18 Salesians, 10 FMAs Sent on 157th Missionary Expedition

18 Salesians and 10 FMAs Were Sent Forth as the 157th Salesian Missionary Expedition

(ANS – Turin – October 19, 2026) – The 157th Salesian Missionary Expedition was celebrated on Saturday, October 17, in the basilica of Mary Help of Christians at the Salesian motherhouse in Valdocco (Turin), together with the 149th of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMAs – Salesian Sisters). 18 Salesians of Don Bosco and 10 Salesian sisters received the missionary cross and were sent out across the world.

A celebration on the eve of Mission Day

The sending Mass was presided over by the Rector Major  in the presence of FMA Mother General Chiara Cazzuola. The date was no coincidence: the celebration took place on the eve of the 100th World Mission Day, marked as a time of celebration for the entire Salesian Family and for the whole Church.

The day was made even more special by events dedicated to St. Maria Troncatti, FMA, who was canonized last year: at the start of the Mass, her statue was unveiled in the basilica.

The Rector Major’s homily

Drawing on the day’s readings, Fr. Fabio Attard recalled that, before asking what to do, one must discover who one is and where one comes from. Referring to the prophet Isaiah and the call of Cyrus, he emphasized that the initiative always comes from God: “God does not recruit a workforce” but calls each person by name, with his own face, his own story, his own gifts, and his own frailties. Hence the missionary vocation is neither a reward nor an achievement, but a gift entrusted to us even before we can fully understand it. In moments of fatigue, loneliness, or feeling inadequate, missionaries are invited to remember that their mission rests upon the One who has called them.

The response, he explained, is not primarily an effort of the will, but matures within a relationship of love: those who set out merely out of duty will sooner or later grow weary; those who set out because they know they are loved experience the journey as a process of growth. This was already Don Bosco’s experience, right from the “Nine-Year-Old’s Dream.” Hence the invitation to nurture this relationship every day thru prayer, the Word, and the Eucharist.

Commenting on Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, the Rector Major highlighted 3 characteristics of the missionary response: an active faith, which is seen in deeds rather than words, because young people will read the Gospel in the lives of the missionaries; a tireless charity, like that of Don Bosco, Mother Mazzarello, and St. Maria Troncatti; a steadfast hope, which is not human optimism but the certainty that the Lord is already at work. “Do not set out as heroes; set out as disciples, with humility and joy,” he said, recalling that the Holy Spirit precedes the missionaries in cultures, among peoples, and in the hearts of young people.

From the Gospel passage on the tribute to Caesar, Fr. Attard drew an invitation to freedom: the missionary knows how to distinguish what belongs to God from what belongs to Caesar and does not confuse the Gospel with power, prestige, or money. He quoted the first piece of advice that Don Bosco gave to the missionaries in 1875: “Seek souls, not money, nor honors, nor dignity.” This freedom, he added, requires us to interpret reality with intelligence, by understanding the history, language, culture, wounds, and hopes of peoples, and to choose wisely in accordance with the sentiments of Christ.

Finally, he recalled the grace of unity bestowed upon Don Bosco: not 2 parallel lives, but a single life, unified by love, balancing pedagogical intelligence and pastoral charity. “Be attentive educators and wise evangelizers,” he urged, identifying this as the driving force behind the Preventive System.

Entrustment to Mary Help of Christians

In conclusion, the Rector Major repeated to the missionaries the words God addressed to his chosen one: “I have called you by name.” “Go forth with active faith, tireless charity, and steadfast hope. Go forth free, for you belong to God,” he said, entrusting them to Mary Help of Christians, that she might take them by the hand and accompany them to the lands where the Holy Spirit already awaits them.

* * * *

The homily in Italian is available for download at the bottom of the page, while the complete photo album is on Flickr.

A video of the Mass is also available on the YouTube channel.

Download attachment: 20261017_OMELIA_SPEDIZIONE_MISSIONARIA.pdf 

 

Homily for Memorial of North American Martyrs

Homily for the Memorial of the
North American Martyrs
Monday, Week 29 of O.T.

Oct. 19, 2026
Eph 2: 1-10
Salesian HS, New Rochelle

Today we’re celebrating the memorial of 8 French Jesuit missionaries who were killed by Iroquois Indians in the mid-17th century—5 of them in what is now Ontario in Canada, and 3 in upstate New York at a Mohawk village a little west of Albany.  They were among many dozens of priests, brothers, sisters, and lay volunteers who came to New France to make Jesus Christ known and loved among the colonists, fur trappers, and native tribes.

One of the 3 martyred in New York was Fr. Isaac Jogues.  He was the 1st priest to set foot in New York City, which was still New Amsterdam at the time.  An image of him is on the great bronze main door of St. Patrick’s Cathedral (photo above), along with 5 other saints.[1]

Fr. Jogues came to New Amsterdam as a refugee in 1643.  He’d escaped from captivity among the Mohawks, where his companion, a lay missionary, had already been killed.  Fr. Jogues had been horribly tortured, including having several of his fingers sawed off by clamshells.  Once he was back in France, he needed special permission from the Pope to celebrate Mass again because, at the time, it was a rule that a priest had to have all his fingers in order to handle the sacred Host and the chalice.  The Pope said, “Someone who has shed his blood for Christ should not be prohibited from drinking the Blood of Christ.”  Until the liturgy was reformed 55 years ago, only priests could drink the Precious Blood.

In spite of that awful experience of captivity and torture, Fr. Jogues, after he returned to Canada, volunteered to return to the same Mohawk village as a missionary with another lay volunteer in 1646.  They didn’t have much success preaching the Gospel and, in fact, were blamed for an epidemic in the village and for a bad harvest.  So the 2 missionaries were tomahawked and their bodies thrown into the Mohawk River.

That’s the sort of faith and courage that all 8 of these missionaries showed in New France and among the native tribes.  There were others, too, who sacrificed themselves to bring Christ to the Indians as well as to French settlers on the frontier.  They suffered from brutal winters, from dangerous travel in river rapids, from hunger and mistreatment, and from loneliness.  They loved Jesus so much that they endured such difficulties and dangers.  And they did plant the Gospel with some success in many places.

The missionary martyrs challenge us to live our faith in Jesus with perseverance and with courage:  to get to church on Sunday, to be faithful to our duties at home and in school, to be honest, to be pure, to be patient, to treat everyone with respect.  Sometimes that’s hard.  Being a martyr means, literally, being a witness—giving witness to Jesus by how we act and speak.  All of us are supposed to do that.  As St. Paul says in today’s 1st reading, “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Eph 2:10).

[1] Sts. Joseph, Patrick, Frances Cabrini, Elizabeth Ann Seton, and Catherine Tekakwitha. 

Homily for Mission Sunday

Homily for Mission Sunday
29th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Oct. 18, 2026
Ps 96: 1, 3-5, 7-10
Is 45: 1, 4-6
Matt 22: 15-21
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx

“Sing to the Lord a new song….  Tell his glory among the nations” (Ps 96: 1, 3).

St Edward's Crown, the Orb, the Sovereign's Sceptre with Cross,
the Sovereign's Sceptre with Dove, and the Sovereign's Ring 
(Credit: U.K. Government)

What is glory?  If you’ve watched a royal program from Westminster Abbey—the king’s coronation, for instance—you’ve seen a form of earthly glory.  If you lived in Milwaukee now, you’d be basking in the glory of the Brewers, National League champions, conquerors of the mighty Dodgers.  If you’re old enuf—most of you are—you remember the 1989 film titled Glory, starring Denzel Washington, Matthew Broderick, and Morgan Freeman, about a black Civil War regiment that won glory by proving that black men could fight with toughness and courage.

Film poster for Glory 
(Copyright 1989, TriStar Pictures)

Our responsorial psalm commands us to glorify God; to praise him not only among ourselves but to the whole world.  His works of salvation make him most praiseworthy.

In the 1st reading, Isaiah points out to Israel that God works his will among the nations of the earth, even thru the ruler of a mighty empire.  God has appointed Cyrus, king of Persia, to do his work, to subdue nations—for the sake of Israel.  Cyrus will conquer Babylon and liberate the Jewish people from their exile.  He’ll let them go home and re-settle in Judea.  “Toward the rising and the setting of the sun, people may know that there is no other god besides the Lord of Israel,” from one end of the Persian Empire to the other (cf. Is 45:6).

It’s God’s will that we, his people in Jesus Christ, make his name known and worshiped from one end of the earth to the other—not that our circular Earth has a geographical end; but that God who created it and Jesus who redeems the human race should be acknowledged and adored everywhere; that we give glory to the Lord and win a share in his glory.

Jesus sent out his apostles to preach the Gospel everywhere.  The Church exists to preach the Gospel.  The Church is missionary.  You and I are missionaries.  We’re happy that Christ saves us from our sins and calls us to eternal happiness after our life on earth is finished.  An unfinished, unending life awaits us, one in which we’ll share in the glory of God that the psalmist praised so heartily.

There are, of course, men and women who go to far-off lands to preach the Gospel, to make Jesus Christ known and loved.  But you and I are missionaries, too.  It’s our mission to make Jesus known and loved in our families, our neighborhoods, our workplaces, and our leisure time.

(Rubens)

You’ve all heard the saying attributed—inaccurately—to St. Francis:  “Preach the Gospel at all times; if necessary, use words.”  You may also have heard another saying:  “What you do speaks so loudly that I can’t hear what you’re saying.”  Our behavior reveals whether we’re followers of Jesus or worship some other god, e.g., wealth, pride, pleasure, or prestige; whether we aim at God’s glory or our own.

Back in the ’70s, there was a popular poster that asked, “If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enuf evidence to convict you?”  Does our day-to-day life—how we treat other people, how honest we are, how generous, how helpful, our observance of Sunday—give evidence that we’re disciples of Jesus?

By trying our best to live like Christ, we’re being missionaries.  People notice whether we’re faithful, kind, cheerful, self-giving, chaste, devout.  Jesus said at the Last Supper, “By this will everyone know that you’re my disciples, by your love for one another” (John 13:35).  “One another” doesn’t mean just our family members; it means everyone:  people next door, people we see in church, people who don’t go to church, people we don’t like, people who do evil.  (Jesus does tell us to love our enemies.)

In today’s gospel, the emperor’s image on a coin means the emperor has a financial stake in our lives.  Jesus tells us to give to the government what it has a legitimate claim to.  We pay taxes so that, e.g., we’ll have roads and bridges, safe food and safe airplanes, police and fire departments.

Roman denarius
with the image of Tiberius Caesar

And he tells us to give to God what belongs to God.  He doesn’t show an image of God as he showed a Roman coin.  But we know where to find God’s image:  in every human being.  Every person is created in the image of God and has God-given dignity.  Every person deserves respect:  the unborn, the sick, the elderly, the handicapped, the foreigner, the young, the powerless, the homeless, even the criminal (a criminal may be punished, but not cruelly).  We pay tribute to God by treating others reverently.  Our kindness, our patience, our honesty, our fairness, our chastity, our faithfulness are all ways in which we honor the image of God and announce, however quietly, that we belong to Jesus.  So we preach the Gospel.  And we are missionaries.

Not least, we follow Jesus by praying—for our families and friends, for peaceful resolutions of conflict, for the safety of first responders and our armed forces, for the Pope, our bishop, our priests, deacons, and religious, for catechists and teachers.  And, yes, for missionaries who go to far-off lands to make God known and adored:  “Give to the Lord, you families of nations, give to the Lord glory and praise!” (Ps 96:7).

"Put Christ at the Heart of the Mission"

“Put Christ at the Heart of the Mission”

Rector Major’s Challenge to Salesians

(ANS – Dhaka, Bangladesh – October 12, 2026) – Following his visit to Japan, Fr. Fabio Attard, arrived in Bangladesh at dawn on October 9 for his first visit to the country. The visit marks an important milestone for the Salesian mission in the country, which began 15 years ago. He was welcomed at Dhaka airport by Fr. Sunil Kerketta, superior of the Calcutta Province, and Fr. Francis Alencherry, head of the mission in Bangladesh.

“What is God asking of me?”

Among his first meetings were those with aspirants and prenovices, with members of the Association of Mary Help of Christians (ADMA), and with Salesian Cooperators. To the young people on their vocational journey, the Rector Major reminded them that a vocation is first and foremost a response to God’s will and not merely a personal choice. He invited them to discern what the Lord is asking of them, to be faithful to their daily duties, and to look to St. Dominic Savio, who made holiness the goal of his life. Holiness, he explained, grows through fidelity to ordinary life, and personal witness can inspire other young people to a life of faith and commitment. He proposed 2 questions for discernment: “What is God asking of me?” and how one might personally decide to become one with Jesus.

“For the Lord or with the Lord?”

Fr. Fabio Attard asked the Salesians gathered at Don Bosco Moushair to deepen their relationship with Christ, strengthen community life, and renew their commitment to the poor and young people. A personal relationship with Christ, he said, remains the foundation of religious life and missionary commitment. He invited them to examine their lives of prayer, meditation, and daily ministry, posing the question: “Are we working for the Lord or with the Lord?” He also emphasized the primacy of God in one’s vocation and the value of the vows as a path of self-giving. The reduced number of religious, he added, is not a limitation as long as they remain faithful to their prophetic mission and close to the people they serve.

Close to the poor and to lay collaborators

Fr. Attard presented community life as an essential dimension of Salesian identity and witness, not merely as an organizational necessity. He urged the communities to remain close to the poor, avoiding complacency or detachment from the reality of those they serve. He also recalled the importance of ongoing formation beyond the initial stages and invited the Salesians to accompany and support their lay collaborators, whose contribution to the educational and pastoral mission is invaluable.

Welcoming, growth, and example

During Mass, the Rector Major highlighted 3 dimensions of the Salesian mission: creating a welcoming home where young people feel accepted, helping them to grow as responsible and good people, and inspiring them in turn to guide others along the same path. Referring to Don Bosco and Mama Margaret, he explained that welcome is the starting point of education. He added that the power of personal example is decisive: small gestures of kindness, encouragement, and support are concrete expressions of the Gospel and can inspire others to lead a more generous and service-oriented life.

The Salesian presence in Bangladesh

The Salesian presence in Bangladesh comprises 19 Salesians: 10 local, 5 Indian, 2 Vietnamese, 1 African, and 1 Polish. Six Salesians are serving outside the mission territory. The first Bangladeshi Salesian priest was Fr. Victor Mankhin, followed by Fr. Johny Ruram and Fr. Sentu Lawrence Biswas. Two deacons, Ankur Boiragi and Dip Dinesh, are awaiting priestly ordination.

Salesian Missions Programs Help Girls Gain Education

Salesian Missions Highlights Programs That Help Girls Gain an Education

(ANS – New Rochelle – October 11, 2026) – Salesian Missions of New Rochelle joined humanitarian organizations and countries around the globe in honoring International Day of the Girl on Oct. 11. The day, first held in 2012, was established to promote equal treatment and opportunities for girls. It is an acknowledgment by the world that there is a disparity in the way rights of girls and boys are protected and promoted.

The United Nations has noted that 133 million girls are out of school today and almost 40% of adolescent girls and young women do not finish upper secondary school. Further, adolescent girls aged 15-19 are more likely to not be in education, employment, or training compared to their male peers.

Fr. Michael Conway, director of Salesian Missions, said, “Salesians living and working in more than 130 countries around the globe are focused on achieving gender equality thru educational programs targeted specifically for girls. Salesian schools and centers foster safe learning environments for girls and encourage them to continue to advanced education and skills training so they can become leaders in their families and communities.”

To mark the International Day of the Girl, Salesian Missions is proud to highlight programs around the globe that empower girls thru social and educational support.

INDIA

Salesian missionaries had the funding for scholarships for 34 economically disadvantaged girls studying at Don Bosco School, located in Muniguda in the Rayagada District, Odisha, India. The scholarship funds were received from Salesian Missions and were used for school fees, hostel fees, and educational materials. Although the funding was initially intended for 26 girls, the project team extended the support to 34 students who were unable to continue their studies due to financial difficulties.

Pinki Kundika, aged 13, was one of the scholarship recipients. She is from a village where most of the families belong to tribal communities and depend on small-scale agriculture, daily wage labor, or forest-based livelihoods for their income. Kundika’s father has died, and her mother is a housewife who struggles to support the family. Before receiving the scholarship support, Kundika studied in a village school, where the quality of education was very poor. Teachers rarely attended classes, and she had very limited learning opportunities. Because of the financial difficulties faced by her family, continuing her education was uncertain.

The scholarship provided thru Don Bosco School in Muniguda enabled her to enroll in school and stay in the hostel, where she now has access to learning facilities and regular academic guidance. Kundika shared that receiving the scholarship brought great relief and happiness to her and her family. She said that without this support she would not have been able to continue her education.

Kundika said: “I was a frightened before, but today I am becoming more confident. Because of this help, I am able to study and dream about my future.” Kundika hopes to become a teacher in the future so that she can help other children from poor villages receive a good education. She is determined to study hard and make the most of the opportunity given to her.

MALAWI

Don Bosco High School, located in Nkhotakota, Malawi, has improved living conditions for 80 young girls, thanks to donor funding from Salesian Missions. The project funding was used to purchase 5 buildings as well as the adjacent land. The new area was also fenced for safety.

Three houses were renovated and adequately equipped. One house and another building were taken down because they were not in good condition. Seven toilets and 14 showers were constructed, as well as a stand for two 5,000-liter (approximately 1,320 gallons) water tanks. Water and electricity were also connected.

A Salesian explained, “The main objective of the project was to create better safety and living conditions for the schoolgirls. This was achieved, and as a result, the girls’ punctuality improved because of the availability of more showers, toilets, and available water.”

Jenallah Mkandawire is a teacher at the school. Before the project, she noted that the living conditions were not adequate for the girls. She explained: “Now the girls are on time and have adequate water for washing their clothes and sanitary needs. Since they have more places to wash themselves and to wash their clothes, the general hygiene of school has improved.”

NIGERIA

Salesian missionaries with the Mary Help of Christians community have received the funding to support the Don Bosco Stitches project in Lagos, Nigeria. The donor funding is from Salesian Missions. The project is teaching young women an employable skill that they can use in seeking a job or starting their own business.

Donor funding was used to buy the necessary equipment for the classroom, which allows for hands-on experience to teach the students the sewing skills they need. Once they are ready to graduate, each student has a portfolio of samples to showcase her work. Each year, up to 45 young women will be prepared for the workforce.

One of the students said: “I’ve been here for 4 weeks, and my experience so far with Don Bosco Stitches has been supportive and educational. Our teachers teach us with love. They are professional with everything they do, and they are calm when they instruct us. What some people learn in one year with other programs, we have learned in a month. We have achieved a lot, and the fear I once had about the future is gone. This is a great opportunity for all of us.”

ZAMBIA

Salesian missionaries in Lusaka, Zambia, are helping girls and young women continue their education. A project helps young women who are forced to miss school periodically due to poverty and taboos surrounding menstrual hygiene. Thru a series of targeted activities, the project aims to reduce school dropout rates, increase girls’ self-esteem, and promote lasting cultural change by supporting the production and distribution of reusable sanitary pads, accompanied by education and awareness courses.

Thru the work of the Her and His Gift Foundation, set up by a group of girls and young women who attend the Don Bosco Youth Center in Lusaka, around 7,200 reusable sanitary pads have been produced and distributed, thereby also strengthening local skills and micro-entrepreneurship opportunities. The young women then attended courses on practical skills and personal hygiene.

Twenty workshops were also held in the cities of Lusaka, Kabwe, Chingola, and Mansa, involving more than 8,000 students. In addition, awareness and community engagement campaigns were designed thru school events, community meetings, and social media activities to involve as many girls as possible.

A Salesian noted: “Thanks to the support of many benefactors, the project has succeeded in helping to improve school attendance, self-esteem, and gender equality, as well as awareness of the impact of disposable products. Parents and teachers openly recognized that menstruation is one of the main causes of absenteeism and welcomed the proposal for reusable sanitary pads.”

Homily for Memorial of St. Teresa of Avila

Homily for the Memorial of
St. Teresa of Avila
Thursday, Week 28 of Ordinary Time

Oct. 15, 2026
Collect
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.

Based on Benedict XVI, Holy Men and Women of the Middle Ages and Beyond: General Audiences (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2012), pp. 185-192.

“O God, thru your Spirit you raised up St. Teresa of Jesus to show the Church the way to seek perfection…” (Collect).

In the 1st reading, Paul teaches that God chose us before the world was created “to be holy and without blemish before him” (Eph 1:4).  Teresa of Avila came to that realization early in life, even before she entered the Carmelite convent in Avila.  She tells us in her autobiography that she recognized 2 fundamentals:  “All things of this world will pass away,” and God alone is forever.

As she matured, Teresa nurtured her spiritual life on the Scriptures, the Fathers, and reflection on her own experience of God’s mercies and of Christ’s friendship.  But her busy, reforming life rested also on the evangelical counsels and such human virtues as affability, truthfulness, modesty, courtesy, cheerfulness, and culture.

We may say that Teresa’s pursuit of perfection and her teaching about that path rests on 2 foundations: a close, intimate friendship with our Lord Jesus, nurtured by intense, personal prayer.  Jesus is close to us, dwells with us, and loves each of us uniquely and passionately.  Prayer leads us to this friend and keeps us close in moments of both calm and difficulty.  “Let nothing disturb you.  Let nothing frighten you.  Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices.”

When Paul VI named both Teresa and Catherine of Siena doctors of the Church, and Benedict XVI added Hildegard of Bingen and John Paul II added Therese of Lisieux to that brief female roster, it demonstrated that even without ordination women have, and merit, a powerful place in the Church and in Christian life.

Bl. Alexandrina Rests in New Eucharistic Shrine

Blessed Alexandrina Rests in the New Eucharistic Shrine at Balasar

(ANS – Balasar, Portugal – October 12, 2026) - On October 10, the mortal remains of Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa, a Salesian Cooperator, were transferred from the parish church to the new Eucharistic shrine in Balasar. On October 11, the shrine was consecrated during a solemn celebration.

The transfer

The celebration was presided over by Archbishop José Cordeiro of Braga and marked the transfer of the casket to the place that will henceforth welcome pilgrims. Among those present were Bishop Manuel Linda of Porto; Auxiliary Bishop Rui Gouveia of Lisbon; Abp. Emeritus Jorge Ortiga of Braga; and Bp. Sergio Dinis of the Military Ordinariate. Representing the Salesian Family were Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni and Fr. Tarcizio Morais, provincial of the Salesians of Portugal and Cape Verde.

In his homily, Abp. Cordeiro highlighted Alexandrina’s Eucharistic spirituality and the missionary dimension of her life. “Alexandrina is a person so full of people!” he said, recalling that silence and prayer do not mean detachment from others, but rather a path of openness towards one’s neighbor. He added, “Alexandrina will be a beacon in the sanctuary’s tent.”

At the end of the ceremony, the Povoa de Varzim Volunteer Fire Brigade escorted her mortal remains to the shrine. Hundreds of people filled the streets of Balasar with faith, devotion, and flowers. In the new burial chapel, the Blessed rests in a simple tomb, situated to one side and surrounded by roses. In accordance with her wishes, she faces the tabernacle.

The consecration

The following day, the apostolic nuncio to Portugal, Abp. Andres Carrascosa Coso, presided over the consecration of the church and the altar. Numerous bishops concelebrated, including Cardinals Antonio Marto and Americo Aguiar, Abp. José Cordeiro, Bp. Jorge Ortiga, and Auxiliary Bishop Fernando Francisco of Luanda, Angola. Representatives of civil institutions were also present, including the mayors of Vila do Conde, Vieira do Minho, and Povoa de Varzim, and Duarte Pio. Fr. Cameroni and Fr. Morais also took part in this celebration.

In his homily, the nuncio explained the symbols of the rite (water, chrism, incense, and light) and recalled that the baptized are “living stones” of the new temple. He presented Alexandrina as a model of everyday holiness, lived out thru illness and self-sacrifice out of love. He also recalled her connection with the Salesian Family, in particular her promise to become a Salesian Cooperator in 1944. Alexandrina offered her prayers and suffering above all for young people and their salvation. Quoting St. John Paul II, he repeated, “Love for Christ is the secret of holiness.”

The dedication rites included the Litany of the Saints, the placement of relics beneath the altar, anointing with chrism, the incensing of the church, and the festive illumination of the building. Placed beneath the altar were the relics of Alexandrina and those of various saints and blesseds, including St. Peter of Rates, St. Bartholomew of the Martyrs, and St. Carlo Acutis. Before Communion, Sister Emilia Almeida, the organizer and promoter of the cause for canonization, read Alexandrina’s words on her First Communion. Finally, the Blessed Sacrament was placed in the tabernacle of the chapel of Eucharistic adoration.

A new chapter

Alexandrina was born in Balasar on March 30, 1904, and died there on October 13, 1955. John Paul II beatified her on April 25, 2004. Devotion to her will now be centered on the new shrine, while the parish church will remain linked to the life of the community. The nuncio expressed the hope that the site would offer pilgrims “silence and contemplation amid the turmoil of the world.”

Homily for Tuesday, Week 28 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Tuesday
Week 28 of Ordinary Time

Oct. 13, 2026 
Gal 5: 1-6
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph Residence, N.R.     

The Council of Jerusalem
(timelessreporter.com)

“You are trying to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace” (Gal 5: 4).

At the so-called Council of Jerusalem, ca. 50 A.D., Paul, Barnabas, and some other missionaries argued for the admission of Gentiles to the Christian community directly, without their having to take on the Law of Moses as a condition of faith and salvation.  They won their case, as Acts 15 details.

The decision of the apostles and elders in council didn’t go down well with everyone, as the controversy in Galatia and elsewhere demonstrates.  We know from history that the authoritative decisions of church councils aren’t universally accepted.  After the Council of Nicaea, the Arians remained strong and influential for decades.  After Vatican I, a group in Germany, the Netherlands, and some other countries called the Old Catholics rejected papal infallibility and split with Rome.  Today we contend with groups that reject Vatican II.

In Galatians Paul has been trying to deal with so-called Judaizers, people who disagreed with the decision of the Council of Jerusalem and with the Gospel Paul has been preaching consistently ever since his conversion.  Today he tells his flock that if they decide to be circumcised, they’re bound to observe the entire Mosaic Law and to find their justification—or righteousness or good standing before God—in their observance of the Law.

Following Christ, on the other hand, means one depends on grace—on God’s gracious pardoning of our moral failures.  Moral failure is inevitable, we know.  No one perfectly keeps all the commands of the Law; most of us have a hard enuf time with the 10 most basic commandments.  We need grace.

In one of his sermons, St. Augustine writes:

“Happy are we if we do the deeds of which we have heard. . . .  It is not as if a good life of some sort came first, and that thereupon God showed his love and esteem for it from on high, saying:  ‘Let us come to the aid of these men and assist them quickly because they are living a good life.’  No, our life was displeasing to him; whatever we did by ourselves was displeasing to him; whatever he did in us was not displeasing to him.  He will, therefore, condemn what we have done, but he will save what he himself has done in us.”[1]

In last Saturday’s text from Galatians, Paul taught that when we were baptized into Christ, we clothed ourselves in him (3:27).  Our being clothed in Christ’s grace is what God sees and loves in us—the image of his Son.  Christ’s transforming power in us renders us capable of doing good and pleasing the Father.  We are saved by grace.

---

[1] Sermon 23A; LOH 4:188.

Homily for Monday, Week 28 of Ordinary Time; St. Carlo Acutis

Monday, Week 28 of Ordinary Time
St. Carlo Acutis

Oct. 12, 2026   
Luke 11: 29-32
Provincial House QDOR

The Pharisees disputing with Jesus
(James Tissot)

“This is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah” (Luke 11: 29).

In fact, the Lord had given signs.  St. John even calls his major miracles “signs.”  Jesus chided his opponents, who could read the weather, for not recognizing the signs of the new age, God breaking into our history.

Jonah preached repentance to Nineveh.  Jesus preached repentance in Galilee, Judea, and even Samaria; that was the 1st sign of Jonah.  The 2d was Jesus’ coming out of his tomb on the 3d day, resembling Jonah’s emergence from the great fish.

Jonah & the Great Fish
(Pieter Lastman)

Altho Jesus said no sign would be given except the sign of Jonah, he did leave 2 great signs of his love:  the cross and the Eucharist.  Rightly do we speak of and make the sign of the cross when we begin and conclude our prayers and when we bless ourselves with holy water.  So we profess our faith that we have been redeemed.

In the Eucharist, Christ’s love remains among us, both a physical and a mystical presence.  We remember Carlo Acutis today, who centered his life on the Eucharist even as he lived like any other teen in his daily interests and activities.  We note his fascination with Eucharistic miracles—signs of Christ’s real presence in the sacramental bread—and Carlo’s love for making these known, for the glory of his Lord and as a practical sign of his own devotion to the Lord.

We aspire to be signs and bearers of God’s love for the young and the disadvantaged (of any age) (Const. 2).  Are we not, then, signs given by Christ to them?  signs pointing to his compassion toward all who repent, signs of the universal love of the Good Shepherd?

From Valdocco to the World: Seeking UNESCO Recognition

From Valdocco to the World: Seeking UNESCO Recognition

It would've been nice of ANS to tell us who these people are.

(ANS – Turin – October 9, 2026) – Turin has begun the process of nominating the “Square Kilometer of Charity” for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List. A memorandum of understanding has been signed by the archdiocese of Turin, the Piedmont Region, the city of Turin, the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation, and the CRT Foundation to promote a unique area that embodies the legacy of Turin’s “Social Saints” and some of the works that have shaped the history of solidarity, education and human development.

Among these sites is the Salesian complex of Mary Help of Christians, the heart of Don Bosco’s work in Valdocco, from which an educational model emerged capable of reaching young people and communities all over the world. This is not merely a matter of promoting historic buildings and sites, but of recognizing a heritage of values that continues to this day through hospitality, education, and care for the most vulnerable.

A legacy born in Turin continues to speak to the present day.

Source: Salesians of Piedmont, Valle d’Aosta, and Lithuania

Homily for 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
28th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Oct. 11, 2026
Matt 22: 1-14
Villa Maria, Bronx
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx

The Wedding Feast
Frans Francken the Younger

“The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son” (Matt 22: 2).

Jesus has been offering us a series of parables about the kingdom of heaven and those who attain it.  He’s in Jerusalem in the last week of his earthly life, confronted each day by “the chief priests and elders of the people” (22:1), who oppose his teachings and his actions and are trying to do away with him.

Some of the Lord’s parables are aimed directly at his opponents:  the one we heard 2 weeks ago about the 2 sons whom their father wants to work in his vineyard; the one of the wicked tenant farmers we heard last week; and today’s story of the king’s wedding banquet.  Today’s gospel ends with another parable attached to the banquet story, aimed not at the chief priests and elders but at the Christian believers hearing Matthew’s Gospel.

Feasting is a traditional image of heaven; we heard that in our 1st reading (Is 25:6-10) and responsorial psalm (23).  We allude to the Lord’s wedding feast in every Mass before Communion when we proclaim, “Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb,” which is a line taken from the Book of Revelation, “Blessed are those called to the wedding feast of the Lamb” (19:9).  In fact, we, the Church, are the Lamb’s bride, and the Lamb of God, our Lord Jesus, summons us to our place at his side.

In Jesus’ parable, a king’s preparing the wedding feast for his Son, obviously an image of God the Father and the marriage feast of his Son, our Lord Jesus, to which “many are invited” (Matt 22:14), meaning “those from every tribe and tongue, people and nation,” quoting again from Revelation (5:9).  Unfortunately, those whom the great king first invited to his feast—Jesus is addressing the leaders of the Jewish people—refuse to come.  Some make flimsy excuses:  they’ve got to look after their property or their business[—like modern Christians who have games or social events to attend to or are too weary to get to Sunday Mass][1].

Still other invitees get violent with the king’s servants, like those who persecute the Church—1st the Jewish leaders, then Greek and Roman authorities, and later many others, both governments and mobs.  In our own time, thousands of Christians are jailed, exiled, or killed in dozens of countries because of their faith in Christ—by tyrants, religious fanatics, gangsters, drug cartels, and radical secularists.  Being in the king’s service is risky.

Answering the king’s invitation also has demands, as we see in the parable of the “man not dressed in a wedding garment” (22:11-12).  The story supposes that garments were available to everyone whom the king’s servants brought into the banquet hall, “bad and good alike” (22:10).  It’s a fine image of the Church.  James Joyce described the Church as “here comes everybody,” meaning saints and sinners, educated and illiterate, every race and nation.  “Go out into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find” (22:9).  [Or we read at the end of St. Mark’s Gospel:  “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.  Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned” (16:15-16).]

When someone’s baptized, he or she’s presented with a new white robe, according to the Rite of Baptism.  That might be only a tiny symbolic piece of cloth for infants.  Adults usually put on an alb.  That’s the wedding garment for those brought in for the king’s feast.  It’s symbolic of the faith required for admission.  St. Paul wrote to the Galatians, “All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (3:27).

Poorly dressed guest to be thrown out
(Bernardo Strozzi)

Faith has to be put into action.  Baptism gives us a pass thru the pearly gates, but if our faith has been dead, if our lives have been wicked, then we’ll be naked, “not dressed in a wedding garment,” when we meet the King.  [In 1 Corinthians, St. Paul warns:  “Neither fornicators nor idolators nor adulterers … nor practicing homosexuals nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God” (6:9-10).  Those who do the works of darkness will be cast out of God’s kingdom of light “into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth” (Matt 22:13).]

Everyone’s invited to the king’s banquet.  Those who respond and clothe themselves in Christ will enjoy the feast.

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[1] Bracketed passages omitted at Villa Maria.