Jacklyn and Miguel Bezos '63 Establish Rev. James P. Byrne, OSFS Scholarship with Historic $12 Million Gift

It is with gratitude and excitement that Salesianum announces an historic $12,000,000 gift from Jacklyn and Miguel Bezos ’63 to the Salesianum School Endowment to fund financial aid.

This gift is certainly notable for its size, indeed, it is the second largest the school has ever received and one of the largest ever given to a Catholic secondary school in the United States. But beyond sheer magnitude, this gift is unique in that it will fully fund tuition and expenses for 24 students in perpetuity as a way to honor a beloved figure in Salesianum history.

To that end, $10,000,000 will be given to immediately establish the Rev. James P. Byrne, OSFS Scholarship, which will focus on enrolling 24 motivated, ambitious, mature and curious students. To be considered as a Byrne Scholar, applicants must demonstrate full financial need, and a preference will be given for those students from the City of Wilmington and those who are immigrants or the children of immigrants.  In addition to full tuition, Byrne Scholars will also receive funding for incidental expenses including books, retreats, service trips, AP test fees, prom tickets, etc., which often serve as barriers for students on the margins.

In 1960, Father Byrne was placed in charge of Casa de Sales, a house at 1300 Broom Street where 21 boys - all emigres fleeing the Cuban revolution as part of the U.S. State Department’s Operation Pedro Pan - lived and attended Salesianum. They came from an island nation 1,300 miles away and spoke no English, but Father Byrne took them in and formed them into Salesian Gentlemen. Mike Bezos was one of those boys. 

Father Byrne, who died in 2020, was the embodiment of our patron’s gentle strength.  His ministry as surrogate parent, teacher and friend is credited with helping dozens of Casa residents become successful students and - eventually - citizens through his guidance, discipline and love.  It was an audacious undertaking; it was also the right thing to do. 

The Byrne Scholarship is a reminder that providing access to education is the essence of our own story and shared experience as Salesians.  Whether it was European immigrants arriving in Wilmington in the early 20th century, or Cuban refugees decades later, Salesianum has consistently opened its doors for 118 years.  The Byrne Scholarship is merely the next step in this evolution. The school will be extending its outstretched hands to students from our own backyard rather than distant shores, but the sentiment of that gesture - the very essence of taking hold - is recognizable to all of us as Salesians, regardless of whose hand clutches back.

It is in that same spirit then that Mike and Jackie are also matching commitments of $100,000 or more to the endowment over the next three years - up to $2,000,000.  As tuition rises by necessity, gifts to the endowment - both big and small - as well as new scholarships will be essential to maintaining access and affordability for all who wish to be Salesian Gentlemen.  This separate matching initiative offers others in our community a chance to follow the example of the Byrne Scholarship and leverage their own generosity in ways never before possible at Salesianum to establish their own scholarships.

As Salesians, I know we all have a sense of pride in bearing the mark of Salesianum, either as alumni, parents or friends.  This commitment from Mike and Jackie makes the mark all the more indelible. It is Salesianum - and nowhere else - where the goodness of our community flows so freely in the service of others.  Thank you Jacklyn and Miguel Bezos ’63 for joining us in outstretching your hands. Thank you for taking hold and never letting go.  Thank you for making your mark on the school, and the eventual thousands of students your generosity will benefit.

Tenui Nec Dimittam,

Brendan P. Kennealey ’94
President

The Oblates Welcome Bishop-elect William Koenig

The Wilmington-Philadelphia Province of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales warmly welcomes Rev. Monsignor William E. Koenig as the 10th Bishop of the Diocese of Wilmington.  All the Oblate priests and brothers look forward to his leadership of the Diocese.  

The Diocese of Wilmington is very special to the Oblates because the diocese’s patron saint is St. Francis de Sales.  The congregation is headquartered in Wilmington and founded Salesianum School in 1903, an independent Catholic secondary school that challenges young men to live as Salesian Gentlemen devoted to faith, community, and service.  

The Oblates are humbled to have the opportunity to minister at parishes throughout the Diocese of Wilmington: St. Anthony of Padua in Wilmington, St. Edmund's Parish in Rehoboth Beach, DE, and Immaculate Conception Parish in Elkton, MD. In the past, the Oblates have assisted at many diocesan parishes, worked with the Little Sisters of the Poor, and staffed Padua Academy.  

Oblate priests, brothers, and seminarians also serve at Nativity Prep Middle School and as chaplain to the Wilmington Fire Department. They minister at St. Thomas More Oratory at the University of Delaware and their retirement facility is located in Childs, MD. The Oblates Sisters of St. Francis de Sales, part of the Oblate family, operate Aviat Academy.  

“We will work in collaboration with Bishop-elect Koenig as we serve in the diocese and fulfill our community’s mission to grow as a religious community and share our charism with the People of God and affirm them in “living Jesus” as the needs of the Church dictate,” said Very Reverend Lewis S Fiorelli, OSFS, Provincial.  “We are full of gratitude for the ministry and leadership of Bishop Francis Malooly and will keep him in our prayers as he enjoys his retirement.”

May the gentle spirit of St. Francis de Sales guide Bishop-elect Koenig and everyone in the diocese as we “Live Jesus” in all we do and in Francis’ words, “be who we are and be that well.”

The Oblates join the entire Diocese of Wilmington in praying for Bishop-elect Koenig as he brings his many gifts and rich experiences to lead this great diocese.  We offer our most sincere congratulations and warmest welcome. 

May God be Praised!

Parable of the Talents

Andrey Mironov, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Next Sunday’s Gospel relates the Parable of the Talents.  At the time of Jesus one talent was an enormous sum of money, worth more than fifteen years’ wages!  Imagine entrusting 15 or 30 or 75 years of wages of your hard-earned money into the hands of your employees as you set off on a long journey!  Yet, that is what the man does in the Gospel reading next Sunday.   

And that is exactly what Jesus has done for each of us as well.  Jesus has gone on a very long journey, entrusting his Church and each of us with all sorts of precious gifts: faith, scripture, sacraments, the double commandment of love and the example of Jesus and the saints, as well as our own unique gifts, graces and talents.

We are those servants in Sunday’s Gospel.  The question is this: Will we be as generous in sharing our gifts with others as Jesus has been in sharing his gifts with us?

The reading from Proverbs in next Sunday’s reading gives us the beautiful example of a wife and mother who used her gifts exceedingly well.  Her husband has entrusted his heart to his wife and she, in turn, “brings him good, and not evil, all the days of her life.”  The reading describes the many things that this large-hearted woman does to enhance the wellbeing of her husband and children, while extending her selfless love even beyond kith and hearth as she “reaches out her hands to the poor and extends her arms to the needy.”

If she were one of the servants in today’s Gospel, how delighted her Master would be that she has used so well and so generously the gifts and talents that he had entrusted to her! 

The point of the readings from Proverbs and Matthew’s gospel speaks directly to each of us.  We are spouses, parents, and children. We are neighbors and citizens. We are colleagues, students, best friends and relatives.  Each of our many roles comes with responsibilities to fulfill and with opportunities for the generous practice of virtue and the courageous witness to Christian values.  For St. Francis de Sales we are all challenged to “… be who we are and be that well in order to give glory to the Master Craftsman whose handiwork we are.”

If we live out our lives in that manner, when Jesus returns, we will hear from him the words that we all long to hear from him on that day:  “Well done, my good and faithful servant.  Well done!”

God be Praised!

Gratefully,

V. Rev. Lewis S. Fiorelli, OSFS
Provincial
Wilmington/Philadelphia Province
Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

This reflection originally appeared in DeSales Weekly, the e-newsletter of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. 

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To see previous DeSales Weekly’s, click here.

For comments or suggestions about DeSales Weekly, contact the editor, Fr. Bill McCandless, OSFS

November: The Month of Happy Souls

Among Catholics, November is often referred to as the month of the “Poor Souls,” the time when we remember and pray for all those who have gone before us in death but who have not yet attained their final happiness, heaven.

As I see it, next to being in heaven, our next greatest happiness is to be a “poor soul” or, better, a “happy soul,” that is, someone who is assured of one day being with God forever.

I understand the reason for the expression, “Poor Souls.”   At death we experience “particular judgement.” Based on how we have lived our lives, we are judged to be worthy of heaven, hell or purgatory.  Unless one is a saint or a martyr at death, I would guess that most of us will find ourselves not yet ready for heaven and, thank God, not deserving of hell.  That leaves Purgatory.

For me, Pope Emeritus Benedict best describes the meaning of Purgatory. For him, the souls in Purgatory are “poor” only in one sense: having seen at death the ineffably beautiful face of God, they now long to be with God forever.  This will happen for them in time, but for now they are not quite ready for that blessed joy.

As Pope Emeritus Benedict puts it, they still need “to be put right.” Being “put right” is a very helpful way of understanding what is meant by “Purgatory.”  The “poor souls” are being prepared for eternal happiness with God and with all the Saints, including their family and friends who are now with God or who will one day be with God. In the comforting words of Wisdom, the Blessed are now in the hands of God and at peace. Having been tested, the have been proved worthy.  In but an interval, the “happy souls” in Purgatory will finally and fully be “put right” as well.  Then they will be ready to join the saints in glory.

So, for me, the month of November is better understood as the month of “Happy Souls,” for they have the “blessed assurance” for which we all long: union with God forever!

God be Praised!

Gratefully,

V. Rev. Lewis S. Fiorelli, OSFS
Provincial
Wilmington/Philadelphia Province
Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

This reflection originally appeared in DeSales Weekly, the e-newsletter of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. 

To receive DeSales Weekly, click Subscribe Here.

To see previous DeSales Weekly’s, click here.

For comments or suggestions about DeSales Weekly, contact the editor, Fr. Bill McCandless, OSFS

Provincial’s Reflection: The Feast of All Saints

The Irish poet John O’Donohue writes this intriguing sentence: “The horizon is in the well.”  The horizon is that beautiful far-off distant view to which we often look when searching for ultimate answers. But rarely do those answers come.  The well, on the other hand, is that deep inner depth of our spirit that we tend to avoid for fear that we will find nothing there. But the truth is otherwise. For each of us is a precious mystery of life with our own unique character, personality and spirit -- each with our own special and valuable story to tell.

When Jesus stood before the crowds to preach, he did not tell them to go searching over some distant rainbow in order to find answers to life’s mysteries and challenges. He reminded them of how blessed, how precious, they already are if they only have eyes to see.  He saw his ministry as one of opening our eyes to the beauty of our own self and to the grace that lives deep within us, a grace just waiting to be stirred into life.  It is when the look of love falls upon us that the grace within us begins to flower.  It is then that we can grasp just has truly lovely we really us.  In the end, it is love –the love of God in Christ—that brings the grace within us to life!

What we will be in the future we do not yet fully know, but one thing is clear already.  The more we look upon the face of Christ, the more we will come to resemble him in both his tender love of God and in his foot-washing love of others.  We will then be like him, able to say of ourselves what St. Paul once said of himself: “I live now, not I.  Christ lives in me!”  Such was the case of every saint whom we honor on this day, both those on the official calendar of saints and those countless other men, women and children who have gone on before us and whose holiness only God knows.  They too are saints.  And because of the grace that is already ours, we too hope one day to be among their number.

One great saint once expressed the relationship between the grace in which we now live and the glory to which we are called in hope in this way: “What is grace but glory in exile? And what is glory but grace in its homeland?”  St. Francis de Sales expressed something similar in this way: “The saints were once what we are now.”  The saints were once mothers and fathers, friends and spouses, children and siblings; they too were doctors, lawyers, soldiers, government employees, housewives and every other relationship, profession or life circumstance. 

Following the good advice of St. Francis de Sales, to one day join the ranks of the saints in glory, let us, now, “be what we are and be that well!” 

By hopeful anticipation, then, the feast of All Saints in our feast day as well.  During these dreaded months of pandemic, isolation, and depravation of all sorts, may we find comfort in this most beautiful and hopeful of Christian feasts! 

God be Praised!

Gratefully,

V. Rev. Lewis S. Fiorelli, OSFS
Provincial
Wilmington-Philadelphia Province

This reflection originally appeared in DeSales Weekly, the e-newsletter of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. 

To receive DeSales Weekly, click Subscribe Here.

To see previous DeSales Weekly’s, click here.

For comments or suggestions about DeSales Weekly, contact the editor, Fr. Bill McCandless, OSFS

Provincial’s Reflection: Love’s Double Commandment

Next Sunday, the 30th Sunday of Year A, contains, in the reading from Exodus, one of the most beautiful passages in Scripture (20:22-26).  In it, God himself intercedes in the most tender manner for the person who is deprived of his cloak: “If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset; for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body. What else has he to sleep in?  If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate.”

Sometimes we think too abstractly about God.  These few lines describe someone who knows very well the vulnerable and fragile condition of a person who sleeps without a warm covering on a cold night.  He will broker no excuse as to why we might feel justified in depriving that poor person of that warm cloak.  I don’t know about you, but those few lines say everything I need to know about my God, the Father of the Lord Jesus.  I want that God to be my God.  He cares for his people.  He speaks the most beautiful truth about himself when he describes himself in these words: “I am compassionate.”

Pope Emeritus Benedict describes scripture’s double commandment of love as “performative language.” For the prophets and Jesus, love is never an abstract concept.  It is always concrete and specific as to person, place and circumstance.  If you come upon a hungry person, love commands that you give that person something to eat.  Did Jesus send the hungry crowds away to find food on their own?  No.  He fed them, leaving his disciples and us an action parable, a concrete example of performative love.  If, like the Good Samaritan, you come upon a person beaten and left for dead on the side of the road, you do whatever is in your power to better his situation.

I remember a discussion with a group of laymen who were studying to become “Sons of St. Francis de Sales.”  They were all professional men, many of whom worked in downtown Washington, DC.  Every day they encountered homeless or down and out people looking for a “hand-out.”  At first the discussion centered on whether helping them was a form of unhealthy enablement.  Did it keep them from seeking employment, and so on?  Finally, one of them said what he did.  He said he simply handed out whatever his means permitted to whomever asked him, leaving it up to God to sort out those other concerns.  His gospel example was the Good Samaritan whom Jesus himself held up as example to his followers.  The Good Samaritan did not ask if the man deserved his help.  He found a fellow human being in need and simply helped him in very concrete ways.

This week will present every one of us with countless opportunities to practice “performative love,” especially during this stubborn pandemic. We are commanded to love, both God and neighbor, with “neighbor” understood in the broadest possible manner. Let us love as the compassionate God asks us to love in Exodus 22 and as Jesus commanded us at the last supper: “As I have done for you, so you are to do for one another.”

Gospel love is concrete, foot washing love!

God be Praised!

Gratefully,

V. Rev. Lewis S. Fiorelli, OSFS
Provincial

This reflection originally appeared in DeSales Weekly, the e-newsletter of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. 

To receive DeSales Weekly, click Subscribe Here.

To see previous DeSales Weekly’s, click here.

For comments or suggestions about DeSales Weekly, contact the editor, Fr. Bill McCandless, OSFS

The Driving Force of Hope: A Reflection On Baseball and Oblate Religious Life

Why do I keep watching baseball?

This is a question I’ve asked myself often as I’ve followed the Major League Baseball season intently this year, spending much time (perhaps too much time!) following the ups and downs of the playoff race.

Maybe I keep watching because there’s something captivating about the identity of a team; about the continuity of the whole even as individual members come and go through the years.

In following the journey of young ballplayers, many of whom are my own age, I’ve thought about my own journey as part of a “team,” my religious community, the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales.

In the Major League Baseball, a player doesn’t get to choose his team. He doesn’t get to try out for the team he dreamed of playing for as a kid. He doesn’t get to pick the other guys on his team. But, once he’s on the team, even if he knows it may only be for a few months, he gives everything he has to his new team.

In religious life, we too are living a life that we ourselves did not choose without first being chosen. Our life chose us. Or rather, God chose us. We were drafted onto a team not of our own making, some of us when we were 18 years old, others after years of life experience. We didn’t choose our teammates. We didn’t plant the grass upon which we play; we didn’t fashion the wood and leather that are the tools of the trade. The difference between us and the ballplayer is that we’re on the same team for life.

Maybe what’s most difficult about the “game” we play, in comparison to the ballplayer, is that in our day to day life, there’s no visible opponent, there’s no rival in another uniform to get the adrenaline going each day we take the field. Yes, there is real social injustice at multiple levels that needs to be confronted. Yes, personal evil and sin are real. But our everyday life does not always seem to involve a head-on confrontation with them.

Maybe, it’s also the case that for a baseball team that takes the field, the adversary is not the other team on the field.  Maybe the adversary, the true rival, is also one we must face as religious: the temptation to let go of hope. The cold pessimism masquerading as realism that says there’s only a 1-in-30 shot at the postseason, or at, best 1-in-15, so why bother? Why not just show up and just aim to finish ahead of the last-place team?

We know that in the life of any team, celebrations can be short-lived. The smiles of a playoff-clinching walk-off replaced a week later by the choking back of tears as your team’s ace gets pummeled in an elimination game. The experts’ applause of your team’s grittiness succeeded by analysis of the manager’s head-scratching pitching change. In our life, I’m sure we’ve often felt very much the same: the high notes of graduations, baptisms, weddings, ordinations and professions are just as frequently followed up by funerals, boring Zoom calls, petty gossip, and the humdrum of the everyday.

So why does the ballplayer keep playing then, and why do we Oblates keep playing the game?

I believe it’s something elegantly simple called hope.

Hope: That indescribable, invigorating, infuriating something within you that tells you to go up and take the field again even though you got blown out 15-1 yesterday, to step in the batter’s box when his changeup is at 90 miles per hour and his fastball is in triple digits. The something that says “heck with it” to the statistical projections and gets a hit against a pitcher who’s dominated every single appearance before.

It’s that same something that drives us Oblates to preach the Gospel when we wonder if anyone is listening, to show up for morning prayer when all we want is more sleep, to love each other and learn from each other when we’ve known each other since high school and think we’ve got each other all figured out.

I’d like to end on a chipper note, saying that we have both a sturdy array of experience and a “talented young core” here in the Oblates. But as I’ve learned, it’s neither experience nor talent that defines us as religious. It’s the fidelity, the willingness to show up to the chapel, to the parish council meeting, to the classroom each day when we feel that our talent tank is empty and we’re running on fumes like an overworked bullpen. And to still give it our best shot, even when we feel that our best isn’t our best.

We’re all on this team together. Let’s play ball.

Joseph McDaniel, OSFS
Seminarian
Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

This reflection originally appeared in DeSales Weekly, the e-newsletter of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. 

To receive DeSales Weekly, click Subscribe Here.

To see previous DeSales Weekly’s, click here.

For comments or suggestions about DeSales Weekly, contact the editor, Fr. Bill McCandless, OSFS

Provincial’s Reflection: The 9th Promise of the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary

The Church celebrates the feast of St. Margaret Mary this week (October 16) and concludes a year of celebration in honor of the 100th anniversary of the canonization of the saint known as “The Apostle of the Sacred Heart.”

A few years ago, someone related a true story that made me stand up and take particular notice of one of the twelve promises that the Sacred Heart made to St. Margaret Mary.  The 9th promise reads, “I will bless every place in which an image of my Heart is exposed and honored.”

The story goes like this.  In Paris late in the 19 century, there lived a very devout woman who had a special devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  She begged her non-believing husband for permission to hang a picture of the Sacred Heart in their home, but again and again he stubbornly refused her.  She did not give up.  Finally, angry and exasperated by her persistence, he yielded.

One day years later, the husband, suffering from severe depression, threw himself into the Seine and drowned.  The wife was inconsolable because she felt that the gates of heaven would be closed to him.  Months later, she made a journey to the celebrated parish priest and later saint, John Vianney.  She intended to confess to this holy man.  For hours she remained outside his confessional, weeping quietly, not sure what to say to him.  Eventually, he came out of his confessional and sat beside her.  After a few moments, she told him about her husband’s death and her concern for his eternal salvation.

The saint assured her that during the brief interval between jumping from the bridge and hitting the water her husband had received the grace of conversion and was indeed saved.  His permission to hang a picture of the Sacred Heart in their home, though made with great reluctance and considerable cynicism, nevertheless merited the reward of the 9th Promise. 

This story underscores for me the incredible and loving mercy of Jesus which he expressed so powerfully in these words during his third appearance to St. Margaret Mary:  “Behold this Heart which has loved mankind so much that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself, in order to testify to its love!”

God be Praised!

Gratefully,

V. Rev. Lewis S. Fiorelli, OSFS
Provincial

This reflection originally appeared in DeSales Weekly, the e-newsletter of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. 

To receive DeSales Weekly, click Subscribe Here.

To see previous DeSales Weekly’s, click here.

For comments or suggestions about DeSales Weekly, contact the editor, Fr. Bill McCandless, OSFS

Provincial’s Reflection: Invitation to the Wedding Feast

The sumptuous feast on God’s holy mountain or, its variant theme, the festive wedding banquet, was a familiar one in both old and new Testaments.  We see that from this coming Sunday’s first reading from Isaiah and from its Gospel reading according to Matthew.  Whether it was described as feast or wedding banquet, that festive celebration of food, drink and happy fellowship stood for “that Day” when God would bring his creation, his covenant and his people to perfection.   They would gather with him on his holy mountain to enjoy the newness of life that he himself would give them.

It was a day that for many centuries people of faith looked forward to with hope, promise and expectation.  In Sunday’s reading from Isaiah, the long-awaited “Day of the Lord” is still way off in the distant future.  That is why the prophet uses the future tense to speak of it.   In contrast, Jesus describes the wedding banquet for which “everything is ready.”  All is prepared and the special day is now at hand.  Thus, in Jesus, promise has become fulfillment.  As Jesus relates the story, the king tells his servants to summon his invited guests to the wedding feast: “Tell those invited: ‘Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast’.”

Jesus is telling the first hearer of this parable that what the prophets such as Isaiah had long ago foretold and promised about “the Day of the Lord” is now at hand.  Indeed, in his person and preaching, the long-awaited promise of God’s kingdom is now finally present.  The only thing remaining is for us to enter the banquet hall and begin to enjoy the feast that God has prepared for us.

Incredibly and sadly, the majority of Jesus’ contemporaries did not heed his call or accept his invitation. He was, in fact, rejected and crucified and the message of his good news largely ignored. 

But what about you and me who believe in Jesus?  How do we react to his invitation to come to the wedding feast and celebrate the Presence of the living God in our midst?  Do we, for instance, truly believe that Jesus is present upon our altars and that, when we receive Holy Communion, he truly enters into our hearts and becomes an intimate part of our daily lives with others?  Will the way we live with one another and in our world in the coming week really reflect the fact that we have welcomed God into our hearts and into our lives?  Are we different, better, more kind and just?  Are we more caring, giving and decent people because in Jesus the Kingdom of God has come into our midst and, through us, is already active in our world?

Have we put on the wedding garment of justice and love, compassion and forgiveness?  Or –sadly-- do we perhaps live no differently at all, forgetting in daily practice that “that Day” promised by Isaiah is already “this Day” for us?

Let us begin today to live lives that are qualitatively different because we have entered the Lord’s wedding banquet and are now robed with the baptismal garment of faith, hope and love.  Because of those gifts, let us resolve to be a holy leaven in our families as well as in our world of work, school and play.  In short, because “that Day” is for us “this Day,” let us live differently in our own lives and make a difference for the better in the lives of others.

Jesus says to each of us today what he said long ago in Sunday’s Gospel: “Everything is ready; come to the feast!”

God be Praised!

Gratefully,

V. Rev. Lewis S. Fiorelli, OSFS
Provincial

This reflection originally appeared in DeSales Weekly, the e-newsletter of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. 

To receive DeSales Weekly, click Subscribe Here.

To see previous DeSales Weekly’s, click here.

For comments or suggestions about DeSales Weekly, contact the editor, Fr. Bill McCandless, OSFS

Father Bill McCandless, OSFS
Oblate Development

Provincial’s Reflection: Get Behind Me, Satan!

Poor St. Peter!  He has just received very high praise and a new name, “Rock,” for his beautiful profession of faith in Jesus, “You are the Christ, Son of the Living God.” Just two brief verses later, however, Jesus is hurling his harshest criticism at him: “Get behind me, Satan!”

What just happened?

Jesus had just reminded Peter and the other disciples of his impending sufferings and death in Jerusalem.  That was too much for Peter: “God forbid, Lord!  This shall never happen to you.”

As if calling Peter, “Satan,” were not enough, Jesus goes further, naming him a stumbling block to his saving mission: “You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men” (Matthew 16: 21-23).

On the human level, Jesus must have found his impending crucifixion just as difficult to embrace as Peter suggests (“on the side of men.”)  Still, since it is God’s will for him as Savior (“on the side of God”), he chooses to continue his journey to Jerusalem and embrace whatever waits for him there.  Just when Jesus most needed the support and encouragement of his friends and disciples, Peter pulls back.

One moment Peter gets it all so right; the next moment he gets it all so wrong!

Still, Peter was humble enough to accept the criticism received and to journey right along with Jesus to Jerusalem.  Would he have preferred another sort of Messiah, not a suffering one but a triumphant one?  Who wouldn’t?  Yet, he so loved Jesus that where Jesus went, Peter followed, however reluctantly.

Isn’t Peter’s story often ours as well?  We prefer roses without the thorns, a happy life without pain, and so on.  Yet, we follow a crucified Savior who linked discipleship to carrying one’s crosses daily, as Jesus did and as Peter learned to do.

When the life’s road gets rough, turn to Peter for help.  Weak and wobbly as he could often be, he got it right in the end.  So can we.

God be Praised!

Gratefully,

V. Rev. Lewis S. Fiorelli, OSFS
Provincial

This reflection originally appeared in DeSales Weekly, the e-newsletter of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. 

To received DeSales Weekly, click Subscribe Here.

To see previous DeSales Weekly’s, click here.

For comments or suggestions about DeSales Weekly, contact the editor, Fr. Bill McCandless, OSFS

Father Bill McCandless, OSFS
Oblate Development
wmccandless@oblates.org
Office: 302-656-8529 ext.20

Salesian Humility and Love

For Francis de Sales, the high point of the virtue humility is reached when we not only acknowledge but love our abasement, our pettiness, our embarrassing situations. At first view, this appears to be a very negative and demeaning aspect of this virtue. On further reflection, as Dr. Wendy Wright insightfully observes, to love our abasement is “to love ourselves as God loves us in our wholeness…in our blessings and brokenness.”

In accepting ourselves as God accepts us, we learn to love our humanity and begin to know how to love all human beings. So loving our abasement, our shortcomings opens us up to love, to love ourselves as God loves us and to love others. Humility is the virtue that makes us lovers because it creates in our hearts space for God and for others.

Wendy’s insight helps us to better appreciate why Jesus our Teacher wants us to learn from him because he is humble of heart. The virtue of humility gives us access to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and hence teaches us to love as Jesus loves. No wonder the virtue of humility is so highly valued and seen as foundational by De Sales.

Prayer: Humble and gentle Jesus, help us to value and strive for the virtue of humility so that we may be close to your heart and feel your loving vibrations for us and learn to love as you love. May you grant this request through your kindness and mercy.

God be Praised!

Fr. Sandy Pocetto, OSFS

DeSales University Professor Emeritus and retired Senior Vice President

This reflection originally appeared in DeSales Weekly, the e-newsletter of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. 

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Father Bill McCandless, OSFS
Oblate Development
wmccandless@oblates.org
Office: 302-656-8529 ext.20

Provincial’s Reflection: Who Do Men Say The Son Of Man Is?

I would like to continue my reflections on St. Peter as the model of Christian discipleship. One of the highpoints in the ministry of Jesus in the profession of faith that Peter makes when Jesus asks his disciples this question: “Who do men say that the Son of Man is?” (Matthew 16:13-20).

The others hem and haw, suggesting that people are saying that Jesus is John the Baptist or one of the prophets come back to life. Jesus quickly cuts through all that with a sharply pointed and very personal question directed at each of them: “But who do you say that I am?” Jesus wants to know what those closest to him think of him. So much depends on getting his personal identity right. That will enable them to hear his good news in such a way that it changes their lives completely and, ultimately, totally transforms their world.

This is Peter’s moment. He blurts out: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!”

This moment is still early in the ministry of Jesus. Even his closest disciples are not quite sure what to make of him at this point.

Only one is.

Peter.

And we know how Peter’s response deeply pleases Jesus: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”

From that moment on, Jesus gives Peter a nickname: “Rock,” promising to build his Church precisely and only on that Rock.

Peter was able to see in the carpenter from Nazareth the long-awaited Messiah, the Christ. The Father’s grace had touched that simple fisherman’s heart so deeply that it enabled him to see, against all odds, the face of the Living God on the face of Jesus, a carpenter from Nazareth.

It is Peter’s personal and life-changing faith in the person, identity, and mission of Jesus that completely transforms his life and, ultimately, the life of the world.

In one brief moment, on a tiny and dusty road on planet earth, the world was completely turned around and began heading in a brand-new direction.

Peter’s faith in Jesus was his alone, personal, genuine, and forever. Our faith in Jesus builds on that Rock, but like Peter’s, it too must be personal, genuine and forever. Such faith delights the heart of Jesus. And such faith saves.

God be Praised!

V. Rev. Lewis S. Fiorelli, OSFS

Provincial

This reflection originally appeared in DeSales Weekly, the e-newsletter of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. 

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For comments or suggestions about DeSales Weekly, contact the editor, Fr. Bill McCandless, OSFS

Father Bill McCandless, OSFS
Oblate Development
wmccandless@oblates.org
Office: 302-656-8529 ext.20

Salesian Hospitality: “But No Elephants.”

At the direction of the Middle States Reaccreditation Committee and the recommendation of the University’s Mission Committee, DeSales University has adopted five core Salesian values: gentleness, humility, gratitude, hospitality, and wisdom.

Hospitality might at first sound like an odd choice for a value in the age of Covid-19. We are self-quarantining and socially distancing, how can we possibly be hospitable now?

When I was a young child, I loved the book But No Elephants by Jerry Smath. Throughout the story Grandma Tildy gets visited by a pet salesman. She agrees to house all kinds of pets—from canaries to turtles to rare birds. However, each time she declares, “But no elephants.”

Even as a child, Grandma Tildy’s last refrain always bothered me. I had questions. Why no elephants? Was it the sheer size of an elephant that made it problematic as a pet? Was Grandma Tildy allergic to elephants? Did she object to keeping wild animals as house pets? Was it the pachyderm’s smell? The book never explains her rationale, but predictably in the end Grandma Tildy ends up with the elephant in her house.

You may be able to guess where the story goes from here. With a healthy dose of fantasy and a child-like optimism, the narrator lets us know that despite Grandma Tildy’s trepidations, everything works out in the end. In fact, it more than works out, the elephant’s presence in the house becomes a blessing. The elephant can reach things that are too high and use its strength to help with chores. And when a blizzard comes and all looks lost, the elephant saves the day by simply walking with the house on its back to a warmer climate.

This tale delighted me as child. Now as an adult facing challenging times, I find myself coming back to its message of hospitality. When we say no and close our doors on others, we are also closing off the possibilities that they bring with them. We may not know when or how their special contributions will be needed, but if we close the door, we may never get the chance to find out.

Today, I believe that hospitality is something we as humanity need more than ever. By opening ourselves to the contributions of others, whether physically or virtually, we embrace the possible, and in doing so we are allowing ourselves to see the good in each other. True hospitality is welcoming all, even the elephants.

Katrin L. Blamey, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Education,

Chair of the Education Department

Director of Graduate Programs in Education

This reflection originally appeared in DeSales Weekly, the e-newsletter of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales.

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A Salesian Mother’s Reflection: Grace is Never Wanting

No parenting book I ever read included a chapter on how to raise children during a pandemic. In addition to being an assistant professor at DeSales University in the physician assistant program and working clinically as a gastroenterology PA, I am also a mom of three perfectly imperfect children. Most days they are the reason I live and breathe. Other times, I wonder if God entrusted them to me just to see how far he could push my patience. Anyone who has spent a significant amount of time with children knows that between periods of chaos (and trust me, there is plenty of chaos in pandemic parenting) there is wisdom in their innocence.

On one particularly trying day in quarantine, I was trying to coordinate my lecture schedule with the Zoom school calls required of a kindergartener and third grader while meeting the daily demands of a three-year-old. I heard the familiar cry of a child who felt her sibling had wronged her. I entered the room fully prepared to negotiate peace. Instead of deploying my well-honed de-escalation skills, I heard my son quietly say, “It’s okay. I know all of this is hard. Let me help you.”

St. Francis de Sales tells us, “Grace is never wanting. God always gives sufficient grace to whoever is willing to receive it.” What a beautiful gift! That day with my children had me reflecting on what it means to offer someone love and mercy when it is unexpected or perhaps, undeserved – a gift God freely offers us every day. How often we forget to extend this same grace to each other and to ourselves.

During this time, I came across a poem by Morgan Harper Nichols that spoke to my heart. I shared a portion during a recent university faculty meeting, and I share this with you today.

Hold tight to hope, amidst all unanswered questions for even in uncertainty, there is strength to be found, and grace will still abound in what you do not understand.

And even if you have heard the word grace over and over again and you think you already know what it means there is grace for that, too, humbly reminding you of its endlessness, and how much you need it when you are lost in the wilderness.

So do not be disheartened, when the landscape is working against you, and do not think that you have failed when you are not sure you’ll make it through; for this glorious unmerited favor called grace will meet you where you are, giving you peace amidst your restlessness, and safety from alarm.

As we continue in this academic year, one with unique challenges and opportunities, I invite you all to remember the gift of God’s grace to us. I encourage you to offer that same grace to yourself and those around you. In the words of a child, “It’s okay. I know all of this is hard. Let me help you.”

Melissa Gilroy, DC, MSPAS, PA-C

DeSales University Assistant Professor,

Physician Assistant Program

This reflection originally appeared in DeSales Weekly, the e-newsletter of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales.

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For comments or suggestions about DeSales Weekly, contact the editor, Fr. Bill McCandless, OSFS

Father Bill McCandless, OSFS

Oblate Development

wmccandless@oblates.org

Office: 302-656-8529 ext.20

Salesian Reflection on the Body: An Enshrinement of our Total Humanness

Right about now, many of us are finding great difficulty dealing with this pandemic. St. Francis de Sales was no Dr. Fauci, but he does have some health “medications” for us. One insight is from the Treatise on the Love of God.

“Charity places an obligation on us to love our bodies properly since they are necessary for good works. Indeed, a Christian must love and will share in our eternal happiness. Incarnate Savior, as having issued with Him from the same stock and consequently belonging to in parentage and blood. Above all, this holds after we have renewed that bond of kinship by the reception of the divine body of our Redeemer in the Eucharist and after we have dedicated and consecrated ourselves to His goodness by Baptism, Confirmation, and other sacraments” (Tr. Bk III, CH 8).

In one short paragraph, he gives us a very positive theology of the body. The body is the enshrinement of our total human-ness – our physical, mental, and spiritual selves. It is also something we share with Jesus. By his Incarnation, Jesus took on our humanity, and, as St. Paul tells us, we are children of God, our Father, his sons and daughters. Thus, we are Jesus’s brothers and sisters by that adoption. This kinship we have with Jesus is strengthened by our reception of the Eucharist. And, like Jesus, we will take our human bodies, magnificently transformed like that of Jesus with us to heaven. And, since this body has been the means by which we perform good works here on this earth, it should also share in those rewards in heaven!

He also leaves us with some practical spiritual or ascetical insights about our bodies, especially when we are dealing with sickness or illness. What can we do in the midst of this sickness and suffering? He asks us to do what Jesus himself did – offer it up to his Father. In the Introduction to the Devout Life, he writes:

“When you are sick, offer to our Lord all your aches, pains, and weakness, and ask Him to join them to the sufferings He endured for us. Obey your doctor, take your medicine, food, and other remedies for the love of God remembering the gall He drank for you. Do not refuse any suffering so that you might obey Him, yet desire to get well so as to be able to serve Him. If it should be God’s Will, prepare yourself for death so that you might praise Him and be happy with Him forever.

Remember that while bees are making honey, they live and feed on bitter food. Likewise, we can never perform acts of greater gentleness and patience, or create the honey of excellent virtues, better than when we eat the bread of bitterness and live amid afflictions. Just as the best honey is gathered from the blossom of thyme, a small but bitter herb, so also virtue practiced in the bitterness of the lowest and abject humiliations is the most excellent of all.” (Intro. III, 3).

I think my grandmother read and knew St. Francis de Sales quite well. When we were sick or in pain, she skipped the part about the honey and the bees and simply said “Offer it up!” I bet your grandmothers or mothers told you the same thing!

Fr. Neil Kilty, OSFS

Annecy Hall

Childs, Maryland

This reflection originally appeared in DeSales Weekly, the e-newsletter of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales.

To received DeSales Weekly, click Subscribe Here.

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For comments or suggestions about DeSales Weekly, contact the editor, Fr. Bill McCandless, OSFS

Father Bill McCandless, OSFS

Oblate Development

wmccandless@oblates.org

Office: 302-656-8529 ext.20

Being Unique in the Salesian Tradition: “Be who you are and be that well as a witness to the master craftsman who created you.”

St. Francis de Sales wants everyone to understand that he or she is a unique individual. There is no one else like you on this planet. It is as if God broke the mold that resembles you, making it clear that there never was and never again will there be another you. You stand alone as a gift to this world and a person of invaluable worth.

Since we, as individuals, are so distinct, we must assume responsibility by taking our lives into our own hands and handling it with extreme care. When we take the time to cultivate our gifts and uniqueness, we become who God wants us to become.

Our uniqueness flows outwardly from our gifts and talents that help build our self- worth and our self-confidence. While inwardly we become who we are when we realize we are charged with gifts and talents and the splendor of God’s image and likeness.

Our gifts and talents help each person to sing the song that no one else will sing and help everyone dance the dance that no one else will dance. It is here that each of us will be “a witness to the master craftsman who created us.”

Hildegard of Bingen, a saintly mystic, expands De Sales words by adding: “Become who you are, by becoming all that you are. We understand so little of what goes on around us because we don’t use what is within us.” She is writing of grace, the Holy Spirit’s promptings, and God’s nearness.

Hildegard asks that we reflect God’s image and likeness every day, especially through our actions and words. She uses the example of plants receiving the sun’s light and warmth and transforming them into energy and life. In the same way, the divine presence, as creator, connects with us, the created.

When the outward you and inward you connect in this way, Jesus is present in our world and shines through us everywhere we go. And God, our creator is delighted with us, because Jesus his son is seen walking again on this earth.

Alone, we are who we are, but joined with our creator our person takes on that luster of holiness capable of miracles – transforming our small acts into great acts of praise to our God.

God’s image and likeness together with our identity, our gifts and talents, our joys and sorrows are reflected as one.

God be Praised!

Fr. Richard DeLillio, OSFS

This reflection originally appeared in DeSales Weekly, the e-newsletter of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales.

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For comments or suggestions about DeSales Weekly, contact the editor, Fr. Bill McCandless, OSFS

Father Bill McCandless, OSFS

Oblate Development

wmccandless@oblates.org

Office: 302-656-8529 ext.20

Salesian Reflection on Daily Prayer

An essential element in our daily prayer life is the awareness of God’s presence with us. In the Salesian tradition, “from the rising of the sun to the setting,” we can bring our day into God’s presence through the natural rhythm of the day.

Rising—St. Francis de Sales is deeply convinced that all people are called not only to salvation but to sanctity as well. This means that for him, the means to holiness must be readily at hand. The act of rising and dressing, a very natural and everyday happening, can be a religious experience. He takes what we do anyway--rise and dress --and shows how these actions can be transformed to orient both our waking and our day to God.

Preparation of the Day—Francis de Sales wrote, “Before everything else I will always make the exercise of preparation, and I will do it at least once a day, in the morning.” The first part of this exercise is the invocation. Since I know that during the course of the day I am exposed to a great many distractions, I will invoke the Holy Spirit to be with me. The second part consists in using the imagination to foresee what can happen during the day. I will anticipate wisely and prudently what challenges I may face today that may overwhelm me. Pay attention to “hot spots” that may distract me. The third part is my plan of action or strategy. I will anticipate and consider what I must do, the order and the manner these tasks should be undertaken. The final part consists of a resolution to do my best during the present day.

Direction of Intention - At the beginning of all our actions, both exterior and interior, we ask for God’s help by a short prayer that offers a specific action to God, and accepts, willingly, whatever difficulty we might experience. “My God, I give you this action and all the good that I will do. I promise to accept, for love of you, all the difficulty that I will meet. Help me to conduct myself in a manner most pleasing to you.”

Examination of Conscience - We should examine our conscience twice daily, at midday and in the evening. At midday we need only to consider briefly how we have conducted ourselves during the morning. If any fault is found, we should make an act of contrition with a firm purpose of amendment. In the evening we need to thank our Lord for all his benefits, especially for his passion, the grace of our vocation and for having willed to preserve us during the day, providing for all our needs through his goodness. It has been said that an un-reflected life is not worth living. This is doubly so for the person who wishes to be rooted in Christ, to Live Jesus. If we want to become holy, we need to be in touch not only with our actions, especially with what motivates those actions.

Retiring - Before bed we ought to remember that our Lord and some saints used to sleep on the cold ground, and how much we are obliged to love and serve him, since his gentle goodness provides for our slightest comforts in such a fatherly way. Lying there, we should picture to ourselves that one day we will be like this in the grave and ask God to assist us at the hour of death. We should try to fall asleep with some good thought.

St. Jane de Chantal’s advice succinctly summarizes the best approach to all prayer: “Draw near to God with the greatest simplicity you can and be certain that the simplest prayer is the best.”

By Fr. Ed Ogden, OSFS

Parochial Vicar St. Thomas the Apostle, Glenn Mills, PA

eogden@oblates.org

This reflection originally appeared in DeSales Weekly, the e-newsletter of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales.

To received DeSales Weekly, click Subscribe Here.

To see previous DeSales Weekly’s, click here. For comments or suggestions about DeSales Weekly, contact the editor, Fr. Bill McCandless, OSFS

Father Bill McCandless, OSFS

Oblate Development

wmccandless@oblates.org

Office: 302-656-8529 ext.20

Salesian Gratitude – The Beginning of Humility

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others. ~ Cicero

Cicero’s words highlight the importance of gratitude in the spiritual life. St. Francis de Sales says that gratitude is the beginning of humility (one of his favorite virtues) because it recognizes that all we have and are gifts from a loving and generous God. Even though gratitude is essential to a fully lived Christian life, our tradition tells us that love is the greatest of all the virtues and the parent to all the others.

Gratitude helps us to count our blessings and to give proper thanks to our good and gracious God. Generosity helps us to live out the words of C.S. Lewis, “Humility does not ask us to think less of ourselves but to think of ourselves less.”

Even during a pandemic, we have the opportunity to practice the two great virtues of gratitude and humility. Most of us have had the experience of being tired, feeling blue or numb, frustrated, or simply wanting this virus to stop exercising so much control over our daily lives. These certainly seem to be understandable reactions to a virus that has affected us for almost six months. There is no vaccine yet. But, let us try to be more grateful and more generous in our attitudes, words, and dealings with others as a spiritual antidote to the effects of the Coronavirus.

Have a grateful, generous day! Live Jesus!

Fr. Matt Hillyard, OSFS

Pastor, Our Lady of Good Counsel, 

frhillyard@olgcva.org

This reflection originally appeared in DeSales Weekly, the e-newsletter of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales.  To received DeSales Weekly, click Subscribe Here.

To see previous DeSales Weekly’s, click here.

For comments or suggestions about DeSales Weekly, contact the editor, Fr. Bill McCandless, OSFS

Father Bill McCandless, OSFS

Oblate Development
wmccandless@oblates.org
Office: 302-656-8529 ext.20

A Heart with Two Chambers: A Salesian and Dominican Reflection

written by Fr. Paul Colloton, OSFS

I was asked by my Oblate confrere to offer a reflection on how the spirits of St. Dominic and St. Francis de Sales connect.

For twenty-seven years I was a Dominican Friar and then heard God calling me to transfer to the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. When I asked to make that transfer complete, I wrote that I have a heart with two chambers: one chamber contains Dominican Spirituality and the other contains Salesian Spirituality. Like the chambers of the human heart, where blood flows in and out to give us what we need for life, Dominic and Francis de Sales flow through my being to deepen who I am today.

Dominic founded the Order of Preachers to preach the Word of God, to pursue and preach Truth. Francis de Sales charged his followers to “Live Jesus!”. And Bl. Louis Brisson, OSFS to imprint the Gospel. His friend, the Good Mother Marie de Sales de Chappuis, clarified that mandate. She wrote, “Reprint the Gospel so that people see again the Savior walking on earth”. To preach the Word, to preach Truth, one must live Jesus so that people encounter Jesus concretely in us. There is the first connection between Dominican and Salesian Spirituality for me.

The second comes through the Lay Dominican, and Doctor of the Church, St. Catherine of Siena. One of her famous quotes is, “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire”, while De Sales tells us, “Be who you are and be that well to give honor to the Master Craftsmen who created you”. When we are who we are, who God created us to be and become, we set the world on fire with flames that give glory to God, the Creator of us all.

Dominican Spirituality has four pillars: Prayer, Community, Study, and Preaching/Service. When I began to listen to God’s call to transfer, I discovered that the Oblates shared the same pillars which I found in my Dominican life. While the interpretation of these pillars varied in how they were lived out, I discovered how connected we both were. The lives of the Oblates and the Dominicans were founded on prayer, lived in community, dependent upon study for our preaching, teaching, pastoral work, and other practices, and leads to the service of living Jesus by concretely imprinting the Gospel in our very selves.

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Those who follow the Salesian way of life can learn much from Dominican Spirituality. Equally, Dominicans can learn much from Salesian Spirituality. The intersection of these two Spiritualities feeds the heart of this Oblate of St. Francis de Sales, who has decided to live Jesus through a spiritual heart that beats with two chambers.

May God be praised!