Province Celebrates 20 Jubilarians

Province Celebrates 20 Jubilarians

Jubilarians with Fr. Hugo Orozco: l-r, Frs. Nazzaro, Heuser, Blanco,
and Orozco; Bro. Pasaik; Frs. Twardzik and Ryan; Bro. Van der Velden

On Saturday, October 12, the New Rochelle Province celebrated 20 priest and brother jubilarians.  This year 11 Salesians celebrated a major anniversary of their religious profession, 7 celebrated a major ordination anniversary, and 2 celebrated both profession and priestly anniversaries. 

The double jubilarians are Fr. Georges Parent of Montreal, 70 years professed and 60 years ordained, and Fr. Drago Gacnik of Hamilton, Ont., 50 years professed and 40 years ordained.

SDBs celebrating profession anniversaries:
Bros. Henry Van der Velden and Richard Pasaik;
Frs. Frank Twardzik, Steve Ryan, and John Nazzaro

Celebrating a marvelous 70 years of profession also are Bros. Henry Van der Velden of Haverstraw, Marcel Gauthier of Sherbrooke, Que., and Jim Wiegand of Ramsey, N.J.

Fr. Frank Kelly of Etobicoke, Ont., Bro. Richard Pasaik of Haverstraw, and Fr. Frank Twardzik of Haverstraw have reached 65 years as professed Salesians.

Professed for 60 years is Fr. Tom Gwozdz of Tampa, and for 50 years Frs. Mario Villaraza of Edmonton, Alta., and John Nazzaro of Orange, N.J. Fr. Steve Ryan of Marrero, La., is professed 40 years.  Fr. Chinnapparaj Desam at Edmonton has been professed 25 years.

Ordination jubilarians:
Fr. John Blanco, 60 years, and Fr. Jim Heuser, 40 years

The ordination jubilarians include Fr. John Blanco of Ramsey, 60 years; Frs. Bruce Craig and Bill Keane of Tampa, 50 years; Frs. Larry Gilmore of Lungi, Sierra Leone, Jim Heuser of New Rochelle, and Luc Lantagne of Montreal, 40 years; and Fr. Mike Pace of the motherhouse in Turin, 25 years.

The 13 profession jubilarians have accumulated among them 750 years of Salesian life; the 9 ordination jubilarians, 405 years of priesthood.

Fr. Jim Heuser reflects:  “I consider my life a story of undeserved grace, of a genuine experience of the saving love of God that continues to unfold for me one day at a time.  The call to serve others through Word and sacrament has been a thread running through my various assignments to vocation and formation work, high school animation, and community and province leadership.  I can only be grateful as I renew my ordination motto:  ‘Father, not my will but yours be done.’ (Mark 14:36)”

Fr. John Nazzaro recalls: “After meeting the Salesians at the Salesian Boys Club in East Boston, I saw their kindness, faith, and just wanting to be present with us young people.  I fell in love with the spirit of St. John Bosco, which was and has been the discerning factor in my life.  It’s a blessed gift to be an instrument in young people’s lives, bringing them closer to Jesus and Mary.”

Fr. Steve Ryan considers himself blessed because “being called to the religious life in Don Bosco’s family has been a great thing.  I still have great energy and enthusiasm for the education and evangelization of young people.  I feel very blessed to be able to celebrate the sacraments with the young, teach theology class, give Good Mornings, play sports with the boys, and just be with them daily.  The older I get, the more grateful I am for friends who have supported me and our mission for all these years.”

Fr. Mario Villaraza has found that “being a Salesian for 50 years means being joyful: having a deep relationship with Christ and spreading that same joy that comes from him.  I witnessed that joy in the many holy Salesians I encountered since childhood. I now realize and understand beneath those smiles were many sufferings—the reality of life; yet they persevered.  Their joy was because of Christ.  My dream is to be like them, like Don Bosco—joyful in the midst of trials.”

Of his Salesian life Fr. Frank Twardzik writes: “The vow of obedience has been my peace and joy and my love of Jesus crucified—[who is] obedience perfected.  This crown of obedience has sent me to serve in the beautiful, holy Byzantine Rite to people I have loved forever—young, old, sick and suffering and our dear deceased and all the several bishops—all of whom I remember daily in my Divine Liturgies!  The truly wonderful parishioners and our beloved young people are what I treasure in my old age.”

Only Bros. Van der Velden and Pasaik and Frs. Twardzik, Blanco, Nazzaro, Ryan, and Heuser were able to take part in the celebration at the Marian Shrine in Haverstraw and Town & Country Caterers in Congers.  The other jubilarians were impeded by age, distance, weekend duties, or Hurricane Milton.

Fr. Hugo Orozco, regional councilor for Interamerica, presided at Mass.  The 5 priest jubilarians and another 30 Salesians concelebrated.  Also participating were 14 other Salesians and candidates, 1 Salesian sister, numerous Cooperators, and families and friends of the jubilarians.  Catherine Ramirez provided sacred music.

Fr. Dominic Tran, provincial, preached a 3-point homily on the theme of covenant.  His 1st point was that God takes the initiative in making a covenant with humans.  His 2d, that God always keeps his side of the covenant.  He promises to save us from our sins, and he’s done that through Jesus Christ.  As the responsorial psalm acknowledged, he remembers his covenant forever.

Fr. Dominic’s 3d point was that we aren’t perfect in keeping our part of the covenant.  Nevertheless, in his faithfulness God gives us saints as examples of how we can respond to him.

Then he pointed to St. John Bosco, noting his dream at age nine but zeroing in on the 1847 dream of the roses, with its crowd of boys and of helpers—many of whom he didn’t recognize.  Don Bosco believed in God’s promise that helpers would come.

On this Saturday, we’ve celebrated Mary as a disciple of the Lord, Fr. Dominic continued.  He cited several gospel passages relating to her faithfulness in keeping her covenant with God.

Our jubilarians also have heard God’s promise, Fr. Dominic stated, and they’ve joined Don Bosco’s helpers by responding “yes” to God.  The preacher made particular note of the four 70-year jubilarians: Bros. Gauthier, Van der Velden, and Wiegand and Fr. Parent.  He affirmed that God has made an individual covenant with each jubilarian.  For that, we’re grateful to God and to them.

At the end of the jubilee Mass, Fr. Dominic made a significant announcement:  the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has granted formal recognition to the Marian Shrine as a national shrine of Our Lady Help of Christians.  He presented the certificate of recognition to Fr. Manny Gallo, director of the Shrine community.

Photos: https://link.shutterfly.com/L9gxHEL7GNb

Bro. Travis Gunther also took almost 100 photos at Mass and dinner:  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.936891881806859&type=3 or 1OO3KUDagxTFdsaN_QWcEhFox6kFPMqBP.htm 

Homily for 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time (2)

Homily for the
28th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Oct. 13, 2024
Creed
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx

4th in a series of homilies on the Nicene Creed

“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life” (Nicene Creed).

After reflecting upon God the Father and God the Son, we come to the 3d Person of the Holy Trinity.  One writer tells us that the Holy Spirit is “the effective presence and power of God among humans.”[1] (p. 158)

As it did with the Son, our profession of Christian faith speaks 1st of the Holy Spirit in himself, then of what the Spirit does for us.  Today I’ll treat mostly of the Spirit in himself, lest I go on as long as I did when I preached about God the Son’s relationship with us.

The Creed states that the Spirit is “the Lord,” i.e., he’s God.  Immediately, it calls him “the giver of life.”  Only God can give life.  The Spirit is a creative power, which we see in the opening lines of the book of Genesis:  “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, … a mighty wind swept over the waters” (Gen 1:1-2).  And God began to create.

The Hebrew word for “wind,” ruah, and the Greek word, pneuma, can also be translated as “breath” or as “spirit.”  In fact, some translations say, “God’s spirit hovered over the water” (JB; cf. RSV and NIV).  We could say that the breath of God or the divine spirit was moving over the waters as God began to create.

That’s the 1st version of creation, in Genesis ch. 1.  In the 2d version, Genesis ch. 2, “The Lord God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being” (2:7).

In both creation stories, the Spirit is “the giver of life.”

We know, too, that the Spirit enabled the Virgin Mary to conceive Jesus; in this, also, he’s the giver of life, for Jesus Christ is our life and salvation.

The Creed tells us that the Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son.”  The love between God the Father and God the Son is so personal that it’s a 3d divine Person.  The Spirit is the living bond of unity between Father and Son.  This 3d Person also is “Lord,” as much to be adored as the Father and the Son.  A weak comparison is a child, the living and personal expression of the love between a man and a woman.

Now the Creed comes to the Holy Spirit and us:  he “has spoken thru the prophets.”  God communicates with the human race by inspiring—breathing into, if you will—particular men and women to proclaim his word, people we call prophets.  E.g., Isaiah announces, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord … has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly” (61:2)—words that Jesus cites with reference to his own public ministry (Luke 4:18).

Thus God sent to his people Moses, Miriam, Deborah, Elijah, Jeremiah, and many other prophets.  He also inspired the people who composed our sacred writings, the Bible, both the Old Testament and the New Testament.  St. Peter writes in his 2d Letter, “No prophecy ever came thru human will; but rather, human beings moved by the Holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God” (1:21).

Further, the Holy Spirit guides God’s people—the Jewish people and the Catholic Church—to discern which writings are inspired, to select those writings that belong to the sacred Scriptures, like the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John but not the gospel of Thomas or the early gospel of James; like the letters of Paul, James, Peter, and John but not the letters of Barnabas or St. Ignatius of Antioch and many others—no matter how interesting or edifying they may be.

In short, the Holy Spirit speaks thru prophets and speaks thru the leaders of God’s people when they identify the authentic works of the Spirit.

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] Luke Timothy Johnson, The Creed: What Christians Believe and Why It Matters (New York: Doubleday, 2003), p. 158.

Homily for 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time (1)

Homily for the
28th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Oct. 13, 2024
Mark 10: 17-30
Villa Maria, Bronx

“As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up … and asked him, ‘Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’” (Mark 10: 17).

Christ and the Rich Man (Heinrich Hofmann)

We may begin by noting that Jesus’ journey is toward Jerusalem, toward his complete surrender to God’s will.  Then we may note that when this man asks about “eternal life,” that’s equivalent to “the kingdom of God,” which Jesus was speaking of when he blessed the children, indicating also that one must accept or receive the kingdom like a child (Mark 10:13-16).  And immediately before that passage, he’d explained God’s intention—or God’s will—regarding marriage (10:6-12).

This passage about the man’s desire, then, is related to receiving God’s kingdom and following God’s will.

The commentators uniformly point out that the man makes 2 errors in his question to Jesus.  1st, he addresses Jesus as “good.”  Jesus corrects him at once.  Not that Jesus isn’t good, but God alone is good; God is the supreme good.  That’s where our focus belongs.  Back to God’s intentions, God’s will.

2d, the man asks what he must do to inherit eternal life.  Wrong question!  No one can do anything to inherit life or to come into the kingdom.  God is the actor.  God does something for us.  We can only accept or receive his gift—like children, as Jesus has just said.

The man rattles off all his good deeds, his observance of the commandments.  As St. Paul warns repeatedly, there’s no salvation in just following the Law.  So Jesus tells the man there’s more; and he tells him with love (10:21).  He must surrender himself to God by dispossessing himself, giving to the poor, and following Jesus.

Jesus is on his way to the cross.  Jesus is surrendering to God’s will.  He’s dispossessed himself completely.  That’s the road into the kingdom of God.

The man isn’t ready for that.  “He went away sad” (10:22), more concerned for his possessions than for responding to God’s call.

After Jesus comments further on the dangers of wealth, the apostles are “exceedingly astonished” (10:26).  Do they think God saves only the rich?  Well, that’s still a common misperception.  You’ve heard of the “prosperity Gospel.”  Be faithful to God, and you’ll prosper.

No, Jesus replies.  Only God can save us (10:27).

Peter sees an opening:  “We’ve given up everything and followed you” (10:28).  Good old Peter!  Can’t keep his mouth shut.  But he’s right, up to a point.  Next week, James and John will ask Jesus for the places of power at his side when he assumes his kingship, and the other 10 will be furious with them—because all of them are more concerned about their own prestige than about God’s kingdom.  So much they have to learn!

Well, sisters, you and I have set aside everything and committed ourselves to Jesus.  So we’re home free?

Not exactly.  There’s still a lot of the rich man or of Peter or of James and John in us.  On the memorial of Mother Seton, we read in the breviary a selection from a conference she gave to her sisters about doing God’s will.  Realistically, she notes that sometimes we do our duties only half-heartedly or grudgingly, or we complain about conditions in the house.  She says that one sister “cuts herself a cross of pride; another, one of causeless discontent; another, one of restless impatience or peevish fretfulness.”  She then calls upon her sisters to let God’s grace “carry us through every obstacle and difficulty.”[1]  Without saying it in so many words, she urges them to surrender to God by selling their possessions—their self-centeredness—and give all to their sisters, and to follow Jesus into God’s kingdom.

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[1] LOH 1:1690.

Anointing the Sick

Mass with Anointing of the Sick

October 10, 2024
2 Cor 4:10-18
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.

“We always carry about in the body the dying of Jesus” (2 Cor 4: 10).

No matter how healthy we may be, we all have pain and suffer inconvenience, injury, and illness.  Most of us don’t leap joyfully out of bed in the morning; our prayer might be, “O God, another day!”  Little things like paper cuts can be really annoying.  And then there are colds, flu, stubbed toes, broken bones, surgeries, etc.  Our bodies remind us every day of our frailty.

Someone may feel like he’s already got one foot in the grave.  No matter how healthy we may be, we’re all dying.  Our bodies remind us every day of our mortality.  “Our outer self is wasting away,” Paul remarks (4:16).  In a community like this one, we may be more aware of that than in most communities.  And you’ve just celebrated Bob Moran’s funeral.[1]  Our community over on Echo Bay is aware, as well; our province has lost 18 confreres in the last 5 years, including 2 from our house.

What sustains us all, as it did Paul in his tribulations, “constantly being given up to death” 4:11) thru daily hardships and persecution, is that we surrender our bodies as well as our hearts to Jesus.  We unite our sufferings, trivial or severe, to his cross.  We are confident “that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus” (4:14).

Our celebration of the Anointing of the Sick betokens the life of Jesus, God’s Anointed One, present to us.  “Therefore, we aren’t discouraged; rather, altho our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day” (4:16)—and not only by this sacrament but, more vitally, by the sacramental memorial of the death and resurrection of Jesus, his living body and blood.

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[1] A member of the Iona Prep community whose funeral was earlier this day at Holy Family Church.

Camping near Green Pond

Camping near Green Pond

Fr. Dominic asked me to drive Fr. Hugo Orozco to the Marian Shrine on Thursday, Oct. 10.  Instantly, I saw a chance to go camping that wouldn’t have come up otherwise.  After all, Harriman State Park is less than 10 minutes from the Shrine.

There wasn’t any point in asking Fr. Jim Mulloy to come along; he teaches at DBP.

I decided to go to a site I used in May, about an hour’s hike from a parking lot along Kanawaukee Road (Rte 106), near the woods road that leads to Island Pond.  Fr. Jim and I have camped at Green Pond (actually, on a height above the pond) perhaps half a dozen times.  It’s in the village of Tuxedo Park, and you hear the traffic on the NY State Thruway all the time.

But the site is roomy, has a good fire pit, and is almost always quiet (except for the traffic) even tho it’s adjacent to 2 trails (Dunning and Nurian).  While exploring and hunting for water on some of those trips, I found a little plateau about a quarter mile beyond that Green Pond campsite.  Someone had set up a marvelous campsite there with a large and a small fire ring and stacked up a big pile of cord wood.  A little creek flowing out of Green Pond had water.  It’s quite secluded.

When I was there in May, I didn’t make a fire; it was plenty warm.

There were 3 cars in the parking lot on Thursday afternoon:  1 each from New York, Illinois, and Virginia.  The drivers of the Illinois car (a South Asian couple) showed up shortly after I arrived and drove off.  A couple more cars were on the side of the road where Island Pond Road starts into the woods.  As I headed north, I met 2 hikers coming back toward their cars.

Both the Nurian and the Dunning trails cross Island Pond Road (so does the Arden-Surebridge farther north), and both lead to Green Pond by slightly different paths.  I stopped to shoot some pictures on my way, and some pictures of a pair of deer on the Green Pond heights.  There wasn’t a lot of color in the foliage yet.

On reaching my campsite, I noticed that most of the cord wood had already been used.  But there are a lot of fallen trees and branches around; so firewood is no problem at all.

I pitched my tent—and used my phone to take a photo that I could share at once; in the photos I’ll link you to, it’s a little out of chronological sequence between pictures of Green Pond and the deer.  That done, I went down to the creek for water.  Oh, oh!  It was completely dry except for one stagnant pool, which didn’t appeal to me even thru a filter.

Green Pond has plenty of water, but it’s inaccessible because of thickets of reeds all around it.

So I hastened back up the hill to camp, almost emptied my backpack and put water filter, coffee pot, and 2-liter plastic bag into it.  (I filter water into the coffee pot, which has a much wider mouth than the plastic bag, then pour thru a funnel into the bag.)  I headed down the Nurian Trail (it descends steeply) into what the map labels the Valley of Boulders, where a brook flows down from Island Pond.  It takes about 20 minutes from Green Pond.  Alas, that also was completely dry!

It had never occurred to me that the creeks would be dry.  We had rain only a few days ago.  I was glad I’d added the half-liter of water to my load and sorry I hadn’t carried 2 liters instead.  (But my pack weighs about 35 pounds without that.)

And by now it was only about a half-hour before sunset.  So I hurried back to camp to do with the water I’d brought with me—a quart canteen and about half a liter in a bag.  That proved to be enuf for both supper and breakfast—but I skipped the freeze-dried dessert at the former and a 2d cup of coffee at the latter.  Supper was Ramen noodles with beef stirred in (left over from tacos), crystal lite, some trail mix, and dried pineapple.  Breakfast was granola, coffee, more trail mix, more pineapple.

With my water used up, I had to adjust my plan, which had been to stay until afternoon.  I didn’t even celebrate Mass, tho I’d brought my kit.  (I celebrated after I got home and cleaned up.)

The nite was starry (which usually betokens a chilly nite) with more than a half moon.  The northern lights showed briefly, but not where I could take a photo (largely obscured by trees).  I made a fine fire and sat by it, praying Evening Prayer and then reading a book till it got a little too chilly.  I retired around 9:15.

Indeed, the nite was cold.  I shut off my phone before I could check the temperature, but it was 42º when I was ready to get up at 6:45 a.m. on Friday.  Inside my tent.  I erred in not bringing my winter sleeping bag, and wasn’t very comfortable during the nite, tho I did sleep some.  I brought layers of clothes, but most of those became my pillow, stuffed inside the sleeping bag’s stuff sack.  More clothes on, less pillow.  But I coulda done better than I did.  Still learning better camping skills.

Well, I put on 6 top layers (and long johns under my pants) when I got up.  After breakfast and Divine Office, I broke camp methodically and was heading out around 9:15.  I got to the car about 10:20, having met just one hiker coming in toward Island Pond.  His was the only car up on Kanawauke Road, and my car was the only one in the lot.  All in all, a good trip that could’ve been better with more water and the winter bag.  The weather was perfect for hiking.

14 photos: https://link.shutterfly.com/Gb5uQSOyCNb

 

Salesian Family Day in Eastern Canada

Salesian Family Day in Eastern Canada

(ANS - Montreal, Que. – October 9, 2024) - On Saturday, October 5, Montreal was the scene of Salesian Family Day, organized by the Salesian Family Council of Montreal, Sherbrooke, and Cornwall. The activity took place at the Don Bosco Youth Leadership Centre in Montreal, focusing on the explanation of the Jubilee 2025 logo, entitled “Pilgrim of Hope,” on Strenna 2025, and also exploring the care of creation, as well as the life of Carlo Acutis, soon to be canonized. Over the years, the face of the Salesian Family in eastern Canada has evolved considerably. Along with French-speakers, English-speakers, and Italians, now Haitian, Mexican, Peruvian, Filipino, Cameroonian, and Vietnamese communities have been integrated. In addition, there was the presence of two aspiring Salesian Cooperators from Lebanon, belonging to one of the Eastern Catholic rites.

Homily for Wednesday, Week 27 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Wednesday
27th Week of Ordinary Time

Oct. 9, 2024
Luke 11: 1-4
Salesian HS, New Rochelle, N.Y.

The Lord's Prayer (James Tissot)

Jesus’ disciples have observed him at prayer and ask him to help them pray.  He teaches them the prayer we know as the Our Father, from its 1st words in St. Matthew’s version of the prayer, which we find in the Sermon on the Mount (6:9-13).  St. Luke’s version is a little shorter but strikes the same essentials:  attention to the priority of God, attention to our own needs, and attention to others.

We pray that God be honored—by us and by everyone.  When we say, “Your name,” we mean God himself, not just his name.  We can start by being careful how we speak of him, e.g., by not blurting out “Oh my God!” when we’re surprised or upset; that’s disrespectful of God.  We pray then that God’s kingdom come, i.e., that we all strive to do God’s will in our lives, that God’s desires rule.

We pray for what we need in life—not just food (“our daily bread”) but also shelter, clothing, education, employment, safety.  We desire these not only for ourselves but for everyone:  “our daily bread,” not “my daily bread.”

We’re concerned for more than this life.  So we pray that God forgive our sins.  Without forgiveness, we can’t be part of God’s kingdom; we can’t come to eternal life.  We want our whole lives to be aligned with God.  That’s why we also pray not to be “subjected to the final test,” i.e., to serious temptation.

For others, we offer forgiveness.  Lots of people offend us in many ways—physical harm, psychological harm, speaking badly about us, hassling us.  Just as Jesus forgave the people who executed him, just as we pray that God forgive us, so we must learn to forgive, to wish that God bless everyone and bring everyone—not just ourselves—into his kingdom and eternal life.  That’s not easy for us to do; we can begin by praying for whoever offends us, and by asking God to help us be polite, patient, and kind with everyone, even people we don’t like.

May God’s will be done in us and in everyone.

Homily for Christian Brothers' Jubilees

Homily for the
Christian Brothers’ Jubilees

Oct. 8, 2024
Eph 4: 1-6
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Home, N.R.

At their assisted living and nursing home, the Brothers celebrated 5 jubilarians of 60, 70, and 75 years in their congregation.

“I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received” (Eph 4: 1).

Paul has been imprisoned on account of his preaching the Gospel.  That gives him a certain moral authority to urge the believers at Ephesus to be faithful to the Gospel:  “to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received.”

They didn’t initiate their faith.  Rather, God the Father called them.  We believe that’s true of our vocation as religious, the manner in which we live out our basic call to follow Christ.  It’s also true that we are “prisoners for the Lord,” for he has captured us and taken us as his own.  We are captivated.

Paul’s exhortation to the Ephesians is sound teaching for every Christian, regardless of vocation.  But it’s absolutely necessary within the intentional community that we form—or God forms thru his call—with our brothers.  Paul urges “all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another thru love” (4:2).

Those virtues are essential for living in unity of spirit, in peace, according to the charism of our religious family.  They are the only “manner worthy of the call.”  If we live in unity with our brothers, we’re living in unity with Christ, our one Lord, and we have solid hope that our call will reach its perfection in a final, permanent union with the “one God and Father of all” (4:6), who created us for eternal love, who created us (as the priest celebrant prays during the preparation of the gifts) to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity, who treats us with gentleness, patience, and unfathomable love.

Homily for Monday, Week 27 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Monday
27th Week of Ordinary Time

Oct. 7, 2024
Gal 1: 6-12
Provincial House, New Rochelle, N.Y.

Christ, Light of the World
(USCCB, Washington)

  Paul writes to the Galatians in distress.  His converts are turning from grace to law as their supposed path to salvation.  The letter urges us to be faithful to the revelation we’ve received, to continue our conversion to the Word of God, Jesus Christ.

1st SDB Missionaries Arrive in Greece

The First Salesian Missionaries Arrive in Greece

(ANS – Athens – October 7, 2024) – The new Salesian presence in Greece officially began on October 6, with a Mass presided over by Fr. Alfred Maravilla, general councilor for the Missions, in the chapel of the Marist Brothers’ residence in Athens. A few days earlier Fr. Rodil Lladones, from the Philippines, and Fr. Jean-Paul Mutombo Matala, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, had already gone there, while Fr. Oscar Tuscano, from India, will join the group as soon as his visa is issued. They  make up the pioneering community in this country. Fr. Lladones and Fr. Mutombo are already enrolled in the university for a year of modern Greek language course.

In the homily during this simple and intimate celebration, Fr. Maravilla stressed that “being pioneers is a great honor, but it is an even greater responsibility. Although the pioneers do not have the weight of the pastoral practices of past years, they still have the challenge of being creatively faithful to the charism of Don Bosco to make it relevant for the Greek context, where Catholics are a small minority in a predominantly Orthodox country. “ “Today we plant a small seed in new soil,” he added, “and we ask for the intercession of St. Andrew the Apostle, who is so close to the heart of Greek Christians, so that this mustard seed can take root in Greek soil and bear abundant fruit.” At the end of Mass, the 3 Salesians entrusted the new presence in Greece to Mary Help of Christians.

Explaining the reason for this new presence, Fr. Maravilla stressed that it is a response to the invitation of Bp. Petros Stefanou of Syros, Santorini, and Crete. In 2023 the Rector Major and his council accepted the request for pastoral care of the parish of Pagos, in Syros, starting in September 2025, a reality in which there are structures that make it possible to organize youth activities. Then there is also the challenge of pastoral care for young tourists who visit the islands, especially during the summer. And after a period of getting settled, the possibility will also be explored for the Salesian community to take on responsibility for youth and vocational ministry in the 3 dioceses of Syros, Santorini, and Crete, which are united under Bp. Stefanou.

Asked about the importance of this new presence, Fr. Maravilla said that “it is the most recent presence in Europe after so many years. This fact shows that in Europe there is still the possibility of starting something new that can revitalize the Salesian charism. It is an important sign not only for the Salesians in Europe, but also for the entire Congregation.”

Homily for 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
27th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Oct. 6, 2024
Gen 2: 18-24
Mark 10: 2-12
The Fountains, Tuckahoe, N.Y.

At my 2 Bronx parishes, this week I continue commenting on the Creed.  The Ursulines and other residents at this assisted living home get a homily just for them.     

“The Lord God said, ‘It’s not good for the man to be alone.  I’ll make a suitable partner for him’” (Gen 9: 18).

The Creation of Eve (Raphael)

On the basis of the creation account in Genesis ch. 2, Jesus gives us divine teaching on the unity and permanence of marriage:  “they are no longer two but one flesh” (Mark 10:8).  Jesus’ teaching is the foundation for the sacrament of marriage, made holy by the sign he worked at the wedding in Cana, a sign of blessing, by his teaching, and by St. Paul’s expansion on his teaching.

What Genesis teaches also is foundational:  man and woman are “suitable partners,” equals coming from God’s own hand and intention, for mutual help and support of each other.

Christian teaching takes that further by noting that marriage is a sacramental sign—a sign of Christ’s permanent, unitive love for his Church.  St. Paul teaches that the Church is the body of Christ.  Husband and wife imitate Christ’s love for his body in their love for each other; they are the living sacrament of God’s love for humanity.

Most of you answered God’s call to the vocation of marriage.  Thank you for answering that call, for your love and fidelity—for your spouse, for your family, for Jesus himself.

Our Ursuline sisters also have responded to a vocational call—to a mystical marriage to our Lord Jesus.  Sisters are rightly called “brides of Christ,” and many of them, if not all, adorn themselves like brides when they make their final vows.  They, too, are signs of the Church’s enduring love for Christ and his faithful love for all of us.  Thank you, sisters!

The Church has always seen itself as feminine, as the bride of Christ.  A priest is called alter Christus, “another Christ.”  Wedded to the Church, he is a sacramental sign; he is Christ the groom in relation to the bride.  That’s perhaps the main reason why the Church insists the priest be male.

Before Communion, we proclaim, “Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.”  That’s taken from the Book of Revelation, 19:9, which in full reads, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb,” i.e., to the Lamb’s wedding reception.  Two verses before that, Revelation says, “The marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready” (v. 7).  Our holy Communion is a celebration of our bridal union with Jesus.

The Wedding Feast of the Lamb
(St. Mark's Basilica, Venice)

God has joined us together, Christ and his Church, in a faithful, permanent marriage—his plan “from the beginning of creation” (Mark 10:6)—a marriage that will be fully consummated  when “the holy city, the new Jerusalem, comes down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev 21:2), and we are united in love with the Lamb of God for eternity.