Homily for Wednesday, Week 33 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Wednesday
33d Week of Ordinary Time

Votive Mass of Reconciliation & Purification

Nov. 28, 2018
Rev 15: 1-4

Don Bosco Cristo Rey, Takoma Park, Md.

In our 1st reading today, Revelation speaks of 7 plagues which God inflicts in his fury upon sinful humanity (15:1).

(http://slideplayer.com/slide/3517764/)

Today, however, we’re praying in repentance and for conversion and healing on account of a plague of another kind, inflicted by clergy and other church workers upon innocent humanity, especially children and youths.

Revelation today also speaks of those who have won the victory over the beast (15:2).  Victory over the beast of the Church’s sins—which in truth means our sins too and not only those of “bad priests and bishops”—has been won by the Lord, king of the nations (15:3).  He alone is holy (15:4).  But in his graciousness, he shares his victory with all who come humbly to him.

May the Lord Christ purify his Church, we pray, lead us all to conversion and to a deeper life with him, and finally to a place with the saints around his throne.

Homily for Solemnity of Christ the King

Homily for the Solemnity of
Christ the King

Nov. 25, 2018

Collect
Dan 7: 13-14
Rev 1: 5-8
Nativity, Washington, D.C.                   

“Almighty ever-living God, whose will is to restore all things in your beloved Son, the King of the universe…” (Collect).

When you studied English literature in high school, or perhaps Brit lit in college, you came upon a period called the Restoration, featuring poets like Pope and Dryden, plus Swift and Defoe and other writers.  The period’s name comes not from the authors, however, but from the restoration of the British monarchy in 1660 after the English civil war, the execution of King Charles I, and 12 years of Puritan government.  The restoration brought back to the British Isles kings and queens, a period of great literature, music, and architecture, but it didn’t auger peace with the other great powers of Europe or social justice at home.

Our beloved St. John Bosco was born in 1815 as another restoration was beginning, this one involving all of western and central Europe:  the restoration of numerous monarchs, of national borders, and of the whole social order to the way things had been in 1789, before the French Revolution and the wars of Napoleon had turned everything upside down and thrown Europe into turmoil, from Spain to the Russian Empire.  But that restoration’s foundations rested on sand, and it crumbled in just 33 years, leading to more upheavals, disorders, and wars.

Today on the feast of Christ the King we pray for a restoration of an entirely different order, an entirely different nature.  We pray for the restoration of “the whole creation” under the authority of the Divine Majesty of the “ever-living God” thru the kingship of his beloved Son, our Lord Jesus.  That very title “Lord” bespeaks royal authority.  It translates Dominus, from which we get such English words as dominion and domination.

Our Lord Jesus’ dominion, his manner of domination, however, doesn’t mean turmoil, disorder, injustice, and other problems for his subjects.  His domination is over our sins, over all the injustices that we human beings commit in our own lusts for power, glory, and selfish pleasure—those things that Puritans and kings, French revolutionaries and Napoleon sought, whether for good motives or bad—but could not deliver because they were, in the end, baseless, i.e., without a solid base, a foundation.

The only sure foundation is Jesus Christ.  The only “everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away,” the only “kingship [that] shall not be destroyed” (Dan 7:14), is that of Jesus Christ—because he has conquered the evil ruler of this world.  His cross, his blood poured out as a sign of his service to us, has bound him to our humanity forever—a binding that is “the one ring to rule them all”; all the rings with which Satan tries to bind us to his service have been shattered by Christ’s royal ring, a ring that tokens his marriage-binding to his bride, the Church—to us.

To this great king we, in our turn, bind ourselves.  When the rich young man came to Jesus—you know the story in the gospels—asking what he had to “do to inherit eternal life” (Mark 10:17), Jesus told him to keep the commandments.  When the young man said he was doing so, and asked what more he needed to do, Jesus told him to give up his wealth, give to the poor, and follow him (10:20-21).  Jesus tells all of us to practice the Beatitudes—to be poor in spirit, meek, pure of heart, seekers of justice, peacemakers—if we wish to be part of his kingdom, to inherit eternal life.  Our goal in life is not to make America great again but to honor the Great King, to serve the Great King, to follow Jesus.

We honor, serve, and follow the Lord Jesus so that he may set us free, personally, individually, from our slavery to sin, our servitude to the powers of darkness; free us from Voldemort, our death-wish, and deliver us instead to Almighty God, to proclaim his praise ceaselessly in the kingdom of light, the kingdom of all things set right in justice, the kingdom of everlasting joy.  “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever and ever.  Amen” (Rev 1:5-6).

Meeting of the Istituto Storico Salesiano

Meeting of the Istituto Storico Salesiano

by Fr. Stanislaw Zimniak

(ANS – Rome – November 23, 2018) – The members of the Salesian Historical Institute (ISS) met at the Salesian Pontifical University (UPS) on Tuesday, November 20, and were joined by the Rector Major. The participants talked about the ISS’s current situation and its future prospects.

Taking part, besides Fr. Angel Fernandez, were Fr. Thomas Anchukandam, Fr. Francesco Casella, Fr. Miguel Canino, Fr. Aldo Giraudo, Fr. Francesco Motto, Fr. José Manuel Prellezo, Fr. Giorgio Rossi, and Fr. Stanislaw Zimniak.

After the prayer, Fr. Anchukandam, director of ISS, welcomed everyone and gave a special word of welcome on account of the happy presence of the Rector Major.

The meeting was of great importance as it allowed for an exchange of opinions after ISS was transferred to the UPS campus in autumn 2017 from the former Generalate on via della Pisana, and after the decision, made by the Rector Major with his general council, to place ISS at the UPS in a permanent way, but still dependent upon the general administration of the Congregation. For ISS all this represents the closure of an era and the opening of a new phase of activity in an environment that bring ISS not only new challenges, but also many new opportunities.

Fr. Anchukandam then spoke on the current situation of the ISS library, its definitive arrangement still in progress, and the appointment of the Argentinian Salesian brother Ivan Ariel Fresia as an associate member.

ISS secretary Fr. Zimniak reported on the meetings of both the board of directors and the editorial staff of Ricerche Storiche Salesiane.

The situation of ISS personnel was also analyzed, highlighting the need to reinforce the stable number of its members. Although the current roster counts nine members, in reality only four of them are doing active research, and three of them are involved in the detailed activities of the Association for Promoting the Study of Salesian History (ACSSA). The Rector Major assured everyone of his interest and proposed as a solution to aggregate the history teachers already active in the various Salesian centers to ISS: not on a full-time basis, but agreeing upon a plan of research papers with the ISS board of directors.

Great attention was paid to the publication of the journal Ricerche Storiche Salesiane (“Salesian Historical Research”), which constitutes an irreplaceable window of ISS on and toward the Salesian world and beyond, but still insufficient as regards its international cultural impact. Rather, it ought to be broadened to include research projects of a broader worldwide scope.

Some organizational aspects of two important world congresses were also discussed: on Fr. Paul Albera, 2nd successor of Don Bosco, for 2021; and on St. Francis de Sales, for 2022; subsequently the 2019 draft of the budget and the report on publications in preparation were presented, which include the second volume of Fonti Salesiane (edited by Frs. Anchukandam, Giraudo, and Prellezo); the 8th volume of the Epistolario di Don Bosco, edited by Fr. Motto; the volume of the correspondence of Belgian people with Don Bosco, edited by Wim Provoost.

Last, the Rector Major was also updated on numerous other topics of historical-cultural interest for the Congregation: the planning of research papers for the years 2016-2020; the ISS-ACSSA site visibility on the official website of the Congregation, www.sdb.org; the editorial norms for the critical edition of Salesian sources; the upcoming issues of the journal Ricerche Storiche Salesiane; and more.

Everyone appreciated the truly active and participatory presence of the Rector Major in the work, a sign of the interest of the Congregation for the cultivation of our historical heritage, and in full harmony with the concern for the historical memory of our Founder Don Bosco.

Padre Chava Refectory Welcomes Caravan Migrants

Padre Chava Refectory Welcomes Caravan Migrants

(ANS – Tijuana - November 14) – The Salesians’ Father Chava Refectory in Tijuana, on the border between Mexico and the United States, has been receiving hundreds of migrants who are part of the caravan of people intending to seek asylum in the U.S. The Salesian house offers food, medical assistance, and a place to stay to those who request it.

Salesian Fr. Agustin Novoa Leyva is responsible for the Tijuana Salesian Project. In this interview he offers a straightforward view on the arrival and reception of the caravan of migrants now arriving at the border. He remembers that migrants are, first of all, people.

Are you responsible for a reception center?

Yes, I’m the director of the Salesian shelter of Tijuana. We have an ordinary center, and we’ve been able to open other emergency shelters. As you know, this phenomenon of the caravan is very special: about 500 people have already arrived, and we want to offer them a dignified service.

In the next few days, these 500 migrants will perhaps become thousands. How are you preparing?

We’re doing everything we can. From the moment these people entered Mexico, we started to prepare. But in these situations it’s very difficult to foresee everything because, unlike the other cities through which they were in transit, here the path of the caravan to the United States cannot proceed beyond three months, according to the latest U.S. laws.

How many days do you have enough food supplies for?

I can’t say precisely, but institutions and the Church have launched an appeal for solidarity, and in our case every day we offer over 800 breakfasts to people in street situations and to migrants. In this case, however, we should be offering all three meals per day. Some time ago we had a similar situation with the massive arrival of Haitians, and thank God we didn’t run out of food. [Ed. note: Fr. Mike Pace of our New Rochelle Province spent several months at Padre Chava assisting with care for the Haitians, because of his ability to speak French.]

How many Haitians are still in Tijuana?

There are about 3,000 who have remained. They are regularizing their situation and have integrated well into the city.

How will you be able to serve the people you serve routinely and this new group that’s coming?

This morning we’ve already offered around 1,200 breakfasts, and we’re preparing to continue at that pace. We already have about 200 volunteers. We have supplies for about four weeks, and we’ve asked institutions for help to continue our services. We’re asking for any kind of help from the government, but they’ve never done it before, and I think it’ll be the same now.

What are the possible scenarios for this phenomenon?

Each phenomenon is very different.... The embassies of Guatemala and Honduras have offered the opportunity to obtain birth certificates and official documents that would allow migrants to work, and in this way the city and companies could help in some way, as has already been done with the Haitians.

Some say that migrants have had problems with the police.

There’s a bit of everything. I don’t like to generalize by saying that it’s a caravan of “evildoers.” Migrants are people in a special situation. Perhaps they’re experiencing their crises and we don’t understand their reactions. There are people who, when they arrived at the border, wanted to climb the wall, and there were tense situations.

What do you think of the fact that since this caravan arrived in Mexico you’ve gotten many messages of contempt?

Yes, this situation of contempt is painful because, first of all, they’re people, and we know that ours is a country of emigrants. Tijuana is a city that’s always welcomed people; I hope it doesn’t change in this case.

Mud's Better Than Snow

Mud's Better Than Snow

On Sunday (Nov. 18), I returned to the Appalachian Trail in South Mountain State Park where I dropped off last Sept. 30 due to a minor injury and a painful back, specifically at Wolfsville Rd.

The bother in September had been mud all over the trails after recent rains. To my chagrin, everything in the area was snow-covered. 

The AT crossing of Wolfsville Rd.

It wasn't my worst hike in the snow--did that on West Mt. in Harriman SP sometime back in the 1990s with Troop 40, where the snow was knee-deep.

Mud's definitely better than snow.

In November's snow I had to use great caution, especially on slopes.  Fortunately, the temperature was above freezing (not by much, especially on South Mountain's ridge top, where there was a 15- or 20-mph wind blowing), so ice wasn't a problem; in fact in some spots the snow was slushy.

AT heading southbound up South Mountain

Very quickly I was sorry I hadn't brought a 2d trekking pole.  I've never used 2 before, but it would have been an advantage this day.  I was also sorry I didn't have my skullcap to go under my watch cap; my head would've been warmer.  And for a while I wished I'd brought my glover liners too, but that was much less of a problem.

There were 5 cars in the parking lot already when I arrived around 9:30 a.m.  One or maybe 2 sets of footprints and 1 set of pawprints headed south up the mountain, making the trail very easy to follow wherever the blazes might not have been readily visible--which, generally, they are.  Those prints also helped me with my own footing in many places.

As for the pawprints, actually I met their cause before I saw them.  Just after crossing the road and starting up the slope, dog and owner appeared, returning to the parking lot.  We had a little chat, then went our ways.  I didn't see anyone else for the next 4 hours.

Amid all the snow, there were patches of greenery.

The upward climb to the ridge was pretty steady for .6 mile (according to the trail guide) but not particularly difficult.  I'm sure I'd have found it much more challenging with a full pack instead of only a day pack.  The woods initially included a few coniferous trees, but those quickly gave way entirely to hardwoods--and loads of fallen trees; a shame none of those can be hauled away for firewood (not that it would be easy to get to them).  With all the leaves fallen, one can see thru the trees the farmlands to either west or east far below the mountain (depending on which side of the ridge the trail passes over).

The easy AT along the ridge of South Mountain

Along the ridge the trail was easy with few ups or downs for the mile or mile and a half that I followed it, and quite straight.
  

Great rock piles lined most of the east side for as far as I walked.  Eventually the trail ascended along some of those rocks and gave an eastward panorama thru the trees.

There is some climbing even along the ridge.  Yes, this is the trail!

You can also see more green, certainly welcome amid all the stone gray and snow white.

All along the hike I was thinking of my Alabama friends, who'd trekked this section of trail on Sept. 30 after leaving me at the Cowell Shelter, covering twice as much territory that day as I could manage.  

8 students and staffer Molly Stone from Restoration Academy

after crossing Little Antietam Creek on Sept. 29

Tough ladies!  All those years I hiked and camped with Troop 40, I was sure I could outhike just about any Scout in the troop; but not those veteran high school girls from Birmingham.  (Of course, rapidly closing in on 70, I'm not as young as I used to be--that's my excuse!)  If you didn't check the link in the 1st paragraph above, you can go back to it now.

Westward view thru the trees

Just before noon I stopped to eat my lunch, perching on one of the few rocks that wasn't covered with snow (with my leather gloves and a foam pad to cushion me).  I devoured a PB & J sandwich, then a tin of sardines on Ritz crackers, washed down with Crystal Lite.

And an eastward view from near where I ate lunch

I'd brought along a magazine to read while I let lunch digest a bit, but it was too cold on the ridge with the wind blowing; my fingers were on the verge of numbing up, and I'd had to put on all my upper-body clothing layers (which were sufficient; in fact, as soon as I resumed hiking, I took one layer off).

So at 12:22 I started my return to the car, moving rapidly along the ridge and gingerly down the slope toward the road.  At the road at 2:00 p.m., a hiker came up, also with a dog.  He said he was a thru hiker (surprise at this time of year!) who'd left Mt. Katahdin on June 29 and expected to get to Georgia in February.  I said I hoped he had snowshoes!  He was still in his original boots, but they were wearing out, and he was planning to replace them in Harpers Ferry.  I wish I'd taken his picture; it would be a good wind-up for this post.

Oh, there were more hikers--a family of 3 and another dog pulled into the parking lot while I was putting my gear into the car.  They'd have made a nice photo too.

Homily for 33d Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
33d Sunday of Ordinary Time

Nov. 14, 1982

Mark 13: 24-32
Dan 12: 1-3
Don Bosco Tech, Paterson, N.J.

Readings speaking of a time of great distress, and persevering in faith thru that time, are appropriate for THIS time in which our Church, especially in this country, is in such distress, and many feel they've been tried beyond endurance and are sorely tempted to abandon priests and bishops and the Church, if not Jesus himself.  This old homily doesn't address 2018 specifically, but the reader might so apply it.

I like the way the readings began this morning:  “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince” (Dan 12:1).  How the passage continued, well, that’s something else:  “It shall be a time if unsurpassed distress.”  I hope that having 3 Michaels in our midst at DBT isn’t too distressing.

The church year is ending.  The Church has always mirrored the history of salvation thru her yearly cycle of Sundays and feasts.  As the year ends, she sets before us a reminder of the end of history, the 2d coming of Christ, the judgment.

Last week’s reading from Hebrews threw us the first hint of the approaching end-time.  The author reminded us that Christ will appear a 2d time to save those who are eagerly waiting for him (Heb 9:28)—a phrase echoed in every Maas in the prayer that follows the Our Father, “as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”

This Sunday, next Sunday (which will be the feast of Christ the King), and the following Sunday (which will be the 1st Sunday in Advent) concentrate on the themes of judgment, final salvation, the 2d coming, the lordship of our Savior.

The first reading today and next week comes from the book of Daniel.  This book, historically, comes from the middle of the 2d century before Christ.  God’s people, the Jewish people, were undergoing an intense persecution form their pagan masters, “a time of unsurpassed distress.”  Encouraging his readers to persevere, the author of this apocalyptic book promises that deliverance is near at hand.  Today’s passage is the first in the Old Testament clearly to teach about the resurrection of the dead and eternal life for the just.

Almost 2 centuries later, Jesus used much of the same imagery as Daniel and other apocalyptic books had used:  disastrous times, heavenly catastrophes, the sudden appearance of the Son of Man.  It is believed that the words of Jesus were recalled and incorporated into Mark’s Gospel during another bitter persecution of God’s people, his Christian people—possibly Nero’s persecution when Peter, Paul, and hundreds of other believers were crucified, beheaded, thrown to wild beasts, or used as living torches to light the imperial gardens.  

Mark recalls for us the words of Jesus. When the whole scene is at its darkest, then will deliverance appear.  Then will the Son of Man, the Risen Lord Jesus, return “with great power and glory,” the power and glory of his heavenly Father.  Then will his messengers, the angels, scatter over the earth to bring in the elect, the chosen, those who have been faithful, to bestow on them eternal life.

Jesus curses the fig tree (James Tissot)

Most New Testament scholars believe the section that follows—the one beginning with the parable of the fig tree—is a loose collection of Jesus’ sayings about watchfulness.  Whether it’s a miscellaneous collection put here by Mark, or whether Jesus actually spoke these words in connection with his glorious return doesn’t matter.  The sayings urge us to be watchful, to be alert.  In difficult times—open persecution or an age of materialism that mocks spiritual values—in difficult times we struggle to remain faithful to the teachings of Jesus and his Church.

Throughout Mark’s Gospel, being faithful is the point.  The words of Jesus are worthy of faith; they will not fail; they will not pass away even when all things created do fade and disintegrate.  He lives, he shares in his Father’s power and glory, and he is going to come again to save and deliver those who try to imitate his faithfulness.

In a time when public prayer is virtually outlawed, when religious schooling is double taxed, when human life is sold for a handful of silver, when the family is desecrated—all in the name of freedom—it’s easy to be discouraged, to give up, or worse, to compromise our beliefs by the way we speak and act.

Don’t.  Treasure your faith.  Hang onto it, practice it, proclaim it without compromise.  “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever” (Dan 12:3).

Homily for Memorial of St. Albert the Great

Homily for the Memorial of
St. Albert the Great

Nov. 15, 2018

Collect

I was to have celebrated the noon Mass at Nativity in D.C., as usual on Thursdays; but we had our 1st winter storm of the season, and Nativity staff advised me to stay home. But here’s the day’s homily.

The Collect of today’s Mass tells us that God “made the bishop St. Albert great by his joining of human wisdom to divine faith,” and it prays that God will, in turn, help us to “come to a deeper knowledge” of himself thru our “progress in learning.”

In other words, human knowledge and human culture—the arts and sciences, languages and customs—not only are compatible or can be compatible with religious realities, with God’s revealed truths, but they definitely also can aid our understanding of God, our knowledge and love of him.

Albert was a German Dominican of the 13th century, a learned university professor—one of his pupils was St. Thomas Aquinas—provincial of the Dominicans in northern Europe, and a bishop and counselor of Popes.  Altho he taught and wrote in the areas of Scripture and theology, he was among the 1st to take up the philosophical writings of Aristotle, newly introduced to the West in Latin translations, and to show how they could foster our perception of God and God’s workings in the world.  This was a cultural breakthru of Christendom akin to what digital technology has done for Western society in the last 50 years, or what the advancement of women has done in the last century and a half (and has the potential to do in the underdeveloped world).

But St. Albert didn’t limit his intellectual curiosity to philosophy and theology.  He took great interest in the entire natural world as well:  physics, chemistry, astronomy, minerology, botany, zoology.[1]  For him, the natural world was another book inspired and written by God to reveal himself to humanity.  Albert’s the patron saint of scientists for good reason.

He’s also just one example of the Catholic Church’s long, close relationship with science that has included his contemporary the English Franciscan friar Roger Bacon, the great French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur, Belgian astrophysicist Fr. George Lemaitre, father of the Big Bang theory—to name only a very few among hundreds of Catholic men of science.  The Vatican astronomical observatory is 2 years older than the U.S.

If there are opponents of authentic science today, they’re not found in official Catholicism.  There are people who deny evolution or climate change, who deny the biological facts of human sexuality by calling gender just a mental or emotional construct (if you think you’re a girl, then you’re a girl regardless of objective science), who deny the scientific evidence of the humanity of unborn human life.  On such matters, you would find St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis on the side of science, in the tradition of St. Albert.

Albert isn’t a saint because of his science, however, or even his philosophy and theology.  As Pope Benedict observed, he was a man of faith, prayer, and charity.[2]  He nourished his spiritual life with the sacraments and the Word of God.[3]  His one great desire was “always to be conformed to God’s will, in order to desire and to do everything only and always for his glory.”[4]

---

     [1] Benedict XVI, Holy Men and Women of the Middle Ages and Beyond: General Audiences (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2012), p. 60.

     [2] Ibid., pp. 59-60.

     [3] Ibid., p. 58.

     [4] Ibid., p. 63.

Homily for Wednesday, 32d Week of Ordinary Time

Homily for Wednesday
32d Week of Ordinary Time

Nov. 14, 1980

Titus 3: 1-7

I drafted most of this homily for use at Our Lady of Lourdes in Bethesda, then found out that the 14th is an archdiocesan feast and couldn’t use it (see previous post).  But I did finish the draft for posting.

On Monday we began reading parts of St. Paul’s short letter to Titus, one of his young helpers mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles.

According to what we read on Monday from the beginning of the letter, Paul left Titus in Crete, left him in apostolic charge there, “to set right what remains to be done” (1:5)  The preaching of the Gospel is never finished.  There are non-believers to whom to make our Lord Jesus known.  Believers, the faithful, must be further catechized, sometimes corrected, always encouraged.  And so on. 

St. Paul hands over to St. Titus 

care for the Church in Crete

So Paul gives Titus some specific instructions about how to be a good pastor.  In our reading today, Paul instructs Titus on the way that Christians are to interact with the world:  with public authorities and with their pagan neighbors.

There are Christians today, and thru the ages there have usually been such Christians, who urge flight from the world.  One writer today calls that “the Benedict option”—not after our dear Pope emeritus, who very much engaged the world, but after St. Benedict, who fled dissolute Rome to become a hermit and wound up founding the Western form of monasticism with the idea that monks would live apart, work, and pray as they tried to live the way of Christ.*

No such teaching from St. Paul.  He wants the Christian faithful to be immersed in the world by submitting to public authority, to civil government, and to work for the common good of society, “to be open to every good enterprise” (3:1).  He wants them to be good neighbors to everyone (3:2).  Reading these 1st 2 verses today reminds me of what St. John Bosco used to say he aimed for in education:  to form honest citizens and good Christians.

Paul continues by reminding Titus of the personal history of himself and the Christians of Crete—all of them “once foolish, disobedient, deluded, hateful,” etc. (3:3) but then rescued from their sinful lives by “the kindness and generous love of God our savior” (3:4) and made “heirs in hope of eternal life” (3:7).  We might possibly read between the lines to find in Paul a suggestion that by “exercising all graciousness toward everyone” (3:2) the Christians of Crete will be making known to their pagan neighbors “the kindness and generous love of God our savior” that they have themselves experienced and will by the same mercy of God win over those neighbors.

Whether or not Paul’s hinting at that, he’s certainly urging us to live in and be part of society:  to obey lawful authority, to respect all persons, to be good citizens and good neighbors.  He’s certainly reminding us that if we’ve been possessed by our Lord Jesus Christ it is “because of his mercy” and “not because of any righteous deeds we had done,” not because we deserved God’s grace; and that requires humility on our part, an appreciation of God’s great, unmerited goodness toward us,” a goodness that we in turn must try to replicate toward other people.

And perhaps our goodness, impelled by “the Holy Spirit richly poured out on us thru Jesus Christ our savior,” will favorably impress our neighbors who don’t know our Lord Jesus, and at the least give Jesus a good name among them, and perhaps give Jesus an opening into their hearts.

* After composing and posting this homily, I came across an article in America (Fall 2018) that includes extensive give-and-take between Protestant philosopher James K.A. Smith and Rod Dreher, promoter of the "Benedict option": https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2018/10/18/james-k-smiths-theological-journey

Homily for Anniversary of Dedication of St. Matthew's Cathedral

Homily for the Anniversary of the
Dedication of St. Matthew’s Cathedral             

Nov. 14, 2018                                               

John 4: 19-24
1 Kings 8: 22-23, 27-30
Ps 84
Our Lady of Lourdes, Bethesda, Md.                  

“The hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth” (John 4: 21).

http://www.stmatthewscathedral.org/events/anniversary-dedication-cathedral-church-st-matthew?e=0

We celebrate today the anniversary of the dedication of our cathedral, which—surprisingly—took place only in 1976, altho St. Matthew’s served as the cathedral from the day when the diocese of Washington was carved out of the archdiocese of Baltimore in 1939.  But its solemn consecration was carried out only after the interior and some other features of the cathedral were completed 37 years later.

St. Matthew’s is the spiritual home of our bishop and of the entire people of God in the archdiocese.  As an aside, it’s a good moment to pray that the Holy Spirit will inspire the Holy Father to appoint a holy and wise shepherd for our archdiocese.

The building—the cathedral in downtown Washington—is a symbol.  What we celebrate is really our Lord Jesus, who calls us together to be his holy people, united with him and in him around the altar where his high priest, our bishop, presides and celebrates the Eucharist; and at the chair, the cathedra, where the bishop teaches us, nourishing us with the Word of God; and at the font where he washes new members of God’s family clean of their sins at the Easter Vigil.  The Spirit of God is at work in all these sacred mysteries, revealing to us the truths of God’s love and the truths of how we are to carry that love into our own lives.

Since we can’t all fit into the cathedral, and the archbishop can’t be everywhere in the diocese at once—obviously—he ordains presbyters and deacons to assist in his ministry of teaching, sanctifying, and guiding the flock of Jesus Christ, which goes on in our parish churches and other places of worship.  But the parish par excellence, the home church for all of us, is the cathedral.  So we celebrate the building, the cathedral, and what it represents—Jesus our good shepherd, the earthly shepherd whom he chooses for us, and ourselves as his people—on its birthday, the anniversary of the day when it was solemnly consecrated for the worship of the Father in Spirit and in truth.

Homily for 32d Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
32d Sunday of Ordinary Time

Nov. 11, 1979

1 Kings 17: 10-16
Mark 12: 38-44
Don Bosco Prep, Ramsey, N.J.

“She went and did as Elijah said” (1 Kings 17: 15).

Elijah and the widow of Zarephath

Perhaps you’ve seen one of these signs in a shop window or taped onto a cash register:  “In God we trust.  All others pay cash.”  In one word, trust is what this morning’s scriptures are about.

Who trusts in God?  Two widows.  One widow lives in Zarephath; she is not even an Israelite, but a pagan of Phoenicia.  The prophet Elijah asks her to share her scanty meal with him, promising in Yahweh’s name that it shall not run out.

The other widow lives in Jerusalem and comes to the Temple to make a paltry offering—in today’s terms, about 80 cents.  Others—the Jerusalem Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, and Kennedys —may be giving huge sums (with much show), but this woman hasn’t even a Social Security check to count on.  Today 80 cents can get you a loaf of bread, but her two lepta would have gotten her a 2½ ounce roll—all her living for the day.

Despite the extremity of their need, both of these widows show trust.  For what does it mean to believe in God? It means to throw our whole selves into his hands, blindly.  A man lost in the wilderness may have only a compass to rely on.  Faith gives us only the compass of Yahweh’s promise of fidelity.

The Scriptures have faith’s opposite too.  And the contrast is striking.  Who are supposed to exhibit trust first of all?  The institutional leaders of Israel, of course.  But we hear our Lord denouncing the scribes for using their position of leadership for self-advancement—for self-trust, for lack of faith.  And Elijah the prophet calls on the Phoenician widow because he has been driven out of Israel by King Ahab.  The Israelite king should have ruled over his people as Yahweh’s deputy, but Ahab has put all of the prophets of Yahweh to the sword except that Elijah escaped.

So position, profession, wealth, coronation, learning, ordination—all these mean nothing.  The widow of Zarephath is saved only because “she went and did as Elijah said” even she was not an Israelite but a pagan.  Jesus praises the widow in the Temple for her blind, absolute trust in the Father’s Providence.  Only faith, only discipleship matter.

What does it mean to trust absolutely in the Father’s Providence?  As in the readings, it can make an economic demand on us.  Inflation has socked us all.  Yet Abp. Geraghty is asking the Catholics of Newark to support the American bishops’ Campaign for Human Development and the Catholic University of America in special collections.  Don Bosco counts on your support.  Catholic Relief Services are trying to get food and medicine to Cambodian refugees in Thailand.  How much do you and I trust that God will provide for us?

Faith makes demands on our minds.  To believe in the teachings of Christ, and to practice them, is never easy.  We always try to rationalize our conduct.  What the Church, speaking in Christ’s name, asks of us, doesn’t appear to make sense.  In this week’s issue of Time, one sarcastic penman writes in, “For his stand on contraception, divorce and the ordination of women, I nominate Pope John Paul II for Man of the Year … the year 1579.”[1]   Whether we speak of these issues or others, whether we consider doctrine or morality, the issue is, Whom do you trust?  Who is faithful, God or man?

Faith makes demands on our hearts.  The Gospel proclaims God’s love for us, for each single one of us.  It proclaims the forgiveness of our sins.  Do we believe it?  Do we believe that, once we have accepted God’s invitation to repentance, all is forgiven and forgotten?  Do we believe that God loves us deeply and intimately—so much so “that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16), so much so that Jesus lives on with us in the Church, healing, forgiving, preaching, communicating himself to us?  Believing it, do we accept his healing love; after all, our sins are our very own.  Can we let go of what is surely ours and have nothing left to hang onto except love?

Faith finally makes demands on my whole person.  The moment is approaching, maybe slowly, maybe quickly, when I must stand alone and take the final, blind leap, the leap into the unknown, the leap across the threshold of death.  Do I trust that the leap is into the warm embrace of a Father, to whom, like Jesus, I can commend my whole person?  Or am I terrified, defiant, unwilling, untrusting, afraid of the dark, the cold, the nothingness that threaten?  Only faith can tell me that Christ is the light of the world, the light shining in the darkness that the darkness, the cold, and the nothingness cannot extinguish (John 1:5).

In economics, mind, heart, our whole person, we are really rather poor and skimpy, aren’t we?  But poverty can be our salvation, for it leaves us no one to rely on except the One who cannot fail us.  “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put more than all these….  For she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, her whole living” (Mark 12:43-44).

May the Lord enliven your faith, fill you with hope, consume you with his love.

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[1] Nov. 5, 1979, p. 4.

Salesian Lay Missioner Says "Ciao" to Bolivia

Salesian Lay Missioner Says "Ciao" to Bolivia

(at least that's what I think she meant in her post title--but maybe she was using Spanish)

Megan Schneider, SLM in Cochabamba for just short of a year, writes:

"Today, I write in thanksgiving that I was given these two-plus years. I know I am grieving because I am leaving behind a beautiful time in my life, because I am leaving family, because I am leaving a chapter that was full to the brim with struggle, tears, and suffering, but all held in the palms of a loving Father who used those things to bring to bear peace and trust within me."

Read her entire post and see her photos: 

https://meganeschneider.wordpress.com/2018/11/06/chau-bolivia/

5th World Congress of Salesian Cooperators Offers New Vision

Fifth World Congress of Salesian Cooperators Offers a New Vision

by Thomas Aquinas Lee and ANS

(AustraLasia and ANS– Rome – October 28) – The four short days of the Fifth World Congress of the Salesian Cooperators Association (October 25-28) in Rome were a time of hard work, sharing, discernment, and looking to the future, focusing on the challenges as God’s call.

The participants in the Fifth World Congress of the Salesian Cooperators. (ANS)

Over 300 Salesian Cooperators from 66 countries across the globe gathered in the Fraterna Domus in Sacrofano, just outside Rome, to outline together the Association’s guidelines for the next six years. The Congress’s theme was “Called to be co-responsible to answer and respond to new challenges.” 

On the opening day, Mother Yvonne Reungoat, FMA, and Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime, SDB, greeted the assembly in person. There were also messages from other groups of the Salesian Family.

Mother Reungoat stressed how the word that induces the achievement of excellent results is “together.” Hence the Salesian Cooperator is “co-responsible for living the Da mihi animas in serene communion with those who have the cause of the young in their hearts.” The Congress, the FMA superior continued, “is a source of joy, a seed that must bear fruit in the environments in which we live.”

Salesian Cooperators: always and everywhere to defend young people 

Fr. Angel Fernandez addresses the Cooperators. (ANS)

The Rector Major, taking a break from the Synod on Youth in which he was participating, invited everyone “to be courageous, not to be afraid of anything, not to silence any voices, because I am convinced that such a great effort, even worldwide, that you do as Salesian Cooperators, is to give the best you can. I am convinced that these moments are never a waste of time.”

“The world needs a Salesian Family,” the Rector Major said, “and a Salesian Cooperators Association that speaks up and defends the world’s boys and girls always and everywhere. We are born for them, you were born for young people, not to create a movement that thinks of guaranteeing life for itself: this is what I always say to all Salesians around the world.”

He concluded by indicating three fundamental columns or pillars that Salesians must build their lives and mission upon: “At the center: Jesus, as a guarantee of our Christian and Salesian vocation; [2nd] to be always for children and young people; [3rd] and to guarantee the defense of those who have no defense. May this be a true mission of the Salesian Family.”

New leadership for the Association

The Cooperators were happy to thank the outgoing world coordinator, Noemi Bertola (2014-2018), and to welcome the newly appointed world coordinator, Antonio Boccia (2019-2024), 56, from Naples, who since 2015 has been the world councilor for the Italy-Middle East Region. In his first address the new world coordinator requested work on the personal and institutional visibility of the Salesian Cooperators in the Church and in society.

The new world council of the Cooperators. (ANS)

There were three key inputs from the world coordinator (Noemi Bertola), the SDB world delegate (Fr. Giuseppe Casti), and the world administrator (Cinzia Arena), who presented a financial solidarity report. There were also reports on the condition of the Salesian Cooperators in the 11 regions in which the Association is articulated worldwide.

Each delegate received an updated World Directory with the names of all 30,000 members.

“I experienced the deep faith and devotion of the Salesian Cooperators from all six continents. I wish that the whole Salesian Family will be more united in prayer to make Don Bosco’s dreams come true. Although the language, culture, or nationality is different, we deeply felt our unity in the same vocation as Salesian Cooperators,” said Fr. John Chong, SDB, Korean provincial delegate.

An action plan for 2019-2024

The Congress delegates discerned and approved the Lines of Action and Dream of the ASC for the next six years, along with the following scheme in synergy with the final document of the 2018 Synod of Bishops:

1. Challenge: vulnerable and marginalized youths & family crisis
2. Dream: to become credible witnesses
3. Factors: communion, fraternity, mission; vocation proposal for the young; integral formation with the Salesian Family; autonomy: growth in shared responsibility
4. Values: charismatic fidelity, family spirit, sense of belonging and commitment
5. Processes of conversion:

·         foster a deeper spirituality to know the young through listening and accompaniment

·         internalize the Project of Apostolic Life in the light of the Gospel for ongoing discernment of our life and mission

·         become a (community) point of reference for outreach toward youths in need

·         leave our comfort zone to be credible and dynamic witnesses toward youth in need

Key documents of the Fifth World Congress are available in English at http://www.bosco.link/index.php?document_srl=42343&mid=side_right

See also https://donboscosalesianportal.org/italia-fifth-asc-world-congress-a-new-vision/

The U.S. and Canadian Cooperators and Eastern Province SDB delegate Fr. Tom Dunne pose

with the new world coordinator, Antonio Boccia (l-r: Johanna Carpentier, Fr. Dunne, Liz Gamarra, 

Mr. Boccia, Carla Comin, Judy and Mike Alvarez). (Courtesy of Liz Gamarra)