The Vicar's Message for October

THE MESSAGE OF THE VICAR

Fr. Stefano Martoglio, SDB 

OUR ANNUAL GIFT 

Traditionally as a Salesian Family, we receive the strenna every year – a gift at the beginning of the year. I value a look inside this gift with these few lines so as to welcome it as it deserves, without losing anything of the freshness of the gift.

A gift

It is a gift because, before all else, strenna means: I am giving you a gift[1]! I am giving you something important to help you celebrate a new time, a new year. This is how Don Bosco thought of it, and he gave it to all the young people and adults who were with him.

I want to give you this gift, this strenna, for the start of the new year, of a new time.

This is something beautiful and important: a new year, a new time, a box in which all the other contents will be held. The coming year is not the same as those you have experienced up until now. A new year needs a new vision in order that it may be lived to the full because the new year comes only once! Each moment of time is unique because we are different from the prior year, from how we were the year before. The purpose of the strenna is to help us prepare for this new time, by beginning to look inside this new year, bringing to light some things that will be an important part of it.

The “golden thread”

The gift of time, the gift of life

God’s gift and all other gifts are found within life: people, situations, opportunities, human relationships. Within this providential way of viewing the gifts of time and life, the strenna, a gift that Don Bosco – and his successors after him – have given every year to the whole Salesian Family calls us to gaze upon the new year, this new time, with new eyes.

The strenna is an aid to help us look at the time to come by putting into focus a golden thread that will guide the new time ahead. The golden thread that the strenna gives us this year is Hope. This is also important! The new year will surely be filled with many things, but don’t get lost amid them! Start by reflecting on how important it is. Don’t scatter; gather!

The strenna that our Cardinal Angel has laid out for us for 2025, like a new outfit, brings to light the events that we will all experience, uniting them with a single golden thread: Hope!

Strenna 2025 highlights both global and Salesian events that involve us all so as to help us live them well:

·         * The Ordinary Jubilee of 2025: a Jubilee is an event of the Church in the Catholic tradition that the Holy Father gives us. To live the Jubilee is to live the pilgrimage that the Church offers us so we may put the presence of Christ back at the center of our lives and the life of the world. The Jubilee that Pope Francis has proclaimed has a life-giving theme: Spes non confundit! Hope does not disappoint! What a marvelous life-giving theme! If the world needs one thing at this difficult time, it is precisely Hope, but not the hope of what we believe we can do all by ourselves, which risks becoming an illusion. Rather, it is the Hope of the re-discovery of the Presence of God. Pope Francis writes: “May Hope fill your heart!” May it not only warm the heart but fill it – fill it to overflowing!

·       *  Hope makes us pilgrims. The Jubilee is a pilgrimage! It sets you in motion inside; otherwise, it is not “Jubilee.” In the midst of this Church event that makes us feel like Church, we, as the Salesian Congregation and as the Salesian Family, will celebrate an important anniversary. 2025 will see

·         * the 150th anniversary of the first missionary expedition to Argentina.

From Valdocco, Don Bosco casts his heart beyond all borders. He sends his sons to the other side of the world! He sends them, beyond all human security. He sends them even when he does not have a sufficient number necessary to carry on what he had already begun.

He just sends them, and that is it, for Hope must be obeyed since Hope guides Faith and sets Charity in motion. He sends them, and these first confreres depart and go forth they know not where! From there we were all born, from the Hope that sets us on a journey and makes us pilgrims.

This anniversary should be celebrated, as should every anniversary, so as to help us recognize the gift (it is not your property, it was given to you as a gift), to remember, and to give strength for the future, from the dynamic power of the mission.

Hope is the foundation of the mission because Hope is a responsibility that you cannot hide or keep to yourself! Do not hide what is given to you; recognize the Donor and hand over with your life to the next generations what has been given to you! This is the life of the Church, the life of each one of us.

St. Peter, who saw far ahead, wrote in his First Letter: “Always be ready to respond to anyone who asks you to account for the hope that is in you!” (1 Peter 3:15). We must think that responding does not mean using only words; rather, it is our life that is the response!

With the Hope that is in you, may you live and prepare for this new year to come, making a journey with the young and with our brothers and sisters to renew Don Bosco’s Dream and God’s Dream.

Our coat of arms

“On my labarum[2] shines a star,” they once sang. On our coat of arms, in addition to the star, a large anchor and a burning heart stand out.

These are simple images which begin to move our hearts toward the time to come: “Anchored in hope, pilgrims with young people.” “Anchored” is a very strong term: the anchor is the salvation of the ship in the midst of a storm; it is firm and strong, rooted in Hope!

Within this life-giving theme is found the entirety of our daily life: the people, situations, and decisions – the “micro” of each of us that is welded with the “macro” of what we will all live together, handing over to God the gift of this time that is given to us. This is so because you must do your part for the strenna that we will all receive; your daily life must be illuminated by what we have written and you will receive; otherwise, it will not be Hope, it will not be what your life is based on, and it does not put you into “motion” by making you a Pilgrim.

We entrust this journey to the Mother of the Lord, Mother of the Church and our Help of Christians, a Pilgrim of Hope traveling with us.

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[1]The term strenna immediately refers to the element of gift, and in the Italian linguistic tradition from which it came, it is properly associated with Christmas gifts. In the Piedmontese context in which Don Bosco grew up, it was more the case of a tradition of the New Year’s gift that the head of the family gave to his children and the proprietor to his employees. January 1 was known precisely as “the day of the strenna.” The complete text

[2]The Labarum (Greek: λάβαρον / láboron) was a Christian imperial standard incorporating the sacred “Chi-Rho” Christogram, which was one of the earliest forms of christogram used by Christians, becoming one of the most familiar and widely used emblems in Chrisitan tradition. It was adapted by emperor Constantine the Great after receiving his celestial vision and dream, on the eve of his victory at the Milvian Bridge in 313 AD.

The Labarum of Constantine was a vexillum[note 1] that displayed the “Chi-Rho” Christogram, formed from the first two Greek letters of the word “Christ” (Greek: ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ, or Χριστός) — Chi (χ) and Rho (ρ). Fashioned after legionary standards, it substituted the form of a cross for the old pagan symbols, and was surmounted by a jewelled wreath of gold containing the monogram of Christ, intersecting Chi (χ) and Rho (ρ); upon this hung a rich purple banner,[note 2] beset with gold trim and profuse embroidery. The inscription “Εν Τουτω Νικα” (In Hoc Signo Vinces) — “In this sign, conquer” was in all probability inscribed upon the actual standard, although Eusebius mentions that royal portraits of Constantine and his children were integrated.[note 3] St. Ambrose of Milan later wrote that the Labarum was consecrated by the Name of Christ.[1]

As a new focal point for Roman unity, the monogram appeared on coins, shields, and later public buildings and churches.[2] From 324 the Labarum with the “Chi-Rho” Christogram was the official standard of the Roman Empire. More information.

Homily for 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
26th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Sept. 29, 2024
Creed
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx

“I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ” (Nicene Creed).

Two weeks ago, we considered our belief that Jesus Christ is God’s “Only Begotten Son,” God from all eternity, true God like his Father.

Jesus anointed by the Holy Spirit
at his baptism (Perugino)

Our profession of faith speaks next of the Son’s relationship with us as a human being.  We might note that his personal name is Jesus—Jesus of Nazareth.  “Christ” isn’t his last name but a title, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah, which means “anointed one.”  In the Old Testament, kings and priests were anointed, as well as sacred objects like altars.  We’ve preserved that practice in the New Testament, anointing Christians at Baptism and Confirmation, priests and bishops at ordination, the sick, and altars and other sacred objects.  Jesus of Nazareth was anointed not with oil but directly by the Holy Spirit for God’s particular mission of consecrating the human race to God after we sinned—the work of redemption.

Thus the Creed states that the Son of God “came down from heaven for us men and for our salvation.”  “For us men” is generic, all-inclusive:  anthropos in Greek and homo in Latin[1]; for human beings of both sexes, of every nation, every race, every age, of all time.

He came “for our salvation.”  We need to be saved.  Any observation of the world shows that it’s a mess—a mess caused by our sins of pride, greed, violence, and indifference to others.  God intended and still desires something else entirely:  that we live in a harmonious relationship with him and with one another, all of us as his beloved children—in this life and forever.  Sin must be destroyed, and its effects destroyed as well.  That’s why the Son “came down from heaven.”

That’s symbolic language.  The Hebrews and other ancient peoples pictured heaven as high above us, using the same word for “heaven” and “sky.”  We still speak of the heavens above.  Heaven, of course, isn’t a geographical place.  One of the 1st Russian cosmonauts in the 1960s attempted to mock believers by reporting that in outer space he’d looked around for God but hadn’t seen him.  Of course not!  God dwells everywhere, and those who are close to him in love and friendship are in heaven, at least in a way of speaking.

The Creed tells us that the Son left his separate existence at his Father’s side—symbolic language—where he was apart from creation, and he entered creation, this lower state of existence where we humans dwell.

“By the Holy Spirit he was incarnate of the Virgin Mary.”  Incarnate means “in flesh.”  God the Son, divine and invisible, existing spiritually as God from eternity, entered time, entered history as a human being.  His taking on human flesh meant he became a real human being, flesh and bone and blood like every man and woman.  In the 1st 3 centuries of Christianity, there were some who maintained that human nature was unworthy of God, and the Son couldn’t possibly have let himself be contaminated by our flesh; therefore, Jesus of Nazareth was only apparently a man, more like an angel or a phantom.  No, the council of Nicea insists, God really took on our flesh and blood.  The blood stains on the Shroud of Turin, which many believe was the burial shroud of Jesus, reveal that he had AB+ blood.

The divine person of the Son of God assumed our human nature and all that it means to be human—body, mind, soul, and feelings.  The 4th Eucharistic Prayer affirms, “Made incarnate by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, he shared our human nature in all things but sin” (cf. Heb 4:15).

The Son of God “became man.”  This again is generic:  a human; it doesn’t refer to Jesus’ being male.  The Latin text of the Creed is, “Et homo factus est,” as in homo sapiens, the genus and species of the human race.

Gabriel announces Jesus' coming to Mary
(Apollonio di Giovanni)

In Jesus’ case, uniquely among all the members of homo sapiens, his conception is the work of the Holy Spirit; “by the Holy Spirit [he] was incarnate,” not by St. Joseph or anyone else.  When the archangel Gabriel asked the Virgin Mary to become Jesus’ mother, she told the angel plainly that she’d had no relations with any man.  Gabriel responded, according to St. Luke’s Gospel:  “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God” (1:34-35).  The human component in Jesus’ conception and birth is solely the Virgin Mary’s.  In his public ministry, Jesus worked many miracles.  But the 1st miracle is his conception in Mary’s womb without any male intervention.

But the Creed isn’t concerned with Jesus’ public ministry.  It leaps directly from his incarnation to his passion, death, and resurrection:  “For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and [he] rose again on the third day.”

Secular historians and archeological evidence inform us that Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea from 26 to 36 A.D.  The Romans used crucifixion as a particularly painful, shameful, and degrading method of execution for those they considered the scum of society:  slaves, murderers, rebels, and outlaws.  (Watch the end of the movie Spartacus sometime.)  This is the suffering and death to which Jesus submitted “for our sake.”

After suffering all that it means to be human—growing pains, submission to parental authority, frustration with his followers, grief at a friend’s death, and pain of body and soul—Jesus died, as every man and woman must.  The Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that we have a high priest (one who offers sacrifice for us) who’s able to sympathize with our weaknesses because he’s been tested in every way that we are (4:15).

And he was buried.  Some skeptics have proposed that Jesus wasn’t really dead.  The Romans were expert executioners, and before releasing his body for burial, they made sure he was dead by jabbing a spear thru his ribs into his lungs (John 19:31-42).  Burial marked the finality of his life.

But he “rose again on the third day.”  (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are the 3 days.)  This is the heart of our faith.  This is what we celebrate at the Eucharist.  Jesus the man came back to life by the power of God, confirming his work of salvation as God’s agent, the Messiah, on our behalf.  Further, he promises us a similar resurrection when he returns in his glory as Son of God made man.

“He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.”  This is symbolic language again, meaning that this human being who is God at the same time is in complete union with God and now rules of the universe with the authority to dispense grace and mercy to us.  He assured his followers that he’d return:  “he will come again in glory,” not as a newborn infant but as king of the universe, and he’ll complete his mission of redemption by “judging the living and the dead,” i.e., every human who’s ever lived.  He’ll pass judgment on each of us.  He’ll dispense the justice that so many people long for in this life but can’t attain.  He’ll lead God’s friends into eternal life (the kingdom of God), and he’ll allow God’s opponents to live in the eternal alienation and hatred that they chose, with the Devil and his angels.  In his earthly life he couldn’t compel the chief priests and the other Jewish leaders to become his followers; neither can he compel anyone on Judgment Day.  Each of us makes our own choice.

“This is our faith.  This is the faith of the Church.  We are proud to profess it in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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[1] In the Creed, it appears in the plural accusative case, homines.

Lake-bound

Lake-bound

After my Sunday Masses on Sept. 22, I went hiking in Harriman State Park.  I parked at the Lake Sebago boat launch parking lot on Seven Lakes Drive.  It was packed--not surprising on a gorgeous first day of fall.

I headed south, and uphill, on the Seven Hills Trail about .8 mile as far as Monitor Rock (so-called because someone found a copy of the Christian Science Monitor there).  Before I got there, I passed by a trail maintenance crew of 3 and blessed them orally.  As I've said often, the NY-NJ Trail Conference does wonderful work clearing and blazing the trails.

Just past Monitor Rock, I picked up Woodtown Road, an unblazed but maintained woods road, another .7 or .8 mile south to Lake Wanoksink, a large lake created by a large dam. 

(This mileage is approximate; the map doesn’t indicate the distance.)  Off this road a faint side trail leads to an old incinerator built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the ’30s.  Now it appears to have been a gathering for beer binges, but the area is almost overgrown.

There were dozens and dozens of other day hikers on the trails, youngsters, seniors, and in-betweens, most of them going to or coming from Pine Meadow Lake, farther south from Wanoksink; 2 woods roads lead to PML’s western end.  Around the lake, north of the dam, there are a couple of small, secluded campsites.  As I was leaving, I observed a chap with a backpack heading toward them.  Along the lake I followed a narrow footpath to its far south end, where yet another woods road also leads to the center of Pine Meadow Lake’s north shore.

Fr. Jim Mulloy and I have camped a couple of times on the heights above the lake, once for this April 2014 outing with Paterson alumnus Jerry Gutierrez (who is now a priest of the Laredo Diocese); another time with a friend of Fr. Jim from Boston.

Sept. 22 was a decidedly more pleasant day than that 2014 outing.  The rest of this day's pix: https://link.shutterfly.com/3yBASXve8Mb.  Total hiking time, 3 hours.  Distance, about 3 miles with a 260' gain in elevation between Sebago and Wanoksink, according to the trail map.  A good hike that still allowed me to be home for Evening Prayer.

A sample of a crew's work
on the 7 Hills Trail

Homily for Thursday, Week 25 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Thursday
25th Week of Ordinary Time

Sept. 26, 2024
Eccl 1: 2-11
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.
“Nothing is new under the sun” (Eccl 1: 9).

Qoheleth isn’t impressed by the natural world.  The sun, the wind, the rivers, life and death just go on as they always have.  If he were around today, perhaps he’s see something different in nature:  melting glaciers, rising seas, more severe storms, totally different cycles of rain and drought.

But he’d still be right about human nature, about our restlessness, our desires, the emptiness of wealth and pleasure, and our mortality.

One big change, the biggest change, Qoheleth couldn’t even have imagined.  Jesus Christ has changed everything.

We keep Jesus’ memory of old (cf. 1:11); but he’s not only of old.  He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever, as the Letter to the Hebrews says (13:8).  He lives.

And living, he preserves the memory, the reality, of all who belong to him.  The dying thief begged Jesus to “remember” him when he came into his kingdom (Luke 23:42).  In Christ there’s remembrance of the men and women of old—not only of the saints in our prayer books but of every one of us as well. 

In Christ everything has changed because God has entered our history and our lives and made all things new. 

“See, this is new!” (Eccl 1:10).  Jesus has re-connected us with the source of all life and goodness.  There may not be profit from all our labors under the sun (1:3), but there’s eternal profit from belonging to Christ.  He profits us by transforming us from mortal sinners into images of himself, who at the daybreak of resurrection on the Last Day will fill us with his kindness for eternal days (cf. Ps 90:14).

Homily for 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
25th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Sept. 22, 2024
Mark 9: 30-37
The Fountains, Tuckahoe, N.Y.

From your humble blogger:  at my 2 Bronx parishes, I gave the 2d homily in the sequence on the Creed (see Sept. 15); each week I rotate between the 8:00 and noon Masses.

“If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all” (Mark 9: 35).

Let the Children Come to Me (Vogelstein)

Last week’s gospel included Jesus’ 1st prediction of his passion, death, and resurrection.  Today we heard his 2d prediction.  There’s a 3d one, but it doesn’t come up in our Sunday readings.

Last week’s prediction was followed 1st by Peter’s rejection of it, Jesus’ rebuke of Peter for thinking like a human being and not like God, and then by Jesus’ teaching that the cross is an inescapable part of our following him.

This week’s prediction is followed by another example of the apostles’ thickheadedness:  “they had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest” (9:34).  There’s an irony there:  “on the way” conjures up Jesus’ journey toward Jerusalem and the fulfillment of his destiny; early Christianity became known as “the Way,” i.e., the path of following Jesus, including the cross.  The apostles are on that way, that path, and are oblivious to it.

This time Jesus doesn’t warn them that they, too, will have to bear his cross.  At least not in so many words.  Instead, he proposes another form of self-denial:  they must become the least in society; they must become servants (Mark uses the word diakonos, which tells us what ordained ministers are supposed to be).

Jesus drives his point home by placing a child in front of the 12.  In the ancient world, children might have been loved within the family, but socially they were utterly powerless, fragile, and unimportant; mortality rates among children in cultures around the world up till early modern times ran from 40 to more than 50%.[1]

Jesus tells his apostles they have to be like children.  Their focus isn’t to be greatness, importance, or power, but dependence and weakness; they are to have regard for society’s weak, fragile, and unimportant people.  They are to be “the servants of all.”

On Friday Pope Francis addressed the department of the Roman Curia that deals with human dignity and development.[2]  He told Card. Czerny, its prefect, and the staff that everyone has the right to land, shelter, and work, and therefore Christians must work for social justice.  When people’s basic needs aren’t met, conflict results.  “Inequality is the root of social ills,” he said.  He blamed the greed of the rich for the plight of the poor.  He said, “Blind competition for more and more money is not a creative force, but an unhealthy attitude and a path to hell.  Such irresponsible, immoral, and irrational behavior is destroying creation and dividing peoples.”

St. James says the same thing:  “Where do the wars and the conflicts among you come from?  Is it not from your passions….  You kill and envy but you can’t obtain; you fight and wage war” (4:1-2).

Doesn’t that sound like what we see on the news every day?  Is the Pope right?  Is St. James right?

Pope Francis emphasizes:  “The poor are at the center of the Gospel.  It’s not the Pope but Jesus who puts them in that place.  It’s a matter of our faith that can’t be negotiated.”

What Pope Francis says is another way of saying that if we want to receive Jesus and the one who sent Jesus, we must receive children, i.e., the little, the helpless, the weak, the least in society.  We must be servants.

As we prepare to vote, this is a principle we must keep in mind.  Closer to home—here, in this little community—how can we serve or be attentive to those in need?  We could start by listening to our companions; everyone wants to be heard, no?  We ought not cut them off or put down what they have to say.  We could offer everyone a smile, maybe accompanied by a compliment.  Perhaps someone needs help moving to the dining room or to the vehicle that will take you on an outing.  Such simple ways of serving one another and not considering ourselves the most important, the center of attention….

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[1] Mortality in the past: every second child died - Our World in Data (Sept. 21, 2024).

[2] https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2024/09/20/pope-francis-popular-movements-billionaires-sports-betting-248855?utm_source=piano&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2928&pnespid=57s7ATRJJKgUgvKevTDlHMKNsUu8VYAtcuWxxbA2.0JmumUyzUiUIZMJcx1kpcWbAp.6tUJS

Empowering Young Voices

Empowering Young Voices

Young Writers from Shine at Salesian Family Youth Center

(ANS – Los Angeles – September 16, 2024) – In a moving celebration of creativity and resilience, 7 young writers from the Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles recently presented their first published book at the Salesian Family Youth Center. The event, led by Luis Chacon and JC Montenegro, drew over 50 enthusiastic attendees eager to support and celebrate the achievements of these remarkable young authors.

The evening was filled with pride and inspiration as 3 young writers shared their journeys. They spoke openly about their initial fears of traveling, for some, the first time boarding a plane, and their struggles with self-doubt. One of the most touching moments came when they emphasized the importance of vulnerability in leadership—how stepping out of their comfort zones had opened doors to growth and self-discovery.

When asked how their friends reacted to the news that they had written a book, the young authors humbly credited the Salesian Family Youth Center and SHOT for the opportunity. They acknowledged the center’s role in empowering them to say “yes” to challenges, rise above insecurities, and achieve something extraordinary.

After the presentation, the young writers signed copies of their books for proud families and supporters. The evening also offered a moment of reflection for those in attendance as 3 key lessons emerged:

• Young people have deep thoughts. It’s our responsibility to ask the right questions, listen to them, and learn from them.
• Young people are capable of greatness. They only need our support and belief in their potential.
• The Salesian Family Youth Center is transforming lives. By providing opportunities like this, the center is giving young people the tools to make a lasting impact on society.

As parents shone with pride, there was a renewed hope for the future. The event left everyone pondering one question: How can we better support the young people close to us?

This evening was a powerful reminder that when we give young people a platform to express themselves, they have the ability to change not just their own lives but the world around them.

The achievements of these young writers are a testament to the power of support, encouragement, and opportunity. But their journey is just beginning, and countless other young people are waiting for someone to believe in them.

You can make a difference by getting involved. Whether through mentorship, volunteering, or supporting programs like the Salesian Family Youth Center, your role in empowering the next generation is crucial. Together, we can create more opportunities for young people to share their voices, overcome their fears, and step confidently into their future.

How will you support the young people in your community today?

Source: Salesian Clubs Los Angeles

First Salesian Presence in Canada

The First Salesian Presence in Canada

by Fr. Dominic Tran, SDB

St. Agnes Church, Toronto

(New Rochelle – September 19, 2024) – In 1898, Abp. John Walsh wrote to Fr. Michael Rua, inviting the Salesians to the archdiocese of Toronto to administer St. John’s Industrial School, a center of rehabilitation for boys coming out of prison. Most probably because of lack of personnel, Fr. Rua answered that the Salesians could not meet the request.

Later, Abp. Neil McNeil repeated the request for the Salesians to come to his archdiocese. In 1924, Fr. Rinaldi agreed to accept an Italian parish.

St. Agnes was located in the Trinity Bellwoods neighborhood of Toronto. It was founded in 1914, with diocesan pastors up to that time. It was a large parish, with 100 baptisms in 1923, but it was poor.

In September 1924, Fr. Emmanuel Manassero, then the provincial in New Rochelle, assigned Fr. Peter Truffa, Fr. James Mellica, and Bro. John Chiabai to this first Canadian presence. Fr. Truffa was the director in New Rochelle prior to going to St. Agnes. Fr. Mellica came to the province from Chieri, Italy. Bro. Chiabai came from his assignment in Goshen.

Fr. Truffa would be the pastor for the 10 years of the Salesian presence at St. Agnes. Bro. Chiabai seems to have stayed in Toronto for only one year. Fr. Carlo Simona took Fr. Mellica’s place in 1926. Fr. Alfonso Volonté came in 1927 and remained at St. Agnes until 1934.

The Salesians “took advantage of every occasion for making the parish a typically Salesian center: music, theater, spectacles, Italian foods, feasts, etc.” The parish sponsored a window in the new chapel at Don Bosco College in Newton, N.J. In those 10 years, 2 young men from the parish explored the Salesian vocation and spent some time in Salesian formation.

According to the Canadian summary of those years, the ministries of the Salesians at St. Agnes were well appreciated.

Fr. Ambrose Rossi came from Italy as the new provincial in 1933 with instructions from the Rector Major, Fr. Peter Ricaldone, to consolidate works, particularly by withdrawing from parishes. Thus in 1934, the Salesians withdrew from St. Agnes and some parishes in the U.S.

This article was based on an article written by Fr. Romeo Trottier, SDB, who quoted a conference given in Italian by Mr. Luigi Pautasso “I Salesiani a Toronto – 1924-1934” at the Ninth Annual Symposium of Italian Canadiana, Department of Italian Studies, University of Toronto, May 14, 1992, with references from Histoire des débuts de l’œuvre salésienne au Canada, the Salesian elenchi 1923-1935, and province personnel ledgers.

Homily for Thursday, Week 24 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Thursday
24th Week of Ordinary Time

Sept. 19, 2024
1 Cor 15: 1-11
Luke 7: 1-10
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.

“I handed on to you as of 1st importance what I also received:  that Christ died for our sins; that he was buried; that he was raised on the 3d day” (1 Cor 1: 3-4).

Paul reminds his disciples in Corinth—sometimes so contentious, sometimes backsliding—of the fundamental truth of the Gospel:  the Gospel he received directly from the Risen Lord, the Gospel confirmed by the 12 and hundreds of other disciples, the Gospel that he’s always preached.  This Good News is that Christ died and was buried—no doubt about his having died—and that God raised him back to life.  His death and resurrection have effected the forgiveness of sins.

The forgiveness of sins, the gift of God’s free and full pardon, was at the heart of Jesus’ ministry—forgiveness even for very public sinners, for whom Luke has a special feeling, like the sinful women in today’s gospel, like Zaccheus the tax collector, like the criminal crucified alongside Jesus.

Whenever anyone responds to Jesus with faith, salvation follows:  “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7:10)—in peace with God, in peace with your own soul.  This is Paul’s Gospel; rather, it’s Jesus’ Gospel—still alive, still bestowing grace and salvation to sinners like us.

Homily for Wednesday, Week 24 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Wednesday
24th Week of Ordinary Time

Sept. 17, 2018
1 Cor 12: 31—13: 13
Salesian HS, New Rochelle, N.Y.

St. Paul, mosaic, San Vitale, Ravenna

In yesterday’s reading (1 Cor 12:12-14,27-31), St. Paul spoke about some important gifts that God gives to his Church, such as prophecy, good teaching, and good administration.  Today he comes to what he calls “a still more excellent way” (12:31).

This way is a way that all of us can serve God and our brothers and sisters regardless of whatever other gifts God has given us.  It’s the way of love.

Without love, Paul says, we’re nothing.  Knowing languages, being a good athlete, being good at math or writing or music, knowing how to organize events—means nothing if we don’t bring love to whatever we do or say.

Paul’s practical:  “Love is patient.  Love is kind.  Love isn’t jealous.  Love doesn’t put on a show.  It isn’t rude or selfish” (13:4-5).  Love is happy with truth and with goodness wherever it finds them.

Can we try, then, to be loving, to be Christ-like in what we do and say with our schoolmates, our siblings, our parents, and our friends?  to be patient, kind, respectful, helpful, happy when they’re successful, compassionate when they’re hurting?

Homily for Memorial of St. Hildegard

Homily for the Memorial
of St. Hildegard

Tuesday, 24th Week of Ordinary Time

Collect
Sept. 17, 2024
1 Cor 12: 12-14, 27-31
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.

Benedict XVI had such high regard for St. Hildegard of Bingen that he devoted 2 of his Wednesday audiences to her in 2010 during his long series on the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and in 2012 he declared her a Doctor, only the 4th woman so designated.  That she was German probably didn’t hurt her standing in his eyes.

Hildegard lived in the 12th century, a contemporary of Bernard of Clairvaux, who approved of her mystical writings, as also did Pope Eugene III.

St. Paul says that all Christians “were given to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor 12:14).  Hildegard drank deeply from that spring, and she exercised several of the spiritual gifts that Paul mentions, e.g., prophecy, teaching, and administration (12:27-31).  She commented on Scripture, lives of the saints, the moral life, medicine, and the natural sciences, and she composed music.  With a pure and humble heart, she sought God’s eternal glory (Collect) and teaches us to do that thru her writings, her music, and her correspondence with popes, bishops, kings, and religious.

Hildegard teaches that God is the life of the universe, that humans are the peak of creation, that Christ is our life, that the Church is his bride.  She reminds church leaders and religious that renewal or reform doesn’t come from changing structures but from repentance and conversion, from thinking and living our vocations, from union with Christ.

155th Missionary Expedition Is 13 Days Away

The 155th Salesian Missionary Expedition Is 13 Days Away

(ANS – Rome – September 16, 2024) – Waiting is growing in the Salesian world for the renewal this year of an ancient rite, always rich in value, started by Don Bosco and never interrupted in the history of the Congregation: the sending of the Salesian Missionary Expedition. The 155th occasion is scheduled for September 29 and will be presided over by Fr. Stefano Martoglio, vicar of the Rector Major and leader of the Salesian Congregation until the election of the next Rector Major at the 29th General Chapter. The celebration will take place in the basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin, starting at 12:30 p.m. (UTC+2).

The missionary dimension belongs to both the Congregation and the Salesian Family. It was observed that at Don Bosco’s death about a fifth of his spiritual children were engaged in Salesian missions in Latin America. From then on, the zeal to bring the Gospel and the charism of Don Bosco to all corners of the world thru an explicit word or through the witness of a life genuinely at the service of the neediest young people, has never stopped and has reached over 135 countries on 6 continents.

For the missionary fire to continue, however, there’s always a need for new standard bearers. And it is here that the evocative event of the missionary expedition takes place; for the Salesians who participate in it, it’s the final stage of several years of vocational and missionary discernment and the culmination of the 5 weeks of their preparatory program.

The 27 Salesians of the 155th SDB missionary expedition will receive the missionary cross, and with them also the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians from the 147th FMA missionary expedition and some lay volunteers from the Community of the Mission of Don Bosco (CMB), a private association of the faithful belonging to the Salesian Family.

Thinking of the many interested parties around the world who won’t be able to be physically present, the live broadcast of the Mass has been scheduled, accessible to all on the ANS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ANSchannel  

“We join in prayer for this sign of fruitfulness and availability at the service of the Church for the good of so many young people around the world!” says the Congregation’s Mission Department.