A Message from our Provincial Superior amid the 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

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A SALESIAN REFLECTION ON THE FEAST OF ST. JOSEPH

If I were to name the place in the Holy Land most special to Salesian spirituality, I would name, “Nazareth.”  I am sure that “Jerusalem” would have come immediately to mind for most readers.  Surely, Calvary is the place most sacred in the redeeming death of Jesus, and the tomb in Jerusalem is the holy ground from which Jesus rose in glorious triumph on Easter Sunday.  St. Francis de Sales would agree with all of that.

Still, we often tend to forget or downplay the redemptive value of the thirty years that Jesus spent in Nazareth learning about God from his parents and apprenticing the carpenter’s trade from St. Joseph.  Those “hidden” years are especially sacred to de Sales for they speak to the “ordinary” that is at the heart of Salesian spirituality.

For de Sales, those thirty hidden years are just as significant for redemption as the ministry, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus.  Most people spend most of their lives in the ordinary and give and take of daily interactions with family, friends, classmates and colleagues.  Doing and embracing God’s will is the only essential thing for Francis, just as it was for Jesus: “I have come to do the will of the One who sent me.”  And the principal arena for God’s will is one’s state in life and all the ordinary and often-little things that come with living, working and interacting with others day in and day out.  Indeed, “Doing ordinary things with great love” is the secret to holiness for the Salesian family.  This is what Nazareth teaches us.

For thirty years, Jesus lived with his mother and foster father, interacting with them and with his relatives and neighbors in hundreds of ordinary ways every day.  He had ample opportunity to learn and practice the “little virtues” so celebrated by Francis: kindness, compassion, forgiveness and charity.

The parents of Jesus were his first and best teachers of the ways of God and the expectations of love’s double commandment. Mary also taught him a continual availability –her “fiat!-- to the divine will: “Let it be done to me according to your word!”  In his quiet and gentle manner, Joseph taught him to be open and responsive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit as Joseph himself was in taking Mary for his wife and in fleeing to Egypt at his son’s birth.  He also taught his son the carpenter’s trade, teaching him by example how to work with his hands and, thus, to esteem and respect all those who, like him, earned their livelihood by hard work and the sweat of their brow.

We celebrate the feast of St. Joseph this week.  Jesus learned much from that large-hearted man of great faith, gentle strength and hard work.  May we learn from him as well!  Esteem your own “Nazareth,” for therein lies the secret to holiness!

By Rev. Lewis S. Fiorelli, OSFS

Provincial

Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

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DeSales Weekly Editor: Rev. John (Jack) Kolodziej, OSFS

Transfigure Us, O Lord, to Live You!

Last Sunday was the Transfiguration Gospel of the Second Sunday in Lent. We heard God’s call to Abram and Sarai to “go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and your father’s house to a land that I will show you.”(Gen 12:1). Both readings invite us to see with faith eyes and call for trust in God and for our transfiguration to shine like the Son.

When has God’s call to see or be different meant you stepped out in trust? Have people commented: “You’re beaming,” “You look different, at peace, happy, whole?” Transfiguration Sunday and our Lenten journey are about living our baptismal commitment to “Live Jesus,” always and in all ways.

A dozen students and staff gather on campus to feed on homemade soup and the Sunday readings. One student commented this past week that it must have taken Abram’s huge trust in God to go forth and leave all that was familiar and do what God asked. He and Sarai left all, and trusted God’s promises of numerous descendants and to make Abram a blessing for all the communities of the earth, all. What is it like to trust God like that?  Did Abram and Sarai shone with God’s light like the transfigured Jesus?

Another student talked about becoming a student missionary and leaving all that was familiar to witness his faith in Jesus. Why? He hopes that his example and presence invite others into a relationship with Jesus like his. It hasn’t been easy. There have been times of doubt. But these two years of mission have been a blessing in many ways.

Another visit with students brought us to the home of a woman who wanted us to paint for her. She had others needs from our perspective, but that was what she wanted done. We try to meet people where they are on life’s journey, like Jesus did. Her dog, her companion of 14 years, died the night before. So, she asked us to bury her dog. We dug a grave, buried her canine companion, and joined her in prayer and song at the graveside. Meeting her in her needs was God’s call for us that day. Doesn’t life often invite us to find God in situations we least expect?

Each year the students I mentor, and the people we meet in service, serve us by opening our eyes to look beneath the surface of our own assumptions, presumptions, and biases. What do we see? Hopefully we see another beloved daughter or son of God.

Each Lent calls us to renew the promise we made at Baptism to see with eyes of Faith and “Live Jesus,” as St. Francis de Sales says. Mother Mary de Sales Chappuis, VHM echoes this writing, “We do that by imprinting the Gospel, word for word, concretely, in our bodies.”

When we do, we are transfigured and shine with the light of Christ.

In a time where fear often replaces fact and can make us more self-centered rather than other-centered and God-centered, listen for God’s invitation addressed to us: I will bless you. You will be a blessing to all. You put on Christ in Baptism. You are God’s beloved son, daughter. So listen, trust, and let God transfigure you and me by living Jesus and shining with Christ. May God be praised!

Paul H. Colloton, OSFS

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A Salesian Reflection on Coronavirus: St. Francis de Sales on Fear

As fears about the Coronavirus escalate in our country and around the world, the calming words of St. Francis de Sales keep coming to mind, “Do not be afraid.” 

Francis de Sales had a great reverence for divine Providence.  For him, God is hardly indifference or aloof from his creation, especially from us who bear his image.  Far from it.  He states, “By his providence God is a father to his children.”  A father loves, provides, protects and cares deeply for his children.  Such is God, our father.

Because of his unshakable trust in Providence, Francis often repeats the words that Jesus spoke to comfort his frightened disciples: “Do not be afraid.”  Children have all sorts of fears: “Something’s under my bed, thunder and lightning, the shadow across my window,” and so forth.  All the child needs to cast those fears aside is the reassuring presence and the comforting and soothing words of a parent, “There, there.  I am here now.  There’s nothing to be afraid of.” 

For Francis, that parent is God.  He is there to love, care, comfort and protect us even with our adult fears such as the fear of losing our job, or the fear of ill health and aging, even the fear of the timing and circumstances of our death.  Today, many of us are frightened by the new virus and its growing menace.  In all such fears, we look to God as a loving parent who speaks quietly and comforting to our heart, “Do not be afraid.  I am here.  All will be well.”

The way that a provident and caring God becomes the reality of our lives is by getting to know God –indeed, by falling in love with God.  Then, words of his loving and caring Providence will no longer simply be words on a page, but reality itself.  Such a love casts out all fear.

We are in the Season of Lent.  This new virus colors this Lent. So, spend some quality time getting to know God.  For, to know him is to love him and, in loving him, to no longer be afraid, “I am here now.  All will be well.”

Rev. Lewis S. Fiorelli, OSFS

Provincial

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St. Francis de Sales on Fasting During Lent

The book, “Sermons of St. Francis de Sales For Lent,” gives us twelve sermons by DeSales on key aspects of the Christian life given during Lent in 1622.  The topics include fasting, how to resist temptation, the danger of losing one's soul, living faith vs. dead or dying faith, Christian attitude toward death, proper conduct in illness, God's special providence toward those living a spiritual life, the hidden meanings of Our Lord's Passion, eternal happiness, mutual charity, and many other topics. 

If you are interested in obtaining this book, click here: https://embracedbygod.org/product/sermons-for-lent/

St Francis de Sales’ sermons during Lent 1622 begin with his discourse on fasting during Lent. 

“I thought of speaking to you of the conditions which render fasting good and meritorious. Understand that of itself fasting is not a virtue. It is a virtue only when it is accompanied by conditions which render it pleasing to God.

We find some people who think that to fast well during the holy season of Lent it is enough to abstain from eating some prohibited food. We know very well that it is not enough to fast exteriorly if we do not also fast interiorly, and if we do not accompany the fast of the body with that of the spirit.

Now among all the conditions required for fasting well, I will select 3 principal ones...

The first condition is that we must fast with our whole heart, willingly, wholeheartedly, universally and entirely.

The second condition is never to fast through vanity but always through humility.

The third condition necessary for fasting well is to look to God and to do everything to please Him, withdrawing within ourselves in imitation of a great saint, St. Gregory the Great who withdrew into a secret place where he remained for a time.”

Three hundred and ninety-eight years later we can still learn from Francis as we work to create a rich and meaningful Lenten experience for ourselves.

Source:        Sermons of St. Francis de Sales For Lent

“Sermon for Ash Wednesday” - February 9, 1622

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Mardi Gras: St. Francis de Sales on pre-Lent Preparation

As Catholic Christianity spread throughout Europe, different cultures celebrated the time before Lent in their own ways, adapting practices to suit their cultures. In France, the day before Ash Wednesday became particularly popular as people feasted on foods that would be given up during the forty days of Lent. Meats, eggs, and milk were finished off in one day, giving the holiday its French title of “Mardi Gras”, which literally translates as “Fat Tuesday.”

In the time of Francis de Sales, the great French saint, the intent of Mardi Gras was to indulge. However, he surely would have reminded his flock, in the words of one his famous maxims, “All good things in moderation.”  DeSales taught, as can be read in the book, “Sermons of St. Francis de Sales on Lent,” about the importance of properly preparing our hearts for this holy season.

For many, Lent focuses on external symbols and acts, such as being marked with ashes and the external mortifications of “giving up” things. St. Francis de Sales places attention on the internal transformations of the heart during Lent.  His writings and sermons often relied upon metaphors to express a deeper spiritual teaching. In this case of a marked internal transformation of the heart, he used the image of an almond tree as understood in botany during the early periods of the Renaissance.

“Men engaged in horticulture tell us that if a word is written on a sound almond seed and it is placed again its shell, carefully wrapped up and planted, whatever fruit the tree bears will have that same written word stamped on it. For myself…I cannot approve the methods of those who try to reform a person by beginning with external things, such as bearings, dress, or hair. On the contrary, it seems to me that we should begin inside. ‘Be converted to me with your whole heart,’ God said. ‘My child, give me your heart.’  Since the heart is the source of actions, as the heart is, so are they…

For this reason, I have wished above all else to engrave and inscribe on your heart this holy, sacred maxim, LIVE JESUS! I am sure that your life, which comes from the heart just as the almond tree comes from its seed, will after that produce all its actions — which are its fruits — inscribed and engraved with this sacred word of salvation.”

Although we may enjoy the celebratory spirit of Mardi Gras, let us also use these few remaining days of pre-Lent to prepare properly.  With the inspiration and guidance of St. Francis de Sales, may we ready our hearts for the interior transformation we are called to as God’s children. 

God be praised!

Fr. Steve Shott, OSFS

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Saint Valentin’s Day: A Salesian Reflection on Love

The bishop stood before the 36 young confirmandi about to receive the sacrament of confirmation. Everyone was quiet as they gazed at the bishop looking upon them. He pointed at the tabernacle and began: “Do you see that flame flickering near the tabernacle?”

Everyone turned to look at the candle burning a bright red near the tabernacle.  He continued, “It’s quivering flame reminds us that Jesus is present in this Church. Whenever we come into this church, day or night, we will see that candle burning. Its constant flame tells everyone Jesus is here,” he said.

Then with staff in hand, the Bishop continued, “During your confirmation the Holy Spirit will light a flame in your hearts.  It’s your reminder that Jesus is constantly there too!”

Pausing, the Bishop said, “And its flame shows you that Jesus sees you, knows who you are, and loves you. The quiet, flickering, and ever-burning flame is there to remind you that Jesus is near. We never have to fear loneliness or know the panic of being all alone.” The Bishop added, “The Holy Spirit’s special task is keeping the warmth of Jesus’ love safeguarding and protecting everyone who follows Jesus.”

What a powerful image of the Holy Spirit!  To keep alive in the heart of believers this amazing promise, Jesus, the son of God and Messiah, is always traveling with us through each day.

Jesus is next to us when days are bright and sunny, and behind the dark clouds when nights are somber and slow.  The burning flame shows Jesus as our true best friend forever who is always unfailingly close.

Saint Francis de Sales knew the warmth of the Holy Spirit’s flame when he wrote: When did God’s love for you begin? It began when God began to be God-which God has always been. So also, God has loved you from all eternity. Saying “I have loved you with and everlasting love,” Ps 103.

Happy Saint Valentine’s Day.

Rev. Richard DeLillio, OSFS

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Spiritual Light in the Darkness of Winter

Some of us find that February and March to be long months. There is still too much cold and wind, still too much darkness, and not enough spring beauty. There are those who refer to these as nesting months: spending time inside the walls of home, school, and work and hopefully inside the walls of our hearts.

I would like us to begin some late winter and early spring spiritual cleaning as we navigate these uncertain days of wind chill, wintry mixes, and unseasonable warmth.

Here are some considerations:

1. Uncertainty and doubt are not necessarily spiritual weaknesses but often spiritual invitations to a deeper faith. Live the questions, doubts, and uncertainties.

2. In dark moments, we do not always receive neon clarity, but frequently we get just the light needed for the next step or two.

3. Barren trees are beautiful. When I run through Wildwood Park these days, I can see the raw beauty of nature and its expanse. There is little to block the wider view. Spring brings an abundance of green, flowering colors and beauty but also with limited and a more focused range of vision.

4. Nesting is a gift. Wintry mixes and snowfalls take us out of our comfort zone and routine to show us that we are not ultimately in charge. Do not panic but enjoy the unexpected gift of a day off or a two-hour delay. How many rolls of toilet paper or gallons of milk do we really need to make it through that unplanned for day?

5. Wind is my winter adversary. Cold does not stop me, but a certain wind speed will deflate my courageous spirit to go out and run. I am not proud to say that it can win too easily. What are our adversaries that deflate the wind of our spiritual sails?

6. The fluctuating temperatures of this season can remind us of the changes of our hearts. Warm, tender, loving, giving, but also, cold, calculating, unforgiving are all possible moments that beat from this life-giving organ. What life do we want to pulsate from within us?

7. In the Scriptures, seven is the whole number. This season is only part of the fabric of the changes that take place each year. Hopefully, these changes ask us to look at each day and each season to remind us of the importance of living each day and moment wholly and with all the love and devotion we can bring forth from our loving hearts.

Live Jesus!

Fr. Matt Hillyard, OSFS

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Salesian Reflection of Feast of the Presentation: Keep This Light Burning Brightly

Sunday is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. Forty days after Christmas Jesus was presented to the Lord in the Temple. Simeon meets Mary, Joseph, and Jesus and says that the child Jesus is: “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.” (Lk 2:32) This Feast is also called Candlemas and Church tradition has us begin Mass by blessing candles and processing with them.

When we were baptized, a light was taken from the Paschal Candle and presented to us or to our parents and godparents, if we were too young to hold a candle safely. The Deacon or Priest said:

“Receive the Light of Christ. Parents and godparents, this light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly. These children of yours have been enlightened by Christ. They are to walk always as children of the light. May they keep the flame of faith alive in their hearts. When the Lord comes, may they go out to meet him with all the saints in the heavenly kingdom.” (Rite of Baptism for Children, n.127)

The Light of Christ is entrusted to us to keep burning brightly alive in our hearts. How are you doing with that? Is the Light of Christ seen in you? Is it on full power or faintly burning? Wherever we fall in the spectrum, the Light of Christ remains in us.

Last Sunday, we heard in the prophet Isaiah: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom, a light has shone” (Is. 9:1). When quoted in the Gospel we heard: “The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen.” (Mt. 4:16).

Notice the bolded verbs in the quote from Isaiah are in the past tense: “walked” and “dwelt.” The bolded verbs in Matthew’s Gospel are in the present tense, “sit” and “dwelling.” While the Light of Christ will not be overshadowed, we heard at Christmas there is still darkness that needs Christ’s light: there is a darkness in ourselves, our families, our Church, our nation, and our world. Yet, the Good News of Christmas, The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time A, and The Presentation of the Lord, is that we have a light that will guide us through any situation and empower us to be the Light of Christ for our world.

In 12-step programs people can sometimes feel sorry for themselves and sit on the proverbial pity pot. The wisdom of the program is the wisdom of these feasts and readings. They tell us to “Get up off of your pity pot and look out.” In other words, raise your heads and your eyes. See that there are people suffering more than you who need the Light. St. Francis de Sales offers similar advice: “Our imperfections are going to accompany us to the grave. Do not be disheartened by your imperfections, but always rise up with fresh courage.”

Our imperfections and darkness are always with us. These are gifts to us because they can lead us to renew God’s merciful Christ-Light if we rise up with fresh courage. We are sinners, whether our sin is big or small. None of us is perfect. Yet, as a friend of mine recently said to his son who was contemplating suicide, “God is good and so are we.” We are made in the Divine image; thus, we are God’s love made real and visible. God dwells in us.

When we are tempted to think, “I’m a schmuck, unworthy, unlovable, and/or unforgivable,” we must remember that God dwells in us. Look up and see the darkness around you, see where you can be the Light of Christ for others.  Look to those who can be light for you and, turn to the Light of Christ in them.

As we prepare to celebrate Candlemas on Sunday, remember that we have received the Light of Christ. We are living candles when we “Live+Jesus,” we become the light of God’s merciful love alive and real today. God is good and so are we. When we’ve been in darkness that goodness shines brighter, if we turn to the Light and live it.

May God be praised.

Paul H. Colloton, OSFS

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The Feast Day of St. Francis de Sales

January 24 is the Feast of St. Francis de Sales, the patron saint of writers and Christian unity whose role as a priest and bishop helped bring thousands of Protestants back to the Catholic Church.

In the late 16th and early 17th century, St. Frances de Sales conducted spiritual direction both in person and in written correspondence. This inspired his famous works; “Introduction to the Devout Life” and “Treatise on the Love of God.”

During his ministry in Switzerland, he wrote and distributed religious pamphlets that made inroads among Protestants and helped over 50,000 people return to the Catholic faith.

Because he is a patron saint of writers, his feast day traditionally marks the release of the Pope’s annual message for World Communications Day. Pope Benedict XVI’s 2013 message reflected on social networks and their potential to strengthen unity and harmony between people. He also warned that these enable a mindset that rewards popularity, rather than rewarding what has intrinsic value.

St. Francis de Sales was no stranger to unpopularity. As a priest he volunteered to lead a mission to return the Calvinist Switzerland back to the Catholic faith. He faced much hostility, including death threats and potential assassins.

He was born in 1567 in the Savoy region in what is now part of France, near the famous Lake of Annecy. He was a diplomat’s son, born into a household with great devotion to St. Francis of Assisi, in whose honor DeSales was named.  As the oldest son, it was planned from his birth that the young Francis would follow in his father’s footsteps.

He studied rhetoric, the humanities and law in preparation for a political career. He had resolved to hold to religious celibacy, and he held a deep devotion to the Virgin Mary, but he kept this strong spiritual life secret from the world.

This devotion clashed with the wishes of his father, who had arranged a marriage for him. The Catholic bishop of Geneva found Francis de Sales a position in the Swiss Church, leading to his ordination as a priest in 1593.

Francis was named Bishop of Geneva in 1602, after which he worked to restore Geneva’s churches and religious orders. He helped the future saint Jane Frances de Chantal, whom he had served as spiritual director, found a women’s religious order, The Visitation of Holy Mary.

He died in 1622 in Lyons at a convent of the Visitation that he had helped to found. Francis de Sales was canonized in 1665 and named a Doctor of the Church in 1877.

Source: Adapted from The Catholic News Agency

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DeSales Weekly Editor: Fr. Bill McCandless, OSFS

Our Personal Construction Projects in 2020

Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build.
            -Psalm 127

The Brookland neighborhood in Washington, DC has become home to a flurry of construction projects over the past few years. One of the most recent of these projects is a new mid-rise housing complex that covers an entire city block.

During the fall semester, I passed by the site every day on my way to school and was amazed at how quickly the structure rose. Only a few months ago, there was just a bare concrete foundation, and now several floors of timber frames rise above the streetscape. I’ve wondered when the building will be completed. A year from now, six months, a few weeks?

While we do not all use our hands at construction sites like the one in Brookland, we all have our own building projects to which we dedicate much of our everyday lives. Each of us can probably name a few that we’re working on at this very moment, such as our “New Year’s resolutions.” More often than not, these are very worthwhile endeavors. We look forward to getting to behold our accomplishment as we hammer in the nails, shine the windows, and plant flowers along the walkways.

And we should be proud of our work. To deny the fact that we put a lot of mental energy, ingenuity, perspiration, and yes, caffeine, into those works that are important to us would be a false humility, a denial of the creative agency that God has given to each of us.

The temptation comes when we buy into the subtle but attractive illusion that these construction projects are solely our work, when we forget who the architect is and who the project is for. A new building does not exist because of those preparing the ground and pouring the concrete. It exists because of the architect who designed it. It exists because of the people who will come to live in it.

If we remember this, we’ll get less upset when our projects aren’t completed by the time we wanted. We’ll be less frustrated when the construction is slowed by the snows of winter or the rains of spring. Perhaps even more importantly, we’ll be a bit more willing to let go of our favorite power tool, to walk away from our prized project, though unfinished, if the architect beckons us to take up a new task.

The coming of a New Year is an opportunity to remember who all of our personal construction projects are ultimately for: the God whose coming we have celebrated during the season of Christmas, the God who makes his dwelling among us, who literally “pitches his tent” among us (John 1:14). We may think we know where he wants to stay, in this or that house we’ve been so feverishly working on. We may up our tempo even more when we realize that our project may not be finished by its projected completion date. At such a point, God may surprise us, asking us to leave the installation of the final few wall studs and roof shingles to someone else, to work according to a new blueprint in some other corner of our lives, so that he may take up his dwelling there.

This New Year, may God give us the dedication to do well the work that God has entrusted to us, taking hold of the tools he has given for its purpose. May God give us the humility to let go of these when he asks. And whatever house we’re building, whether it be a grand mansion or humble little shed, whether it be finished or not, may we always open the door to the God who comes to dwell with us, who is the Master Craftsman whose handiwork we are.

By Joseph McDaniel, OSFS

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DeSales Weekly Editor:: Rev. John (Jack) Kolodziej, OSFS

Salesian Concept of The Epiphany

This coming Sunday is the Feast of the Epiphany.  We will hear proclaimed from the Gospel of Matthew:

Behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,
“Where is the newborn king of the Jews?
We saw his star at its rising
and have come to do him homage.”

Not just on Epiphany, but every day –– every hour, every moment –– we are called to follow the star that is our Lord, our Redeemer and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Each day, we are called to set out onto the road of life, following the signs of God’s love, justice, reconciliation and peace wherever we experience them. And like the astrologers in today’s Gospel, we, too, are called to “do him homage.”

Homage, an old-fashioned, quaint-sounding term, is defined in the dictionary as “special honor or respect shown publicly.”

Hmmm, perhaps not so quaint or out-of-date a notion after all!

How can we do Jesus homage? How can we publicly give him special honor and respect? What kind of gifts can we give to Christ –– and by extension, to one another –– day in and day out? Are such displays of respect limited to cross-continental treks or exotic, once-in-a-lifetime treasures?

Francis de Sales offers this advice:

“Let us not be at all eager in our work, for, in order to do it well, we must apply ourselves to it carefully indeed, but calmly and peacefully, without trusting in our labor, but rather, relying on God and God’s grace. Anxious searching of the heart about advancing in perfection, and those endeavors to see if we are advancing, are not at all pleasing to God, and only serve to satisfy our own self-love, that subtle tormentor which grasps at so much but accomplishes so very little. One single good work, done with tranquil spirit, is worth far more than many done with anxious eagerness.”

Paying homage to Jesus –– showing special respect and honor in public –– is measured less by grandiose feats and more by simple, ordinary actions performed with great attention and intention. Paying homage to Jesus is not only about a multiplicity of good deeds but also more about fully immersing ourselves in each moment of each day as it comes. Paying homage to Jesus is less about trying to prove to Jesus how worthy we are and more about accepting our need for God and the actions of God’s grace in our lives. Paying homage to Jesus is less about prostrating ourselves before him and more about standing up for all that is righteous, peaceful, liberating and just.

How might our experiences this day –– and especially, the people whom we encounter in those experiences –– be inviting us to pay homage to Christ?

The answer – we pay homage to Christ by paying special honor and respect to one another – one, single good work at a time.

DeSales Weekly: https://oblates.squarespace.com/desales-weekly

DeSales Weekly Editor: : Rev. John (Jack) Kolodziej, OSFS

St. Francis DeSales' Last Christmas, 1622

The Christmas season of 1622 was a busy time for St. Francis de Sales. He had just finished participating in a series of official meetings between the governments of France and Savoy. Since these meetings had been held at Lyons, he decided to stay there for Christmas and with the Visitation nuns.

The last letter he penned was dated December 24, 1622. It was written to Roger de Saint Lary, the Duke of Bellegarde. He, too, had been a participant at the meetings and was still in Lyons at the time.

The Duke de Bellegarde at that time was the “Master of the Horse” at the court of Henry IV and Louis XIII. In his earlier years, he was one of the most worldly and arrogant courtiers of his time and a man of great power and influence.

He first met St. Francis de Sales in 1603 but did not come under his more immediate influence until around ten years later. At that time, he decided to put himself under St. Francis de Sales’ direction and straighten out his life. St. Francis worked with him and helped this nobleman change his pattern of life. St. Francis de Sales called him his favorite "Theotimus." That was the name of the spiritual friend to whom St. Francis de Sales addressed his famous work The Treatise on the Love of God.

Actually, St. Francis did see him after he sent him the letter. He bumped into the Duke on December 27 and spoke to him at length about the content of that letter. This is a simple letter with a simple request asking a kindness for a poor man, which is part of the heart of the Christmas message.

My dear Sir and Son,

This great feast of Christmas which almost deprives one of the hope of seeing you again gives me sufficient confidence to appeal to you on behalf of a poor man whom I am bound to love in charity and also because of the good example he gave of his faith and uprightness while he lived in the region of Gex where he was subject to persecution in spite of his innocence. He will explain his poverty when he speaks to you, and if you are unable to do as he begs, he presents an alternate plan, my dear sir and my son: that it may please your goodness to give him a post in the salt mines or else in forestry, which is his real work, or elsewhere under your authority.

Works of mercy are in season at this time which is dedicated to the great mercy shown to us by the Son of God when He was born on earth for our salvation, and I beg Him very humbly always to be favorable to you, Sir, according to the continued wish of my heart; and I am,

Your very humble and very obedient servant,

Francis, Bishop of Geneva.

On this the Eve of Christmas, 1622

St. Francis DeSales was concerned about this poor man. He wrote the letter. He then spoke about it to the Duke on December 27. I suspect he wanted to make sure that this Christmas gift would be granted to the poor man. The Lord granted St. Francis de Sales a special Christmas gift too. He called St. Francis home to Himself on December 28.

Praying that you and your loved ones have a Blessed Christmas Season and the Blessing of our Lord of Mercy in 2020.

-         Rev. Neil F. Kilty, OSFS

DeSales Weekly: https://oblates.squarespace.com/desales-weekly

DeSales Weekly Editor:: Rev. John (Jack) Kolodziej, OSFS

THE "O ANTIPHONS" OF ADVENT

The simple chant " O Come, O Come Emmanuel." , with its longing for the coming of the Savior, genuinely belongs to Advent and not to Christmas.  Its melody is based on Gregorian Chant, and its verses are all taken from the Church's "O" antiphons.  These antiphons introduce the Magnificat, or canticle of Mary, at evening prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours, from December 17th through December 23rd.  Each of them begins with a traditional title for Christ. They are: "O Wisdom," "O sacred Lord," "O Flower of Jesse's Stem," "O Key of David," "O Radiant Dawn," "O King of all the nations," and finally, "O Emmanuel," which means "God with us."  Each of these traditional titles for the Messiah connects the coming of Christ with the prophetic writings of the Old Testament.  As we end the third week of Advent, with the forth week just days away, perhaps it is a good time pray these antiphons and reflect on their meaning in our life as followers of Christ.

Thursday, December 18

O Leader of the House of Israel,
giver of the Law to Moses on Sinai:
come to rescue us with your mighty power!

Friday, December 19

O Root of Jesse’s stem,
sign of God’s love for all his people:
come to save us without delay!

Saturday, December 20

O Key of David,
opening the gates of God’s eternal Kingdom:
come and free the prisoners of darkness!

Sunday, December 21

O Radiant Dawn,
splendor of eternal light, sun of justice:
come and shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the
shadow of death.

Monday, December 22

O King of all nations and keystone of the Church:
come and save man, whom you formed from the dust!

Tuesday, December 23

O Emmanuel, our King and Giver of Law:
come to save us, Lord our God!