Homily for Memorial of Sts. Basil & Gregory Nazianzen

Homily for the Memorial of
Sts. Basil & Gregory Nazianzen

Jan. 2, 2025
Collect
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.

This is an adaptation of a homily given 5 years ago to a different community.

St. Basil the Great
(Kyiv Cathedral)

In this season of light, the collect for Sts. Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen speaks of the light that they brought to Christ’s Church by their example and teaching.  They came from the same part of the Roman Empire, from Cappadocia in what’s now Turkey, and they were friends, admirers, and supporters of each other from their youth.  As the excerpt from Gregory in today’s Office of Readings indicates, they had a friendly rivalry—each promoting the excellence of the other.

Basil apparently was marked for greatness from the start.  Gregory was more retiring and had to be pushed toward ecclesiastical office, including by his friend.  Both became bishops, and both were staunch defenders of the divinity of Jesus Christ in the face of Arianism, a heresy that didn’t heed St. John’s teaching:  “Whoever denies the Son doesn’t have the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well” (1 John 2:23).

Arianism was politically correct at the time and caused a lot of grief particularly to Gregory, who had the misfortune, shall we say, of being made patriarch of Constantinople and thus thrust into the teeth of the Arian-inclined imperial court.  His theological writing was so sound and so clear that he became known as “the Theologian,” a title he retains in the Eastern Churches.  Nevertheless, the opposition in Constantinople induced his resignation after just a couple of years, and he retired to a life of recollection and hymn-writing in the friendlier neighborhood of his homeland.

St. Gregory the Theologian
(Kariye Camii, Istanbul)

Basil, on the other hand, didn’t encounter political difficulties.  He mixed a life of prayer with very active pastoral care and practical charity—supporting schools, founding hospitals, promoting monasticism (St. Benedict learned from him a century and a half later), and fostering liturgical life (composing texts for the Eucharist and teaching people to pray the Psalms).  He urged the political authorities to care for the poor and defended true doctrine in writing.

From Basil and Gregory we may learn, as the collect suggests, to pursue the truth with humility and to practice charity.  Humility helps us be loving brothers to each other, to staff, and to others whom Providence sends in our direction.  It takes humility to recognize the truth and not to identify it with just our own opinions.  Pursuing the truth, I suggest, includes taking a keen interest in contemporary events and everything else that touches Christ’s Church, human dignity, natural law, and the common good, so that, like doctors Basil and Gregory we may enlighten others with the Gospel.

Cardinal Angelo Amato, SDB (1938-2024)

Cardinal Angelo Amato Has Died

“Spiritual son of St. John Bosco spent himself for the Gospel for many years with generosity”

Photo: Vatican News

(ANS - Vatican City – January 2, 2025) - Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, passed away on December 31. He was 86 years old. Following his death, the College of Cardinals now consists of 252 cardinals, of whom 139 are electors and 113 are non-electors.

There are now 10 living Salesian cardinals, 5 of whom are potential electors in a conclave.

“I give thanks to God for the edifying witness of this spiritual son of St. John Bosco who for so many years spent himself with human finesse and generosity for the Gospel and the Church. I think of his priestly spirit and the theological preparation with which he served the Holy See, especially in the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. I assure you of my prayers for the soul of this good servant.” This is how Pope Francis remembers Salesian Cardinal Angelo Amato, in a telegram addressed to the vicar of the Rector Major, Fr. Stefano Martoglio.

Angelo Amato was born in Molfetta (Bari), on June 8, 1938, to a family of shipbuilders. The first of four children, he had undertaken his studies at the Nautical Institute in Bari, in the long-distance captains department. But at the beginning of his third year of studies, in October 1953, he decided to abandon this career to enter the Salesian aspirantate in Torre Annunziata. In 1956, he made his first religious profession. After moving to Rome, he studied at the Pontifical  Salesian Athenaeum (now the Pontifical Salesian University), obtaining a licentiate in philosophy. In 1962 he made his perpetual religious profession and began 2 years of practical training at the Salesian school in Cisternino (Brindisi), where he taught literature in the middle school. After obtaining a licentiate in theology at the Salesian University’s School of Theology in Rome, he was ordained a priest on December 22, 1967.

He enrolled at the Pontifical Gregorian University, and in 1974 obtained a doctorate in theology and was immediately called to teach the subject. In 1977 he was sent to Greece by the Secretariat for Christian Unity, spending 4 months in the Jesuits’ Athens residence to prepare for university enrolment. After passing the entrance exam (modern written and spoken Greek), he moved to Thessaloniki as a scholarship holder for the patriarchate of Constantinople. He resided at the Vlatadon Monastery, home of the Orthodox monks’ convent and the Idrima ton Paterikon Meleton (Institute of Patristic Studies), with a library specializing in Orthodox theology and a valuable microfilm collection of Mount Athos manuscripts. He then enrolled in the School of Theology at the University of Thessaloniki, attending Jannis Kaloghirou’s lectures on the history of dogma and Jannis Romanidis’s lectures on systematic dogmatics. At the same time, he conducted research on the sacrament of penance in Greek Orthodox theology from the 16th to the 20th century, which was published in the Analekta Vlatadon series (1982).

Back in Rome, Fr. Amato taught Christology in the School of Theology at the Pontifical Salesian University, of which he was dean from 1981 to 1987 and 1994 to 1999. From 1997 to 2000 he was also vice rector of the university. In 1988 he was sent to Washington for studies on the theology of religions and to complete the Christology textbook. He was then appointed consultant to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Pontifical Councils for Promoting Christian Unity and for Interreligious Dialogue, and councilor of the Pontifical International Marian Academy. In 1999 he was appointed prelate secretary of the restructured Pontifical Academy of Theology and editor of the newly founded theological magazine Path. From 1996 to 2000 he was a member of the theological-historical commission for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000.

Appointed secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on December 19, 2002, and elected to the titular See of Sila with the personal title of archbishop, he received episcopal ordination on January 6, 2003, from Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Basilica.

On July 9, 2008, Benedict XVI called him to succeed Cardinal José Saraiva Martins as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and in the consistory of November 20, 2010, created him cardinal of the Diaconia of Santa Maria in Aquiro. He participated in the conclave of March 2013 that elected Pope Francis. On December 19, 2013, Pope Francis confirmed him “donec aliter provideatur” as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, a post he left in 2018 shortly before turning 80.

In November 2013, Cardinal Amato closed the diocesan phase of the beatification and canonization process of Bishop Tonino Bello in Molfetta Cathedral. “Freedom of thought and action, appreciation of the laity, education for the young, the value of peace, love for one’s neighbor, consideration for the poor,” said the cardinal, “were the teachings” of Bishop Tonino, bishop of Molfetta from 1982 to 1986. His testimony, Cardinal Amato emphasized, “tells us that holiness is not a privilege of the few, but a vocation for all,” because we are all called “to follow Jesus and the theological virtues: faith, hope and charity.”

The Bishop Domenico Cornacchia of Molfetta, together with the entire diocese, remembers Cardinal Amato “with profound gratitude” as “a man of faith and tireless pastor, who served the universal Church and the people of God with great dedication.”

Source: Vatican News

Homily for Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

Homily for the Solemnity of
Mary, Mother of God

January 1, 2025
Luke 2: 16-21
Gal 4: 4-7
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx

Madonna with Sleeping Child
(Andrea Mantegna)

Liturgically, today’s a mass of confusion (pun intended).  We begin a new calendar year by invoking God’s blessing upon his people.  It’s World Day of Peace, and we pray that God bless the whole world with that gift from heaven, more noted for its absence.

It’s the octave day of Christ’s birth, and we repeat one of the gospel readings from Christmas Day, adding the verse about Jesus’ circumcision and naming.  We’re all (Some here, myself included, are) old enuf to remember when the feast was called “the Circumcision of the Lord.”  Now it’s called the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.  She appears in the gospel reading and, unnamed, in the epistle on account of her part in God’s plan to adopt us as his children.

God’s plan is evident in the Christ Child’s naming:  Jesus, “YHWH is salvation.”  He’s named our Savior, “the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb” (Luke 2:21).  In that role of savior, he brings us into God’s family.  He “ransoms those under the law,” Paul says (Gal 4:5); the law would condemn us all because of our transgressions.

The name of Jesus—a name that stands for his whole person, for his nature, for his salvation—is a source of blessing for us.  He personalizes for every Christian the blessing that Aaron was told to bestow on the Israelites (Num 6:22-27).  He’s the embodiment of divine graciousness and kindness (6:25-26).  He blesses his family—all God’s adopted children—with the Holy Spirit, the very Spirit that overshadowed Mary, God the Father’s most highly favored one (Luke 1:28).

Those who heard from the shepherds about their angelic visitation and their finding the child in the manger “were amazed,” Luke tells us (2:18).  The shepherds must have told a lot of people what they’d seen and heard.  Were they all so amazed that the experience changed their lives?  We have no evidence of that.  Theirs may have been an amazement like what we feel when we watch a magician at work or the athletic feats of Shohei Ohtani or Patrick Mahomes.  We gape, then go on about our ordinary lives, unfazed, unchanged.

In contrast to Mother Mary, who “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (2:19).  What she learned from her meditations, she eventually used to teach her Son, to help him grow from infant to adolescent to mature man, to help him become Jesus, YHWH saves.  Given to all of us as mother at the culmination of Jesus’ saving activity (John 20:26-27), she remains our mother, teacher, and helper in our adopted sonship, leading us in our lives as disciples toward the inheritance (cf. Gal 4:7) that Jesus Savior wants to share with us.

Message of the Vicar of the Rector Major

THE MESSAGE OF THE VICAR

Fr. Stefano Martoglio, SDB

WHAT A GIFT TIME IS! 

The beginning of the new year is illuminated in our liturgy by the ancient formula with which the Israelite priests blessed the people: “May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he let his face shine upon you and show you his mercy. May he turn his countenance toward you and give you his peace.” 

Dear friends and readers of Salesian media, we’re at the beginning of a new year. Let’s give each other our best wishes for the time that will be, for the time ahead of us, because time is the gift that contains all the others as our lives unfold.

   So let’s amplify this wish with what will illuminate it. Let’s give our attention to Don Bosco who, when he arrived at the seminary of Chieri, fixed his thoughts on the sundial that still appears on the courtyard wall, and said: “On a sundial I read the following verse: Afflictis lentae, celeres gaudentibus horae. [Time will fly, if you are cheerful; it will drag on, if you are not.] ‘That’s it!’ I said to my friend, ‘There is our program. Let’s always be of good cheer and time will pass quickly.’” (Biographical Memoirs, I, 279).

The first wish we exchange at the beginning of this new year is to live this advice in the way that Don Bosco would urge us: Live well, live serenely, transmit serenity to those around you, and time will have another meaning! Every moment of time is a treasure; but it’s a treasure that passes quickly. Don Bosco always loved to comment: “The three enemies of man are: Death, which overtakes him by surprise; Time, which keeps slipping by; the Devil, who seeks to ensnare him.” (Biographical Memoirs, V, 606).

“Remember that being happy isn’t having a sky without storms, a road without accidents, work without fatigue, relationships without disappointments,” recommends an ancient saying. “Being happy isn’t just celebrating successes, but learning lessons from failures. To be happy is to recognize that life is worth living, despite all the challenges, misunderstandings, and periods of crisis. It’s thanking God every morning for the miracle of life.”

A wise man kept in his study a huge pendulum clock that at every hour sounded solemnly and slowly, but also with a great rumble.

“But doesn’t that bother you?” asked a student.

“No,” replied the wise man. “Because at every hour I have to ask myself: what have I done with the hour that’s just passed?”

Time is the only non-renewable resource. It wears out at an incredible speed. We know that we won’t get a second chance. So all the good we can do, all the love, goodness, and kindness of which we are capable, we must give now because we won’t return to this earth ever again. With a perennial veil of remorse in our hearts, we know that Someone will ask us, “What have you done with all that time I gave you?”

Our Hope Has a Name: Jesus

In the new time that we’ve just begun, the dates and numbers on the calendar are signs agreed upon, symbols and numbers invented to measure time. Very little has changed in the transition from the old year to the new year, yet the perception of a year coming to an end always makes us take stock. How much have we loved? How much have we lost? How much better have we become, or how much worse have we become? Time that passes never leaves us the same.

The liturgy has its own way of making us take stock as the new year dawns. It does so through the opening words of John’s Gospel—words that may seem difficult but that actually reflect the depth of life: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” In the depths of each of our lives resounds a Word greater than we are. It’s the reason why we exist, why the world exists, why everything exists. This Word, this Verbum, is God himself; he is the Son, he is Jesus. The Name given to the reason why we were made is “Jesus.”

He’s the true reason why everything exists; in him that we can understand everything that exists. We shouldn’t judge our life by comparing it with history, with its events and its mentality. Our life can’t be judged by looking at ourselves and our experience alone. Our life is comprehensible only if we draw it close to Jesus. In him everything makes sense and takes on a meaning, even those things that happened to us that were contradictory and unjust. It’s by looking at Jesus that we understand things about ourselves. A psalm says this well when it states, “In your light we see light.”

This is the way of seeing Time according to God’s Heart. Our wish for each other and for ourselves is to live this new time in this way.

The new year will bring with it important events and news for each of us, for the Salesian Family, for our Congregation—everything within the gift of the Jubilee Year that we’re celebrating in the Church.

May we let ourselves be carried away in the spirit of the Jubilee by that Hope which is God’s presence in our lives.

January, the first month of this new year, is dotted with Salesian feasts that lead up to the feast of Don Bosco. We thank God for this delicate touch of the Lord as we begin the new year. Therefore, let’s give the final word to Don Bosco, and let’s set this maxim of his firmly in our lives so that it may shape 2025 for us: My children, treasure time, and time will preserve you for eternity.