Homily for Memorial of Immaculate Heart of Mary

Homily for the Memorial of the
Immaculate Heart of Mary

June 25, 2022
Luke 2: 41-51
Provincial House, New Rochelle

“His mother kept all these things in her heart” (Luke 2: 51).

Finding of the Savior in the Temple

(William H. Hunt)

What things did the mother of Jesus take to heart?  The focus of this familiar story, of course, is Jesus.  In short form, she takes Jesus to her heart, as she’s done since his conception (cf. Luke 2:19).

1st, Jesus recognizes his true Father and wants to be where his Father is and do what his Father wants.  “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (2:49), or in an alternate, equally valid translation, “Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?” (thus Rheims and JB).

Assuredly, Mary must have kept in her heart this knowledge of who her son was, to whom he really belonged.  Altho she didn’t know how God’s plan would develop, the plan told her in general terms by Gabriel, she was ready for whatever that might be.

2d, Jesus displays astounding understanding in his dialogs with the teachers in the temple—the scribes, the teachers of Torah.  It bespeaks the kind of upbringing the boy had already received at home in Nazareth—how important faith and Torah were in that household.  Years later, Jesus’ skeptical neighbors would ask, “Where did this man get all this?” (Mark 6:2).  Some of it was from his native intelligence and talents, as it is with any of us, and part of it was from the hearts of his mother and foster father.

The boy’s interactions with the teachers of the Law also bespeaks Jesus’ own focus in life:  to ask questions of the learned men and to offer his own observations.  He was “listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers” (2:46-47).  We recognize Jesus as “the wisdom of God”—the title comes from St. Paul (1 Cor 1:24)—and his wisdom rests, of course, on his divine Personhood, but in human terms on his love for and mastery of Torah and all that the Lord had done for his people thru the ages, and his desire to focus his own life on all that.  Obviously, Mary and Joseph hadn’t witnessed the boy’s interactions with the teachers during those days.  We may reasonably suppose that some of those men informed the couple of what had been going on—and gave Mary a lot of food for thought, a lot of things to keep in her heart.

3d, we note that Mary and Joseph found Jesus “sitting in the midst of the teachers” (2:46).  God’s Son descended from his Father’s side and “pitched his tent among us,” in St. John’s evocative phrase (1:14)—note the endorsement of camping!  Thruout his public life Jesus would surround himself with people—the 12, the holy women who followed him and provided for them (Luke 8:1-3), and other disciples.  God’s Son wants to be in the midst of people, wants to be with us—not a distant Redeemer but one marked by accompaniment.  “When 2 or 3 gather together in my name, I’m there in their midst” (Matt 18:20).  He got his initiation into human closeness from his earthly parents and his “brothers and sisters,” his kin, at Nazareth (6:3).

Mary “kept all these things in her heart.”  The collect this morning calls her heart “a fit dwelling place for the Holy Spirit.”  It was fertile soil for her reflections on Jesus as she watched him mature, as she listened to his preaching, as she became the center of the disciples gathered in the upper room after his ascension.  St. Augustine says so aptly that Mary conceived God’s Word in her heart before she conceived him in her womb.  So she was ready for the Holy Spirit, ready for Jesus.

The collect prays that, with Mary interceding for us, “we may be worthy temples of [God’s] glory.”  Our worthiness comes from imitating her:  from keeping God’s Word in our hearts and, like her, letting our hearts lead us to act on the Word.

Homily for Tuesday, 12th Week of Ordinary Time

Homily for Tuesday
12th Week of Ordinary Time

June 21, 2022
2 Kings 19: 9-11, 14-21, 31-36
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph Residence, New Rochelle

“You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth” (2 Kings 19: 15).

Sennacherib bas-relief. Photo by Timo Roller - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39985581

2 Kings 18-19, just a little of which appears in our lectionary, provides us with accounts of the Assyrian assault on the kingdom of Judah, part of a broad campaign to subdue the rebellious western provinces of their brutal empire.  These chapters contrast the arrogance of the Assyrians with the Jews’ humble reliance on the Lord.   According to the boasting of Sennacherib, numbers, military might, and siege works make him lord of the earth; he mocks the powerless gods of the nations, including the God of Israel.

King Hezekiah of Judah—one of the few kings recognized in our Scriptures as devout and upright—prays to the Lord for deliverance, and the Lord sends Isaiah to announce his answer:  Jerusalem laughs at the power of Assyria (19:21), and Sennacherib will be forced to retreat (19:28).  Today’s last verse recounts how a plague of some sort devastated the Assyrian camp and compelled them to go home (19:35-36).  The Lord proved himself more powerful than a mighty army and the gods of Nineveh.  Lord Byron tells this tale in a magnificent 6-stanza poem, “The Destruction of Sennacherib.”

Every government and many scientists, businessmen, scholars, journalists, and others who shape public opinion and public policy fall into the temptations of Assyria:  to think that wisdom and power come from armies, money, study, laboratories, and “expertise.”  You may remember David Halberstam’s book about how The Best and the Brightest technocrats and academics led us into the Vietnam War and couldn’t get us out of it.

The Jewish experience and Jesus’ teachings tell us something else.  Russia is the latest empire to face this issue and seems no readier than Assyria to learn from it.  Western society has our own lessons to learn, our own ways in which we pretend to wisdom, usurp the ways of the Creator:  seeking salvation in weapons, reproductive technology, perversions of sexuality, decisions about life and death.

Hezekiah (Wikipedia)

Your role as teachers was once to try to impart authentic wisdom to the young—the wisdom of Hezekiah and Isaiah—by which to guide their lives and influence their families and their careers.  Now your role is to pray like Hezekiah for your past pupils, which you do, and for our national and international leaders and all who shape mores and policies.  It’s a lot!  Join Hezekiah’s plea:  “Lord our God, save us from the power of [human beings], that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God” (19:19).

Homily for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi

Homily for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi

June 19, 2022
Luke 9: 11-17
1 Cor 11: 23-26
St. Joseph Church, New Rochelle, N.Y.

Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish

(Ambrosius Francken)

“The 12 approached him and said, ‘We’re in a deserted place here.’  He said to them, ‘Give them some food yourselves’” (Luke 9: 12-13).

Jesus has spent a day teaching and healing—2 ways in which he reveals the kingdom of God, 2 ways in which he delivers salvation “to the crowds” (9:11).  Now the day’s ending, it’s getting dark, and the apostles tell Jesus to send the crowds off to fend for themselves.  It’s an image of his followers’ situation after his ascension.  The crowds of his disciples would be “in a deserted place,” a world without their teacher and master, abandoned, left on their own.

Except that’s not how Jesus left them, how he’s left us.  He told the apostles to organize the crowds:  “Have them sit down in groups of about 50” (9:14)—and then to give them food.  Inspired by the Holy Spirit whom Jesus left to his disciples (which we celebrated 2 weeks ago on Pentecost), the disciples organized themselves to continue Jesus’ mission of announcing the kingdom of God.  That’s how the Church was born; that’s what the Church does; that’s why the Church is organized and isn’t just a loose collection of people, a crowd of individuals.

And the Church feeds the followers of Christ—feeds us with Jesus Christ himself under the appearance of bread and wine—bread foreshadowed by Jesus’ multiplication of the loaves in that deserted place.  He blessed that bread, broke those loaves, “and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowds” (9:16), so much that there was a superabundance.  At every celebration of the Eucharist, the priest acts in the person of Christ—note that he always pronounces, “This is my body … this is my blood,” not “This is his body … this is his blood,” because it’s Christ who is speaking, Christ who is acting, Christ who is blessing, breaking, and giving the bread and wine that have become not bread and wine but his very Body and Blood.

In our deserted place, this world that sometimes seems to barren and hopeless, in which sometimes we feel lost and overwhelmed, Jesus, thru his Church, still feeds us.  He’s never left us alone in the dark, never abandoned us.  We have a superabundance of his presence in the Holy Eucharist, the feast of his Body and Blood.

That’s how it’s been since the 1st days of the Church.  Our 2d reading was from one of St. Paul’s letters to the Christian community at Corinth in Greece.  He wrote that letter in the mid-50s A.D.—only 25 years after Christ’s death and resurrection, 25 years after the Last Supper, “the nite he was handed over,” the nite on which Jesus “took bread, and after he had given thanks, broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you.  Do this in remembrance of me”; and likewise with a cup of wine (11:23-25).  Paul continues, teaching us that every time we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes (11:26).  He will come again because he is alive, and when we remember his Body and Blood, he is present among us, he is with us, as much as he was with the 12 at the Last Supper, as much as he was with 2 other disciples at Emmaus when he blessed, broke, and gave them bread as they sat down for supper (Luke 24:30).

This bread and this wine become his actual Body and Blood, no longer bread and wine but only appearing so.  A friend of 20-century Catholic writer Flannery O’Connor once described the Eucharist to her as a “pretty good symbol.”  O’Connor responded, “If it’s just a symbol, to hell with it.”  It would be useless for our salvation.  It’s not a symbol on our altar, not a commemoration like many Americans will be celebrating today if they read the Emancipation Proclamation, celebrating the freedom announced to slaves in Texas on Juneteenth (June 19, 1865).

No, the Eucharist doesn’t represent Jesus Christ, merely making us think of him but otherwise not touching our lives.  It is Jesus Christ, and thru it he touches us with healing, with grace, with his saving life, death, and resurrection.  That’s why Sunday Mass is essential to us as his disciples.

That’s why St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians continues (in the verses after what we read here), “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord.  A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup.  For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself” (11:27-29).  It is Jesus Christ whom we approach at Communion, Jesus Christ whom we consume.  If we don’t recognize that, or if we come forward without repenting our sins, then we are despising Jesus Christ, and we eat his Body blasphemously.  That’s why some bishops have given solemn warnings to politicians who advocate for the slaughter of unborn human beings, which is as grave a sin as one can commit.  Unborn lives matter!  Those bishops, therefore, are challenging the sacrilegious communions of pro-abortion politicians—and anyone who’s pro-abortion—and calling for them to repent.

If we are repentant sinners, tho—and we’re all sinners, it’s just a question of our turning to Jesus in sorrow—then he invites us to come to him.  “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and my soul shall be healed” (Communion Rite).  He comes to us in person with salvation, with grace, with the promise of eternal life.

Salesian Missionary Volunteers

Salesian Missionary Volunteers

Advisory Board Meets for First Time

(ANS – Turin – June 16, 2022) - The Salesian Missionary Volunteer (SMV) Advisory Board met in Valdocco from May 31 to June 9 to draw up the first strategic plan to promote SMV in the Salesian Congregation.

There is only one Salesian charism and, following the wings of the Spirit, it is embodied in every context, respecting and enriching it. A privileged expression of this dynamism is missionary volunteerism, that is, when young persons decide to spend part of their life in a place other than home by putting themselves at the service of a Salesian work, guided by the community that welcomes them and prepared by a specific training course before departure.

Following Don Bosco’s example, the Salesians have always cherished such experiences and continue to promote them throughout the Salesian world. Following the publication of the handbook “Volunteering in the Salesian Mission” in 2019, some lay volunteer coordinators in their provinces began to gather periodically to share the challenges and joys of their work, and gradually the Salesian sectors for missions and youth ministry joined forces to initiate a broader reflection on Salesian missionary volunteerism. Thus the SMV Advisory Board was born: a very fine example of a shared mission between lay and consecrated people and full collaboration between youth ministry and mission animation.

Team members at the moment are Fr. Pavel Zenisek and Marco Fulgaro, members of the sector for missions; Fr. Rafael Bejarano Rivera, member of the sector for youth ministry; Juan Carlos Montenegro from the U.S. Western Province; Lauren Hichaaba from the Australia-Pacific Province; and Adam Rudin from the U.S. East and Canada Province.

After two years of online meetings, with flexible schedules due to time zones (6 a.m. in Australia, 10 p.m. in Italy), the advisory board met for the first time in person in Valdocco, from May 31 to June 9. They were 10 days of very intense work, out of which came the strategic plan draft for the coming years to strengthen SMV at the congregational level. Four areas were identified after discussion with the provinces, through 2 surveys and several personal interviews, and after reflection by the team: collaboration and networking, formation, accompaniment, and development. For each of these areas, several objectives were identified, with activities to be put into practice counting on the help of many different actors in the Salesian world.

The work was accompanied by the general councilors for youth ministry and for missions, Fr. Miguel Angel Garcia Morcuende and Fr. Alfred Maravilla, in line with the planning of the sectors, in which there are several indications of volunteerism.

Furthermore, the reflection was broadened by sharing with all the regional councilors, who expressed their vision of SMV within the countries belonging to each of the 7 regions of the Salesian Congregation, and by a discussion with the sector team for formation.

“May this work bear fertile fruit for the benefit of so many young people and Salesian communities around the world!” is the wish of the members of the SMV Advisory Board after this intense period of engagement.

Homily for Friday, Week 11 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Friday
11th Week of Ordinary Time

June 17, 2022
Matt 6: 19-23
2 Kings 11:1-4, 9-18, 20
Salesian HS, New Rochelle, N.Y.

“Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth’” (Matt 6: 19).

In the 1st reading the Scriptures show us the example of a wicked queen who sought earthly treasure, or at least power, to the point of murdering the entire royal family except for one child who was hidden.  History provides many such examples, right up to today, of rulers, business people, and others who pursue wealth, power, or some other objective at any cost, causing immense personal and social destruction—e.g., thru violence or environmental devastation.

The Sermon on the Mount (Cosimo Rosselli)

Christ teaches us something different.  He reminds us that earthly wealth, as well as power, pleasure, and fame, is fragile, temporary, passing.  It might be lost or stolen or disappear at any time.  Power can be taken away.  Money can be robbed or lost thru bad investments.  Beauty and strength fade with time.

What remains?  What can we really count on?  Jesus speaks of “treasures in heaven,” and he says these treasures can be “stored up” (Matt 6:20).  These are all the acts of love we’ve carried out—he speaks of our hearts (6:21)—all the loving words we’ve spoken, all the prayers we’ve offered, all the sacrifices we’ve made on behalf of Christ.

All our faithfulness to Jesus our Savior he counts in our favor, little treasures he puts to our heavenly account—so that when we pass from this world into eternity and leave behind all that the world thinks is important, Jesus will greet us at his door:  “Well done, good and faithful servant.  Come and share your lord’s joy” (Matt 25:21).  If we’ve given Jesus our heart on earth, his heart will be ours forever.

Homily for Tuesday, 11th Week of Ordinary Time

Homily for Tuesday
11th Week of Ordinary Time

June 14, 2022
1 Kings 21: 17-29
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, New Rochelle

Elijah confronts Ahab & Jezebel in Naboth's vineyard

(Thomas Matthews Rook)

Yesterday’s reading and today’s narrate the story of Naboth, Ahab, and Elijah.  Naboth is an upright man who follows Torah.  Ahab is an oppressive monarch who has no concern for Torah.  He’s followed false gods, and now he murders someone who stands in his way, abetted by his idolatrous wife.  Like Nathan confronting David, Elijah comes to reproach the king and pronounce judgment.

God doesn’t tolerate rival gods, as we saw last week in the story of the prophets of Baal.  Nor does he tolerate social injustice, putting one’s property or power above one’s fidelity to himself.  He sides with the poor and the powerless.  His prophets remind us of that, of our religious obligations to him, and of our social bonds to one another—prophets like Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa in our own time.

Pope Francis, like St. John Paul before him, also has been a prophetic voice constantly reminding us of these truths.  He challenges us religious, e.g., to be faithful to our charism and our calling, and he challenges the world at large regarding the poor and the powerless, for example concerning war, migrants, the environment, the oppression of women and children thru trafficking and pornography, abortion and God’s plan for sexuality, care for the victims of disasters and violence.

We try to be sensitive to such concerns and to be faithful to our commitments as religious.  We know that we always stand under God’s judgment, like Ahab.  Each day the Word of God, like Elijah, meets us with a measurement of our words and actions, even our thoughts and attitudes—not so much regarding people on the other side of the world as the brothers in our own house and the sisters who attend us.

Don Bosco's Dream for Laos Takes Shape

Don Bosco’s Dream for Laos Takes Shape

Collaboration between Lao Youth Union and the Salesians

(ANS – Vientiane, Laos – June 13, 2022) - On Thursday, June 9, at the headquarters of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Youth Union, the Phase IV Agreement between the Salesian Society of Thailand Foundation and the Youth Development Department of the Lao Youth Union was officially signed. Signing the agreement were Piya Yathotoo, on behalf of the Lao Youth Union, and, on the Salesian side, Fr. John Bosco Dheparat Pitisant, SDB provincial of Thailand. The Salesian presences in Laos and Cambodia depend on the Thai Province. The signing ceremony was also attended by Fr. Patrizio Maccioni, director of the Don Bosco Vocational Training Center, and Fr. John Paul Vu Van Trung, treasurer, as Salesian representatives.

The ceremony was introduced by a speech by Fr. Dheparat, followed by that of the secretary general of the Lao Youth Union, Monchai Laomuasong.

“We hope that this signing ceremony of the Phase IV Agreement will continue to make Don Bosco’s dream for Laos a reality,” say the Thai Salesians.

The Salesian province of Thailand first signed a cooperation agreement with the Lao People’s Revolutionary Youth Union in 2008. Subsequently, the agreement was renewed three times for the periods 2008-2009, 2010-2014 and 2016-2021.

The work of the Salesians in Laos began under the good auspices of Mary Help of Christians on May 24, 2004, under the leadership of Italian missionary Fr. Tito Pedron. Don Bosco’s spiritual sons began their work simply by repairing small vehicles: an activity that was carried out by 5 young Laotian men who had studied at the Don Bosco Technological College in Bangkok, Thailand.

Later, this work expanded and became the Don Bosco Vocational Training Center at its present location. The house was canonically erected on January 17, 2019, and now forms a community of Fr. Maccioni as director, Fr. Vu Van Trung as treasurer, and Fr. John Baptist Huy Huang.

The center offers courses in electricity, automotive mechanics, motorcycle repair, and welding. In this first semester of 2022, 56 boys attended, 38 of whom boarding students. Eight are Catholics.

Nine Salesians Ordained Deacons

Nine Salesians Ordained Deacons

(ANS – Jerusalem – June 13, 2022) – On June 12, at the Church of All Nations in Gethsemane, Abp. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, Patriarch of Jerusalem, ordained 9 young Salesians from the Salesian Monastery of Ratisbonne as deacons. The newly ordained deacons belong to eight different Salesian provinces: Delhi, Guwahati, Zambia, United States East, Lombardy-Emilia, Sicily, Africa Great Lakes, and Papua New Guinea-Solomon Islands. 

The new deacon from the U.S. is Bro. Joshua Sciullo, at the far left among the newly ordained in the photo.  Bro. Josh will spend the summer at the Salesian parish of St. Benedict in Etobicoke, Ont., beginning to learn how to minister to the people of God as a deacon.  For the coming school year, he'll be assigned to the formation community in Orange, N.J., continuing to serve as a deacon at Our Lady of the Valley Church and to finish his theological studies at Immaculate Conception Seminary in South Orange.

The solemn ceremony was also attended by Fr. Alfred Maravilla, general councilor for Missions, Fr. Alejandro Leon Mendoza, provincial of the Middle East, Fr. Erino Andrea Leoni, vice provincial from Lombardy, Fr. Francesco di Natale, vice provincial of Sicily, and Fr. David Moreno, U.S. East provincial secretary.

Diocesan Phase of Fr. Silvio Galli's Cause Concludes

Diocesan Phase of the Cause of Fr. Silvio Galli, SDB, Concludes

(ANS – Chiari, Italy – June 9, 2022) – On Sunday, June 12, tenth anniversary of the birth to Heaven of the Servant of God Fr. Silvio Galli, SDB, the diocesan inquiry into the life, virtues, and reputation for holiness of the Servant of God will officially conclude in Chiari. Fr. Galli was born at Palazzolo Milanese, Sept. 10, 1927, and died in Chiari, June 12, 2012. After the necessary preliminary acts, the inquiry opened in Chiari Cathedral on Oct. 11, 2020. It represents a first, fundamental stage in the cause of Fr. Galli’s beatification and canonization.

For this important date, the Salesian General Postulation, in agreement with the Salesians and the local Church, prepared a triduum of events:

On Friday, June 10, a prayer cenacle for the cause of Fr. Galli was held at the Salesian institute San Bernardino in Chiari, animated by Fr. Pier Luigi Cameroni, postulator general for the Causes of saints of the Salesian Family.

On Saturday, June 11, also at the Salesian institute in Chiari, an outreach meeting on the figure of the Servant of God took place, entitled: “The Spirit Makes Saints: The path of Fr. Silvio Galli’s cause for Canonization.” Dr. Lodovica Maria Zanet, collaborator of the Salesian General Postulation, spoke.

Finally, on Sunday, June 12, again at the San Bernardino Institute, the fundamental act took place, the closing session of the diocesan inquiry. The bishop of Brescia, Pierantonio Tremolada, presided over the Eucharist, and Fr. Angel Fernández Artime offered closing words.

The celebration can be watched in live streaming on the YouTube channel of the diocesan weekly of Brescia, “La Voce del Popolo.“ 

If one imagines a cause as a “heart” (with diastole in which blood is collected in the cardiac cavities, and systole in which it is pumped and thus released into the bloodstream), one can think of the diocesan inquest as the “diastole” moment because it is first and foremost in charge of collecting documentary and testimonial evidence. At the end of the diocesan inquiry, such evidence is taken to Rome to be studied and finalized: thus begins the “Roman Phase,” in which first the Congregation for the Causes of Saints studies the juridical validity of the procedural Acts of the diocesan inquiry; then, the Postulation, under the guidance of a Vatican “relator,” demonstrates the heroic virtues of Fr. Silvio’s life by writing a full-bodied and articulate treatment, the “Positio.” One can thus think of the “Roman Phase” as the moment of “systole,” in which what is collected in the diocese is “entered” there where the Church itself demonstrates and evaluates the holiness of its Servants of God.

The “Positio,” in fact, once presented in the Vatican, will first be voted on by a group of theological consultors of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints; then, by a group of cardinals and bishops of the Congregation itself, thanks in particular to its presentation by a “cardinal prefect.” The Postulation stands ready, at each step, to respond to any objections, integrate, clarify.

If the process concludes positively, the Pope can then, upon the proposal of the cardinal prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, grant that the decree of Venerability of Fr. Silvio Galli be promulgated; he will then become a “Venerable” Servant of God.

Salesians Accompany War-affected Population

For over 100 days, Salesians have been accompanying war-affected population

(ANS – Kiev – June 9, 2022) - “People fleeing the war are no longer arriving in as large numbers as they were a few weeks ago, and some are even returning to their cities. The war is now concentrated in the east, but we continue to welcome and take care of those who arrive. They need shelter, food, health, and psychological care; we also accompany minors by offering them the opportunity to attend school,” explains a Salesian from Krakow, Poland.

Global Salesian solidarity has contributed to alleviating the Ukrainian emergency with numerous initiatives of all kinds. Now that it is clear that the war will not end soon, a second phase of planning and projects to rebuild homes, hospitals, and schools in Ukraine is already underway.

Still, there is always a need for immediate and urgent help to cope with the emergencies that still directly affect millions of Ukrainian citizens, those still residing in the areas most closely affected by the armed conflict.

Don Bosco’s sons continue to distinguish themselves on this front as well, working for the purchase, transport, and distribution of basic necessities in Ukraine; the provision of housing, furniture, and utensils for refugees received in Salesian facilities; support for the maintenance of the displaced and refugee population; etc.

Among the dozens of Salesians engaged since Feb. 24 in alleviating the suffering of the Ukrainian population, two can be mentioned by way of example: Fr. Oleh Ladnyuk, who has always remained in Dnipro, and Fr. Hryhoriy Shved, director of the Vynnykah community. They visit regularly to accompany and encourage families in Lysychansk, Sewerodoneck, Herson, and Mykolajeh. When people need food or other materials, they bring them.

The two, both of whom belong to the vice province of Greek Catholic Ukraine, represent just some of the latest vectors of worldwide Salesian solidarity, which has involved and continues to involve thousands of people around the world, through communities, works, schools, oratories, parishes, volunteers, benefactors, etc.

Since the beginning of the conflict, more than 15,000 displaced people have passed through Salesian facilities. And more than 5,000 people continue to receive daily assistance in Salesian houses in Ukraine and neighboring countries.

Now more than 100 days after the beginning of the war, and as the world is slowly getting used to this new conflict as well – as it did for Syria, Ethiopia, Yemen, and the countless other forgotten wars still being waged all over the world – it may be useful to revive the appeal that Alexia, a young Ukrainian refugee currently taken in by the Salesians in Krakow, made to Misiones Salesianas, the Salesian mission office of Madrid: “Don’t forget about us. We’re grateful for all the help and prayers, but we left Dnipro two and a half months ago, and we just want it to be over so we can go home. After 100 days of the war in Ukraine, we want to be reunited with our families!”

Her words are the same as those of most refugee women and children. The city of origin and the date of arrival change, but the impossibility of understanding the war and the desire for peace do not.

Homily for Trinity Sunday

Homily for Trinity Sunday

June 12, 2022
Prov 8: 22-31
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph Residence, New Rochelle
St. Joseph Church, New Rochelle, N.Y.

“I was beside him as his craftsman … and I found delight in the human race” (Prov 8: 30-31).

Ancient of Days (William Blake)

In our 1st reading, Wisdom is personified, speaking as God’s collaborator in the creation of the universe.

According to our Christian understanding of God, Divine Wisdom is indeed personified in the 2d Person of the Holy Trinity, in God the Son.  St. Paul calls Christ “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:24).  The greatest church in Christendom in the Middle Ages was Hagia Sophia, “Holy Wisdom,” the cathedral of Constantinople, consecrated to Christ the Wisdom of God.

The reading from Proverbs tells us that Wisdom—God the Son in our Christian interpretation—joins the Father in creating an orderly universe, a “wise” universe.  It’s interesting that Divine Wisdom calls herself—in Proverbs Wisdom is feminine, but that shouldn’t stop us from linking her with the Son of God, for Christ encompasses all of humanity—Wisdom calls herself a “craftsman.”  A craftsman is what Jesus became as a human being.  He was a craftsman and the legal son of a craftsman—or, as we usually put it in English, a carpenter, the son of a carpenter.  The Wisdom of God shaped the universe, and the human race within that universe; the Wisdom of God also crafted our redemption after we tried by our sins to ruin what God had created.  The Son of God re-created the universe, made us, as St. Paul says, “a new creation” (2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15).

You’re no doubt more used to connecting wisdom with the Holy Spirit than with God the Son.  Long ago, when preparing for Confirmation, we learned that wisdom is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  And when we pray for wisdom, more likely we turn to the Holy Spirit than to Jesus.

The Holy Spirit is the connector, the bonder, the unifier, the super glue.  He’s the bond of union between the Father and the Son.  He comes from the Father and the Son to us to join us to them.  “The love of God has been poured into our hearts thru the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Rom 5:5).  So the Divine Wisdom and Divine Love flow from the Father and the Son to us thru the Spirit.

What is wisdom?  Nothing to do with being a “wise guy,” of course.  At Christmas we refer to the “wise men.”  Who were they?  Men who sought Christ!  Wisdom consists in seeking God, or seeking all that God is:  truth, goodness, virtue.  As the Bible says, “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps 110:10; cf. Prov 1:7; 9:10; Job 28:28).  “Fear” in this context means reverence.  It’s wise to revere God.  This kind of wisdom, the kind that looks for goodness and truth, is the Lord’s “delight day by day,” as our 1st reading proclaims (Prov 8:30).

The reading ends with this line:  “I found delight in the human race.”  It wasn’t enuf that Wisdom created the universe.  No—Wisdom wants to be with the best part of creation, with people.  As Christians we believe, in fact, that Divine Wisdom became one of us:  “The Word was made flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14).

God’s Son “delights in the human race” so much that he became human, conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit.  He was born of Mary, lived among us for more than 30 years, and formed very close bonds of friendship with chosen men and women.

And why did God, in his wisdom, do that?  Out of love, out of a desire to have humanity as his companions and friends forever:  “I found delight in the human race.”  Today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Trinity, which is God as family, to use human terms we can understand.  God wants his family to be expanded.  So he adopts us as his children—chosen and beloved like the apostles—by making us like his Son Jesus.  Jesus pours out his Holy Spirit upon us, bonding us intimately to himself.  We become “sons in the Son,” to use an old phrase, God’s children because Christ has laid hold of us and clasped us to himself, so much does he love us and want us as his own.

Homily for Thursday, 10th Week of Ordinary Time

Homily for Thursday
10th Week of Ordinary Time

June 9, 2022
1 Kings 18: 41-46
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, New Rochelle

“Elijah said to Ahab, ‘Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of heavy rain” (1 Kings 18: 41).

In yesterday’s reading, Elijah challenged the 450 prophets of Baal to a duel that would demonstrate the YHWH was God and Baal was an empty idol, worthy of the mockery thrown at him by the sacred writer.  The prophet told the assembled Israelites to quit straddling the issue and make a decision, to follow YHWH or Baal and stop compromising their worship (18:21)—like what Bp. Paprocki has told politicians in his diocese of Springfield, Colorado’s bishops have told state legislators, and as you’ve all heard, Abp. Cordileone has told Nancy Pelosi:  stop straddling the moral fence and decide either to act like Catholics or recognize that you’re out of communion with the Body of Christ.

In Elijah’s case, YHWH won the duel; he alone provided fire to consume the prepared holocaust.  The lectionary skips over the verse wherein Elijah slits the throats of all the prophets of Baal (18:40).  Our “Catholic” politicians are fortunate they’re dealing only with bishops and not with Elijah.

Today’s reading brings us to the aftermath.  The land has been purged of Baal worshipers (not really, because shortly Jezebel will seek to put Elijah to death, compelling him to flee [19:1-3]).  But with the Lord acknowledged, apparently even by weak-kneed Ahab, the drought and the famine can end.  The king may enjoy a feast, and presumably Elijah and others with him, and rain comes at last, after 3½ years.

“The hand of the Lord was on Elijah” (18:46), who exercised his prophecy in the Lord’s name and recalled the people to fidelity, as St. Luke and Jesus himself would later say of John the Baptist (Luke 1:17, Mark 9:12-13), recognizing him as a new Elijah.

One of the offices of us religious is to recall Christ’s people to fidelity to him, and indeed to bear witness to the whole world that Christ alone is Lord.  On that issue, the world at large and even Catholics are inclined to straddle the fence; all too often, us too in the way we think and speak and act.

Asked what’s wrong with the world today, G.K. Chesterton responded, “I am.”  Before we look at Pelosi or Putin or the brother sitting next to us, thinking he needs a conversion experience, if we listen to Chesterton’s wisdom, we’ll admit that I need conversion; I need a more complete commitment to the Lord.  The end of society’s miserable drought and famine—so many ills that we can’t number them all—begins with me.

Homily for Tuesday, 10th Week of Ordinary Time

Homily for Tuesday
10th Week of Ordinary Time

June 7, 2022
1 Kings 17: 7-16
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, New Rochelle

“I have designated a widow there to provide for you” (1 Kings 17: 9).

Elijah & the widow of Zarephath (Jan Pynas)

We missed the beginning of Elijah’s story yesterday if we used the proper readings for the memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church.  Elijah’s narrative doesn’t tell us why he went into exile east of the Jordan and now moves far westward to Phoenicia, beyond the reach of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel.

What we are told is that in a time of extended drought and famine God provides for Elijah both in the eastern wilderness and at Zarephath, in the 1st case by the ministry of ravens and in the latter case by the trusting generosity of a widow.

In the last 3 months we’ve been hearing a lot about how many poor people, especially in Africa, are going to suffer hunger because the wheat and other foodstuffs on which they depend have been cut off by the war in Ukraine.  Even before that disaster, tens of thousands have been starving in Yemen because of civil war there, and millions have been endangered by persistent drought in the Horn of Africa, exacerbated also by war.

These hungry thousands and millions don’t have a poor widow or a Hebrew prophet to rescue them from hunger.  Whom has the Lord designated for them?  The U.N. makes some feeble efforts to send relief, and I think Catholic Relief Services are trying to help in Africa; but too often that’s blocked by war and political opposition.  Pope Francis has denounced the use of food as a weapon in Ukraine, accusing the Russians (without naming them) of using food exports to try to extort sanctions relief.

Is the Lord designating us to provide for the starving?  Of course, we can’t do anything to get wheat out of Ukraine or to relieve the hungry in the Horn of Africa—except to be aware and to pray.  This our act of trust in God, as the widow trusted when she welcomed Elijah.  We trust that there’s power in prayer.

We can, further, sometimes help relieve hunger closer to home, where hard economic times are compelling so many to turn to food pantries, and those pantries are often lacking because of supply chain problems for the grocery stores that donate to them and the inflationary cost of food.  Perhaps we have opportunities to help those pantries from the relative abundance in our own pantries or in our finances—and thus to let the light of our faith shine before others (cf. Matt 5:16).

Blessed Stephen Sandor "Returns Home"

Blessed Stephen Sandor “Returns Home”

(ANS – Budapest – June 5, 2022) – A solemn Mass took place on Saturday, June 4, at the Salesian Clarisseum in Budapest. The main celebrant was the Rector Major, Fr. Angel Fernández Artime. The blessing and placement of the reliquary of Blessed Stephen Sandor took place at the end of the Mass.

Providentially, a few weeks ago, the entire building, where the headquarters of the Hungarian province and some other buildings which the communist regime had nationalized 72 years ago, was handed back to the Salesians as their property. Included is the printing house where Bro. Stephen Sandor worked. In these courtyards an emotional celebration took place, attended by numerous members of the Salesian Family. At the beginning of the celebration, the provincial, Fr. Janos Andrasfalvy, extended greetings to all present, in particular to the Rector Major, the regional councilor for Central and Northern Europe, Fr. Roman Jachimowicz, the postulator general, Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni, Fr. Jorge Crisafulli, superior of the province of Nigeria-Niger, Fr. Albert Van Hecke, former provincial in Hungary, and Bryan Magro, world president of the Confederation of Past Pupils. The presence of some older men who had been boys in Stephen Sandor’s time or his fellow prisoners was most significant.

In his homily the Rector Major stressed that it is God who guides history and events, even when it is human beings who wish to pursue death and injustice: “Blessed Stephen Sandor is coming home and we, the Salesian Family, friends of Don Bosco, Salesians of Don Bosco, can return home to where we live and continue to do good…. Stephen Sandor’s relics, like the relics of all the saints and blesseds, are like stars in the heavens that strengthen our faith…. A reliquary has a strong symbolic meaning expressing Stephen Sandor’s life; in particular is the Salesian cross with its motto “Strive to make yourself loved.” The Lord’s cross is stronger than all of the world’s chains. You can injure a few thinkers, you can kill a few people, but you can never silence God. You cannot silence the goodness of so many people who cherish the faith and the Gospel. Here we have the testimony of a young Salesian brother, a printer who assisted among the boys, taught catechism, loved God and Don Bosco, and his life is more forceful because he is a model of life for us.

The reliquary, the work of a goldsmith, holds the relics rediscovered and identified in 2019.

Homily for Solemnity of Pentecost

Homily for the Solemnity of Pentecost

June 5, 2022
Acts 2: 1-11
St. Joseph, New Rochelle, N.Y.

“They were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2: 4).

Pentecost (Bernard van Orley)

The Acts of the Apostles, a history of the beginnings of Christianity composed by St. Luke, narrates the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Church 10 days after the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven.  This is in ch. 2.  Luke tells us in ch. 1 that the disciples of Jesus numbered about 120 men and women, including “Mary the mother of Jesus” (1:14-15), and they spent those 10 days gathering in the same room, the so-called upper room, where Jesus had celebrated Passover with his 12 closest followers, the apostles, and where he had appeared to them after rising from the dead.

The 1st of those appearances after Jesus’ resurrection is the one we read from the gospel of St. John (20:19-23).  While Acts reports that the Holy Spirit came upon all 120 disciples on Pentecost Day, St. John describes Jesus giving the Spirit to the apostles on Easter nite.

In either narrative, what’s important is that Jesus has given the Holy Spirit to the disciples, i.e., to the Church.  Acts tells us, “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit”—all of them together as a united body of followers of Jesus, and all of them as individual members of that body.

Acts brings out that the disciples, filled with the Holy Spirit, at once proclaimed “the mighty acts of God” (2:11).  In John’s Gospel, the Spirit is given for the forgiveness of sins (20:23).  Forgiveness, spiritual healing, is the 1st mighty act of God.

Writing to the Corinthians, St. Paul indicates another individual gift of the Holy Spirit:  “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3).  In Baptism and Confirmation the Holy Spirit has been given to each one of us.  Each of us is empowered to recognize that Jesus is our Savior, Jesus is our Lord.  Each of us is to “proclaim the mighty acts of God,” recognizing that God loves us and God forgives us thru Jesus Christ, and to proclaim that by holy lives based upon our personal relationship with Jesus.  The Spirit leads us into such a personal relationship, enabling us to pray to Jesus, to hear his word, and to act on his word.  In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul writes:  “The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.  And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (8:26-27 RSV).

The Spirit is given to the entire body of Christ’s disciples.  Thru the Holy Spirit, the Church celebrates the sacraments.  We don’t celebrate sacraments as individuals but as members of Christ’s body, bonded to him by the Holy Spirit.  In Baptism we are born again by water and the Holy Spirit.  In the Eucharist, we invoke the Spirit upon the bread and wine on our altar that they may become the Body and Blood of Christ—listen for that during the Eucharistic Prayer.  The spiritual gift of marriage unites a man and a woman as a sacramental image of the union between Christ and the Church.  By the laying on of hands, a bishop invokes the Holy Spirit and transforms a man into a priest, into “another Christ,” empowered to preach God’s word like the disciples on Pentecost Day, to forgive sins, to anoint the sick, to celebrate the Eucharist.

The Spirit is given to the entire body of Christ’s disciples, to the universal Church, so that the Church may know and teach the truth.  The Spirit inspires the sacred Scriptures that rule our faith.  God’s Word teaches us that God loves us, teaches the truth that every man and woman has been created by God and bears a personal dignity coming from God, teaches that God intends men and women to live a happy eternity with him because they’ve been sealed with the gift of his Holy Spirit.  The Church teaches these truths with practical applications from age to age, addressing timeless moral issues like honoring and caring for our parents, speaking truthfully, respecting the property of others, and treating every person with respect regardless of sex, color, age, ethnicity, or any other distinction.  The Church addresses new moral questions as they arise, questions of war and peace, with respect for God’s creation (environmental issues), human sexuality, and the migration of peoples.  The Church speaks on these issues with the power of the Holy Spirit given to her by Jesus our Lord.  If someone chooses to ignore the Church, thinking that his or her personal wisdom is greater, then one is despising the Holy Spirit.

Why is our society being ripped apart by racism, by violence, by the killing of unwanted human beings by abortion and ethnic cleansing, by terrorism, by national lust for territory and power?  Because we’re not listening to the truth that God created us as brothers and sisters, the truth that we’re all his beloved children—truths made known to us by the Holy Spirit, truths that we can practice individually by letting the Spirit govern our own lives—“to each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit” (1 Cor 12:7)—truths that every follower of Jesus is empowered to proclaim to the world.

June Message of the Rector Major

THE MESSAGE OF THE RECTOR MAJOR

Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime, SDB

“MY NAME IS SEAN CAYD”

The Story of an Unimaginable Gift

Dear Readers, friends of Salesian media and most especially friends of Don Bosco’s charism, I send you my affectionate greeting. It always comes with gratitude for the sympathy you have toward Don Bosco, the saint of the world’s youth, and the closeness, respect, or curiosity you feel toward those of us who try to continue his mission in the Church and the world. With all my heart, I thank you!

Today I am writing to share with you something I experienced just a short while ago when I was visiting the Salesian presences in Zimbabwe. More precisely, I was in a small town called Hwange. There I met with my Salesian confreres, other members of the Salesian Family, the educators from that place, and a group of about 200 young people from there and others from far away who had come from Malawi and Namibia with great sacrifice and generosity.

The three days in Hwange were full of life, joy, encounters, and greetings. From the first moment, more than 50 boys and girls from the closest houses joined the gathering. In fact, they spent the day there among us, and, to a great extent, were amazed by everything they saw and heard—the songs, the dances, and the joy.

It can be said that one of the greatest riches of Africa is its children. They are all over and always happy and smiling (I would almost say unaware of the poverty in which they live).

Now I would like to tell you about Sean. Among all the children, this one boy was almost always present, together with his friends. He is about 12 years old. There he was, about a yard away from everything that was happening, not keeping his distance and unafraid. He was watching everything that was happening because it was all new for him.

Naturally, I greeted them all many times: in the morning, in the afternoon, and at night when they went home; and we spoke about things together.

When the time came for me to leave to head to the next stop, several hours’ journey by truck, there was that young lad. Just as I was getting into the truck, he came forward and stood very close to me, extending his right hand, fist closed. I understood that he wanted to give me something in my hand. Certainly, I did not have any idea what it was. Perhaps it was a request? Maybe he was letting me know he needed something? The fact is I extended the palm of my hand and received what he gave me. I soon understood that he was offering me a gift—his gift. I looked at what he handed me, closed my hand, thanked him with words and a huge smile, and put it into my pocket. To end our farewell, he visibly handed me a piece of writing paper.

You may wonder what this was all about—what was the gift and what was on the piece of paper. Let me share that with you right now. This boy—as I understand it—felt the need to thank me for having been there, perhaps for having greeted him, or being close to him and his friends, so he gave me what he could. The gift was simply a small stone, one of the thousands that were around on the ground, but one he had chosen to give to me. He gave me everything he could. That’s how I received it. I have it with me now, and with me it will remain. On the little piece of paper was written: “Pray fou (sic) you. My name is Sean Cayd.” Certainly, Sean offered me his prayer and remembrance.

How could my heart not have been touched by that experience?

How could I forget that face and those eyes full of life?

How could I not ask myself what must have gone through that boy’s heart and mind for him to feel that he had to give something to me—a man from a foreign land who had come from afar to visit them?

There are so many questions. Certainly, everything that happened has made me think much and deeply. It called to mind that scene in the Gospel in which the Lord Jesus praises the poor old woman because she had put but a few coins in the basket of the Temple of Jerusalem, the place to make donations. But it was all she had. Since I am a Salesian, an educator, Sean made me think very seriously about the educational action that takes place each day, by every Salesian, and in each Salesian house. The same can be said of every gesture, every word, every caress that happens in homes and families.

In fact, the moral of the story, the one that I try to apply to myself, is that we can never guess to what extent a word, a smile, a greeting, or even a look can reach in the heart of a boy, a girl, an adolescent or a young person, and what it can mean in their lives. What seems like nothing to the one who gives can be everything to the one who receives.

Don Bosco’s life is full of significant encounters, of words whispered in the ear, of glances that pierced the heart and soul—like the young Paul Albera, who would become Don Bosco’s second successor, or Louis Variara, who promised, as a ten-year-old boy, in that exchange of glances, that he would never be separated from Don Bosco again. He did become a Salesian, a missionary, and the founder of a congregation of great charity in the care of lepers. Today he is a Blessed.

It seems to me that these are some of the “miracles” that I often say are experienced daily in Salesian houses around the world. The truth is that my friend Sean touched my heart and taught me a great lesson. I pray the Good Lord bless him.

I wish you all the best, dear friends. Let us continue to trust that much good is also being done in the world. Thank you for walking this path together with me and for sharing these ideals.

Cordially,

Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime, SDB