as Rector Major, being reconfirmed by GC26 in 2008.

As with the general program of his term of office, for Fr. Chavez the strenne, too, “returned to Don Bosco.” “For Don Bosco, the strenna took on a specific significance: it was the gift of a suggestion which would serve as a stimulus for the formative process and spiritual growth of his youngsters  and which, in addition, became a guideline for the whole community,” he wrote in his first strenna in 2003. And this was the sense in which he interpreted and developed it.

At the same time, in his 12 strenne, Fr. Chavez was also able to give them a new impulse, a broader and more pastoral sense, and he enhanced their dimension as an instrument of animation for the entire Salesian Family. Precisely for this reason, the strenna is often in communion and continuity with the general chapters: as an application and concretization of them.

His first strenne have as their theme the educational emergency, youth holiness, commitment to the family, the promotion of life, preference for the poor, global solidarity, the new evangelization, ardent and active charity.

And they are often in tune with the times of the Church and the Congregation, such as the post-Jubilee, GC25, the 150th anniversary of Mama Margaret’s death, the 40th anniversary of the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council, the 50th anniversary of Dominic Savio’s canonization, the centennial of Fr. Rua’s death, and – as a way of preparation – the bicentennial of Don Bosco’s birth.

As a structure, also given its preparation, the formulation almost always has a biblical or ecclesial or Salesian reference; they are all simple and short, but very rich in content and in the practices to implement them. And the commentary that accompanies them often ends with a story, a fable, a wisdom anecdote, a poem, or a prayer.

In addition, since 2006, for a better interpretation and updating, the strenna has been accompanied by one or more DVDs that serve as a guide to explore the strenna theme: a real guide to reading and studying the commentary on the Rector Major’s strenna.

There is no shortage of strenne dedicated to young people: their education, the commitment to holiness; the family; evangelization. And many other themes along with other major ones.

In general, it is no exaggeration to say that it is with Fr. Chavez that the strenna has acquired an important value not only because it is for all the groups of the Salesian Family scattered throughout the world, but above all because it has become a real project, a program of educational, spiritual, and pastoral life for the entire Congregation with pastoral proposals, indications, and practical suggestions to implement it.

Below are the 12 strenne delivered by Fr. Chavez:

2003: The home and school of communion.

2004: Let us propose wholeheartedly to all young people joy in the call to holiness.

2005: Rejuvenate the face of the Church, the Mother of our faith.

2006: Ensuring that special attention be given to the family.

2007: For a true culture of human life.

2008: Let us educate with the heart of Don Bosco.

2009: Let us commit ourselves to making the Salesian Family a vast movement of people for the salvation of the young.

2010: In imitation of Fr. Rua, as authentic disciples and zealous apostles, let us bring the Gospel to the young.

2011: Come and see.

2012: Let us make the young our life’s mission by coming to know and imitate Don Bosco.

2013: “Rejoice in the Lord always: I say to you again, rejoice” (Phil 4: 4). Like Don Bosco the educator, let us offer the young the Gospel of joy through the pedagogy of kindness.

2014: “Da mihi animas, cetera tolle.” Let us draw upon the spiritual experience of Don Bosco, in order to walk in holiness according to our specific vocation. “The glory of God and the salvation of souls.”

Homily for December 28

Homily for Dec. 28, 2023
Octave of Christmas

1 John 1: 5—2: 2
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph Residence, N.R.

The Seven Deadly Sins (Bosch)

“Beloved:  If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing” (1 John 1: 9).

We’re all aware of our moral failures—our free and deliberate choices to yield ourselves to sin:  to pride, sloth, lust, gluttony, anger, etc.  In most cases, we quickly regret such words, actions, or thoughts, or our failure to speak or act when we should have.

How gracious is God to forgive us in Christ and cleanse us—to wipe our slates clean!  (How many kids today even know what it means to “wipe a slate clean”?)  Our sins may be cause for shame.  But our confession of them, our acknowledgement, glorifies God—not our sins or our shame but our turning to him; he loves us so much and continually renews us interiorly, restoring in us the image of our Lord Jesus, so that with Jesus we might inherit a share of the Father’s eternal kingdom:  “If we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin” (1:7).

God Loves Us and Walks Beside Us

“God loves us and walks beside us”

Message from Card. Angel Fernandez Artime

(ANS – Rome – Dec. 27, 2023) - On the feast of the Lord’s nativity, the presence of the Salesians’ Rector Major at SDB headquarters in Rome aroused an atmosphere of joyful celebration. The basilica of the Sacred Heart had the privilege of hosting Cardinal Angel Fernandez Artime for the celebration of Mass, and the faithful and confreres were able to receive his Christmas message and blessings.

In his homily, Don Bosco’s 10th successor emphasized how God’s presence has marked human history through different people, in different ways, and above all by sending his Son to speak to us and show how great is his love for us. He said that this innocent God comes among us in a humble, fragile, and poor way, to walk beside us and show us his benevolent love.

Fr. Angel also explained how the “non-reception” was already an experience noted by the evangelist John, who says: “He came among his own, and his own did not receive him”; they preferred darkness rather than light. But God continues to be with us, to live in us, and to walk beside us. God, who wanted to be among us, left it to our freedom to choose to welcome him, or not. This was God’s great weakness, leaving everything to our freedom and respecting our choice. This is a sign of the extraordinary love of God, who comes among us, leaving us free to choose our way in the world. Humanity today is going against God’s plan, destroying the universe for selfish ends and leaving no room for the Lord.

Fr. Angel also spoke of the current situation in the world, of the 28 areas where there are armed conflicts, many of which are not mentioned by anyone. Every day more than 20,000 people die as a result of this violence, and the world has no adequate response to offer those who suffer. God is in our midst and continues to be so, going through all our sufferings. Every year the Lord comes to visit us, to find all of us, the poor, the weak, and the suffering. He concluded by inviting everyone to grow in this faith, to understand how much God loves us, how much he loves each one of us personally, emphasizing that this is the mystery of Christmas.

After Mass, the altar servers of the basilica offered a small performance of Christmas carols, and the Rector Major together with the other Salesians participated in this carol singing, listening to the altar servers, who were at their best expressing the fervor and joy of Christmas with much zeal and dedication.

Presentation of the Rector Major's 2024 Strenna

Presentation of the Rector Major’s 2024 Strenna

(ANS – Rome – Dec. 27, 2023) – Since the time of Don Bosco, the message of the annual strenna has accompanied the life of Salesian communities around the world as a guideline that traces paths of education, evangelization, and developments related to the signs of the times and the life of the Church. This is why the presentation of the strenna message is a moment awaited with great interest by the entire Salesian Family. For the coming year, the message is already prepared under the motto identified by the Rector Major: “The dream that makes you dream”: A heart that transforms “wolves” into “lambs.” And the appointment is already scheduled: today, December 27, at 5:00 pm (UTC+1).

Following the well-established tradition, Don Bosco’s 10th successor, Cardinal Angel Fernandez Artime, will present the message during a courtesy visit to the generalate community of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in Rome, in the presence of the Mother General, Sister Chiara Cazzuola, and the FMA general councilors, the resident community, of some members of the SDB general council, and representatives of the Salesian Family.

After an introduction by the Rector Major, the video that accompanies and illustrates the meaning of the strenna’s message through images will be projected. An interview will follow, in which Card. Fernandez will answer questions from 2 members of the Salesian Family. Through this dialog, it will be possible to delve into the theme to grasp its details and their interpretation.

All this will be made accessible to all interested parties through live streaming on the different language channels of ANS Channel, at the following links:

Italian: https://youtube.com/live/fjdqxKKq5oc
Spanish: https://youtube.com/live/l5yq_37oXUw
English: https://youtube.com/live/ZPCUY8xlNsA
French: https://youtube.com/live/ithqFUwr_8M
Portuguese: https://youtube.com/live/SC1vbrNhz24ù

Homily for Christmas, Mass during the Day

Homily for Christmas
Mass during Day

Dec. 25, 2023
John 1: 1-5, 9-14
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.

A “recycled” homily from 16 years ago (and another congregation), slightly touched up.

“In the beginning was the Word.  All things came to be thru him.  We saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son” (John 1: 1, 3, 14).

The creche in our chapel (2007)

The Word, the voice of God, the communication of God, the revelation of God, was from the beginning.  He was with God; more, he was God.  He spoke when God said, “Let there be light” and when God said, “Let us make man in our own image” (Gen 1:3,26).  The Word overcame the darkness of primeval chaos.  The Word brought life and light.

The Word continued to speak to humanity thru the centuries:  “God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors thru the prophets” (Heb 1:1), but with only partial effect because so many people preferred darkness, chaos, sin.

And therefore God spoke a more definitive Word:  “In these last days, he has spoken to us thru his Son” (Heb 1:2).  “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world” (John 1:9)—not in overpowering form, so that his glory should overwhelm us as the sun does the naked eye; but “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (1:14), humbly “pitching his tent” among us, as the Greek says literally, evoking Israel’s remote nomadic ancestors:  “My father was a wandering Aramean,” the Jewish profession of faith in Deuteronomy declares (26:5).  The Word’s pitching of his tent is also a “pitch” that encourages me to go camping (but not today).

God fully reveals himself in his enfleshed Word.  He reveals “his glory, the glory of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth” (1:14), not by blinding us, not by stunning us, but by gently demonstrating the Father’s love for us, by inviting us to return to our original status as God’s children, made in his own image—calling us to share in the glory:  “This life was the light of the human race” (1:4).

The true light who has come into the world shines upon us anew at Christmas.  But truly the Word speaks to us daily, is given a kind of flesh in our human voices and on the printed page, whenever we read or listen to the Word with open ears and open heart.  Every Scripture reading at Mass, every psalm, canticle, and reading in the Liturgy of the Hours is an opportunity for the Word to speak to us if we’ll listen.  In too many cases, I and others rush thru the Office, this officium, this “duty,” rather than let it sink in and let ourselves respond to it.

A response to the Word is called for, as John’s prolog brings out:  “He was in the world…, but the world did not know him.  He came to his own”—his own home or his own place—“but his own people did not accept him.  But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God” (1:10-12).

When the Word dwelt among us in the flesh, he called for a response, a yes or a no:  “Come, and I’ll make you fishers of men” (Matt 4:19); “If you wish to be perfect, sell your possessions, give to the poor, and come, follow me” (Matt 19:21); “Do you want to leave too?” (John 6:67); “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is unworthy of me” (Matt 10:38).  The invitation, the choice, the possibility of what might be, is laid before every human being.  Christmas reminds us of God’s love and of what we can be.  It invites us to respond.  But truly we are invited every day to respond, to accept Jesus as our Lord, our teacher, our model, our friend—or to look elsewhere for truth, fulfillment, and life.

Finally, John reminds us that the invitation, the possibilities, are a gift, a grace.  “To those who did accept [the Word] he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision, but of God” (1:12-13)—by God’s choice, by God’s call, by God’s grace, by God’s gift.  And to such believers God has given it to “see his glory” in the “Son, full of grace and truth”; and, following the Son, to come to grace, to divine favor, to come to glory thru the Son, to dwell in the truth of God’s love, of God’s fatherhood; ultimately, to pitch our tents and make our dwelling in the Father’s home.

“The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him” (1: 18), revealed God as love, most desirous to have us as his own.  Our acceptance is glory to God in the highest and joy for the world.

Homily for 4th Sunday of Advent

Homily for the
4th Sunday of Advent

Dec. 24, 2023
Luke 1: 26-38
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx

“Nothing will be impossible for God” (Luke 1: 37).

The Annunciation (Leonardo da Vinci)

Archangel Gabriel’s visit to Mary of Nazareth presents 2 impossibilities.  The 1st is that Elizabeth, a woman well beyond childbearing years, has conceived a son; St. Luke tells that story earlier in the 1st chapter of his Gospel.  The 2d is that a virgin conceives a child without any male intervention, but only by the holy power of God.

Gabriel reassures Mary:  nothing is impossible for God.  All good things are possible for the creator and ruler of the entire universe.

We might wonder what else that’s impossible God can do or has done.  For example, how is it possible that God can love the human race—and ourselves in particular?  We cause so much misery to one another—on the grand scale of war, racism, and genocide, on the small scale of gossip, lies, and resentment; and lots of awful behavior between those extremes.  But “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him … might have eternal life” (John 3:16).  When we say God loves the world, we don’t mean he loves the oceans, mountains, wheat fields, apple orchards, majestic whales, and cuddly puppies—but he loves people.  He loves all of us, men, women, and children; white, black, brown, yellow, and red; young and old; saint and sinner.  It seems impossible to believe that—unlike us—God excludes no one from his love.  He loves everyone sitting here, and he loves people who don’t show up.  He loves people who don’t even acknowledge his existence or recognize any of his restraints on their behavior.  For you and me, that’s impossible.  For God, nothing is impossible.

Even more, God forgives us.  He forgives in spite of our weaknesses, our failures, even our malice.  He forgives the sins we commit repeatedly because of habit or frailty.  St. Paul writes to Timothy, “This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance:  Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (I, 1:15).  We just heard the “impossible” gospel story of how Jesus came into the world thru the cooperation of a humble girl named Mary.  He descended from Heaven because God loves us and wants to free us from our sins.

There are people who don’t believe God can forgive them or would want to.  If that were true, God wouldn’t be true to himself.  He needn’t have sent his Son into the world.  Jesus needn’t have been born, gathered disciples, worked miracles, suffered and died in solidarity with us, rose from the tomb, founded his Church, and gave us 7 sacraments for our sanctification.  He did all that for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life—not that we deserve it, but that he loves us so deeply.  There’s no sin beyond the reach of grace.  There’s no heart so evil that Christ can’t change it.  Remember his promise to the repentant thief crucified next to him:  “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:39-43).  God says thru his prophet Isaiah, “Tho your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; tho they be crimson red, they may become white as wool” (1:18).

All we sinners have to do is let Jesus embrace us and let him walk with us in our struggles to live as he taught, in our struggles to say to God, like Mary, “I’m the Lord’s servant; do with me whatever you will” (cf. Luke 1:38).  You and I find forgiveness difficult, nearly impossible.  In our celebration of the Eucharist, we thank God that he isn’t like us, that he can and does forgive.

And that’s why we love to celebrate Christmas.  Christ’s birth gives us hope that we can come close to God, that God really wants to be with us, and God empowers us to make our small part of this world a little bit more heavenly, a little bit more like God’s own home.

Fr. James Cerbone, SDB (1949-2023)

Fr. James Cerbone, SDB (1949-2023)

Fr. Jim on his ordination day with Bp. Joseph Francis, SVD

Fr. James Lee Cerbone, Jr., slipped into eternity during the night of December 19.  He had been ill for a long time, staying at several nursing care facilities in Bergen County, N.J., since 2018.  Earlier this month he was moved to Allendale Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Allendale, N.J., partly to be in the same facility as Bro. Jim Wiegand.  On December 15, he was taken to Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, N.J., for a blood transfusion and testing due to severe anemia.  Further testing discovered cancer that had metastasized in the bones.  Palliative care began on Monday, December 18, and he passed away a day later.

Fr. Cerbone had been a member of the Salesian community of Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J., since 2009.  He was a professed Salesian of Don Bosco for 53 years and a priest for 43 years.

Jim Cerbone, son of James Lee Cerbone, Sr., and Thomasina Spadafor Cerbone, was born in Newark, N.J., on April 20, 1949. He was baptized at St. Anthony Church in nearby Belleville a few weeks later and confirmed at Our Lady of All Souls Church in East Orange, N.J., in 1960.

Jim completed high school at Clifford J. Scott High School in East Orange in 1967 and went to Don Bosco College in Newton, N.J., as a Son of Mary on September 9, 1967.  Two years later he entered the novitiate there, where Fr. Peter Granzotto was novice master.  Bro. Jim made his first profession on September 1, 1970, at Newton. 

He graduated from Don Bosco College in 1972 with a B.A. in philosophy, including minors in history and classics.  He left the Salesians that year and did his first year of theological studies at Immaculate Conception Seminary of the Newark Archdiocese.  He returned to the Salesians in 1973, made temporary vows again in 1974, was assigned to Don Bosco Prep, Ramsey, and professed perpetually on August 27, 1977, at St. Anthony’s Church in Elizabeth, N.J.

Bro. Jim did his practical training at Ramsey from 1973 to 1975 and another year at Salesian High School in New Rochelle in 1975-1976.  He taught history, theology, and English.  He was a moderator for dramatics, Key Club, and other activities at different times.

Bro. Jim studied theology (his 2nd-4th years) at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Worthington, Ohio, while living with the Salesian community in Columbus from 1976 to 1979.  In 1979-1980 as a deacon he was assigned to the Don Bosco College community, teaching theology.  He earned a Masters in Divinity at the PCJ in 1980.  Later he studied accounting at the University of Notre Dame, earning an MSA in 1983, followed by a Masters in Religious Education from St. Joseph Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y., in 1990.

Fr. Jim was ordained in his home parish, Our Lady of All Souls in East Orange, on October 4, 1980, by Newark’s Auxiliary Bishop Joseph A. Francis, SVD.

Fr. Jim giving Communion at the province jubilees Mass in 2005.

Fr. Jim then followed a varied priestly ministry.  He taught for one year at Salesian in New Rochelle (1980-1981) and for one year at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey (1983-1984).  He was treasurer at the Marian Shrine in Haverstraw, N.Y., for two years (1981-1983).  In 1984 he began a 7-year stint at the provincial house in New Rochelle as an assistant in the treasurer’s office.  After another three years at Don Bosco Prep, teaching (1991-1994), he experienced parish life as assistant pastor at Mary Help of Christians in Manhattan (1994-1995).

He took a leave of absence from the Salesians in 1995-1998, serving as assistant pastor at Holy Trinity Church in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.  There he introduced some parishioners to the Salesian Cooperators, including Denise and Rob Dunn, who testify to Fr. Jim’s legacy in the parish; for he introduced living Stations of the Cross done by the parish youths, which continues to today.  He also led an adult discussion group that was much appreciated but has not continued.

Fr. Jim’s happiest years may have been the 9 years when he was chaplain for campus ministry and social action at Manhattan College in Riverdale (Bronx), N.Y., 1998-2007.  During those years he resided at the provincial house.  Years later he retained very fond memories of that time, especially the many trips to different parts of the world he took with the college students. 

Late in 2006 the Salesian provincial notified the Christian Brothers at Manhattan that Fr. Jim would have to return to ministry in a Salesian presence at the end of the school year.  Both Fr. Jim and the college were quite satisfied with his ministry there.  The provincial noted that “Jim’s Salesian background seems to have been a good fit with the principles of Lasallian education practiced at Manhattan College,” in keeping with Don Bosco’s admiration for St. John Baptist de La Salle. 

Leaving Manhattan was difficult for Fr. Jim, it seems.  He took another leave of absence, ministering at St. James of the Marches Church in Totowa, N.J., from 2007 to 2009.  Then he joined the Don Bosco Prep community, teaching a little bit and doing campus ministry until health issues made that no longer possible.  Bro. Travis Gunther recalls bringing him Holy Communion in the nursing home:  “In these last two years getting to bring him Communion was a beautiful experience. For those brief few moments of prayer, reception and silence afterward, it was like the world was on pause for a moment.”

Fr. Jim and several confreres on the back porch

of the provincial house during a Memorial Day cookout (2006).

Many confreres remember how much Fr. Jim loved pizza.  Bro. Travis links that love to his parents having owned and run a pizzeria.

Fr. Jim is survived by his sisters Susan Cerbone of Rutherford, N.J., and Gloria Malecki of Bloomfield, N.J., and his nephew, Richard Malecki, all of whom he was very close to.

Fr. Jim’s funeral was celebrated at Don Bosco Prep on December 26. Fr. Dominic Tran presided, and Fr. John Serio gave the homily. Fr. Jim’s remains were interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington, N.J.

Fr. Juan Vecchi's Annual Strenne

Fr. Juan Vecchi’s Annual Strenne

(ANS – Rome – Dec. 22, 2023) – The first non-Italian successor of Don Bosco (although the son of Italian immigrants) in the history of the Salesian Congregation was the Argentine Fr. Juan Edmundo Vecchi, born in the same city where “the nurse of the poor,” today a saint, operated: St. Artemides Zatti, SDB, to whom Fr. Vecchi was related. Although illness did not allow him a longer term of office, it was he who guided the Salesians of Don Bosco from the old into the new millennium.

The 8th successor of Don Bosco, having completed his initial formation between his native land and Italy, had already served for 24 years (from 1972 to 1996) on the Congregation’s general council before assuming the role of Rector Major: as regional councilor for Latin America, general councilor for youth ministry, and vicar of the Rector Major. The choice of the 24th General Chapter of 1996 to elect him to the leadership of the Salesian Society was therefore a choice with a guarantee of competence, vision, and continuity.

A man of great horizons, apostolic courage, and ecclesial sensitivity, he faced the illness that consumed him and marked the last years of his life first with courage and then with serene abandonment to the will of God. He was a great innovator in the field of youth ministry, and, coming from a missionary land himself, he continued his predecessor’s Project Africa, founded new missions, and organized new projects for missionary areas, then animated the Extraordinary Missionary Expedition 2000.

At the same time, he paid great attention to communication, in which he believed with real conviction: the tangible sign was the relaunching and renewal of the Salesian Bulletin in 52 editions. Another emblem of his term of office, the shortest in Salesian history so far, was the impulse given to lay collaborators in the mission and to the recognition and acceptance of their role.

He died in Rome on January 23, 2002, lovingly and filially assisted by the Daughters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary – the religious congregation founded by Blessed Louis Variara, SDB – a few weeks after the completion of his six-year term.

As for the strenna, at the structural level all six strenne that Fr. Vecchi produced and delivered are simple and short, characterized by the organic and stable presence of a biblical reference, in most cases, or at least an ecclesial one.

He did not leave any written commentary on the strenna; but every year, at the Salesian Family Spirituality Days, which at the time were celebrated in Rome in January, he always made a presentation and explanation of the strenna.

In the small body of his strenne it is not difficult to identify a sense of Church as the dominant characteristic, the Congregation’s journey in harmony with the life of the Church; so much so that his strenne are all in line with the great Jubilee of 2000 called by Pope John Paul II. The first 3 are part of the path of preparation requested by the Pope himself; the one for the Holy Year takes up the central theme of the Jubilee, reconciliation; and the 2 subsequent ones aim to have the seeds of grace come to fruition from that great universal event.

No mere symbolic sense of Church, then, but desired, sustained, and decisive, which did not replace but rather supported and strengthened the Salesianity of the strenna.

Here, then, are the 6 strenne left by Rector Major Fr. Vecchi:

1997: “With our gaze fixed on Jesus, the firstborn of many brothers, let us help young people to welcome him in the faith.”

1998: “‘Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Let us turn to him with childlike love, to be builders of fraternal solidarity with the young.”

1999: “In hope we have been saved: let us rediscover with young people the presence of the Spirit in the Church and in the world, to live and work with confidence from the perspective of the kingdom.”

2000: “In the name of Christ, our peace, let yourselves be reconciled.”

2001: “Christ a gift for all. As a result of the jubilee, let us revive our missionary spirit and solidarity.”

2002: “‘Duc in altum’: lets us launch out into the deep and the open sea.”