5th World Congress of Salesian Cooperators Offers New Vision

Fifth World Congress of Salesian Cooperators Offers a New Vision

by Thomas Aquinas Lee and ANS

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

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

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

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

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

Salesian Cooperators: always and everywhere to defend young people 

Fr. Angel Fernandez addresses the Cooperators. (ANS)

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

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

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

New leadership for the Association

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

The new world council of the Cooperators. (ANS)

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

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

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

An action plan for 2019-2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Homily for 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
31st Sunday of Ordinary Time

October 30, 1988

Deut 6: 2-6
Mark 12: 28-34
St. Theresa, Bronx

“Hear then, Israel, and be careful to observe all the statutes and commandments of the Lord your God, that you may grow and prosper the more, in keeping with the promise of the Lord, the God of your fathers, to give you a land flowing with milk and honey” (Deut 6: 2-3).

The passage from Deuteronomy introduces us to Jesus’ teaching about the greatest commandment, the commandment of love, viz. that we are to love God wholeheartedly and are to love our fellow human beings as we love ourselves. 

Jesus ties the commandment of love to participation in the kingdom of God. Deuteronomy ties it to the covenant between God and his people.  God called his people out of Egypt and across the Red Sea, and God bestowed upon them a bountiful land.  He asks for their fidelity to himself and to one another.

These concepts of covenant, long life in the land, love of God and neighbor are timely.  We ought to ponder them in the week before election day.

Our nation grew out of the covenant theology of the New England Puritans, based on the Bible.  They believed, and we believe, that God called us across the seas out of religious, political, and economic oppression and gave us a bountiful land in which we can be free.  He asks us for our fidelity to himself and to one another.

Our nation was founded on the Bible and on a deep conviction of human identity.  We express this religious heritage of ours in some of our most patriotic hymns.  E.g., you could read the lyrics of “America the Beautiful” or the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which aren’t in the missalettes this month.

For over 350 years we’ve striven to be faithful to the covenant God has made with us as an American people.  In some ways, e.g. on civil rights, we’ve made great strides in our love for all God’s children.  In some ways, e.g. abortion, we’ve made vicious war on God’s children.

Now election day approaches. We have put before us a wonderful privilege and a solemn responsibility, the right and the duty to vote.  And I say plainly that voting is a moral obligation.  Whom we elect affects the quality of our society—the laws, the policies, the atmosphere.  A Christian who doesn’t vote is saying in practice that he doesn’t care about his sisters and brothers, doesn’t love his neighbor.

On Nov. 8 we’ll have the opportunity to elect a President, a senator, a congressman, state legislators, and judges.  Some of them have records on which we can judge their character and their values.  Most of them have taken stands on major issues.  You and I are obliged in conscious to evaluate them—and to vote accordingly, choosing the better of two candidates as best we can tell, or even choosing the lesser of two evils, if that’s how we see it.

Our bishops have suggested a number of important moral issues by which we should judge candidates.  Some of these issues are abortion, capital punishment, disarmament, employment, international debt, international trade, housing, civil rights, AIDS care and research.

These are human issues, love issues.  If we love our neighbor as we love ourselves, we have to weigh the candidates in these scales of justice, of peace, of human dignity.  If we don’t do that, if we don’t vote or if we vote carelessly, we violate our covenant with God and the heritage of our country.

In the hot summer of 1787—which was like the summer we had this year—55 men from 12 states closed themselves in the Pennsylvania statehouse.  With the doors and the windows closed, they secretly wrote a constitution for the U.S.  No one outside, not even the media, had a clue about what kind of a government would come out of that chamber.

When the work was done and the Founding Fathers emerged, a Philadelphia woman approached Benjamin Franklin.  “Dr. Franklin,” she asked, “what kind of a government have they given us?”  “A republic, madam,” he replied, “if you can keep it.”

It’s ours to keep by using our rights, by fulfilling our duty.  It’s ours to keep remembering that our country, its rights, its freedom, are rooted in God’s goodness to us.  We want leaders who realize that and respect that.  We want leaders at all levels of government who believe in human equality and the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for everyone.

Homily for Wednesday, 30th Week of Ordinary Time

Homily for Wednesday
30th Week of Ordinary Time

October 31, 2018

Eph 6: 1-9
Don Bosco Cristo Rey, Takoma Park, Md.

When we hear St. Paul’s admonitions to members of the household, as did yesterday and this morning, we may wonder what they have to do with us.

(Pixabay)

We’re not children, so what’s this about obedience?  But Paul also quotes the commandment, which says “honor” your parents.  If you’re fortunate enuf to have one or both of your parents still, Paul strongly invites you to consider how you, as an adult, are bound still to honor, respect, and care for them.  If our parents are deceased, as most of ours are, we show our devotion to them thru prayer.

Paul might have had adolescents in mind when he urged fathers not to provoke their offspring to anger.  As teachers, we may take his words to remind us to be patient and flexible with our teens as we try to carry out the rest of his words about training and instructing them in the ways of the Lord.

Finally, Paul addresses slaves.  Unfortunately, slaves were a significant population in the Roman Empire, as in most ancient civilizations.  If you’ve seen Spartacus, you know that.  And they were a significant part of the early Christian community too.

How does that affect us?  We might focus on the word service.  If we don’t have human masters, we are all still called by Christ to serve one another “in sincerity of heart” (Eph 6:5).  Moreover, all of us are also under some human authority—religious superior, school administration, civil government, diocesan officials—to whom various forms of obedience, collaboration, respect, etc., are due.

May the Holy Spirit of Jesus guide us with his wisdom in our relations with our parents, our students, those placed over us, and all the sisters and brothers whom we strive to serve in love.

Homily for 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
30th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Oct. 28, 2018

Mark 10: 46-52
Salesians and Salesian Cooperators
Silver Spring, Md.                                                   

“Jesus told him, ‘Go your way; your faith has saved you.’  Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way” (Mark 10: 52).

Christ Giving Sight to Bartimaeus (William Blake)

I’m struck by the word way in that final verse of the gospel reading.  It appears twice, as you just heard, 1st in Jesus’ dismissal of Bartimaeus, then in Bartimaeus’ action.  The way that the healed man goes, the choice that he makes, is the way of Jesus.  Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, and as Mark has made clear to us readers, and tried to make clear to the 12, he’s on his way to his passion and death.

In a sense, Bartimaeus is ahead of the rest of Jesus’ disciples, whom he’s just joined, following Jesus.  As we’ve also heard from Mark, the 12 apostles are following Jesus geographically from Galilee toward Jerusalem, but they’re not following him in faith, in understanding his message—neither his attempts to tell them what will be his fate as the Son of David (10:47-48), that is, Messiah, nor his attempts to convince them that they must be humble and must serve their brothers and sisters.

We’re not told that Bartimaeus understands all that either.  Rather, it’s left to our imagination.  We may read the verse as suggesting that he’s following the way of Jesus wherever it leads—giving Jesus his full faith (“your faith has saved you”).  We also remember that in the Acts of the Apostles, Jesus’ disciples repeatedly refer to his teachings and to their belief in his resurrection as “the Way.”  They are those who’ve finally grasped more fully who he is and what he taught, and are trying to live as he taught, even in the face of persecution.  This is “the Way”—to eternal life.  And Bartimaeus willingly chooses to make this way his way.

All 3 Synoptics record a form of this story.  All of them say that the healed blind man, or 2 blind men in Matthew’s version, follow Jesus, but only Mark uses that telling phrase “on the way.”  None of them, however, gives the healed man’s personal name, which is a 2d point in the passage that strikes me.

Bartimaeus means, as Mark tell us, “son of Timaeus” (v. 46).  It’s not his own name.  So in all 3 Synoptic versions, he’s anonymous.  In a sense, he represents all who put their faith in Jesus Son of David, Jesus Christ; who experience Christ’s healing, in any form that takes; and having been graced, choose to follow him.  He represents us if and when make a conscious choice to follow Jesus, even to Jerusalem, whatever form our own share in his cross may take.  “Go your way; your faith has saved you” is a choice put before us every day, never once and for all.  For that faith to continue to save us, we must continue to follow Jesus on the way.

Homily for Memorial of St. Louis Guanella

Homily for the Memorial of
St. Louis Guanella

October 24, 2018

Collect
Don Bosco Cristo Rey, Takoma Park, Md.

St. Louis Guanella was a “faithful and prudent steward who distributed the food allowance” (Luke 12:42) to the Lord’s people.  He wasn’t a Salesian but was inspired in part by Don Bosco, with whom he collaborated for three years on leave from his diocese.

Louis came from a rugged, trackless region of northern Italy above Lake Como, so remote that the people didn’t even have horses and wagons to help them tend their livestock and do whatever other farming they did.  His family was very poor, but generous benefactors helped him go to the seminary, and he became a diocesan priest.  He immediately displayed care for the poor in his parish and promoted schooling for poor youngsters.

In 1875 he went to Turin and joined Don Bosco in oratory work for 3 years.  Down the street from the Oratory, almost a neighbor, is the Little House of Divine Providence, founded by St. Joseph Cottolengo in the 1820s to provide for the aged and incurably sick and others whom society had no use for.  Fr. Louis drew inspiration from both of these works, Don Bosco’s educational work for youth and Cottolengo’s for the abandoned.

St. Louis Guanella in 1912,

3 years before his death.

Recalled to his diocese, he founded schools, orphanages, homes for the sick and elderly and physically and mentally handicapped—whom he called “the favorites of Divine Providence.”  He and his work were beloved, and Providence took good care of them.  He founded a congregation of men, the Servants of Charity, and one of women, the Daughters of St. Mary of Providence, to carry on his work.

Nevertheless, he met great opposition, especially from anticlerical politicians, who resented his popularity with the common people and felt threatened by it.  They harassed and persecuted him, and on one occasion a mob burned down one of his homes for the elderly.

But thruout, St. Louis maintained an absolute trust in Divine Providence.  Asked whether he didn’t lose sleep with financial and political worries, he answered, “I worry until midnite, and then I let God worry.”

St. Louis models for us concern for the poor, including the young, the work that we’re doing here, and complete trust in God’s goodness and care for us.

Homily for Memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch

Homily for the Memorial of
St. Ignatius of Antioch

October 17, 2018

Collect
Our Lady of Lourdes, Bethesda, Md.

Our 1st reading ended with these words from St. Paul:  “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit” (Gal 5:25).

The saint whom we honor today lived those words.  The Collect spoke of “the confessions of holy martyrs.”  Confessions here doesn’t mean the sacrament of Reconciliation but “testimony” or “praise of God.”  In the case of the martyrs—like Ignatius of Antioch—it’s the public testimony of their love of God even to the point of giving up their lives rather than deny Jesus Christ or worship an idol or the Roman State.

The Collect refers specifically to “the glorious passion of St. Ignatius,” i.e., his suffering and death, which “brought him eternal splendor,” i.e., a share in the eternal glory of the risen Lord Jesus—and even a commemoration among the saints named in the 1st Eucharistic Prayer.

Ignatius gives a twofold public testimony to Christ, thru his writings and thru his martyrdom.  He is one of those early Christian authors whom we call Fathers of the Church because of the doctrine and inspiration they put into writing—one of the very 1st of those Fathers, and likely one who knew personally some of the apostles.  He was bishop of Antioch, the ancient Syrian city often mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, perhaps the most important city in the Empire after Rome.  (It’s now located in southernmost Turkey.)  He was arrested as a Christian leader and transported to Rome for trial and execution by being thrown to wild beasts in the Coliseum in 107 A.D.

On his way to Rome, his ship made port calls along the coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey) and he was able to visit with the bishops and other faithful of the ancient churches there such as Ephesus and Smyrna, and subsequently he penned letters to them, 6 of which have survived, plus one that he wrote to the Christians of Rome in advance of his arrival.  In them he expresses his longing to be completely united with Jesus Christ thru his death, echoing those words of St. Paul that I cited.  He calls himself wheat that’s waiting to be ground by the teeth of the beasts “so that I may become Christ’s pure bread”—words that will be quoted in the Communion Antiphon.  He continues, “I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth.”  He pleads with the Christians of Rome “not to stand in the way of my birth to real life….  My desire is to belong to God.  Only [so] can I be fully a human being.”

Thus his desire for a complete union with God thru Jesus Christ.  Union or unity is the other main topic of his letters.  Bishops must maintain a union with God the Father and with Christ his Son thru the sound doctrine they teach, most particularly that the Son truly took on our human flesh, died, and rose in that flesh for our salvation.  Priests, deacons, and faithful must maintain union with the bishop in what he teaches and in public worship.  There’s only one Church of Christ—Ignatius is the 1st author to call it the Catholic Church, the universal Church.  There’s one faith handed on from Christ, and one altar around which the local Church worships with its bishop.

Our Collect prayed that “the glorious passion of St. Ignatius of Antioch, which we celebrate today … may be for us unending protection.”  His passion for Christ in life and in death is a message for us:  for adherence to true doctrine in Christ’s Catholic Church, for unity around our bishop (which doesn’t mean ignoring a bishop’s failings), for regular, faithful worship in communion with our bishop (no longer possible in a regular physical presence in our large dioceses), and finally, for putting Christ in the 1st place in our lives, above any earthly passions and desires.

A Nite on Bald Mountain?

A Nite on Bald Mountain?

I had a Salesian meeting at the Marian Shrine in Haverstraw early in the afternoon of October 12.  Before I returned home to Silver Spring, I took advantage of the fine weather and Harriman State Park’s proximity to go hiking. 

I hadn’t been to Bald Rocks for a while, and it’s a site I’ve always liked.  There are several approaches to that highest point in the park.
 

The start of the ascent up Black Rock Mt. toward Bald Rocks

I think the most challenging one is the Ramapo-Dunderberg Trail from the hiker’s parking lots on Rte 106, one that I hadn’t used for a very long time.  It wasn’t as demanding as I remembered—I certainly can’t claim that I’m in the best of shape.

  

A ridge section of the R-D Trail along Black Rock Mt.

It took an hour, 10 minutes, to go the mile and a half; I got there about 5:10 p.m.

The shelter at Bald Rocks (2005)

I’d been hoping to use the shelter there, but it was already taken by a party of 2 or 3, already spread out on the half-platform.  The other half of the shelter is just bare rock, sloping somewhat, and it was wet from some leaks.  Altho the woman in there at the time I arrived offered to let me join them, I don’t think she was especially comfortable with the idea in the limited space, and I wasn’t either.  So, with thanks, I went to the area behind the shelter.

There were 2 tents already pitched out there, and I’d seen one off to the side on my way into the area; so I became the 4th tent camper.  I used the hour or so of daylight I had to gather firewood, then pitch my tent and a tarp to shelter my pack from possible dew or rain; so had to prepare supper in the dark, balancing my stove on the rocks of the firepit while I sat on a log.  Preparing supper was simple enuf:  boiling water for my freeze-dried meals (½ packages of lasagna and beef stew left over from my Maryland AT hike), washed down with plain water.  In the post-supper dark, I didn’t want to mess with rigging up a bear bag; about the only thing in my pack that might really have been attractive was some peanut butter.

The sun sets over the ridge. My tent's in the shadowed foreground.

There was a stiff west wind blowing, so it got rather chilly especially when the sun set around 6:00 p.m.  After cleaning my mess kit, I got a nice fire going and sat by it to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, using photocopies of the texts, and read a bit. 

But by 9:00 p.m. I’d let the fire die down and went into my tent to snuggle into my sleeping bag.  I sure wished I was in the shelter, out of the wind and using the fireplace! 

I got a half-decent nite’s sleep (typical when camping), not helped by some loud jerks who arrived and pitched their tent just over the ridge in the middle of the nite and talked for a very long time.  

But in the small hours of the morning, 4:00 or 4:30, heard raindrops on my tent fly.  I didn’t feel like getting my arms out of my mummy bag to look at my watch for a more precise time.  But all the more reason to wish I’d been in the shelter!  Despite all my hoping the rain would be brief, it wasn’t.  I may have dozed off a little bit more, but I must have been pretty much awake by 6:00.  My one-man tent is too confined for sitting up for long or for much reading prone in the sleeping bag.

So I finally decided at 7:30 I might as well face the weather and got dressed, topped off with my rain jacket, and exited into a steady rain—fortunately not a heavy one, but no mere drizzle either.  Breaking camp in the rain ain’t fun.  I was glad I’d put my pack under a tarp; as I gathered gear to stuff into it, I covered it with my poncho.  At first I thought I’d hike out without the trouble of breakfast, but I’ve always treasured a nourishing breakfast; furthermore, as a diabetic I do need to get something into my system before vigorous activity.  So I thought better of it, and I boiled my water, ate my oatmeal, and drank my coffee standing in the rain.  I think I added a few almonds.  Not ideal conditions, but it did hit the spot.  Least fun was breaking down the tent in the rain; naturally a wet tent also adds to the weight of one’s backpack.

A bit of autumn color along Black Rock Mt. on the hike in on Friday

I wasn’t keen on hiking on a slippery, very rocky trail with a lot of descent, fairly steep in several places (remember? Bald Rocks is highest point in the park), but had no other choice.  Happily, another camper was departing at the same time, so we hiked out together without any misadventures, in just over an hour.  At the parking area I met a troop of Scouts preparing to hike up to Bald Rocks, confident that the rain would soon stop—which it did, and the sun even came out a bit in the afternoon.

After returning to the Marian Shrine, my first stop was the residence so that my confreres could see that I was safely back and so that I could get a cup of hot coffee.  Then I “retreated” to my room in the retreat house—there being no guest rooms available in the residence, that where the community kindly quartered me—and got myself cleaned up and did my best to spread stuff out to dry in my room and on a bannister over a stairwell.  I celebrate my Saturday Mass; doing so in the retreat house had been my plan all along, and wasn’t compelled by the rain.  As always, I enjoyed the company of my confreres in the Marian Shrine community for evening prayers and supper.  After reading email, including the news that comes to me thereby, I retired earlier than usual for a better nite’s sleep than I had at Bald Rocks.

More photos: https://pix.sfly.com/TFfHeF

Homily for Mission Sunday

Homily for Mission Sunday
29th Sunday of Ordinary Time          

October 21, 2018

Mark 10: 35-45
Collect
Nativity, Washington, D.C.

As noted 3 posts below, my blog was down for 4 weeks.  So I'm gradually posting material, and this Sunday homily is a week behind the current date.  Sorry 'bout that.  It's Google's fault.

“The Son of Man [came] to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10: 45).

World Mission Sunday is an annual observance of the entire Catholic Church.  Perhaps in fact we don’t always observe it in our parishes; but this evening we’re doing so.

The intent of the observance is to remind us that the entire Church is missionary.  Our Lord Jesus commissioned us—all of us—to “go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15), words that we heard in the Collect.  You can try that on such creatures as your dogs and cats and the weeds in your flower beds if you like, but of course Jesus really means “to every person,” however a biblical literalist might interpret him.

After that reminder, the day encourages us to pray for the spread of the Gospel, as we’re doing in our Mass this evening:  to pray that missionaries will go courageously and humbly into places where Jesus isn’t known; that each of us will be a witness to Jesus Christ in the way we live our own lives and will be ready to talk about our faith when it’s opportune to do so; that people will be receptive to God’s Word; that cultures like our own Western culture may be converted once again.  Don’t we very much desire that our country will be “one nation under God” and not a nation worshiping the stock market, a political party, self-indulgence, or even the Redskins?

What is this Gospel message of Jesus that we pray will be proclaimed and heard everywhere and among everyone?  There are numerous ways of summarizing it, and the last line of today’s gospel reading from Mark is an apt summary:  “The Son of Man”—Jesus’ self-description—“came to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The Last Supper by Dagnan-Bouveret

"This is the cup of my blood … shed for you and for many."

That 2-word prepositional phrase “for many” echoes the words of consecration at Mass, doesn’t it?  “This is the chalice of my blood ... which will be poured out for you [the apostles in front of him] and for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

What does “for many” mean?  It refers to our salvation and to the scope of Christ’s redemption.  In a passage recorded by St. Luke, someone asks Jesus, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” (13:23).  In the Lord’s time, and in the 1st years of the apostles’ preaching of the Gospel, there certainly were people who thought that God’s saving power was restricted to a few, that God loved only a few, meaning mainly devout, virtuous Jews; and today there are Christian sects who teach that God’s grace touches and saves only a chosen few, excluding from the very possibility of salvation anyone who hasn’t explicitly accepted Jesus as Savior.

Is God’s will that “everyone be saved,” as St. Paul writes to Timothy (1 Tim 2:4), so ineffectual that only a few will actually get into Heaven?  No!  In both today’s gospel and in the words by which Jesus instituted the Eucharist, Christ proclaims the purpose of his mission:  “to give his life for the ransom of many,” for the forgiveness of the sins of many.  Christ’s saving will is wide, not narrow.  The Good News of grace is for all of humanity.

It’s the mission of the Church and of every faithful disciple of Jesus to preach that Gospel of God’s love and forgiveness given us thru Jesus Christ.

What does that mean for us, sisters and brothers?  How do we carry out what the Collect prayed for us, “feel a more urgent call to work for the salvation of every creature”?

1st, hear the Gospel yourself and come confidently to Jesus, “confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy,” as the Letter to the Hebrews urges us today (4:16).

2d, pray for missionaries who are preaching the Gospel in foreign lands that have never been evangelized, in de-Christianized Europe, on agnostic college campuses.  When I mention foreign lands, you might think of your dear Salesians, for instance, 1,700 of whom are bringing Christ’s love to 42 nations in Africa, from Tunis in the north to Cape Town in the south, from Dakar on the Atlantic to Dar-es-Salaam on the Indian Ocean.  As you know, Fr. John Cosgrove was once one of those missionaries in Sierra Leone; presently there are 2 Americans and 1 Canadian Salesian on the continent, and 2 Americans and 1 Canadian Salesian sister.

American SDB Fr. Larry Gilmore with kids 

at the Salesian mission in Monrovia, Liberia, in 2003

3d, pray for the people of these missionary lands, those who’ve yet to receive Christ as their Redeemer  and those who’ve accepted the Gospel and are trying to follow Christ faithfully—some of them in the face of vicious persecution, e.g., in Iraq, Pakistan, India, China, Nigeria, and elsewhere.

4th, when opportunity presents, give your financial support to appeals here at Nativity for overseas missionaries or appeals you receive in the mail, as many of you do from Salesian Missions in New Rochelle.

5th, be a missionary.  Live the Gospel the best you can in your families, your workplaces or schools, and among your friends; if given an opportunity, speak of your faith modestly but confidently.

6th, if you’re relatively young, healthy, and independent, consider becoming a Salesian Lay Missioner, making a one-year commitment to service with the Salesians or Salesian Sisters in Africa, South America, or even a U.S. site like Tampa.

May God bless you, his beloved children, my sisters and brothers.  May our Lord Jesus keep us all in his grace.

Homily for Tuesday, 28th Week of Ordinary Time

Homily for Tuesday

28th Week of Ordinary Time

Oct. 16, 2018                                                

Gal 5: 1-6
Don Bosco Cristo Rey, Takoma Park, Md.

We’ve been reading from Galatians for about a week, hearing Paul urge us not to rely upon observance of the Law to establish and maintain our relationship with God, but upon the grace given to us by Jesus Christ (cf. Gal 5:4).

Paul means the Law given by Moses—all the commands and rules set out in Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, plus the rabbinic interpretations like ritual washings (cf. Luke 11:37-41).  Paul doesn’t mean they’re unimportant; it’s hard to discount the 10 Commandments.  But all those rules have no power to save us, and in fact no one can observe all of them unfailingly.

So, “thru the Spirit, by faith, we await the hope of righteousness” (Gal 5:5).  Jesus Christ gives us the Holy Spirit, forgiving our sins, restoring our broken relationship with God.  We don’t have to be perfect; we can’t be.  But “faith working thru love” (5:6)—Christ’s love for us and our loving response to his love—saves us.

Today’s saint, Margaret Mary, reminds us of that everlasting love of Jesus for us, a love rekindled for us in every Eucharistic celebration.

Homily for Memorial of St. Dennis

Homily for the Memorial
of St. Dennis

Oct. 9, 2018

Collect
Don Bosco Cristo Rey, Takoma Park, Md.

Of St. Dennis and his 2 companions, a priest and a deacon, we know only that they were sent into central Gaul as missionaries in the middle of the 3d century.  Perhaps they were sent out from the ancient Christian presence at Lyons in southern Gaul, the mother Church of France.

They arrived at the Roman settlement that grew into Paris, and Dennis is regarded as that city’s 1st bishop and the principal patron of France.  He and his companions preached with some success, but they were swept up in one of the mid-century imperial persecutions, either that of Decius in 250 or that of Valerian in 258, and beheaded.

There’s a medieval legend that after Dennis was beheaded, he picked up his head and carried it some 2 miles from Montmartre (the Mount of the Martyrs) to the spot where, later, a great abbey and church were built in his honor and where the kings of France were entombed. [See illustration above.]

If we ask ourselves how is it that men like Dennis and his companions had such “constancy,” to use the word the Collect uses, 1st to go to a strange land among pagan people to preach the Gospel, and then to die for the Gospel, the answer must be the same that we find in today’s readings.

Paul recounts how the Father had set him apart, called him thru grace, and revealed the Son to him (Gal 1:15-16).  Paul had directly encountered our Lord Jesus, which changed his life and gave him the call and the zeal to preach the Gospel and die for it.

Jesus tells Martha, “Mary has chosen the better part” (10:42).  What part was that?  To contemplate Jesus.

Like Mary, like Paul, Dennis and his companions had contemplated Jesus—not in the flesh and not in a revelation; but in the same manner that you and I can:  in his sacred word, in the sacraments of the Eucharist and Reconciliation, and in prayer.  That contemplation was the source of their constancy in preaching the Gospel and dying for Jesus, and it’s similarly the source for our own strength to live the Gospel “undaunted” (Collect).

Homilist-blogger's note:  I don't care how the Roman Missal spells his name.  This is the usual (tho not universal) way of spelling it in the U.S.

Where, O Where, Has Fr. Mike Been?

Where, O Where, Has Fr. Mike Been?

When I tried to sign in to Blogger on June 9 to post a homily, the blog account was nowhere to be found under either my long-used salesianstudies address or my relatively new one from Holy Cross.  After Google had a problem with Google+ that I heard mention of on the news, I had to sign in again to those 2 gmail accounts.

I spent an extremely frustrating almost 4 weeks trying fruitlessly to find out how to get the blog account just to show up again.  Nothing worked, and there was no way to contact either Blogger, Google, or Microsoft (email, phone, running thru all the "Help" links).  I even wrote an old-fashioned letter, which Google hasn't had time to respond to yet (if they will condescend to do so).

I contacted my trustworthy go-to man for IT back in the Northland, but he was as bamboozled as I was.  I showed the problem to the IT man at school: ditto.

Lo and behold, tonite as I was cruising thru various links at Blogger Tips and Tricks, I hit on one that led me to the mysterious answer to my problem (thank you, Lord!):  the blog was created from my old Juno account, and I had to plug in that email address, and voila! my account appeared, just asking for my password (which was never the issue).

And here I am, faithful readers!

And I have a PILE of homilies I've been waiting to post.  Anybody suffering from insomnia?

Homily for 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
27th Sunday of Ordinary Time

October 2, 1988

Mark 10: 2-12
St. Theresa, Bronx

“Some Pharisees came up, and in order to test Jesus asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’” (Mark 10:2).

Source unknown, but it looks like Dore'

The Univ. of Notre Dame recently sponsored a major survey of American Catholics.  According to this survey, many, perhaps most, ordinary, church-going Catholics think the Church’s prohibition of divorce and remarriage is too strict.

Divorce was also a hot topic among the Jewish rabbis of the 1st century.  It was a topic that Jesus would naturally ask about.

The discussion focused on what Moses had written in the book of Deuteronomy:  “When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, he may write her a bill of divorce and send her out of his house…” (24:1).  What did that mean?  What was “favor in his eyes”?  What constituted “some indecency”?  In other words, what were the proper legal grounds for a man to divorce his wife, according to the Law of Moses?

Divorce was already accepted in principle.  In practice, adultery on the wife’s part was universally conceded to be indecency allowing, or even demanding, divorce.  Beyond that, opinions varied widely, with theological liberals arguing that a man could properly divorce his wife if she burnt his supper or raised her voice—or if he just found a younger woman more “favorable in his eyes.” 

You may have noticed that all the rights in Jewish divorces belonged to the husband.

So some Pharisees asked Jesus what he thought.  He flatly contradicted all the opinions of his day.  Moses permitted divorces, he says, only because you’re so hard of heart, so stubborn, so unfeeling, so undisciplined, and so unteachable.  Moses made a concession to human sinfulness.

On what authority can Jesus contradict Moses and the leading rabbis of his time?  He cites the book of Genesis—also attributed to Moses—and God’s original creative intention.  “God made them male and female” (1:27).  “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one” (2:24).  God created sexuality and its male-female complementarity.  God created marriage.  God intended that marriage make 2 persons one new person.  “So they are no longer 2 but one.  Therefore what God has joined together, let no one put asunder” (Mark 10: 8-9).  God makes the one-flesh relationship between husband and wife as permanent and inseparable as the one-flesh relationship between brothers or between mother and daughter.  You can’t break that; it’s indissoluble.

Marriage is a human institution, but not a man-made one.  When a man and woman choose to enter it, they consciously or unconsciously invoke God’s plan and God’s will.  And God, says Jesus, wills permanence and unity to marriage.  To challenge that is to challenge God’s plan, which is sin.

There are many human institutions which are man-made.  Consequently man may change them at will.  Nationhood is an example.  Man draws boundary lines, creates government, defines citizenship.  He may change these at will, either by rewriting his laws or by migrating to a new place.

But man has no such power over marriage, says Jesus.  Marriage comes from God.

And that so shook the sensibilities of Jesus’ disciples that they wanted to talk further about it when they got home.

Who is a disciple?  What does the word mean?  A disciple is someone who’s teachable, capable of learning, willing to learn.  Jesus called the advocates of divorce hard of heart, unteachable.  He continues to teach his disciples, continues to teach us.  Today his disciples are the Church.

At home Jesus teaches more bluntly than he did with the Pharisees:  divorce and remarriage is adultery.  We noted before that in Judaism the husband had rights in divorce.  So Jesus is speaking up for women in this matter.  He’s a feminist, protecting a wife’s right to be cherished, not to be treated like an animal or a slave.

Now St. Mark apparently wrote his Gospel in Rome for Roman readers.  In Rome women could file for divorce.  So St. Mark has Jesus add, “If a wife divorces her husband and married another, she commits adultery” (10:12).  Jesus, a true feminist, teaches that rights and responsibilities run both ways.

Out of the blue, it seems, people begin to bring children to Jesus for his blessing.  This is not just a cute scene accidentally following Jesus’ strict teaching about divorce.  It belongs in the context of teaching and teach-ability.  “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (10:15).

The scene has to do with receptivity, openness, teach-ability—with discipleship, in other words.  Children are teachable.  If we want to be Jesus’ disciples, we must be just as teachable, just as open to his word—not hard of heart, insensitive, undisciplined, like those who favored easy divorce.  If we want to enter the kingdom of God, we must be like children around Jesus.

So with childlike faith we come to holy Mass this morning, to hear Jesus, to celebrate our discipleship, to seek his guidance, and to ask his blessing on our families.

Homily for Saturday, 26th Week of Ordinary Time

Homily for Saturday
26th Week of Ordinary Time

October 6, 2018

Luke 10: 17-24
Our Lady of Lourdes, Bethesda, Md.

“Rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10: 20).

Of the various lessons we might draw from today’s gospel, I’ll point to two.

1st is God’s gift to us:  our names are written in heaven, i.e., we are marked or sealed for salvation thru the power of Jesus.  This isn’t our own doing but Jesus’ doing.  Nothing we do on earth—earning oodles of money, building a great business, earning a fine reputation, learning the secrets of the universe, winning honors—none of that matters unless our names are written in heaven, unless we know our Father in heaven because Jesus has made him known to us (10:22) and claimed us for him.

Picked up thru http://thegoodheart.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-holy-name-of-jesus.html

2d is the power of Jesus’ name.  When Jesus is invoked, Satan is powerless; he falls.  It’s not learning or earthly power or wealth that defeat him but the humble power of Jesus.  Jesus forgives our sins, which are Satan’s grasp at our souls.  Jesus offers us a share in his victory over the grave, and eternal life.  So we put our trust in him, call upon him, come to him in his sacraments.

Blessed are we who see Jesus in our lives (10:23)—God’s gift to us, God’s power effecting our redemption!