A Message and Prayer from our Provincial Superior During the Coronavirus Pandemic
As the weeks unfold, the covid-19 pandemic becomes larger, scarier and nearer. Most of us, in addition to the many restrictions to our daily routines of family, work and play, are deprived at this time of access to Mass and the Sacraments, especially to the “Bread of Angels,” the Holy Eucharist. Now would be a good time to renew the practice of “spiritual communion.” Receive Jesus into your hearts. Reverence him there. Speak with him, trust him, love him. Remain with him in silence and presence, your thoughts and energies centered for a while on him alone. These may be brief moments, but they will spread the gentle strength of their grace throughout the difficult day ahead. The Lord is always near and always loving. Welcome him daily into your heart and into your lives through the practice of spiritual communion. It will make all the difference.
During this time of crisis, please be assured that the Oblates are praying and offering masses daily for our families, friends and benefactors. You have supported us over the years in our ministry and we continue to support you, most especially at this time, with our loving prayers and sacramental intentions.
A Salesian-based Prayer during the
covid-19 Crisis
Good Lord, on the Cross of Calvary you knew fear and pain. You felt alone and deserted. You saw the pain of your grieving Mother but could not reach down to comfort her. You wondered where God was but trusted still. In death, your heart was pierced, and from it flowed out new life for all the world.
We, Lord, the human family, are in a Calvary all our own at this scary time of pandemic. We too know fear and pain and are often quite alone. We know the pain and grief of our loved ones but cannot now reach out to some of them as once we could with a kind word, a helping hand and a comforting presence. We, too, at times wonder where God is. But, like you, we trust still.
Through your pierced side, we see our names written on your Sacred Heart in words of lasting love, assuring us that the rhythm of the pascal mystery always ends in resurrection and new life. To this truth we hold with all our strength. You have promised us that love is stronger than even death itself!
Too often we may have taken the Bread of Life for granted. No more. We miss you in our Sacraments and we promise, once this darkness has passed, to return once again to find you in them –to you who have never left us and never will!
We find comfort in these words of St. Francis de Sales:
“Do not be afraid. Let your weary, listless heart rest against the sacred, loving breast of this Savior who, by his providence is a father to his children, and by his gentle, tender love is a mother to them.”
Amen!
Rev. Lewis S. Fiorelli, OSFS
Provincial, Oblates of St. Francis de Sales
Wilmington/Philadelphia Province
"THE CHURCH IS A GARDEN PATTERNED WITH UNLIMITED FLOWERS."
-St. Francis de Sales
St. Francis de Sales’ vision of the church was inclusive and welcoming. All people, he believed, had a place in the community of believers, belonging because of their royal dignity emerging from their creation by our loving God. The diversity of humanity, he hoped, would be expressed in the dynamic collection of people baptized to live Jesus, his favorite maxim. Employing the metaphor of a garden, a biblical place of life, covenant, and commitment, St. Francis de Sales acclaims the beauty of one church enriched by the limitless variety of peoples and gifts God has created. With DeSales and now Pope Francis, we Oblates of St. Francis de Sales seek to help build the church that welcomes all people desiring to live Jesus.
