Salesian Bulletin Online (BSOL)

Salesian Bulletin OnLine (BSOL)

New Salesian Publication

(ANS – Rome – January 30, 2023) – On Jan. 31, feastday of St. John Bosco, a new official publication of the Salesian Congregation, called Bollettino Salesiano OnLine, will be launched. It is a project of the Rector Major and will be published in 7 languages solely online, as the name itself states.

[Ed. note: This is definitely different from the existing online versions of the Bollettino Salesiano and other editions of the Bulletin around the world, which post their respective print versions.]

It will play its role alongside the other Salesian channels of communication. If sdb.org is the Congregation’s institutional website and the Salesian iNfo Agency’s (ANS) infoans.org offers daily news, the Salesian Bulletin OnLine (BSOL) website will be a monthly magazine that will continue a tradition that comes from Don Bosco’s time.

It is a resumption of the indications of the holy founder who, in fact, in the superior chapter meeting of September 17, 1885, established some fundamental aspects for the Salesian Bulletin:

“The Bulletin must not be a particular leaflet for each region, such as France, Spain, Italy, etc., but must be the general organ of all these regions, that is, of a specific Salesian work, but in general. Let the news be compiled in such a way that all different regions have an interest in it, and let all editions in various languages be identical. For this purpose, they should be printed in all the various languages in the motherhouse, because in this way the address will be the same for everyone.” (MB XVII,668)

While in the beginning Don Bosco spoke of a few countries, today the Salesian Congregation is present in 135 nations around the world. Today’s technology makes it possible to reach out in real-time in a way that was unthinkable just a few years ago. Having the possibility to use these tools to transmit the Salesian charism is a great opportunity that should not be overlooked. We start with the most widely used languages in the Congregation: English, Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Polish, and German. For other languages, free website translation services will be used – for now (the procedure is also indicated on the new website).

What is its purpose? Nothing other than that defined in Article 41 of the Salesian Regulations: “The Salesian Bulletin, founded by Don Bosco, disseminates knowledge of the Salesian spirit and action, especially missionary and educational activities. It takes an interest in the problems of young people, encourages collaboration, and seeks to foster vocations. It is also an instrument of formation and a bond of unity for the various groups of the Salesian Family. It is produced according to the directives of the Rector Major and his council in various editions and languages.”

And what is the Salesian spirit? An impartial definition we remember is from Don Bosco’s own time by Cardinal Lucido Maria Parocchi, vicar of His Holiness, at the end of a lecture to the Salesian Cooperators in the church of St. Frances of Rome given by Don Bosco on May 8, 1884.

“What, then, will be special about the Salesian Congregation? What will be its character, its physiognomy? If I have understood it well, if I have grasped its concept well, if it does not veil my intelligence, its purpose, its special character, its physiognomy, its essential note, is charity exercised according to the needs of our century: Nos credidimus caritati; Deus caritas est, and it is revealed through charity. Only with the works of charity can the present century be enticed, and drawn to goodness.

The world now wants to know and knows nothing else, except material things; it knows nothing and wants to know nothing about spiritual things. It ignores the beauties of faith, disowns the grandeur of religion, repudiates the hopes of future life, denies God Himself. Can a blind man judge colors, a deaf man hear the sublime harmonies of a Beethoven or a Rossini, a cretin be the judge of the beauties of a work of art? Such is the present century: blind, deaf, without intelligence for the things of God and charity. This century understands of charity only the means and not the end and the principle. It knows how to analyze this virtue, but it does not know how to compose its synthesis. Animalis homo non percipit quae sunt spiritus Dei; says St. Paul. Say to the men of this century: It is necessary to save the souls that are lost, it is necessary to instruct those who are ignorant of the principles of religion, it is necessary to give alms for the love of that God, who one day will reward the generous ones abundantly; and the men of this century do not understand.

One must therefore adapt to the century, which flies low, close to the ground. To the pagans God makes Himself known by means of the natural law; He makes Himself known to the Jews through the Bible; to the schismatic Greeks by means of the great traditions of the Fathers; to the Protestants through the Gospel: to the present century He makes himself known by charity: Nos credidimus caritati.

Say to this century: I take the young off the streets for you lest they be caught under the streetcars, lest they fall into a pit; I withdraw them to a hospice lest they wear out their fresh age in vices and revelry; I gather them into schools to educate them lest they become the scourge of society, lest they fall into a prison; I call them to me and watch over them lest they gouge each other’s eyes out, and then the men of this century understand and begin to believe: Et nos cognovimus et credidimus caritati, quam habet Deus in nobis.” (MB XVII, 94-95)

Ultimately, the BSOL, in the service of the charism and the Congregation, wants to be an instrument for doing good in time and in eternity.

Centennial of Birth of Servant of God Vera Grita

Centennial of the Birth of the Servant of God Vera Grita

(ANS – Rome – January 27, 2023) – Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023, marked the centennial of the birth of Vera Grita. She was born in Rome on Jan. 28, 1923, the second child of Amleto, a photographer by profession, and Maria Anna Zacco della Pirrera, of noble origins. The close-knit family also included her older sister Giuseppa (called Pina) and younger sisters Liliana and Santa Rosa (called Rosa). On December 14 of the same year, Vera received Baptism in the parish of San Gioacchino in Prati, also in Rome.

Her birth anniversary was celebrated on Jan. 28 with a Eucharist at 11:00 a.m. presided over by Bishop Vittorio Lupi, bishop emeritus of Savona-Noli, at the church of Mary Help of Christians in Savona. In the afternoon at the seminary, there was a lecture on “Saints in the Life of the Church” by Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni, postulator general of the causes of saints of the Salesian Family, which followed by the presentation of some figures of sainthood related to the Ligurian Church.

In the 2023 Strenna, entitled “AS THE YEAST IN TODAY’S HUMAN FAMILY: The Lay Dimension of the Family of Don Bosco,” the Rector Major speaks of Vera Grita, a Salesian Cooperator:

“Born in Rome on January 28, 1923, she lived and studied in Savona, where she obtained her teacher’s certificate. At the age of 21, during a sudden air raid on the city (1944), she was overwhelmed and trampled underfoot by the fleeing crowd, with serious consequences for her physically, and from then on she remained marked by suffering. She went unnoticed in her short earthly life, teaching in the schools of the Ligurian hinterland, where she earned the esteem and affection of everyone for her kind and meek character. She attended Mass in Savona at the Salesian parish of Mary Help of Christians, and was regular in her use of the sacrament of Penance. A Salesian Cooperator from 1967, she carried out her call in the total gift of herself to the Lord, who in an extraordinary way gave himself to her in the depths of her heart with the “Voice,” the “Word” with which he communicated the Work of the Living Tabernacles to her. Under the impulse of divine grace and accepting the mediation of her spiritual guides, Vera Grita responded to the gift of God by witnessing in her life, marked by the constant fatigue of illness, to the encounter with the Risen One and dedicating herself with heroic generosity to the teaching and education of her students, attending to the needs of her family, and witnessing to a life of evangelical poverty. She died on December 22, 1969, at the age of 46, in a room in the hospital in Pietra Ligure.

“Vera Grita attests first of all to an all-embracing Eucharistic orientation, which became explicit, especially in her final years of life. She did not think in terms of programs, apostolic initiatives, projects: she accepted the fundamental “project” that is Jesus himself, until he made her life his own. Today’s world attests to a great need for the Eucharist. Her journey through the strenuous labor of her days also offers a new lay perspective on holiness: becoming an example of conversion, acceptance, and sanctification for the “poor,” the “frail,” and the “sick” who can recognize themselves and find hope in her.

“As Salesian Cooperator, Vera Grita lived, worked, taught, and encountered people with her strong Salesian sensitivity: from the loving-kindness of her discreet but effective presence, to her ability to be loved by children and families; from the pedagogy of kindness that she carried out with her constant smile, to her generous readiness with which, regardless of the inconvenience, she turned in preference to the least, to the little ones, to the distant, to the forgotten; from her generous passion for God and his glory, to the way of the cross, letting everything be taken from her in her illness.”

A video is available on ANSChannel to learn more about the figure of Servant of God Vera Grita.

Homily for 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
4th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Jan. 29, 2023
Matt 5: 1-12
Christian Brothers, Iona University, N.R.
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx

“When Jesus saw the crowds, … he began to teach them” (Matt 5: 1-2).

(by Carl Bloch)

Last week we heard how Jesus began to preach all around Galilee, to heal the sick, to gather his apostles.

St. Matthew didn’t tell us in that 4th chapter of his Gospel what Jesus said in his preaching except, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (4:17).

Today we begin to hear what repentance means.  We begin to hear what brings the kingdom of heaven to hand.  Matthew says that Jesus “went up the mountain” and sat down.  Unlike the positions that teachers assume today, usually standing in front of a classroom or moving about it, sitting was the normal stance of teachers in the ancient world.  Thus Jesus sits and teaches.  He began his class, which has become known as the Sermon on the Mount.  It takes up ch. 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew’s Gospel.

When Matthews says, “He went up the mountain,” we needn’t think of some great elevation like Bear Mountain.  In fact, the site overlooking the Sea of Galilee traditionally associated with the Sermon is a gently sloping hillside where a crowd could easily have gathered to listen to a preacher.

Matthew is presenting Jesus as a new Moses.  Moses ascended Mt. Sinai to mediate between the Hebrews, freshly freed from slavery, and God.  He brought down from the mountain the 10 Commandments that would preserve their relationship with the God who’d liberated them.  Jesus on the mountain brings God’s word to a new people, “the crowds” gathered to hear him, and in particular he brings them a new law that supplements the 10 Commandments.  “The crowds” aren’t only the Jews but also other inhabitants to what Matthew called “Galilee of the Gentiles,” as we heard last week (4:15).

Jesus began his public ministry by calling for people to repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  The Sermon on the Mount spells out what repentance looks like.  It gives us the details of what it means to be converted, to turn our lives around, to live as citizens of the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus begins his Sermon with a new law, with 8 beatitudes, 8 blessings—or 9, if you count also the one about being insulted and persecuted.  These don’t replace the 10 Commandments but take us farther than the commandments in our relationship with God.  The rest of the Sermon on the Mount is meant to farther us also in our relationships with one another.  Jesus will proclaim in this Sermon, “I have not come to abolish the law or the prophets but to fulfill them” (5:17), i.e., to complete or perfect what Moses and the prophets taught and demanded.

One of the beatitudes blesses those “who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied” (5:6).  The word rendered here as “righteousness” is often translated as “justice” and sometimes as “uprightness.”  It’s not a legal term, as in desiring justice in law enforcement.  It means, rather, desiring and striving for a right relationship with God.  So it was, as we heard in Advent, that St. Joseph was “a just man,” a righteous man, an upright man before God (1:19).

People who are just or righteous hunger and thirst for God.  They make God the center of their lives.  They measure their words and actions by what they understand God to desire of them at a given moment.

We can call such people “upright” because they can stand up straight in the presence of God, not groveling on their knees, not cowering in fear.  Jesus teaches us—this is in the Sermon—to regard God as our Father, someone from whom our existence arises, someone who called us into being, someone who loves us tenderly, someone whom we, in turn, love with the affection of his children (6:9-13).  God wants to be close to us; this is one of the most revolutionary facets of Christianity, in contrast to other major faiths.  At the Last Supper, Jesus calls his apostles his friends.  Altho he’s their master, that’s in the sense of a teacher, not a taskmaster.  He says we’re not slaves but friends to whom he’s opened his heart (John 15:13-15).

Blessed are those who hunger for such a relationship with Jesus and his Father.  He promises that our hunger will be satisfied, that God will keep us close (even in times when we don’t sense his presence, times when we’re feeling lost, even times of persecution).  God has a great reward prepared for us in heaven (5:12), one that will completely satisfy our deepest hungers, the deepest longings of our hearts.

Desiring what God desires has implications for this life.  If we hunger for righteousness or justice, our words and actions have to demonstrate that.  In the context of education, St. John Bosco taught his disciples, “It’s not enough that you love the young.  They must know that you love them.”  This we show by action more than words, certainly more than feelings.  So, considering our righteousness, we might perceive a need to repent in some way.  We might look to some of the other beatitudes for clues on how to speak and to act, e.g., humbly (poor in spirit), patiently (meek), sympathetically (mourning), with forgiveness (merciful), chastely (clean of heart).

May we make God the focus of our lives.  May we really hunger for holiness in his eyes.

Speaking with the Heart

“Speaking with the Heart: ‘The truth in charity, love’”

Holy Father’s Message for 57th World Communications Day

 Photo © Vatican Media

(ANS - Vatican City – January 24, 2023) – On the feast day of St. Francis de Sales, patron saint of journalists, the Holy See Press Office published the Holy Father’s Message for the 57th World Communications Day (WCD), which this year will be celebrated, in many countries, on May 21, 2023. The theme chosen this year by Pope Francis is “Speaking with the Heart. ‘The truth in love’.”

Here the Holy Father’s Message for the 57th WCD:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

After having reflected in past years on the verbs “to go and see” and “to listen” as conditions for good communication, with this Message for the 57th World Communications Day, I would like to focus on “speaking with the heart.” It is the heart that spurred us to go, to see and to listen, and it is the heart that moves us toward an open and welcoming way of communicating. Once we have practiced listening, which demands waiting and patience, as well as foregoing the assertion of our point of view in a prejudicial way, we can enter the dynamic of dialogue and sharing, which is precisely that of communicating in a cordial way. After listening to the other with a pure heart, we will also be able to speak following the truth in love (cf. Eph 4:15). We should not be afraid of proclaiming the truth, even if it is at times uncomfortable, but of doing so without charity, without heart, because “the Christian’s program” — as Benedict XVI wrote — “is ‘a heart which sees’”[1]; a heart that reveals the truth of our being with its beat and that, for this reason, should be listened to. This leads those who listen to attune themselves to the same wavelength, to the point of being able to hear within their heart also the heartbeat of the other. Then the miracle of encounter can take place, which makes us look at one another with compassion, welcoming our mutual frailties with respect rather than judging by hearsay and sowing discord and division.

Jesus warns us that every tree is known by its fruit (cf. Luke 6:44): “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure produces evil; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (v. 45). This is why, in order to communicate truth with charity, it is necessary to purify one’s heart. Only by listening and speaking with a pure heart can we see beyond appearances and overcome the vague din which, also in the field of information, does not help us discern in the complicated world in which we live. The call to speak with the heart radically challenges the times in which we are living, which are so inclined toward indifference and indignation, at times even on the basis of disinformation which falsifies and exploits the truth.

Communicating cordially

Communicating in a cordial manner means that those who read or listen to us are led to welcome our participation in the joys, fears, hopes, and suffering of the women and men of our time. Those who speak in this way love the other because they care and protect their freedom without violating it. We can see this style in the mysterious wayfarer who dialogues with the disciples headed to Emmaus, after the tragedy that took place at Golgotha. The Risen Jesus speaks to them with the heart, accompanying the journey of their suffering with respect, proposing himself and not imposing himself, lovingly opening their minds to understand the profound meaning of what had happened. Indeed, they can joyfully exclaim that their hearts burned within them as he spoke to them on the road and explained the Scriptures to them (cf. Luke 24:32).

In a historical period marked by polarizations and contrasts — to which unfortunately not even the ecclesial community is immune — the commitment to communicating “with open heart and arms” does not pertain exclusively to those in the field of communications; it is everyone’s responsibility. We are all called to seek and to speak the truth and to do so with charity. We Christians in particular are continually urged to keep our tongue from evil (cf. Ps 34:13), because as Scripture teaches us, with the same tongue we can bless the Lord and curse men and women who were made in the likeness of God (cf. Jas 3:9). No evil word should come from our mouths, but rather “only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear” (Eph 4:29).

Sometimes friendly conversations can open a breach even in the most hardened of hearts. We also have evidence of this in literature. I am thinking of that memorable page in Chapter XXI of The Betrothed in which Lucia speaks with her heart to the Innominato [the Unnamed] until he, disarmed and afflicted by a healthy inner crisis, gives in to the gentle strength of love. We experience this in society, where kindness is not only a question of “etiquette” but a genuine antidote to cruelty, which unfortunately can poison hearts and make relationships toxic. We need it in the field of media, so that communication does not foment acrimony that exasperates, creates rage, and leads to clashes, but helps people peacefully reflect and interpret with a critical yet always respectful spirit, the reality in which they live.

Communicating heart to heart: “In order to speak well, it is enough to love well”

One of the brightest and still fascinating examples of “speaking with the heart” is offered by St. Francis de Sales, a doctor of the Church, whom I wrote about in the apostolic letter Totum Amoris Est, 400 years after his death. In addition to this important anniversary, I would like to mention another anniversary that takes place in 2023: the centennial of his proclamation as patron of Catholic journalists by Pius XI with the encyclical Rerum Omnium Perturbationem. A brilliant intellectual, fruitful writer, and profound theologian, Francis de Sales was bishop of Geneva at the beginning of the 17th century during difficult years marked by heated disputes with Calvinists. His meek attitude, humanity, and willingness to dialogue patiently with everyone, especially with those who disagreed with him, made him an extraordinary witness of God’s merciful love. One could say about him, “A pleasant voice multiplies friends, and a gracious tongue multiplies courtesies” (Sir 6:5). After all, one of his most famous statements, “heart speaks to heart,” inspired generations of faithful, among them St. John Henry Newman, who chose it as his motto, Cor ad cor loquitur. One of his convictions was, “In order to speak well, it is enough to love well.” It shows that for him communication should never be reduced to something artificial, to a marketing strategy, as we might say nowadays, but is rather a reflection of the soul, the visible surface of a nucleus of love that is invisible to the eye. For St. Francis de Sales, precisely “in the heart and through the heart, there comes about a subtle, intense, and unifying process in which we come to know God.”[2] By “loving well,” St. Francis succeeded in communicating with Martin, the deaf-mute, becoming his friend. This is why he is also known as the protector of people with impairments in communicating.

It is from this “criterion of love” that, through his writings and witness of life, the saintly bishop of Geneva reminds us that “we are what we communicate.” This goes against the grain today, at a time when — as we experience especially on social media — communication is often exploited so that the world may see us as we would like to be and not as we are. St. Francis de Sales disseminated many copies of his writings among the Geneva community. This “journalistic” intuition earned him a reputation that quickly went beyond the confines of his diocese and still endures to this day. His writings, St. Paul VI observed, provide for a “highly enjoyable, instructive, and moving” reading.[3] If we look today at the field of communications, are these not precisely the characteristics that an article, a report, a television or radio program, or a social media post should include? May people who work in communications feel inspired by this saint of tenderness, seeking and telling the truth with courage and freedom and rejecting the temptation to use sensational and combative expressions.

Speaking with the heart in the synodal process

As I have emphasized, “In the Church, too, there is a great need to listen to and to hear one another. It is the most precious and life-giving gift we can offer each other.”[4] Listening without prejudice, attentively and openly, gives rise to speaking according to God’s style, nurtured by closeness, compassion and tenderness. We have a pressing need in the Church for communication that kindles hearts, that is balm on wounds and that shines light on the journey of our brothers and sisters. I dream of an ecclesial communication that knows how to let itself be guided by the Holy Spirit, gentle and at the same time, prophetic, that knows how to find new ways and means for the wonderful proclamation it is called to deliver in the third millennium – a communication which puts the relationship with God and one’s neighbor, especially the neediest, at the center and which knows how to light the fire of faith rather than preserve the ashes of a self-referential identity; a form of communication founded on humility in listening and parrhesia in speaking, which never separates truth from charity.

Disarming souls by promoting a language of peace

“A soft tongue will break a bone,” says the book of Proverbs (25:15). Today more than ever, speaking with the heart is essential to foster a culture of peace in places where there is war; to open paths that allow for dialogue and reconciliation in places where hatred and enmity rage. In the dramatic context of the global conflict we are experiencing, it is urgent to maintain a form of communication that is not hostile. It is necessary to overcome the tendency to “discredit and insult opponents from the outset [rather] than to open a respectful dialogue.”[5] We need communicators who are open to dialogue, engaged in promoting integral disarmament and committed to undoing the belligerent psychosis that nests in our hearts, as St. John XXIII prophetically urged in the encyclical Pacem in Terris: “True peace can be built only in mutual trust” (No. 113), a trust which has no need of sheltered or closed communicators but bold and creative ones who are ready to take risks to find common ground on which to meet. As was the case 60 years ago, we are now also living in a dark hour in which humanity fears an escalation of war that must be stopped as soon as possible, also at the level of communication. It is terrifying to hear how easily words calling for the destruction of people and territories are spoken, words, unfortunately, that often turn into warlike actions of heinous violence. This is why all belligerent rhetoric must be rejected, as well as every form of propaganda that manipulates the truth, disfiguring it for ideological ends. Instead, what must be promoted is a form of communication that helps create the conditions to resolve controversies between peoples.

As Christians, we know that the destiny of peace is decided by conversion of hearts, since the virus of war comes from within the human heart.[6] From the heart come the right words to dispel the shadows of a closed and divided world and to build a civilization which is better than the one we have received. Each of us is asked to engage in this effort, but it is one that especially appeals to the sense of responsibility of those working in the field of communications so that they may carry out their profession as a mission.

May the Lord Jesus, the pure Word poured out from the heart of the Father, help us to make our communication clear, open, and heartfelt.

May the Lord Jesus, the Word made flesh, help us listen to the beating of hearts, to rediscover ourselves as brothers and sisters, and to disarm the hostility that divides.

May the Lord Jesus, the Word of truth and love, help us speak the truth in charity, so that we may feel like protectors of one another.

Primary SDB Mission Offices Meet

Primary SDB Mission Offices Meet

(ANS – Turin – January 25, 2023) – The Rector Major has four mission offices (aka in invented English, “procures”) totally at his disposition to help him carry forward the mission of the Salesian Congregation worldwide.

COVID-19 blocked the annual meetings of these offices but did not stop their work. Instead, they had to work all the harder and with much more creativity to confront the challenges posed by the pandemic: many of the traditional donors lost their jobs or saw their income drastically reduced; the office directors could not pay personal visits to some of their major donors, whether institutional or individual; the staff could not come to the office any longer; meetings and interactions had to be all online, etc.

Three of the four offices had a change in leadership, too, during this period. After a gap of over three years, they did have a lot to share, study, discuss, and plan the way forward.

Representatives of these four offices (located at New Rochelle, Madrid, Turin, and Bonn) met at Valdocco, Turin, from January 18 to 21. The general councilor for the missions, Fr. Alfred Maravilla (front row, 3d from right), convoked the meeting, and Fr. George Menamparampil (back row, far right) of the Missions Department organized it.

“We looked at our Emergency Response Protocol, principally to its application to the unique and unprecedented disasters, the pandemic, and the war in Ukraine. Nothing like these had been foreseen at the time of its drafting by the DBN (Don Bosco Network) and its approval and adoption by the Rector Major and his council in 2016. Nevertheless, despite a few initial hitches, we handled these emergencies well enough. We looked at possible improvements to the protocol,” Fr. Menamparampil shared.

It was a pleasant realization that all the mission offices have done well in financial terms in the past three years, despite the difficulties they and their traditional donors had to face.

“We worked at length on ways to improve the flow of information among us and develop synergies that could raise the level of transparency, efficiency, effectiveness, and professionalism, not only to our work, but also to that of the provinces and Congregation,” Fr. Menamparampil went on.

A thorough study was made of the Solidarity Fund of the Rector Major to which all the above-mentioned offices as well as the foundation Don Bosco Nel Mondo regularly contribute funds.

“We also looked at the close collaboration between DBN and how we could enhance it further,” Fr. Menamparampil concluded.

Clear decisions were made about steps to be taken in the immediate future.

The meeting was hosted by Missioni Don Bosco, Turin.

Following the recent death of Fr. Gus Baek, director of the New Rochelle office, Mr. Kevin Carvajal (front row, 2d from right) represented the office at the meeting.

Homily for Feast of St. Francis de Sales

Homily for the Feast of
St. Francis de Sales

Jan. 24, 2023
Collect
Eph 3: 8-12
John 15: 9-17
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph Residence, N.R.

(Church of St. Francis de Sales

Oratory of St. Francis de Sales, Turin)

The Collect makes 2 points about Francis de Sales:  he became all things to all people (echoing a line from St. Paul [1 Cor 9:22], as you know), and he set an example of gentle charity in the service of his neighbor.  Indeed, he’s known as the gentleman saint—not because of what used to be called gentle birth, birth into nobility, but because of his characteristic gentleness, kindness, and patience—which aren’t always characteristics of those born to nobility.

St. Paul writes today of having been given the grace to preach Christ’s riches to the Gentiles.  Francis preached to Catholics and Calvinists, to royalty and peasants, and he had a knack for touching all classes of people in preaching and writing, a knack born of verbal facility, warm humanity, and gentle charity.  This universalism and this approach gave birth to his most renowned writing, which many of you may have read, the Introduction to the Devout Life.  So he made himself all things to all people.

That contribution to Christian spirituality was part of why Leo XIII declared him a doctor of the Church; in his decree Leo cited what Benedict XVI called Francis’s “expansion of the call to perfection, to holiness.”  Leo wrote that thru Francis true piety “shone its light everywhere and gained entrance to the thrones of kings, the tents of generals, the courts of judges, custom houses, workshops, and even the huts of herdsmen.”  Benedict picks up on that:  “Thus came into being the appeal to lay people and the care for the consecration of temporal things and for the sanctification of daily life on which the Second Vatican Council and the spirituality of our time were to insist.”[1]

Francis lived out Jesus’ words about remaining in his love, about being a friend of Jesus, about loving one another (John 15:9-17).  That, as you know, was the topic of his other great contribution to Christian spirituality, his Treatise on the Love of God, which expressed his own experience of God’s goodness and his desire to share that experience.

I end with a prayer of Francis from his youthful crisis of faith, quoted by Benedict:  “Whatever happens, Lord, you who hold all things in your hand and whose ways are justice and truth; whatever you have ordained for me … you who are ever a just judge and merciful Father, I will love you Lord….  I will love you here, O my God, and I will always hope in your mercy and will always repeat your praise….  O Lord Jesus, you will always be my hope and my salvation in the land of the living.”[2]

---

[1] Holy Men and Women of the Middle Ages and Beyond:  General Audiences 13 January 2010-26 January 2011 (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2012), p. 215.

[2] Ibid., p. 213.

Three Films about Don Bosco

Three films about Don Bosco have made his charism universal through the art of cinema

(ANS – Rome – January 20, 2023) – Don Bosco’s great appeal and his charisma have captivated millions of people around the world. His figure has permeated and still permeates the work of a great many artists who have traced his profile, drawn his portrait, making it even more universal through various forms of art. Cinematography has certainly played an important role by bringing the Saint of the Young closer to the general public.

Don Bosco is an absolutely “international” saint, in that he is known all over the world and with particular cognizance in the 135 countries where the Salesians are widespread; thus it is not impossible to come across various films of various genres dedicated to him on the Web.

But among the many works produced, it is undeniable that it was his own homeland, Italy, that paid him the most famous cinematic tributes. For this reason, in the work of selecting among the works of the 7th art dedicated to Don Bosco, the field has been narrowed down to 3 films that are still touchstones for anyone who wants to try his hand in the same artistic arena that have marked their era, and that have been translated and dubbed or subtitled in several languages, to be disseminated throughout the world.

These are 3 productions simply titled Don Bosco, proving that Don Bosco’s name needs no further introduction.

The first one was made under the direction of Goffredo Alessandrini and is from 1935, thus a year after the canonization of the Saint of Youth. Starring Gian Paolo Rosmino, the film depicts the life of Don Bosco from his birth until his canonization in 1934. The film was restored from a negative preserved in the Salesian Fund deposited in 2016 in Ivrea.

On the centennial of the death of the Saint of the Young in 1988, another film called Don Bosco was released. The director was Leandro Castellani, and it featured Italian-American star Ben Gazzara, who played the role of an elderly Don Bosco, dedicated to retracing all the actions he took to achieve his greatest dream: to devote himself completely to the young.

Italian television was also captivated by Don Bosco’s charisma, so much so that in 2004 it made a miniseries on RAI, the Italian public radio and TV network. It was directed by Lodovico Gasparini and starred Flavio Insinna. It is the story of a vocation lived in the sign of joy and optimism, despite the difficulties that litter Don Bosco’s path.

Today we are introducing only these 3 masterpieces in order to present them to our readers in view of the feastday of Don Bosco and to promote their viewing as a means of popularizing his figure. To each of these films in the coming days, ANS will devote a more specific in-depth study.

Homily for 3d Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
3d Sunday of Ordinary Time

Jan. 22, 2023
Collect
Matt 4: 12-23
Christian Brothers, Iona University, New Rochelle
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx

“Almighty ever-living God, direct our actions to your good pleasure, that in the name of your beloved Son we may abound in good works” (Collect).

So we prayed a little while ago.  It’s a good prayer for daily use, connecting us to the Son of God and seeking God’s help to imitate the Son.

On Jan. 9 we celebrated the Baptism of our Lord, an event during which he was identified as the beloved Son of God.  Our prayer recalls that.  After his baptism, Jesus went into the wilderness of Judea, where he was tempted by Satan—we’ll hear about that when Lent comes around.  In the desert he committed himself to doing what God wanted of him, not to pursuing his own pleasure or power or ambition.  So we prayed for ourselves in the Collect:  “direct our actions according to your good pleasure.”

Christ Preaching in the Synagog of Nazareth

(Gerbrand van den Eeckhout)

In the meantime, King Herod arrested and imprisoned John the Baptist—for preaching that people ought to direct their actions to God’s will.  In spite of the danger implied by that, Jesus begins his public ministry in Herod’s territory, Galilee.  He leaves Nazareth, an out-of-the-way town, and makes his home in Capernaum, alongside the Sea of Galilee, along the highway between Syria and Jerusalem.  There he may find more customers for his carpentry than he could in Nazareth.  More to the point, he’ll find an audience for his preaching.  There he’ll find men who have already been disciples of John the Baptist, now deprived of their teacher, men whose acquaintance he’s already made, according to St. John’s Gospel (1:35-51).

Jesus begins by preaching repentance, that people should turn away from their sinful ways and live in closer alignment with the kingdom of heaven (Matt 4:17).  He urges people to direct their actions according to the good pleasure of God.  Today’s gospel passage doesn’t offer specifics about pleasing God, but in coming weeks we’ll hear plenty, starting next week with the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, specifically with the beatitudes, which are the attitude of heart and the behaviors pleasing to God.

We also prayed that “we may abound in good works.”  Good works are the fruit of acting for God’s good pleasure.  The fruits of Jesus’ alignment with the kingdom of heaven are evident:  “He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogs, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people” (Matt 4:23).  St. Matthew sees in these fruits the fulfillment of a prophecy of Isaiah:  “the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light; on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen” (4:16; Is 9:2).

That Jesus should do all this enlightenment, all these good works, isn’t enuf.  He’s one man in one place.  To amplify his work, to extend it in both place and time, he chooses disciples to follow him.  So we hear him call 2 pairs of brothers to leave their boats, their nets, their families, and their livelihoods and to follow him.  From him they’ll learn to direct their actions according to God’s good pleasure.  As we read in the gospels, that’s a long learning process with many failures.  They’ll learn gradually to abound in good works rather, for instance, than to call down fire from heaven to zap people who aren’t receptive of Jesus’ word (Luke 9:51-56).

Eventually the apostles learn to “abound in good works,” continuing what Jesus began in Galilee.  The good works of Jesus’ followers—teaching, preaching, healing—are the proclamation of God’s kingdom in action.  The specifics of his teaching and preaching bring light into the darkness of human lives:  forgiveness from God and the liberation that comes from our forgiving the trespasses of others; assurance that God loves us, a love experienced in how Jesus’ followers care for others; an end to exploiting others thru theft, deception, and the abuse of power, and instead living generously, patiently, kindly, modestly.  When Peter and Andrew, James and John eventually learn to fish for human beings, it’ll be with that kind of bait, the bait of Christian virtue.  We follow those 4 and the rest of the 11 who were faithful to Jesus.  So we pray that in the name of God’s beloved Son we might always act according to God’s good pleasure and bear Christian light into a dark world.

Turin's Crocetta Studentate Celebrates 100 Years Full of Life

Turin's Crocetta Theologate Celebrates 100 Years Full of Life

(ANS – Turin – January 19, 2023) – A century ago the Salesians founded a theological studentate and youth center in Turin’s Crocetta neighborhood. Its 100 years of history have been rich in events and people, in which God has truly worked for the good of the people who have come to this house and the good of the Congregation all over the world.

In this Salesian house, many of Don Bosco’s sons prepared for the priesthood and then went on to hold important positions for the Congregation and the Church. Among them were a Rector Major, Fr. Juan Edmundo Vecchi; cardinals and bishops, such as Cardinal Joseph Zen, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and others; rectors of universities, superiors of Salesian provinces, missionaries; but also and above all many Salesians serving young people in 135 countries around the world. Dozens of them labored in the province of St. Philip the Apostle, the Eastern U.S. and Canada.

“The Jubilee is also an occasion to praise God for the passionate work of theological research of so many teachers of different nationalities who have taught here, from the lectures they have given to the publications they have presented, but above all, in the witness of their lives. We remember with special affection the Venerable Fr. Giuseppe Quadrio, who lived his mission in this house and left an indelible mark in his witness,” wrote Fr. Marek Chrzan, current director of the Don Bosco International Institute, in a letter sent for the occasion.

But there is more than just the theologate: the courtyard of this house could tell of the thousands of people who have grown up there, thanks to Scout groups, basketball associations, youth center groups, and other activities supporting needy children and youths.

The house, in its history, has hosted university students from the Polytechnic and other universities in Turin. So many, in addition to studying, have learned to live in a community of young people, sharing life and growing in relationships. So many of them now hold positions of responsibility, strengthened by this experience as well.

“La Crocetta” is, finally, a prayer space not only in the Salesian community, but also in the church of the Mary Help of Christians youth center, which was born together with the house. Over the years it has changed its architectural facade, but it has always been animated by a large group of faithful, from the neighborhood and beyond.

The celebrations for the centennial of the work will unfold throughout 2023, and will start in a few days, on January 29 with a morning of celebration. The day will open with a moment of play for the youngest, in perfect oratorian style, which will be followed at 11 a.m. by Mass, presided over by Fr. Stefano Martoglio, vicar of the Rector Major, and animated by the youngsters of the youth center. The event will end with a festive moment in the courtyard to launch the centennial officially and take a “plunge” into the past to commemorate the history of the work.

Other important moments will then be:

- Tuesday, January 31, the feast of Don Bosco, with the entire educational community at the basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Valdocco;

- On April 25, the meeting of all the Salesians of the Piedmont-Aosta Province at the Crocetta for the provincial feast (“province day”);

- On May 6-7, a “24 hours of sports,” with a visit from the Archbishop Roberto Repole of Turin;

- May 24, the feast of Mary Help of Christians, will see a pilgrimage and participation in the procession to Valdocco;

- Sept. 8, the official founding date, the concluding day of the youth summer camp;

- On Oct. 28, a day of study proposed by the Crocetta Theological Faculty on the theme “'Together': for a missionary proclamation.”

- And on Dec. 8, feast of the Immaculate Conception and date of the birth of the Salesian work in 1841, on which centennial observance will conclude, with the Rector Major leading the festivities.

“A century of life might make one think that we have now reached old age. But the house of the Crocetta is always young, because today it still prepares for the priesthood 43 young Salesian confreres of 19 different nationalities,” concluded Fr. Chrzan. “It gives hospitality space to 100 young university students from all over Italy and abroad. It makes children and young people taste the joy in the youth center, thanks to the formation groups, Scout activities, and the basketball association. Together they reach almost 800 members, not counting family and friends.”

 

Salesian Plans to Help Ukrainians Cope with Winter

Salesian Plans to Help Ukrainians Cope with Winter

(ANS – Kiev, Ukraine – January 19, 2023) – Winter in Eastern Europe can kill even in normal times: temperatures reach -20°F. Today in Ukraine, however, the situation is much worse than it usually is because many houses have broken windows or partially demolished walls, and the inhabitants don’t have adequate means to insulate their homes, nor do they have enough warm clothes or blankets. Therefore, Salesians and lay people co-responsible in the Don Bosco mission have begun a winterization program to help the Ukrainian population cope with the winter.

The project is funded by donations that various Salesian organizations have received and continue to receive from the Salesian Family and their donors around the world. The work is coordinated by the Warsaw Coordination Team for the Ukrainian Emergency, under the leadership of the Salesian Congregation's emergency response coordinator, Fr. George Menamparampil, and the Don Bosco Network coordinator, Angel Gudiña.

What has been done and is still being done? Coordination leaders answered thus:

-  We collected information from Salesian offices throughout Ukraine about the needs of people in their area. The basic needs are food, warm clothes, insulation, electricity generators, and fuel.

-  We rented a warehouse in Lviv to store food and non-food items brought in bulk from Poland. Local Salesian communities collect and distribute them throughout the country.

-  To date, three trucks have brought food, hygiene items, and thermos bottles.

-  We provide the Salesians in Ukraine with financial support for building maintenance, heating, and electricity, so that they become warm safe places for anyone in the area, especially for displaced people.  For example: in Bobrka, the roof was insulated, the chimney was sealed, and a water heater was purchased; in Przemyslany, the attic was thermally insulated and coal and firewood were purchased; in Zhytomyr, winter jackets, boots, and food were distributed; windows and doors were replaced to insulate them; and a water reserve tank was installed.

-  Four trucks and containers of thermal blankets provided by Salesian Missions of New Rochelle arrived at the Warsaw warehouse. Some have already reached Zhytomyr. They will protect field kitchens and secure doors and windows.

- In early February, two more containers, again organized by Salesian Missions USA, will arrive in Poland with rice and soybean meals ready to be transferred to Ukraine.

The organizations currently active in supporting the winterization project are: Misiones Salesianas of Madrid; Don Bosco Mondo of Bonn, Germany; the NGO Salesian Volunteers for Development (VIS), Italy; Jugendhilfe Weltweit of Switzerland; Don Bosco Mission Austria; Bosco Aid of Ireland; Don Bosco Mission Office of Canada; the SDB province of Great Britain; the Salesian Cooperators; Salesian Missions of Australia; Don Bosco Global of Spain; and the Polish provinces of Krakow and Warsaw.

The Warsaw Coordination team for the Ukraine Emergency adds, finally, “We do what we can. We would like to do more. A LOT more needs to be done. Our repairs and maintenance cannot keep up with the pace of fresh destruction day after day. Though lagging further behind each day, we are resolved to plod on, no matter what!”

Homily for Tuesday, Week 2 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Tuesday
Week 2 of Ordinary Time

Jan. 17, 2023
Heb 6: 10-20
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph Residence, New Rochelle

“God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love you have demonstrated for his name” (Heb 6: 10).

As we approach the end of our earthly journey, we might sometimes look behind us and wonder what we’ve accomplished, what heritage we’ve left behind, was our life worth anything, did our vocation amount to anything?

The anchor of hope figures prominently in the SDB coat of arms.

The Letter to the Hebrews holds up to us the virtue of hope, even using the image of an anchor “sure and firm” (6:19).  He assures us that our hope—our hope that God will keep his promises—will be fulfilled.  Whatever we may see when we look back, however we may feel about our accomplishments or our shortcomings, God won’t overlook our work, whether it was big or small, whether people recognized it or not.  God knows it, and he knows the love we brought to it, “the love you have demonstrated for his name” even when that love was imperfect, maybe mixed with a lot of self-love.

We all know that the work of salvation, including our apostolic work, ultimately comes from God and depends on him.  It’s not our own doing except insofar as we’ve allowed him to work thru us—for our own salvation and for the salvation of others.  We remember what Mother Teresa said:  that she just wanted to be a pencil in God’s hand.

But beyond that, Hebrews assures us that we may hope—we may be confident—that God won’t overlook or discount whatever we’ve done, however modest it may have been, however flawed it might have been, whatever we’ve done or tried to do for him and for his people.  “This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, which reaches into the interior behind the veil,” i.e., into the sacred place where God dwells—“where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner” (6:19-20), i.e., leading the way for us.

He has promised, and we have sure hope, like the Psalmist:  “I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart in the company and assembly of the just” (111:1).

Homily for 2d Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
2d Sunday of Ordinary Time

Jan. 15, 2023
John 1: 29-34
Villa Maria, Bronx
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx

Christ Appears to the People (Ivanov)

“John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1: 29).

Before Communion at every Mass, we echo John the Baptist’s acclamation, with the difference that we pluralize “sins,” indicating the specific, personal sins for which we’re all individually responsible.  The Lamb doesn’t take away some unspecified, generic sin of the world, whatever that may mean, but your sins and my sins.

Altho John testifies that he “did not know him” (1:31), by the divine revelation of seeing “the Spirit come down and remain” on Jesus (1:33), he’s come to recognize Jesus as Son of God (1:34) and Lamb of God.

Lamb of God—that name bears abundant meaning.  Lambs were sacrificed in the temple as sin offerings, as atonement.  Jesus’ sacrifice is the supreme atonement for our sins.  Offering his sacrifice, he presents himself as the Lord’s suffering servant, “led like a lamb to the slaughter,” as the prophet Isaiah says (53:7), “smitten for the sin of his people” (53:8), “giving his life as an offering for sin” (53:10).  Jesus is like the ram that Abraham was able to sacrifice instead of Isaac (Gen 22:13).  Jesus was led to Calvary at the hour when the Passover lambs were being slain in the temple.  He’s the Passover lamb whose blood marks the doorposts of our lives so that the destroying angel—in this case, Satan—may not wreak death upon us (Ex 12:23).

Evoking the Passover lamb, John foreshadows Jesus’ death on the cross, when the Roman soldiers don’t need to break his legs to hasten death, leading John the Evangelist to cite the Passover commandment that “none of the lamb’s bones be broken” (19:36; cf. Ex 12:46).

This is the Lamb who’s victorious in humanity’s battle against all the dark powers of the world, the Lamb named 34 times in the book of Revelation, the Lamb that was slain yet is alive, the Lamb who opens the seals of the book of life for God’s people, the Lamb who invites God’s holy ones to come and celebrate his marriage feast:  “Blessed are those who’ve been called to the wedding feast of the Lamb” (19:9)—an acclamation we repeat before Communion, changing “wedding feast” to “supper”:  “Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.”

The Spirit of God settled upon this Lamb, who in turn baptizes his followers with the Holy Spirit (John 1:33) and washes away our sins.  St. Paul reminds us:  “you have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy” (1 Cor 1:2).  The Spirit comes down and remains upon us who belong to Jesus, a commitment that he renews with us and we renew with him at every Eucharist, at every celebration of the Lamb’s victory over sin and death, at every celebration of his marriage feast with us; we are his spouse, his beloved.  In a few moments we’ll pray, “Whenever the memorial of this sacrifice is celebrated the work of our redemption is accomplished” (Prayer over the Offerings).

Homily for Saturday, Week 1 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Saturday
1st Week of Ordinary Time

Jan. 14, 2023
Heb 4: 12-16                                                             
Provincial House, New Rochelle, N.Y.

I don’t know what you did to deserve this—me 2 days in a row.  That, of course, may be interpreted in 2 ways.

Hebrews tells us, “The word of God is living and effective, sharper than any 2-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit” (4:12), and no creature is concealed from him (4:13).  The “him” there is God, not the word.  But it’s God’s word that slices us open, revealing the core of our selves, exposing us to judgment with that word as the standard by which we are measured (4:13).  Even saints have trembled at the thought of all that.

But the letter continues with a most consoling message.  However great, however numerous our sins of commission or omission, whatever their cause in those mysterious spaces between soul and spirit, we have a high priest who prays for us because he’s able to sympathize with our weaknesses because he, too—the Word in human flesh—has been tested in every way that we are tested (4:15).  Altho he passed all the tests (how come this text comes up during exam week?), he experienced the struggle to hold fast to his confession (cf. 4:14), to be faithful to his Father.  We can’t imagine that was easy for Jesus, as it isn’t for us.

The throne of divine judgment where “we must render an account” (4:13) is also the throne of mercy, compassion, and grace (4:16).  Therefore the author urges us to have confidence (4:16).

And today’s gospel (Mark 2:13-17) bears him out, the marvelous story of Levi the tax collector’s call.  How can we not remember Caravaggio’s famous painting and its inspiring Jorge Bergoglio’s episcopal motto, Miserando atque eligendo, “by having mercy and by choosing,” taken from a homily of St. Bede about St. Matthew’s call:  “Jesus sees the tax collector, and since he sees by having mercy and by choosing, he says to him, ‘follow me’”?  Then Jesus defends his association with such as Matthew.  He loves sinners who desire his company.  His companionship has the power to transform Levi into Matthew the apostle, to transform scoundrels into exemplars, to transform sinners into saints—including you and me.  His “words are Spirit and life” (Psalm Response)—penetrating into our hearts, not to slice and dice them as a 2-edged sword might but to transform them with “grace for timely help” (4:16) in our struggles to “hold fast to our confession” (4:14).