Homily for 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
31st Sunday of Ordinary Time

Oct. 30, 2022
Luke 19: 1-10
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx

“Jesus looked up and said, ‘Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house” (Luke 19: 5).

(by James Tissot)

Last week Jesus told a parable in which an unnamed fictional tax collector humbly asked God to have mercy on him because he recognized that he was a sinner; and this prayer pleased God, resulting in forgiveness—or, in Jesus’ words, “justification,” being restored to a healthy relationship with God.  (Luke 18:9-14)

Today we meet Zacchaeus, another tax collector, an actual tax collector in the city of Jericho; in fact, the Roman government’s chief tax collector in the entire district.  His position has made him very wealthy, perhaps not in an entirely respectable manner.

Nevertheless, Zacchaeus must have seen in Jesus, this itinerant preacher from Galilee, something that he lacked, something that he needed, something that his wealth couldn’t provide.  Why else might he have been “seeking to see who Jesus was” (19:3) and almost literally have gone out on a limb to catch sight of him?

Jesus spots Zacchaeus up in the tree.  Jesus had meant, Luke tells us, simply to “pass thru” Jericho on his way toward Jerusalem (19:1).  Seeing Zacchaeus, he changes his plan.  Jesus recognizes Zacchaeus—not because they’ve ever met before; obviously, they haven’t—but because Jesus recognizes a sinner; everyone in Jericho thinks tax collectors are terrible sinners, in line with what we heard in last Sunday’s parable:  “When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, ‘He’s gone to stay at the house of a sinner’” (19:7).

It’s ironic:  Zacchaeus wants to see Jesus.  But it’s Jesus who does the more perceptive seeing when he spots him up in the tree.

Jesus is acting as the Good Shepherd, seeking a lost sheep.  We may even say that he’s hunting for Zacchaeus.  When Jesus speaks of the Good Shepherd in John ch. 10, he remarks that he calls his sheep by name (10:3), and they know his voice and follow him (10:4).  So it is with Mary Magdalene outside the empty tomb when Risen Jesus appears to her (John 20:16).  So it is with Zacchaeus here.  He calls him by name:  “Zacchaeus, come down quickly.”

How did Jesus know his name?  Did he whisper to someone—like the reformed tax collector Matthew among his 12 apostles—“Who’s that guy up in the tree?”  It’s most unlikely that Matthew, a tax collector in Galilee, would have known Zacchaeus 90 miles away in Jericho.  I think, rather, that Jesus knows Zacchaeus’ name and he knows Zacchaeus with the same divine wisdom that allowed him then and still allows him to know every person; St. John tells us, “Jesus … knew all people and … knew what was in everyone” (2:24).  And even with that knowledge of human hearts, he loves every person, even tax collectors, every very ordinary people like you and me.  He knows us, chooses us, calls us to “come down” and to be his followers.

Jesus invites himself to Zacchaeus’ house as a guest.  He invites himself to us too, coming to us in the Eucharist, asking us to receive him and make him welcome even tho, like Zacchaeus, we’re sinners.  We pray, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof”; come into my house, come into my heart.  “But only say the word, and my soul shall be healed,” as Jesus healed Zacchaeus, Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter, and all who came humbly to him, all who yet come humbly to him.  “Today salvation has come to this house….  For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:9-10).

Abp. Savio Hon Appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Malta

Archbishop Hon Tai-Fai Appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Malta

Photo: Curia

(ANS – Vatican City – October 25, 2022) – The Holy See Press Office announced yesterday, Monday, Oct. 24, that Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, a Salesian of Don Bosco, titular archbishop of Sila, and currently apostolic nuncio to Greece, has been appointed apostolic nuncio to Malta.

Archbishop Hon is an atypical nuncio, having not followed the traditional diplomatic curriculum. A Salesian, while nuncios are traditionally called by diocesan clergy, he was born in 1950 in Hong Kong and took his religious vows in 1975 for the Chinese Province, comprising Salesian presences in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan.

Ordained a priest in 1982, he received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of London and a doctorate in theology from the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome; he was responsible for translating the Catechism of the Catholic Church into Chinese, and served as professor of theology at Holy Spirit Seminary in Hong Kong.

He served as vice provincial of China from 1995 to 2001 and as provincial from 2001 to 2006.

He became a member of the International Theological Commission in 2004, and was thus noticed by then-Cardinal Ratzinger, who later as Pope Benedict XVI ordained him bishop in 2010, and assigned him to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples – the Vatican body that until last June was overseeing mission lands – in which Abp. Hon worked as secretary, serving first Cardinal Ivan Dias and then Cardinal Fernando Filoni.

In 2012, he was appointed a member of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses, and in the same year, he was appointed a member of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

In 2016, Archbishop Hon served as apostolic administrator of the archdiocese of Agana in the U.S. territory of Guam, and the following year he was appointed apostolic nuncio to Greece, his first assignment in the diplomatic service. This past year he was also one of the organizers of Pope Francis’s visit to Greece (December 2021).

As apostolic nuncio in Malta, Archbishop will represent the Holy Father and the Holy See both vis-à-vis the Catholic Church in Malta and Gozo and the civil authorities, and it will be his task to take care of strengthening the bonds of communion between the Apostolic See and the Catholic Church in the country. He will also serve as the dean of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Republic of Malta.

Malta, with a population of about 500,000, is a land traditionally marked by the Catholic faith. Prominent Maltese clergy figures are present in the Vatican, including Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the Synod. The apostolic nunciature in Malta had been vacant since the resignation, for reasons of age, of the previous nuncio, Archbishop Alessandro d’Errico, accepted on April 30, 2022. The apostolic nuncio in Malta is also traditionally accredited also in Libya, but this second accreditation has not yet been made official.

Salesian Missions Sends Medicine and Food to Ukraine

Salesian Missions sends critical shipment of medical and food aid

Photo: Salesian Missions

(ANS – Kiev – October 27, 2022) – Salesians in Ukraine have medical supplies and rice meals to aid people thanks to donations secured and shipped by Salesian Missions of New Rochelle. Salesians living and working in Ukraine have remained in their centers and churches where they are helping families with shelter, support, and nutrition. The donations affected more than 1,000 people.

The medical supply donation was provided by Matter, an organization that provides valuable corporate surplus to the places and people who need these life-saving resources the most. The medical supplies were provided to the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians of the Eastern Rite in Ukraine and then dispersed to the Salesian community in Zhytomyr, among other sites. The supplies are being used in local hospitals and for people in need.

Katie Johnson, director of global health initiatives at Matter, said, “The team at Salesian Missions is doing wonderful work, and Matter is honored to partner with such a special organization. We are grateful for organizations like Salesian Missions that allow us to be a small part of bringing these life-saving devices to those who need them most.”

“We appreciate this new partnership with Matter, which has enabled us to get critical medical supplies to places in need in Ukraine,” said Father Gus Baek, director of Salesian Missions. “Salesian organizations around the globe have come together to help support Salesians in Ukraine who are working with people displaced inside the country. This support is essential, especially now, when the warehouses of food and medicines in Ukraine are empty. The needs of people are increasing.”

Along with the medical supply shipment, Salesian Missions also sent a container of rice meals from Feed My Starving Children, a nonprofit Christian organization committed to “feeding God’s children hungry in body and spirit.” The food is destined for poor residents of towns and villages in eastern Ukraine, where food is needed most. In addition to these efforts, soon after the war started, Salesian Missions launched a Ukraine Emergency Relief Fund that is helping to provide shelter, nutrition, and supplies to refugees in need. This fund is among other fundraising efforts that Salesians in more than 130 countries are doing in support of Salesians on the front lines of this crisis.

Source: Salesian Missions

Homily for 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
30th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Oct. 23, 2022
Luke 18: 9-14
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx

“Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else” (Luke 18: 9).

Jesus presents us with another parable about prayer.  Last week (18:1-8) he urged us to be persistent like a widow seeking justice from a corrupt judge.  Today he urges us to pray humbly.

The Pharisee in the parable is basically a good man who tries to keep the commandments—as were most of the Pharisees despite their bad reputation in the gospels.  This man gives God credit for the virtues he practices.  So far, so good.

But Jesus tells his audience, “those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else,” that the Pharisee doesn’t “go home justified” (8:14), i.e., in a healthy relationship with God.  Why?  Because he hasn’t looked deeply enuf into his own heart to see any faults, any guilt, anything in his own attitudes or behavior that might be displeasing to God.  He passes judgment on people who aren’t like him and looks down on them.  There’s no evidence of love in his heart.

There’s some Pharisee in all of us.  Haven’t we despised Osama bin Laden and Vladimir Putin?  How have we despised some neighbor, someone we work with, some relative—saying some version of “Thank God I’m not adulterous, murderous, thieving, lazy,” and so on, like so-and-so?

In the gospels, tax collectors are categorized alongside “sinners,” always criticized by the “right kind of people” in society; and Jesus is criticized for befriending them and allowing them to associate with him.  He even called one—St. Matthew—to be one of the 12 apostles.

No doubt the tax collectors, in general, were a bad lot.  They collaborated with the Romans and with Herod the ruler of Galilee to oppress ordinary people, demanding much more in taxes than they were required to turn over to the authorities, making for themselves a very handsome income and reputations as traitors to their own people.

The tax collector in Jesus’ parable realizes all that.  When he enters the temple, he keeps to the back, not daring to approach closer the presence of God, up where the Pharisee gladly stations himself.  (Is that why so many Catholics sit in the rear pews?)  He doesn’t present a list of virtues; altho he probably has some, that’s not the point of his prayer.  Instead, his sinfulness, his unworthiness to stand before God or even raise his eyes to God (8:13), consumes his mind.  All he can do is implore God to be merciful to him (8:13).

No comparing himself with others.  No boasting.  No excuses.  Just an honest, sincere appraisal of the state of his soul, perhaps with some specific sins on his mind.

To such people God grants forgiveness.  They go home justified, pleasing to God—as do Catholics when they come to the sacrament of Reconciliation, humbly confessing their sins and asking God for mercy—mercy that our good Lord Jesus is more than eager to give to us, as he did to tax collectors and sinners in 1st-century Israel.

Homily for Friday, Week 29 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Friday
29th Week of Ordinary Time

Oct. 21, 2022
Eph 4: 1-6
Provincial House, New Rochelle, N.Y.

“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 expounding on the glorious relationship between Christians and God the Father, established by Christ.  His tone changes now to an appeal to his disciples in Ephesus to consider their call—that relationship—and to live up to it; to be who they are.  His appeal takes the tone even of a last bequest:  “I, a prisoner for the Lord….”  His relationship with God in Christ means so much to him that he’s undergoing persecution for it and may die for it.

The Ephesians’ relationship with God unites them with God.  So Paul speaks of unity, of being one with God and with one another, one in everything spiritual; he enumerates 7 unities (4:4-6).

To achieve and maintain unity within the body of the Church, Christ’s followers must be like him:  humble, gentle, patient, bearing with one another thru love (4:2).  Those qualities foster unity in the Church and in a Salesian community.  They’re hard—at least for me.  I have to resolve every day to practice those virtues; I hope I succeed now and then.

We need the help of the one Spirit, the bond of unity (4:3-4), to practice those virtues of Christ, to live “in a manner worthy of the call [we] have received.”  But the one who called us is eager to help us with his grace as he helped St. Paul and numberless saints, so that “Christ may dwell in [our] hearts,” as we heard yesterday (3:17) and we might all “be filled with the fullness of God” (3:19).

Homily for Feast of St. Luke

Homily for the Feast of St. Luke

Oct. 18, 2022
Collect
Luke 10: 1-9
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph Residence, New Rochelle

The collect today credits St. Luke with revealing the mystery of God’s love for the poor, with attention to the unity of believers “in one heart and one soul,” and with seeking the salvation of all nations.  Those are themes in Luke’s Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles.

by James Tissot

The gospel reading touches indirectly on 2 of those 3 themes, viz., the poverty of the 72 missionaries whom Jesus sends out and that very missionary activity which Jesus initiates.  These disciples are poor in what they carry, or don’t carry:  no money, no baggage, no extra sandals (10:4); and complete dependence on their hosts in the different villages where they go (10:7).  This poverty is the poverty of the early Church that we meet in Acts.  It’s the poverty of Jesus himself in his itinerant preaching (9:58; cf. 8:1-3) and of the people to whom he attended, among whom he moved, for whom his message resonated.  The only palaces Jesus entered were those where he was tried and condemned:  the house of the high priests and Pilate’s headquarters.

That’s rather a contrast to us even tho we profess poverty.  We have many possessions and ready access to funds.  Maybe you’ve shed most of your possessions at this point, but I haven’t—so many books, clothes for the different seasons and different occasions, and camping gear; and I live in a palace.  So it’s a challenge for me, at least, to live and minister like the 72.

There’s this, tho:  the 72 had to travel light to be on the go with their mission.  You’ve spent your lives, as I have, going here and there at the provincial’s call for the sake of our apostolic mission.  Now we have to pray, as Jesus says, for more laborers for the harvest of souls which is so abundant (10:2) and so much more difficult than when we set out to bring Jesus to the young.

The collect also prays that God’s salvation will reach all nations—a major theme in Luke’s Gospel, hinted at in Jesus’ sending out these missionaries, and of course in the Acts of the Apostles, where we witness the Good News coming to Greek Gentiles and finally to Rome.  Some commentators also note that Luke’s known world included 72 nations (altho St. John’s world allegedly counted 153 nations; see the haul of fish in the post-resurrection appearance [21:11]).

We thank God for the great missionary work done by our congregations, reaching to a score of nations in your case.  This is God’s grace at work, thru us touching countless souls.  We back our confreres around the world with our prayers, perhaps with correspondence, with welcomes when we meet them.  That gives us a share in their missions in Latin America, Africa, India, and in secularized Western society, which also is mission territory.

Our most important mission, tho, may be our own Christian witness:  being right here one heart and one soul centered on Christ.

Homily for 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
29th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Oct. 16, 2022
Luke 17: 11-19
2 Kings 5: 14-17
The Fountains, Tuckahoe, N.Y.
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx

“Pray always without becoming weary” (Luke 18: 1).

Both the Old Testament reading and the gospel speak of persistent prayer.

In the reading from Exodus, Moses must continue in prayer with raised hands until Israel is victorious in battle.  Getting tired or growing weary isn’t reason to stop.  But he’s helped in his prayer by 2 other leaders of the Israelites.  That we pray together, that we support one another, is important.  We can pray alone, and in fact Jesus commands us to do that at times (Matt 6:6).  Praying as a community, praying as a parish, is more powerful, and it strengthens us as well.  We help one another as we stand together before God to pray for what we need or to praise him for his blessings.  We give public witness to our Christian faith.

by John Everett Millais

Jesus’ parable touches on persistence in prayer even when it seems to be fruitless, like the widow’s pleas to the judge who was looking for a bribe before he’d hear her case.  Perhaps Jesus’ question at the end, “When the Son of Man comes [on the Last Day, as judge of the world], will he find faith on earth?” (18:13)—perhaps that question is meant to refer to our persistence in prayer even when it doesn’t appear that God’s listening.  That’s a severe test of our faith.

It’s been said—by whom I don’t know—that God has 3 possible answers to our personal prayers.  The 1st possible answer is, “Yes, that would be good for your well-being.”  The 2d is, “Not yet; it’s not the right moment.”  The 3d is, “No, I have something better in mind for you.”

Those are fine as regards personal intentions.  The plea of the widow in the parable raises the issue of social justice.  Assuredly, there are numerous issues that concern the well-being of the human race for which we should pray—persistently.  How much suffering there is in the world!  Hunger, poverty, lack of educational opportunity, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, political corruption, environmental degradation, racism and other prejudices—and war.  Does it shake our faith that these injustices go on and on, no matter how much we pray?  How long have we been praying for peace in the Middle East?  Maybe since 1948.  How long will we have to pray for a just peace for Ukraine?

If it were up to God, so many injustices would be resolved:  “he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily” (18:8).  But it’s not up to God alone, is it?  We’re dealing with people, with the human heart, with human sinfulness.  God can’t force Putin to withdraw from Ukraine.  He can’t compel drug lords to find a clean way to live.  We all know that from the sinful choices we all make—we choose this or that evil in spite of what God wants.

So we have to persist in our prayer—not praying that God change his mind but that those doing injustice undergo a conversion, and praying that in the meantime we can persist in doing good ourselves and upholding what’s right in society.

Moses, Aaron, and Hur had to persist in their prayer for Israel to be victorious over their enemies.  Our prayer also has to persist in seeking victory over our enemies, especially the Prince of Darkness, the Evil One who wishes to destroy our souls.  The conversion of our souls is a constant battle, no matter how long ago we decided to follow Jesus Christ.  Temptation ever allures us, as a drink or a smoke or a high ever allures a reformed addict.  The 7 deadly sins are always a choice away; and sometimes we choose one of them (envy, anger, lust, greed, pride, gluttony, sloth) to our spiritual harm and perhaps the physical or emotional harm of someone else.  Well, then we persist in turning back to God with a prayer for forgiveness, with repentance.  Our mortal enemy must be defeated; Christ has already conquered him, and we pray that we’ll cling persistently to Christ until our own victory when he calls us home.

Fr. Tomasz Grzegorzewski, SDB (1958-2022)

Fr. Tomasz Grzegorzewski, SDB (1958-2022)

(by Fr. Tarcisio Dos Santos)

Fr. Tomasz Grzegorzewski, SDB, parochial vicar at St. John Bosco Parish in Port Chester, N.Y., died suddenly on the afternoon of October 13. He collapsed while taking a walk; passersby called for medical assistance and he was taken to Greenwich (Conn.) Hospital, but he couldn’t be revived.

Fr. Tomasz was on loan from the Salesian province of Krakow, Poland. He had been part of the Port Chester Salesian community for nearly 5 years, ministering to Polish people in the area as well as to other parishioners. He had just returned from a vacation in Poland last week. Although he had some health problems, no one imagined that they would strike him down so suddenly.

Fr. Tomasz was 64 years old, a professed Salesian for 44 years, and a priest for 37 years.

Fr. Tomasz was the youngest child of Marian and Janina Bednarska Grzegorzewski and was born on March 5, 1958, in Kielce, Poland. He was baptized in the cathedral church of that city on May 10 of the same year. His father died in a train accident when Tomasz was nine.

Tomasz attended primary and secondary schools in Kielce and entered the Salesian prenovitiate at Kopiec, Poland, on January 8, 1977. On August 16, 1978, he made his first profession as a Salesian, a member of the Krakow Province.

Fr. Tomasz undertook philosophy and theology studies in Krakow and was ordained in Krakow on June 19, 1985, by Auxiliary Bishop Albin Malysiak of Krakow. He earned a master’s degree in theology from the Catholic University of Lublin.

Following his ordination, Fr. Tomasz served as an assistant pastor in Krakow and Przemysl for two years. Then he undertook missionary work in Africa, serving in Kenya, Uganda, Namibia, and South Africa for a total of 17 years between 1987 and 2005, with a sabbatical year at the Institute of Salesian Studies in Berkeley, Calif., in 1996-1997. He worked as both a parish priest and a project administrator.

In 2007 Fr. Tomasz moved for a year to Christchurch, New Zealand, as an assistant pastor, which was followed by 8 years in Ireland (2008-2016) as a parish priest in Dublin and Aughrim. He took another sabbatical year in 2016-2017, split between Chicago and Sydney (Australia). In 2017 he arrived in Port Chester for what turned out to be his final priestly assignment.

Fr. Pat Angelucci, pastor of St. John Bosco Parish and director of the Salesian community, writes: “What is most important is his love for the missions – his concern and interest in the Salesian Lay Missioners when they came each year [for their orientation] – and how he would pray for them. He desired to be in places where there was really a need for a priest to help others. He had a special gift for celebrating funerals and constantly prayed for those whom he buried; he would visit the cemetery to remember them. Each week he would go to visit the kids in our Polish school; they loved him because he was always friendly and kind and took time to talk with them. He had great pastoral care for the Polish community, visiting the sick and reaching out in every way. He was gentle and loving.”

Fr. Tomasz was predeceased by both of his parents and his brother. His two sisters survive him; the younger, Joanna Grzegorsewska, lives in Poland, while the elder, also in Poland, is in poor health and wasn’t listed as a contact on his personal information form.

Funeral arrangements

everything at St. John Bosco Church, 260 Westchester Ave., Port Chester

Tuesday, October 18:  reception of the body and wake, 3:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Wednesday, October 19: wake, 3:00 to 7:00 p.m.

                                         closing of the casket, 7:15 p.m.

                                         Mass of Christian Burial, 7:30 p.m.

Fr. Tomasz wished that his body be cremated and the cremains taken to Krakow for interment in the Salesian cemetery there.

Homily for Wednesday, Week 28 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Wednesday
28th Week of Ordinary Time

Gal 5: 18-25
Collect
Year II
Oct. 12, 2018
Salesian HS & Provincial House Community, New Rochelle

This homily was drafted before we were informed that there wouldn’t be a school Mass this day because of standardized testing.

“Brothers, if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law” (Gal 5: 18).

St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians contrasts the Law of Moses with its hundreds of rules and the law of the Spirit, meaning the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit.  This ties in with the prayer of this morning’s Mass, in which we asked for God’s grace to guide us at all times.  Grace is the working of the Spirit in our lives.

When our lives are filled with Christ’s Spirit, the result—or the fruit, as St. Paul calls it (5:22)—“is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, self-control” (5:22-23).  Paul adds that there’s no law against these virtues; the Law of Moses has no control over them.  The only thing that might block those works of the Spirit is sin; and Paul lists 15 different sins like hatred, selfishness, drunkenness, and impure behavior (5:19-21).

To combat our sinful inclinations, and to have our actual sins forgiven, we need grace.  We need the Spirit.  So we pray for that.

All of us have experienced when people have been patient with us, kind to us, generous.  We appreciate that.  We appreciate people who radiate joy—like Mr. J. did—may he rest in peace!  Don’t we really want to be like that, to be Holy Spirit-filled?

We do.  Let’s not just say, “I’d like to be loving, joyful, kind, patient, faithful, self-controlled.”  We pray for those gifts of the Holy Spirit.  We pray that God’s grace “go before us and follow after” us so that we may “carry out good works” (Collect).  Every day, we have opportunities to put those virtues into practice, to “carry out good works.”

Pope Francis Sketches the Figure of Artemides Zatti

Pope Francis Sketches the Figure of Artemides Zatti

Migrant, relative of the poor, Salesian coadjutor, and intercessor for vocations

The Rector Major and Pope Francis exchange greetings

Photo © Vatican Media

(ANS – Vatican City – October 8, 2022) – Pope Francis showed a detailed, precise, timely, and personal knowledge regarding St. Artemides Zatti. Speaking at the ceremony scheduled in Paul VI Hall on the eve of the canonization, he offered the faithful and pilgrims an accurate profile of Zatti as a migrant, a relative of all the poor, a Salesian coadjutor brother, and an intercessor for vocations.

Welcomed by the general enthusiasm of all the faithful present at the event, while the choir directed by Fr. Francesco de Ruvo, SDB, sang the famous Salesian song Giù da’ Colli, the Holy Father then received the greeting of the Rector Major, who thanked him for granting this special audience to the pilgrims and devotees of Zatti.

Afterward, the Pontiff began his address and started from the figure of Zatti as a migrant. While in the context of 19th-century migrations many migrants lost with their roots their faith as well, the Zattis instead remained faithful. “Participation in the life of the Christian community, cordial relations with the priests, common prayer at home, and attendance at the sacraments did not fail. Artemides grew up in an excellent Christian environment.” That is why, after meeting them in Bahia Blanca, Argentina, Zatti later matured the decision to become a Salesian.

Describing Zatti in light of the nickname he was given early in life, “relative of all the poor,” Pope Francis then recalled his tireless zeal for all the sick, the fruit of that promise he had made in his youth after he was cured of tuberculosis. “In that sliver of Patagonian land, where the life of our Blessed flows,” the Pontiff commented in words of great delicacy, “a page of the Gospel was rewritten: the Good Samaritan found in him heart, hands, and passion, first and foremost for the little ones, the poor, the sinners, the least. He continued further, “Thus a hospital became the ‘Father’s Inn,’ a sign of a Church that wants to be rich in gifts of humanity and grace, a dwelling place of the commandment of love of God and brother, a place of health as a pledge of salvation.”

It was precisely his unity with God that enabled him to act as he did for the needy: “His intense work and tireless availability for the needs of the poor were animated by a profound union with the Lord: constant prayer, prolonged Eucharistic adoration, praying the Rosary. Artemides was a man of communion, who knew how to work with others: nuns, doctors, nurses; and by his example and counsel he formed people, shaped consciences, converted hearts.”

Zatti as coadjutor brother was the third aspect highlighted by Francis. He cited Zatti’s words that shape the canonization motto – “I believed, I promised, I was healed” – and the episode in which Zatti himself uttered them. For Zatti, such words expressed a program of life, a life that, as the Pope noted, once “regained is no longer his property, but is all for the poor,” and he lived this mission in communion with his Salesian confreres: “He is the first to be present at community moments; with his joy and sympathy he animates the brotherhood.”

Lastly, Pope Francis, who as provincial superior of the Jesuits of Argentina promoted novenas and prayers for new vocations of consecrated brothers through Artemides Zatti, underlined Zatti’s role as intercessor, reporting his own direct testimony.

And finally concluding, the Pope reiterated the testimonial and operational value of the consecration of coadjutors, a vocation chosen with full awareness and lived to the full by the future saint. “The brothers have a special charism that is nourished in prayer and work. And they are good for the whole body of the Congregation. They are people of piety, they are cheerful, hardworking. One does not see ‘inferiority complexes’ in them for not being priests, and they do not aspire to become deacons. They are aware of their vocation and they want it that way,” the Pope said clearly, before imparting the apostolic blessing to all and leaving the Paul VI Hall accompanied by the jubilant greeting of all the faithful.

Bro. Sal Sammarco of the New Rochelle Province

presents a crucifix (which he crafted) to the Pope (Vatican Media).

Bro. Sal also oversaw the making of the chair

that Pope Francis used for Mass at Madison Square Garden.

Homily for Memorial of St. John XXIII

Homily for the Memorial of
St. John XXIII
Tuesday, Week 28 of Ordinary Time

Oct. 11, 2022
Gal 5: 1-6
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph Residence, New Rochelle

Pope John XXIII opens the 2d Vatican Council on Oct. 11, 1962

(Lothar Wolleh)

“For freedom Christ set us free” (Gal 5: 1).

There’s a scene in A Man for All Seasons in which Thomas More is debating with his son-in-law Will Roper.  More has been telling him how he’ll hide in the thickets of the law from the pursuit of Henry VIII’s anger; that he so trusts the benefits of the law that he’d allow it to protect the Devil himself.  Roper objects that to pursue the Devil he’d knock down every law in England.  To that, More responds, “And when you’ve knocked down every law and the Devil turns on you, where will you hide?”

The law has a protective purpose, a guiding purpose.  St. Paul knew that and believed it.  But he also knew that the law had its limits.  It could only condemn those who violated it, not restore them to righteousness.  By itself the law could become its own objective; it could enslave one in fear of its consequences.  Christ came to set us free from the consequences of breaking the law, which as sinners we are prone to do.  There’s a greater law, Paul preaches, that of faith, that of love.

John XXIII didn’t speak in those terms, but in essence he worked to set the Church free from a kind of enslavement to law—to a rigid interpretation of canon law, to the confines of a narrow scholastic theology, to arid liturgy.  Therefore he wanted to open the Church’s windows and let the fresh breeze of the Holy Spirit blow thru; wanted to take the ageless truth of the Gospel and make it understandable to people of the 20th century.  Thus, “through the Spirit” (quoting Paul, 5:5) he convened the Vatican Council, perhaps the 1st council in church history not with a doctrinal purpose like Nicea, Chalcedon, Trent, or Vatican I but with a pastoral purpose:  to set the Church free from slavery to the law and enable her to be, instead, the light of the world, lumen gentium, the title of the Council’s most important document.

Discerning the truth of the Gospel and making it alive and relevant for the contemporary world remains an issue.  Thus the debates over papal documents and synodality.  Where does law or doctrine serve to guide and protect us as we follow Christ, and where does it become its own objective and a hindrance to a personal relationship with Christ, to personal holiness, to “faith working thru love” (5:6)?

Brief Profile of Blessed Artemides Zatti
and the Miracle Obtained Through His Intercession

by Fr. Pier Luigi Cameroni
postulator general for the Causes of the Saints of the Salesian Family

(ANS – Rome – October 9, 2022) – Artemides was born to Luigi and Albina Zatti in Boretto (Reggio Emilia, Italy) on October 12, 1880, the 3d of 8 siblings. They were a poor family but rich in faith and affection. Forced by poverty, early in 1897 the family emigrated to Argentina and settled in Bahia Blanca.

There were other “migrations” in Artemides’ life: the one from Bahia Blanca to Viedma sick with tuberculosis while traveling on the Galera, when it seemed that all his dreams were to vanish; when he migrated from the San José hospital to the San Isidro hospital on a wagon adorned with flowers and amid songs.

In Bahia Blanca, young Artemides attended the parish run by the Salesians, where Fr. Carlo Cavalli was the pastor. Artemides found in him the father and spiritual director who oriented him to Salesian life. In Viedma, he met Father Evasio Garrone, who invited him to pray to Mary Help of Christians to obtain healing, but also suggested he make a promise: “If she heals you, you will devote your whole life to these sick people.” Artemides gladly made this promise and was miraculously healed.

He made his first profession as a Salesian coadjutor on January 11, 1908, and his perpetual profession on February 18, 1911, convinced that “one can serve God either as a priest or as a brother: one thing can be as valid for God as the other, provided one does so with vocation and love.”

Throughout his life, the hospital was the place where he exercised, day after day, a charity abounding with the compassion of the Good Samaritan. When he would wake the sick in the wards, his signature greeting was, “Good morning! Long live Jesus, Joseph, and Mary. Is everyone breathing?”

He routinely cycled with his medicine bag around the town of Viedma in his white coat – one hand on the handlebar and the other with the rosary. He did everything for free. A farmer who wanted to express his gratitude, greeting him, said, “Thank you very much, Brother Zatti, for everything. I take my leave of you and ask you to convey my best regards to your wife, although I do not have the pleasure of knowing her....” “Neither do I,” Zatti replied, laughing heartily.

Artemides Zatti loved his sick, seeing and serving Jesus himself in them. One day he said to the wardrobe attendant, “A change of clothes for our Lord,” meaning for the patient. Zatti sought the best for his patients because “to our Lord, we must give the best.” A poor country boy needed a little suit for his first Communion, and Artemides asked for “a little suit for our Lord.”

He knew how to win everyone over; with his poise he could resolve even the most delicate situations. One of the hospital doctors testified, “When I saw Mr. Zatti, my disbelief wavered.” And another, “I have believed in God ever since I met Bro. Zatti.”

In the community, he was the one who rang the bell, the one who preceded all the confreres in community appointments. As a good Salesian, he knew how to make cheerfulness a component of his holiness. Always pleasantly smiling: that is how all the photos portray him.

In 1950 he fell from a ladder, and at the time of this accident, the symptoms of cancer manifested themselves, which he lucidly diagnosed himself. He passed away on March 15, 1951, surrounded by the affection and gratitude of a population of Viedma and neighboring Patagones, who from that moment began to invoke him as an intercessor with God. The chronicle of the Salesian boarding school in Viedma records these prophetic words, “One less brother at home, and one more saint in heaven.”

The miracle for canonization

The recognized miracle concerns the miraculous healing of Renato, a Filipino, who was stricken in August 2016 with a “right cerebellar ischemic stroke complicated by a massive hemorrhagic lesion.” Due to worsening symptoms and the appearance of difficulty in walking, he was hospitalized. In the following days as there was no improvement; indeed, disoriented and confused in speech, he was transferred to intensive care.

His brother Roberto, a Salesian coadjutor, learning of the serious situation, began praying during community Vespers on the very day of his hospitalization, asking for healing through the intercession of Blessed Artemides Zatti.

Subsequently, a neurosurgical checkup advised the need for surgery, which was not possible due to the family’s situation of poverty. Consequently, the family members decided to bring their relative home so that he could spend the last days of his life with his family. The dying man received the anointing of the sick and wanted family members and relatives around him to take leave of them.

Roberto invited relatives to join together to pray, intensely invoking Blessed Artemides Zatti.

On August 24, 2016, against all expectations, Renato took off his tube and oxygen, called relatives saying he was fine, wanted to take a bath, and asked to eat. He was a man who had been brought home to die, and after a few days was healthy again!

This miracle confirmed the charism of Artemides Zatti, called “the relative of the poor.” In fact, Artemides in his hospital in Viedma, Argentina, welcomed and cared for the very people who could not afford the cost of medicines and hospitalizations.

The miracle did not happen only as a physical healing. For God’s grace, while healing bodies, touches people’s hearts and lives, renewing them in faith, in relationships, in witnessing a new life.

One day one of the doctors at San José Hospital asked, “Don Zatti, are you happy?” “Very. How about you, doctor?” “I’m not.” “You see, each person carries happiness within himself. Be content and satisfied with what you have, be it little or nothing: that’s what the Lord wants from us. He takes care of the rest.”

That is the wish and the message that Bro. Zatti sends to each of us today. As he wrote in a letter to his father Luigi in 1908: “I will not stand there enumerating the graces you must ask for, well you know. Only I place before your eyes one, and that is that we may all love and serve God in this world and then enjoy him forever in the next. Oh! What happiness then, to be able to be all together, without fear of ever being separated again!... oh, yes, this grace you must ask for. And if sometimes we have to suffer something, patience!... in heaven we will find the reward, if we have suffered for the sake of our dear Jesus. Let us remember that momentary are the sufferings and eternal is the joy!”

Salesian Bro. Artemides Zatti Is a Saint!

Salesian Brother Artemides Zatti Is a Saint!

(ANS – Vatican City – October 9, 2022) - “Salesian Brother Artemides Zatti was a living example of gratitude.” With these words, pronounced during the homily of today’s Mass, Pope Francis points all the faithful to the model of the “holy nurse” and “relative of all the poor,” on the day he proclaims his sanctity before the universal Church. The Eucharistic celebration with the rite of canonization of Salesian Brother Artemides Zatti and Bp. John Baptist Scalabrini, bishop and founder of the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles and the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo, was celebrated in St. Peter’s Square in Rome.

The solemn rite of canonization came at the beginning of the liturgy. After the entrance hymn, the schola of St. Peter’s Basilica intoned the hymn Veni, Creator Spiritus, and Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the dicastery for the Causes of Saints, accompanied by the postulators of the 2 causes, Father Graziano Battistella, CS, and Father Pierluigi Cameroni, SDB, went to the Holy Father to present the Petitio, the request with which they ask to proceed to the canonization of the two blesseds.

The figures of Bp. Scalabrini and Bro. Zatti were briefly illustrated through the reading of their respective biographies by Card. Semeraro.

Then entire square packed with the faithful invoked through the Litany of the Saints the participation of the entire heavenly Church to accompany the inscription in the Roll of Saints of the two blesseds.

At 10:30 a.m. the Holy Father Francis pronounced in Latin the solemn formula of canonization by which he declared and defined John Baptist Scalabrini and Artemides Zatti as saints.

Great applause from the assembly of the faithful accompanied the proclamation, followed by the incensation and deposition at the feet of the statue of our Lady of handsome reliquaries of the two new saints, and by the thanksgiving of the cardinal prefect of the dicastery for the Causes of Saints, who at the same time asked and obtained from the Pontiff the consent to the drafting of the apostolic letter about the canonization having taken place.

The Sunday Eucharistic liturgy then resumed, concelebrated by several cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and priests, many of them sons of Don Bosco, led by Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime. At the time of the homily, the Pope elaborated on the readings of the 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time. Two aspects emphasized in particular by the Pontiff: walking together and gratitude.

Walking together is the characteristic of the ten lepers healed by Jesus. “This image is also meaningful for us,” the Pontiff says. “When we are honest with ourselves, we realize that we are all sick at heart, all sinners in need of the Father’s mercy. Then we stop creating divisions on the basis of merit, social position, or some other superficial criterion.”

“Brothers and sisters, let us reflect and see whether in our lives, in our families, in the places where we daily work and spend our time, we are capable of walking together with others, listening to them, resisting the temptation to lock ourselves up in self-absorption and to think only of our own needs,” was the invitation the Pope elicited.

This is also an opportunity to denounce once again the exclusion of migrants, which the Pope flatly calls “scandalous, criminal, disgusting and sinful.”

“Today let us think of our migrants, those who die,” the Pope added again, leaving the question open to all, “And those who manage to enter, do we receive them as brothers or do we exploit them?

Next, the Holy Father highlighted the value of gratitude, following the model of the Samaritan, the only one of the 10 healed lepers who returned to thank Jesus: “This is a great lesson also for us, who daily benefit from the gifts of God, yet often go our own way, failing to cultivate a living relationship with him. .... And, thus, we end up thinking that all the gifts we receive each day are natural and due to us.”

On the contrary, the Pontiff noted that “gratitude, the ability to give thanks, makes us appreciate instead the presence in our lives of the God who is love; and to recognize the importance of others, overcoming the dissatisfaction and indifference that disfigure our hearts.”

Knowing how to walk together with others and being able to give thanks, the Pope said, are precisely what marked the lives of the two saints proclaimed today. The Pope quoted Bp. Scalabrini, who founded a congregation for the care of emigrants; the Pope offered a quote to affirm that “in the shared journeying of emigrants we should see not only problems, but also a providential plan. In the bishop’s words: ‘Precisely because of the migrations imposed by persecutions, the Church pressed beyond the confines of Jerusalem and of Israel, and became “catholic”; thanks to the migrations of our own days, the Church will be an instrument of peace and of communion among peoples’” (L’emigrazione degli operai italiani [Ferrara, 1899]).

The Pontiff then reflected on the forced migration of which the Ukrainian population is a victim: “Let us not forget today martyred Ukraine.”

On Salesian Bro. Artemides Zatti, he then reiterated: “For his part, Salesian Bro. Artemides Zatti, with his bicycle, was a living example of gratitude: cured of tuberculosis, he devoted his entire life to serving others, caring for the infirm with tender love. He was said to have carried on his shoulders the dead body of one of his patients. Filled with gratitude for all that he had received, he wanted to say his own ‘thank you’ by taking upon himself the wounds of others.”

The Holy Father’s homily concluded, therefore, with a final exhortation, “Let us pray that these holy brothers of ours will help us to walk together, without walls of division; and to cultivate this nobility of spirit so pleasing to God, which is gratitude.”

Homily for 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
28th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Oct. 9, 2022
2 Kings 5: 14-17
Luke 17: 11-19
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx

“One of [the lepers], realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice” (Luke 17: 15).

A Byzantine-style fresco in the baptistery of Parma, Italy,

by Grisopolo

2 of the readings today tell stories about lepers, about God’s power to heal, and about gratitude.

In the Old Testament reading, the prophet Elisha instructs a Syrian general suffering from some kind of skin disease—perhaps not true leprosy, but certainly a troublesome affliction to him, his family, and his master the king of Syria.

In the gospel reading, Jesus heals 10 true lepers, one of whom returns to praise God and thank Jesus.

In Elisha’s time, the 9th c. B.C., the Syrians were enemies of Israel (as they still are today).  That didn’t prevent Naaman the general from coming to Israel to seek healing after hearing that there was a prophet of God in Israel.  When he obeyed Elisha’s instruction to bathe 7 times in the Jordan River, he was cured.  He went out of his way to return to Elisha to acknowledge what the God of Israel had done for him and to offer a gift to the prophet, which the prophet refused.  Then Naaman asked for 2 loads of Israelite earth to take back to Damascus with him so that he might worship the God of Israel.  The ancients linked particular gods to particular territory; only Israel regarded their God, personally named YHWH (usually rendered in our English translations as LORD), as Creator and Lord of the entire universe.  So Naaman thought he needed a chunk of Israelite soil to remain in touch with God.  From our perspective that may be faulty reasoning.  His desire gratefully to worship only the God of Israel, however, is praiseworthy.

When he speaks with the 10 lepers, Jesus tells them to go to the priests, as the Law of Moses commanded, to be certified as clean of disease so that they might return to the community of Israel and to their families.  On their way they were cured; it was an act of faith on their part to obey Jesus and set out before they were healed.

We’re not told whether they all went to the priests; presumably so.  We’re not told whether the one who returned to Jesus came directly back to Jesus or went 1st to the priests, as Jesus directed.  We’re not told that the 9 who didn’t come back to Jesus were ungrateful.  We are told that this one—and a Samaritan, at that, another long-time enemy of the Jews—was explicitly grateful to God and to Jesus, and that Jesus appreciated that and was disappointed that the other 9 didn’t come back.  Those 9 didn’t hear the consoling words of Jesus that their faith had saved them—maybe a deeper salvation than merely a cure of leprosy.

The power of God cleansed both Naaman and the 10 lepers.  God acted thru his designated agents, Elisha and Jesus.  Sometimes we, too, are God’s agents for healing people—not miraculously but in ordinary ways.  That could mean with medical attention or nursing care for a sick child, parent, or other relative, or a stranger who needs CPR.  It could mean comforting someone with a broken heart or broken dreams.  It could means offering time and attention to a child, a teen, a shut-in, or an elder relative.  Thru the Holy Spirit whom God has given to us in Baptism and Confirmation, we’re empowered to heal in a spiritual sense

But the more important lesson of the 2 readings is gratitude.  Neither Naaman nor the healed Samaritan was content to say, “Well, that was nice.”  They acted to voice their thanks to God.  That’s what we do when we come to Mass.  Eucharist means “thanksgiving,” and in fact the verb in Luke’s Greek text (v. 16) for the cured leper’s thanking Jesus is ευχαριστων, “eucharist.”  At Eucharist we give thanks to God thru our Lord Jesus Christ for healing us:  for healing our spiritual illnesses by forgiving our sins; for giving us his own living Body and Blood; for healing the ultimate physical illness of death by promising us a share in his resurrection.  As St. Paul says this morning, “If we have died with them, we shall also live with him” (2 Tim 2:11).

Polls tell us that no more than 25% of people who say they’re Catholic come to Mass regularly.  Those 25% are like the one leper who returned to Jesus to thank him.  25% is better than the 10% of the healed lepers to came back to Jesus, of course.  But don’t you think Jesus may be wondering where are the other 75% who could have their sins forgiven, receive his Body and Blood, be given Eucharistic power to live good lives on Monday and the rest of the week, and be gifted with eternal life?

No matter what life throws at us, and no matter what faults we commit in our human weakness and our moral foolishness, we have a lot to be thankful to God for.  Think on that now and then, and bring your gratitude to our Father in your daily prayer and especially at your weekly Eucharist.  As the faith of the healed leper saved him, so will it save you and me.