Provincial's Homily at Professions Mass

The Provincial’s Homily 
at the Professions Mass

This is a summary of the homily that Fr. Dominic Tran gave at the Mass of Religious Profession of Bros. Pascal Mukuye and John Taylor on Aug. 16.

“God is the author of all good things. Everything we have and are come from God.” We’ll witness the gift of God’s love in the lives of our two brothers Pascal and John.

We’ve all received gifts from God, including the gift of life, the gift of each person’s vocation, God’s continual gift of what we need to live our vocation, such as “the Word of God, the sacraments, food, water, air, family, confreres, fellow believers.” (He called for the congregation to applaud the families of the two men about to profess.)

We have everything we need because of God. We don’t “live our lives out of a sense of obligations or burdens.”

When we read the Bible, we read passages with attention to their context. For example, today’s gospel from Matt 19 (the rich man who asked Jesus what he had to do to gain eternal life) comes after Jesus’ teaching on marriage, which in some respects struck the apostles as burdensome; but Jesus insisted that it’s been a gift of God from the beginning of creation; then Jesus blesses the children brought to him (whom the apostles think are an annoyance). The rich young man seems to approach the commandments as obligations or burdens to be borne, but Jesus sees them as God’s gifts of love for his holy people.

What is our attitude toward keeping the commandments? We don’t achieve salvation by checking off boxes like the rich man who kept the various laws. Rather, we see Jesus as God’s greatest gift to us, and the vocation of the professed religious to follow Jesus as a great gift of God’s love. We state as much in our formula of profession: God consecrated us when we were baptized and gave us Jesus as his greatest gift of love, who in his love calls us to follow him. Our response in love is to offer ourselves totally to God.

Today we pray for Pascal and John, and we ask them to pray for us their brothers, that we may all see the gift that is our Salesian vocation. The vows aren’t obligations but gifts of God’s love. Our confreres are gifts of his love. The young whom we serve are God’s gifts to us.

As Matt 19 continues, Peter asks Jesus what their reward will be for following him. Jesus promises him more opportunities to love God through more brothers and sisters. Then Jesus continues on his way to Jerusalem to meet the cross—which he turns into a sign of his love.

Finally, Fr. Tran urged the two brothers to see their formators as guides who will help them respond to God’s love.