A Merry 'Little Christmas'

When I was growing up, I would watch some of our neighbors put their Christmas trees on the curb every December 26. By New Year’s Day, more homes would dispose of their trees and the rest of their holiday decorations were soon taken down. When I would ask my mother when our family was going to follow suit, she always said that we kept our tree and decorations up until “Little Christmas.” As a kid, I was curious about this phrase. My mother explained that “Little Christmas” was another name for the twelfth day of Christmas, the traditional date for the feast of the Epiphany.

In many parts of the Catholic world, the feast of the Epiphany has already been celebrated. In the modern Catholic calendar, the feast can be transferred to the second Sunday after Christmas. This year Catholics in the United States celebrated the feast on January 2. Other parts of the world, however, continue to celebrate the Incarnation of Christ and the revelation of Jesus to the Gentiles (represented by the Magi) on the traditional date of January 6.

The sixth day of January has roots that go back to the Roman Empire and the early Church. Christians in the Eastern part of the Empire celebrated Christmas on January 6 while those in the West celebrated on December 25. Because of the different liturgical and civil calendars, some places refer to the feast of Epiphany as “Old Christmas.” In Ireland and other countries, the term “Little Christmas” became more common.

Over the centuries many countries and cultures have developed their own names and traditions to celebrate this day. In some parts of the Church – especially in Eastern Europe, Spain, Italy, and Latin America – the feast of the Epiphany has often been a bigger and more popular celebration than Christmas.

In Spain, the Three Kings bring toys to children on January 6, just as they brought gifts to the Baby Jesus. In many Latin American countries and cultures, children leave their shoes by the door to receive presents from the Magi.

(Click HERE for images of Epiphany celebrations in our Spanish-speaking parishes)

In Louisiana, “Kings Cakes” are baked on Epiphany and the season of “Mardi Gras” officially begins. In some homes and religious communities (including the Oblates), a cupcake or special dessert is served at dinner and the family or community member who finds a bean in the cake is named “king” or “queen” for the day.

Whatever the tradition, whatever the day, Epiphany is a special time to celebrate the light of Christ and the presence of God in our world.

In my life, I appreciate “Little Christmas” not only because of my Irish ancestry but also because of my Salesian heritage. In the Salesian tradition the emphasis on the ordinary and little virtues, finding the sacred in daily life and the universal call to holiness are all themes found in the story of the Magi and the Christ Child.

The Gospel tells us that after having encountered Jesus the Magi returned home another way (Matthew 2:12). May we return to our daily duties having been transformed by the message of Christmas and our own visit to the newborn king.

As the calendar and liturgy transition from Christmas to Ordinary Time, our Salesian spirituality leads us to see God in the everyday moments and the familiar, routines of life. For many people, today is just another “ordinary” day. It is a time for work, school, and other common activities. Why not take a little time today to see the sacred that surrounds us and the beauty and joy of the world? And as the classic song reminds us… “have yourself a merry little Christmas!”

Rev. Jack Kolodziej, OSFS

Director of Development

Wilmington-Philadelphia Province

A Hope-filled New Year

In the past few weeks, I’ve heard numerous people say, “I hope this New Year is better than the last.” More often than not, there is a note of disbelief in their voice despite the hope they have in mind. It is as if a better New Year is a futile hope. People expect the challenges of this past year to continue without pause. Without even saying it, you and I know the challenges in mind are coping with the continued threat and heartache of Covid, recovering after hurricanes or floods, trying to understand the political scene and a paralyzed government. There is the craziness of random violence, the wounds of selfishness, greed, cynicism, loss, illness, and more. Our world is wounded, and the pain lingers.

Fortunately, our faith leads us to live in hope in the face of all this, confident that the Lord loves us and wishes only the unimaginable best for all of us. I am grateful for this hope born of our faith. I am also thankful for the various ways God expresses love in my life through the lives of others. One such moment happened on Christmas Eve. On that day, my 98-year-old mother met, for the first time, her 43rd grandchild, six-month-old Lucas Patrick Loughran. Not only is Lucas my mother’s 43rd grandchild, but he is also her 73rd descendent, with a few more on the way.

When my nephew handed this infant his son to my mother, Florence, you could be sure there were a lot of oohs and aahs. The photo of that moment is above. This photo evokes some strong emotions in me. First, of course, is the appreciation I have for the love my mother showered on her eight children as she raised us, and the affection and concern she continues to show for all 73 of her descendants. She is proud of all of us and constantly worries about us. With this photo, I’m also aware of the beauty of God in the gift of a new life, innocent and full of potential. This photo in itself evokes hope and happiness. I can’t help but see the image of the Madonna and child in this photo, either. 

So, despite all the loss, cynicism, futility, and fear we experience in our lives and our world, God continues to reveal goodness, inspire love, create beauty, and bring us hope. And, if you want another example of hope in the darkness that touches our lives, my 98-year-old mother just ordered new countertops for her kitchen. Beat that!

Have a Happy and Hope-filled New Year! 

Fr. Jack Loughran, OSFS

Provincial

Toledo-Detroit Province

Mary and the New Year

Majestic fireworks light up the night sky; a huge and brilliant crystal ball drops in Times Square; horns sound and strangers embrace one another- all this in welcoming another New Year and the promise it brings.

The Church adds its own touch in welcoming the New Year by honoring Mary as Mother of God. Eight days earlier, at Christmas, we welcomed the birth of her Son, the Prince of Peace. Today, the first day of a new year, we honor the Mother of that Son.  He is no ordinary child and she is no ordinary mother.  Jesus is God’s Son and Mary is the Mother of God.

Thus, the Church welcomes every New Year by honoring a mother.  Everything a mother is and everything a mother stands for is what, in Mary, the Church wishes to bless us with during all the years of our life.

By definition, a mother brings forth new life with all its promise and possibility.  The new life that Mary brings forth is Jesus, Emmanuel, God-with-us-and-God-for-us. It’s almost as if a smiling and proud mother holds out to us her own dear son, inviting each of us to take her son into our arms and into our lives and, from this day forward, to live as he lived, to love as he loved, and to serve as he served. 

Every mother hopes that her child will be a blessing to the world, bettering it by the manner of life lived. In giving us Jesus, Mary gives us a model to admire and a life to imitate.  

I am especially fond of Mary under the title of “Our Lady of Good Counsel.” Her counsel at the wedding of Cana, “Do whatever he tells you,” is the core of both Gospel and Salesian spirituality.  Throughout her entire life, Mary did whatever God asked of her and accepted whatever God permitted: “Let it be done to me according to your word.” On the human level, she and Joseph taught their son to be just as responsive to the divine will as they always were: “I do always the will of the One who sent me.”  As our mother, she counsels that very same openness, that very same generous responsiveness, to the divine will.  

St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal made such ready responsiveness to whatever God asks or sends the core of their spiritual legacy to us and to our world and, this, in both happy and challenging matters, large and small.

Most of us begin every new year with resolutions. Let’s resolve to honor Mary, the Mother of God and our mother, and to live Jesus, her Son, by imitating in the nooks and crannies of our own lives their ready responsiveness to God’s will for us.  Let our resolution be: “May your will be done on earth –in the very earth of my own life--as it is in heaven!” 

Now, that’s one resolution we ought to keep!

Rev. Lewis S. Fiorelli, OSFS

Provincial

Wilmington-Philadelphia Province

Christmas Across the Provinces

Oblates across the Provinces celebrate Christmas around the country.

St. Anthony of Padua Parish, Wilmington, DE

St. Anthony of Padua Parish, Wilmington, DE

Our Lady of the Sea Catholic Church, Buxton, NC

Our Lady of the Sea Catholic Church, Buxton, NC

Our Lady of the Sea Catholic Church, Buxton, NC

Our Lady of the Sea Catholic Church, Buxton, NC

Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church, Vienna, VA

Saint Ann Catholic Church, Naples, FL

Saint Ann Catholic Church, Naples, FL

St. Rita Catholic Church, Clarklake, MI

St. Rita Catholic Church, Clarklake, MI

St. Ann Catholic Church Fayetteville, NC

St. Cecilia Catholic Church, Fort Myers, FL.

St. Cecilia Catholic Church, Fort Myers, FL.

St. Cecilia Catholic Church, Fort Myers, FL.

Fr. Paul, OSFS, Fr. Frank, OSFS, and Fr. Stan OSFS

Southwest Florida Oblates celebrate Christmas together! St. Cecilia's Catholic Church

Southwest Florida Oblates celebrate Christmas together! St. Cecilia's Catholic Church

Southwest Florida Oblates celebrate Christmas together! St. Cecilia's Catholic Church

Southwest Florida Oblates celebrate Christmas together! St. Cecilia's Catholic Church

Southwest Florida Oblates celebrate Christmas together! St. Cecilia's Catholic Church

Southwest Florida Oblates celebrate Christmas together! St. Cecilia's Catholic Church

Southwest Florida Oblates celebrate Christmas together! St. Cecilia's Catholic Church

St. John Neumann Catholic Community

St. Pius X Parish, Toledo, OH

St. Pius X Parish, Toledo, OH

St. Joseph Church in Camden, New Jersey. St. Joseph's is a parish connected to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Camden (and administered by the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales)

Our Lady of Light parish in Fort Myers, Florida

Immaculate Conception Parish, Elkton, Maryland. Rev. James Yeakel, OSFS, pastor, is the main celebrant.

St. Thomas the Apostle parish in Glen Mills, PA

Generalate Chapel, Rome, Italy. This photo of the Presepio (Italian for Nativity) was sent to us from Fr. Barry Strong, OSFS, the Superior General of the Oblates around the world.

St. Margaret of Scotland in Newark, DE

Our Mother of Consolation Parish in Philadelphia, PA

Immaculate Conception Church, NC. Photo by Justine Deitz

Immaculate Conception Church, NC. Photo by Justine Deitz

Our Mother of Consolation Parish in Philadelphia, PA

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Camden, NJ

Rev. Robert Mulligan, OSFS celebrating mass at Our Mother of Consolation Parish in Philadelphia, PA.

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Camden, NJ

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Camden, NJ

Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Community, Vienna, VA

Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Community, Vienna, VA

Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Community, Vienna, VA

A Christmas Prayer

Dear Friend,

Many years ago, when I was the pastor of St. Rose of Lima Parish in Denver, CO, a good friend, songwriter, and fellow priest, Joe Raffa, wrote the following poem on the feast of Christmas. It has always been a source of spiritual nourishment for me and a reminder of who I am in the heart of God and in the church. Joe graciously gave me permission to share this with whomever I wish. 

Re-Member

Long ago and so far away

When time began in stillness stood.

The Word leapt forth from God to Shine

And re-member stony hearts

like yours and mine.

Long ago and so far away

In memory of God our names were known,

Now bonded with the Word

We journey day and night

In hopes to trace our way back home.

To loose our bonds of fear

and re-member our hearts of light.

And still today the Word is heard

Is seen and felt and still leaps forth

In lights that shine in humankind

And strikes the note in the memory of God

of names like yours and mine.

And so we wait this day -

We in cold and stillness stood

With glimmers of the Word - it is heard -

Who once came and

spoke the memory of God.

Will come again

And re-member each of us by our name.

By Joe Raffa 

My Christmas prayer for you and your family is one of hope and peace. I pray that the light of the Christ, born in each of our hearts again on this feast of Christmas, will leap forth and be a beacon of hope, compassion and love in your family, your community, and in our world. 

Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

Fr. Jack Loughran, OSFS

Provincial

Toledo-Detroit Province

A Christmas Tradition comes to Glen Mills, PA

Last year, when Fr. Stephen Shott, OSFS, became pastor at St. Thomas the Apostle Church he brought with him a Christmas tradition. Like many special traditions, this one has been years in the making. Fr. Shott shares his Fontanini Nativity with the parish community in Glen Mills, PA and now we share an article from his time in North Carolina that highlights this collection and the story behind this cherished custom.

Read more: “Christmas comes to St. Ann”

Our Lady of Guadalupe- Devotion and Traditions

Fr. Michael Newman with Janice Cabrera, and other parishioners celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Every year for as long as I can remember on December 12th, as a church we unite to celebrate during the time of advent, the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This celebration commemorates the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego in 1531 on the hill of Tepeyac in Mexico. She had appeared as a pregnant Aztec woman before Juan Diego asking him to request the local bishop to build a temple in her honor where she could receive and console her suffering children. Juan Diego relayed the story to the bishop, and the bishop wanted a sign or her apparitions in order to proceed with the request. Juan Diego returned to the hill of Tepeyac and our Lady had him gather roses in his tilma. When he returned to the bishop, he opened the tilma and when he dropped the roses before the bishop, the inside of his tilma had the image of our Lady of Guadalupe.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is a powerful symbol of Mexican identity as well as a representation of faith, strength, and protection. She is the one who supports us, helps us, and protects us. She serves as a  mother figure- forgiving and all-loving. Nonetheless, Our Lady symbolizes the consolation of the poor and powerless. Our Lady is sent to us during hardships and appears before us to remind us during these hard times to have no fear.

Omar Garcia as Juan Diego

To prepare for Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration, a small alter is put up for our Lady at our St Mary campus. Several in the congregation gather on a nightly basis for la novena beginning December 3rd. As the Feast Day approaches, a larger temporary alter is put together inside our St Mary campus. The main celebration begins the night prior on December 11th at 10pm. The celebration takes place with the lights off for the majority of the night as we await her appearance. The evening consists of the retelling of the story of our Lady’s appearance before Juan Diego. As the night continues there are tributes made to Our Lady in forms of testimonies, poems, and singing. Shortly after 11pm we begin la novena. La novena is proceeded by las mañanitas- the Mexican happy birthday song- at midnight. During this time, the lights are turned on and those present proceed in a procession to place roses at the alter.

On December 12th the day begins with a parade and procession by those that are joining us in mass where they place roses at the altar. Many of those attending mass are in costumes, dressed as Juan Diego, Our Lady, and so forth. During the preparation of the gifts, a member of our church is dressed as Juan Diego and he drops a dozen roses before our priest with the image of Our Lady on his tilma.  Near the end of the mass, religious items with our Lady’s image on them are blessed. This mass is heavily attended and I personally feel overjoyed and overwhelmed with happiness as I experience and witness such a strong devotion alongside other members of our church as we celebrate Our lady of Guadalupe. Mass is followed by a reception with food, music, and Aztec-style dances and performances from young children and adults. 

As we celebrate the feast of our Lady of Guadalupe, we are reminded that we share the same vocation as our Lady and Juan Diego- and that is bringing Jesus Christ into this world and serving as missionaries and messengers of hope in this seemingly hopeless world.

Long Live Our Lady of Guadalupe!

Janice Cabrera

Parishioner

Holy Family Parish, Adrian, MI

The Parents of Jesus: Promise and Anxiety

We are approaching the 4th Sunday of Advent, which means Christmas, the celebration of the Birth of Jesus, is just days away.

For just about every person reading this reflection, there is something about Christmas that moves and touches us in ways that no other holiday or holy day does.  For someone like me who grew up just a few miles from the village that is thought to be the real-life setting for Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life,” Christmas has always been very special indeed, even a bit magical.

But I wonder how Mary and Joseph felt as the first Christmas neared? Like any first parents, they were no doubt a bit anxious about the whole thing.  In light of the paschal mystery and our faith in the person, message, and meaning of Jesus, we have the tendency to romanticize their experience and his birth.  But I doubt that that was the actual situation for them.  

After all, Mary was near term and yet they had to journey from the familiar comfort of their home in Nazareth to the tiny hamlet of Bethlehem, traveling on a donkey over rough and dangerous roads.  Once there, they found no suitable lodging, especially for the birthing that was imminent. Thus, their joy as expectant parents must surely have been tempered by the fears and anxiety of an imminent birth in an unfamiliar and unusual setting, as well as the uncertainty that lay immediately before them as new parents. 

And all this was just on the human level!  What about how all this fit with an angel announcing his birth nine months earlier and with a perplexed Joseph counseled by angels during fitful dreams?  How were they to align such miraculous beginnings with the birth of their son in a strange town and in an animal’s stable?

As we approach Christmas, let the adults among us (children are excused) reflect at bit on the anxieties, perplexities, hopes and promises of Joseph and Mary.  All of us, but especially parents, can relate to the unsettling mix of anxiety and promise that this couple experienced at this very special but most challenging moment in their young marriage.  

For just a bit, then, let’s let go of the wonder of the approaching Christmas and sit in prayerful reflection with all that is implied by the nitty-gritty reality of one of the foundational truths of our faith: the Word became flesh! 

Rev. Lewis S. Fiorelli, OSFS

Provincial

Wilmington-Philadelphia Province

The Nature of Joy

Last Saturday, I went to visit someone at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in a congested and busy part of Philly where parking is always problematic.  I saw a sign that read “no valet,” but it seemed pushed to the side as if to suggest that it would be used for off-hours.  So, I drove up the ramp leading to the front doors. (My friend tells me that I always expect things to be open when I need them, especially bakeries!)   An employee greeted me, gently instructing me that there has not been valet service since the pandemic. Duh!  Stupid me! He went on in the gentlest and kind way to give clear and simple directions that guided me safely to the parking garage, repeating them twice, sensing I was geographically challenged.  He even inquired if I was going to the new Penn hospital.  He was compassionate and courteous.  Leaving the garage, I checked my phone and saw that I indeed needed the new hospital, so I went back to my friend. On my short walk there, I found my hands upward in a praying position, giving thanks to God for being alive, for putting this wonderful man in my presence today, for this unseasonably warm December day, for my vocation, for being alive. Totally unexpected, fully spontaneous.  Simply put, I found joy.  That’s the nature of joy; it discovers us, surprises us.  It finds us in the ordinary and the extraordinary, in good times and really difficult ones, in the boring and mundane, and in the hilarious and exceptional.   It keeps showing up, assuring us of God’s presence, love and protection in our lives confirming for us how awesome it is to be in relationship with this generous God and the image of himself in others in our lives.

Joy appears in the midst of destruction and devastation such as the recent tornado in Kentucky with survivors noting that “it could have been worse, these things can be replaced, and we have our faith and each other.” I sense it makes itself felt eventually among the relatives of those who died in the sadness that comes from the loss of a loved one mixed with comfort knowing that God will care for the person and for them especially in an outpouring of compassion and generosity with prayers and blessings. It is discovered in a quiet snowfall on a moonlit night, a child smiling while playing in the dirt, in an older couple walking the beach and holding hands, the homeless person giving you the only thing s/he can, a “God bless you.”  It’s in the memory of your brother hugging tightly one of his sons both shouting and smiling when the Hail Mary pass from Tom Brady failed giving the Eagles their first Super Bowl victory. Joy sneaks up on you in a heartfelt story and in silence when you think about someone you love who loves you back always and forever.  I find joy in places that I never used to look for it such as being alone with the lone, just being present, not needing to say or feel anything, being embraced and cared for.  I find joy in thanksgiving.  Who am I to be so blessed?  God responds, “Who are you not to be blessed, loved, cared for, one of my own?”  Such joyful experiences sustain and motivate us to forge the Reign of God in our own little ways like the Penn employee who graced me with his joy.  Joy impels us in the midst of negativity, hostility, doubt, and fear.  Joy makes sense of the exhortation, “Do not be afraid.” Joy allows us to see that God is at work but wants us to participate in creating a world richly filled with understanding, acceptance, forgiveness, justice, and charity, such as God intends with a place for everyone. 

I have always struggled with defining joy: feeling of intense pleasure?  An inward happiness? A sense of well-being that resonates in being cared for, being fortunate.  I was not looking forward to explaining joy in this essay until now.

Advent defines joy perfectly in its readings especially Gaudete Sunday.  Joy is “God with us, God in our midst.” Prophets proclaimed it to those displaced and held in captivity. God has removed our sin and guilt.  Be joy-filled!  God is in our midst.  Never leaving.  Always by our side, showing up, and comfortable being there…where we are.  Joy is Emmanuel, God with us! Joy allows us to join Mary’s Magnificat and sing, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Let this joy find you!  It’s all around. Then, pass it on!

Fr. John J. Fisher, OSFS

Rector

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

Camden, NJ

The Practice of Patience

Isn't it ironic that the season of Advent, which calls us to patience, creates such impatience in so many? I remember one of my nephews, who at that time was five or six years old, plopping down in a chair and announcing to the room that he hated Christmas. A bit surprised, I asked him why. He said, "I hate it because it's never going to get here!" I think it was just a day or two before the holiday. I had to chuckle but realized his impatience led him to frustration, anger, and hopelessness, albeit it was short-lived. 

I remember this incident every year as I reflect on the season. Advent invites us to patience, to vigilance. In the words of Advent scriptures, "stay awake." After many years of waiting, Christians realized the second coming of Christ was not likely to occur in their lifetime. So, the Church moved from expecting the second coming imminently to understanding the vigilance expected focuses more on the moment we leave this world. Advent invites us to prepare for the moment of our death, which is unknown and yet will come to each one of us. 

More profoundly, the invitation to vigilance is an invitation to enter the fullness of life right now, to resist distractions that block us from being attentive to God's grace and presence in the present moment. The invitation calls us to be patient and to know that whatever "will come" is not as important as "the now.” 

And so, my posture this Advent is to try to rest in the present moment. St. Francis de Sales wrote, "The practice of patience leads us to accomplish the will of God into which our soul should melt and be dissolved." This practice leads us to gratitude for the love of those around us. It helps us appreciate the opportunities for reconciliation and forgiveness. It grants us the opportunity to see lives as Christ sees them. It leads us to a deeper awareness of the joy that touches and forms our lives through the grace of family, friendships, and the embrace of God.

Have a blessed Advent!

Fr. Jack Loughran, OSFS

Provincial

Toledo-Detroit Province

God’s “Kiss to Humanity"

No doubt you have seen shirts or art with words containing Blessed and/or Grateful.  For many of us, they can summarize our lives especially in the way we have been embraced, welcomed and loved.  I don’t ever remember a time when I haven’t felt love.  It started “before we were knitted in our mothers’ wombs” when God knew us, and this love has been nurtured ever since.  One of my most profound manifestations of love emanates from the relationship shared with my siblings and their children.  If I spend a minute or two reflecting on this blessing, tears fill my eyes.  To end a phone conversation with an exchange of “love you” with my 12 nephews and nieces is nurturing, life-giving, life-sustaining and too powerful to fully explain.  It speaks of connection, relationship, being cared for and safeguarded.

It is through spiritual direction and the sacrament of reconciliation where I discover in an ongoing way God’s love for me.  After each celebration of forgiveness and acceptance of who I am and God’s delight in this, I was growing convinced I understood God’s infinite love, until the next experience of it when I realized that I was only beginning to scratch the surface of understanding how marvelously God loves us.  In his most recent book, Greg Boyle, SJ writes, “we are all born into the world wanting the same things, and we are all naked under our clothes. We start from this place, then, of our own unshakable goodness, so we jettison blame and embrace understanding. We see God’s light in everything and thereby choose mysticism over morality. We choose connection, not perfection. We explore the things that help us feel beloved rather than on probation. We want to know the God of love, which is more than knowing the love of God. We long to see the wholeness of things and find our wholeness in Christ.”  I have stopped trying “to know the love of God” opting to “know the God of love” in family, self, others, the rejected, forgotten, despised, and pushed to the periphery.

Daily, I try to recall that God loves us “no matter what” without judgment and only with “extravagant tenderness.”  This God loves us before we sin after we sin, and yes, even while we are sinning for this is who God is…love.  We cannot limit or contain what is limitless and overflowing.  Boyle often claims that it is not in God’s DNA to look at us with shame and disappointment but only love.  We are who God wants us to be.  We are loved.  From that starting point, we resonate in this love, find ourselves overpowered by it that we must share this with others.  While we may be saddened at the lack of love in our world, church or self (constant fighting, violence, hatred, discord), love eventually frees us from this temporary paralysis to forge a world that Christ wants.

In a recent Advent retreat, a few powerful statements concerning love were shared that were either new to me or expressed before but cherished. St. John of the Cross noted, “in the evening of life we will be judged on love alone.” Another comment recalled something I read and have never forgotten that we are not going to be asked by God how faithful we were to prayer, how considerate to others, generous to those in need, loving to spouse and children, though the answer to these may help answer the only question God is going to ask us: have you ever tried to love? It’s all about love.  The Beatles had it right, “love is all you need.”  No wonder Francis de Sales quoted from Song of Songs, “we have no bond, but the bond of love which is the bond of perfection.”

Advent provides us the opportunity to welcome the love of God into our hearts daily, so God may make low the mountains of hatred and discontent, fill in the valleys of greed, sin, or whatever keeps us from God and one another.  Advent love makes straight crooked paths or winding roads taken by desiring our will rather than God’s.  In the faculty dining room of St. Augustine Prep, where our retreat took place, the wisdom of Augustine graces one wall, “love belongs in the relationship of teacher and pupil. Love is necessary to awaken love. It educates the heart. Love seals the work of the teacher.” Love is necessary to awaken love.  God is necessary to awaken us and who we are called to be. The hope, peace, and love we celebrate every Advent recalls the first Advent that led to that morning when the world experienced the fulness of God’s love, giving us his only Son, God’s “kiss to humanity” as St. Francis de Sales describes the Incarnation.  God sharing his very nature, Emmanuel, God with us, to show us how to love and how to live.  The Incarnation continues when this love is manifested in our interactions with one another.  May love continue to “educate your heart and seal your work.”

Fr. John J. Fisher, OSFS

Rector

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

Camden, NJ

Advent & the Present Moment

Every November, as my family was cleaning up from Thanksgiving dinner, my mother and her sisters would start talking about Christmas.  They would discuss gifts, dinners, decorations and donations.   At some point in the conversation, my oldest aunt would always insert one final instruction:   “Don’t forget about the Hail & Blesseds!”  

The “Hail & Blesseds” was her way of reminding the family to prepare for Christmas with prayer.  The prayer goes by many titles. It has been called the St. Andrew Novena, the Christmas Anticipation Prayer, the Prayer to Obtain a Special Favor and, as Aunt Claire would say, the “Hail & Blessed” prayer.  

Aunt Claire always insisted that those who recited this prayer fifteen times a day from the feast of St. Andrew (November 30) until Christmas Eve, would obtain the favor they requested.

As a child, I assumed this prayer was an old custom that my family had brought over from Poland or Ireland.   Aunt Claire was following in a long line of pious relatives who had exaggerated the power of this devotion.  So, one Thanksgiving, deciding I had nothing to lose, I asked Aunt Claire to write down the prayer so that I could participate in the custom and claim my special gift on Christmas Day.

I rushed through the prayer each day, fumbled over some of the archaic language and kept wondering how these religious words would lead to more toys on Christmas morning.

That first year, I did not receive the gift that I had hoped for.  Not being good in math, I figured I must have missed a few prayers one day and this had invalidated the results.   I tried again the following year and the year after that.   As I entered high school, I began to feel that this prayer was just one more medieval legend that had been embellished and handed down to people with a lot of faith but not a lot of common sense.

During this same time period, I was learning about St. Francis de Sales and his spirituality from the Oblates and my teachers at North Catholic High School.  I discovered the practical spirituality of St. Francis.  I also found out about his own devotions to the Virgin Mary and the Incarnation.

When I eventually entered the Oblate community, I learned more about the present moment, the sanctification of daily life and the optimism and joy we experience in relation to God, creation and our neighbor.

Eventually, I recognized that these virtues and practices of St. Francis and the Oblates were all part of that devotion that I had been taught by my family and had prayed every Advent.  That old prayer, with it’s emphasis on the “hour and the moment” was really a reminder to live each day in God’s presence and to be God’s image and likeness to the world.  

“Hail and blessed be the hour and the moment…” was a reminder that this hour and this moment are sacred.   When we live the Incarnation we bring Jesus into the world - not just for 25 days, but every day. 

I’m not sure if the Christmas Anticipation Prayer was known to St. Francis de Sales but I do know that it has the qualities of a true Salesian devotion.  

I encourage you to make this prayer your own so you can recall God’s presence in our own moments, hours and days.  You may not get the gift you are hoping for but I can guarantee you will be given the grace to see God present in every hour and every moment.

Rev. Jack Kolodziej, OSFS

Director of Development

Wilmington-Philadelphia Province

Christ's Gift of Peace

I laughed when I first read the definition of peace as the “normal condition…or state of affairs” for a people, group, or nation.  There is not a lot of normalcy in the world these days.  I wonder if the definition has a parallel to the life our first parents enjoyed (original justice) before the fall into disobedience (original sin).  While we can discourse about what is normal and does this change for different times and peoples, we still may admit that we have an idea of what normal is or should be.

Peace is not a life removed from confrontation, tribulation or difficulty.  For in the midst of these things, one can be at peace.  Conversely, it is not always present when everything is going well and “normal.”  

Peace is a feeling that you are loved and cared for by another or others resulting in a calm that things will work themselves out, that you are on the right road, in the right place and will persevere.  It’s that sense that we are not alone, that we are in this together, and that we belong to one another.  It reaches its pinnacle when the peace comes from God.

Peace is being in relationship with God and how that works itself out daily.  It was the constant gift on display in Jesus’ ministry whether restoring one’s health, assuring others that things were fine, quelling cries, fears, demons and storms, teaching acceptance and inclusion, healing division, stressing forgiveness of enemies, entrusting his mother to the beloved disciple and vice versa on Calvary, promising salvation to the repentant thief, and finally accepting peace with self by commending his spirit into his Father’s hands.

After failing to really understand the ministry of Jesus, falling asleep in the Garden, denying and betraying him, running away and not staying with him when needed most, the resurrected Christ reappears in the upper room of locked doors and closed windows, not to extend judgment but peace. “Peace be with you” he offers in John’s gospel showing them his hands and sides, then repeats “peace be with you” and commissions them “as the Father has sent me, so I send you” gifting them with the Holy Spirit to forgive sins.  And, blessed are we who have not seen but believe that this gift of peace is offered to us continually in our lives as is the commission we share in extending this peace to one another.

True peace is reconciliation, allowing Christ to forgive us whole and entire.  It’s on offer continuously but never forced on us.  When accepted into the deep recesses of our hearts and souls, it empowers us to trust implicitly the source of this gift, the Prince of Peace. Peace resides in forgiving, asking for forgiveness and letting go.  When we allow the Spirit within to teach us, then we find peace. It may not result in a resolution to a cross or situation, but it will provide the way to live well and faithfully, knowing that God is always with us.  God is always present to us.  It is we who need to intuit this gift.  Time spent in silence and solitude helps us know ourselves, lose our self-righteousness, thus freeing space for peace.

Jesus wants the peace we desire in our homes, schools, places of worship, politics, cities, world and in self.  His acceptance at being the “perfect penitent” on the Cross was a once and for all act of love that continues to heal and bring peace.  Our “making up for what is lacking on the cross” (Colossians 1:24) is our acceptance of this gift then and now.

One of my favorite Advent passages comes from Isaiah 11 when the shoot will sprout a king with all gifts bringing justice to the nations where the most ferocious animals are at peace with the most vulnerable.  There a baby is playing by the viper’s den and a young child puts his hand on the adder’s lair.  PEACE.  HARMONY.  KINSHIP AS GOD INTENDS.  Let us long for this realization in our accepting the peace offered daily, sharing it with others, friends ,and foes, and working for peace the world has yet to forge and accept.

Peace I give you, my peace I leave with you.  Christ is the only one who can give us true, lasting peace.

Fr. John J. Fisher, OSFS

Rector

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

Camden, NJ

Lessons from Advent Saints

Three Advent saints speak to me in a special way: Andrew, Mary, and John the Baptist.

St. Andrew, whose feast is November 30, brought his brother, Peter, to Jesus. How richly blessed the faith and the church have been for all these centuries simply because one brother shared his faith in Jesus with another brother.  

Then there is Mary.  After the angel’s announcement that she was to be the Mother of God, Mary could have just stayed where she was, content to contemplate the joy and wonder of the divine babe within her.  Instead, she ran to the home of her older cousin Elizabeth to be with her and help her during what must have been a difficult pregnancy, birth, and first months of new life.  In doing this, Mary has taught us that simple, loving human kindness is enough to bring Jesus to others.  This means that the good news of Jesus can be just as effectively preached and proclaimed in the nooks and crannies of our daily lives with one another as from the Church’s pulpit.  Our Salesian saints have laid hold to that truth, assuring us that “little things done with love are great indeed in the eyes of God.”

Finally, there is John the Baptist.  His contemporaries were captivated by this eccentric man who lived in the desert, dressed in camel’s hair, and ate locusts and wild honey.  They flocked to him, eager to hear his challenging word.  John could have easily held the spotlight on himself.  But he knew his place.  His was the voice, not the Word.  He announced and prepared the way, but he was not the Way. This great and humble man smoothed the path for others to meet Jesus and, in doing so, to encounter the forgiving grace and compassionate love of the Messiah!

Andrew brought his brother Peter to Jesus.  Mary brought Jesus to Elizabeth.  The Baptist prepared the way for others to meet the long-awaited Messiah.  These Advent saints tell us what we ought to be about during this Holy Season.  

May their example prompt us to help others to find Jesus or to rediscover him.  Andrew shows us that family members can be especially instrumental in bringing one another to Jesus.  And the beautiful example of Mary’s visitation assures us that Jesus is preached, not only in words but also, and most often, by simple acts of love, kindness, and care for one another.  The great Baptist underscores for us the importance of humility.  Only Jesus saves.  Therefore, we need to prepare the way and then –in the words of Venerable Mary de Sales Chappuis—“get out of the way” so that others might find their way to Jesus and, in him, find what we have found: faith that saves.

Don’t let this Advent slip by without seeing in Andrew, Mary, and John saints to admire and, most especially, to imitate.  What a great way to prepare spiritually for Christmas!

Rev. Lewis S. Fiorelli, OSFS

Provincial

Wilmington-Philadelphia Province

Prayer of Thanksgiving

St. Francis de Sales says that gratitude is the beginning of humility because it recognizes that all we have and are gifts from a loving and generous God. Today the people of the United States celebrate Thanksgiving from sea to shining sea. It is a day we celebrate with those closest to us, family and friends. It is an opportunity for each one of us to step back and reflect on the blessings we know are from God, and, if given the chance, share them with those who are important in our lives. 

This prayer of thanksgiving is based on the writings of St. Francis de Sales. It comes from a prayer book on Salesian spirituality: Set Your Heart Free: The Practical Spirituality of St. Francis de Sales by John Kirvan. As we pray it, may we thank God for all the gifts He has given us.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving,

Fr. Jack Loughran, OSFS

Provincial

Toledo-Detroit Province

An Artist's Connection to Dorothy Day

Dorothy Day died on November 29, 1980.  For many people who consider her a saint, this day would be her feast day.

I am very confident that Dorothy Day was directly involved in my decision to move to Camden twelve years ago. I vividly recall the very moment I knew it was a done deal. Fr. Michael Doyle, the now retired pastor of Sacred Heart Church in South Camden, lured me to the city in a small walking tour of the ‘hood’ surrounding the church. It ended in the house which would become a studio space of my very own. He told me that the beauty I would create within those walls would reverberate throughout the neighborhood, bringing much needed peace and joy- because there is great healing power in beauty.

At the time, I was putting the final touches on Saved By Beauty, my book on Dorothy Day. My head was swimming with the many images, quotes, and stories I had developed about her; and about her deep love for beauty, music, and art. She loved to quote Dostoevsky, her favorite Russian novelist: “In the end, beauty will save the world.” When I told Fr. Doyle that his passion for beauty, peace, and justice reminded me very much of Dorothy’s, he replied in his lilting Irish brogue, “Ah, she was good lady.”  That sealed the deal: I accepted his invitation right on the spot and occupied the studio six months later. 

In the course of my research, I learned that Dorothy loved St. Francis de Sales, which only strengthened the deep spiritual connections I was already feeling toward her because of her love of beauty. Dorothy was a superb journalist, and as Patron of Journalists, St. Francis played a prominent role in her decision to start the Catholic Worker newspaper. She saw it as her God-given mission to write the truth about what it means to be a prophetic witness of Christ in our modern world, torn apart as it is by constant war and violence, racism and poverty. Like St. Francis, she was a writer with a great reformer’s heart- unafraid to express her own truth, which she expressed perfectly well.

St. Francis de Sales said, “We pray best before beauty.” Dorothy said, “Seek beauty everywhere.” Each of them remind us that beauty is everywhere because God is everywhere- most especially in those marginal nooks and crannies of our broken world where you might least expect to find it. St. Francis spoke of patience as a little virtue with great power; in her journals and letters, Dorothy wrote frequently about her need for patience as she faced major trials and minor tribulations on any given day at the Catholic Worker house.

In dark times of division, unrest, and anxiety- whether we Live Jesus in  Annecy, France, the lower east side of Manhattan, or Camden, NJ- we must patiently recall in the heart of every present moment that, “In the end, beauty will save the world.”

Brother Mickey McGrath. OSFS

Finding Hope

Hope is that sense that what we desire or long for is possible. It’s a conviction that things will turn out for the best. With this in mind, hope is the great motivator that keeps us going in difficult and stressful times. I consume as little news as possible these days for I cannot tolerate the fighting and the hostility that is prevalent in our world. It gets worse to realize that this has overflowed into our church in some respects.

My hope is that if we keep doing what we believe to be God’s will for the world each day, this can become contagious, and others may do likewise. This is not to assume a position of self-righteousness, for humility grounds us always to knowing that whatever we do comes from God and that we rely on God’s grace, mercy, and presence at all times. Rather, it is a mindset that comes from a relation with the Creator to whom we belong, who wills for us to in some way make a difference. So, in the midst of so much negativity, we aim to do our part to make the world a bit kinder and gentler.

Hope seems to demand an idea of what we lost and what we would like to see restored. It is the desire to persevere to where we see ourselves putting God as the center of our very being and all that we do. It’s knowing that we cannot think of living, loving, and doing apart from God. Hope is that day when more and more people will have what justice demands, will be accepted and loved for who they are, will be free to worship, love, and live without fear or rejection or ostracization. It is living until we see that there is no one outside our circle of intimacy but all enjoying being embraced by God.

Hope is fidelity to the day. It is a recognition that God has given me another day, another chance, another opportunity to allow him to take hold of me where I will not let go. Tenui nec dimittam was St. Francis de Sales’ motto “I have taken hold and will not let go.” Each day’s hope is that I will let go a bit more, trust in God a whole lot more, and better image him today than I did yesterday. It’s a confidence that God will not give up (has taken hold and won’t let go) and I grow daily in embracing, living, and sharing this incredible and infinite love God has for me. Knowing this in a humble way, leads me to wish this and to work for this for others.

Gradually, the world becomes more loving as we continue to go out to those in need recognizing they belong to us as brother and sister, and we belong to them. Most importantly, we all belong to God. Hope brings us to a bond of belonging and of kinship. Hope is recognizing God in others rather than seeing what separates us from one another.

Hope is not wishful thinking. It has some evidence that propels us to want more, completion, consummation, and fulfillment. It may not be realized fully until our God calls us all home to be with him for eternal life. But that invitation finds acceptance in the here and now. Hope is seen in one’s charity to another. It is a prayer uttered for those whom we do not know personally but realize are hurting, suffering, alone, or forgotten.

It’s seeing a parent not giving up on their child. It’s a little kid donating his piggy bank to an elderly couple who risk being evicted. It’s crying when we know things should be different, better, and then resolving to do whatever we can to see this happen. It is “staying” with another, with our Church, with our sinful self waiting continuously for God’s presence, mercy, and unmerited, unconditional love.

Hope is “seeing the one beholding us and smiling” (Anthony de Mello, SJ). A little hope goes a long way. Some days it is all we need to get by. Let us hope in God, in God’s plan for us and the world, and our ability to do our part.

Hope is “taking hold and not letting go.”

Fr. John J. Fisher, OSFS

Rector

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

Camden, NJ

Rev. William A. Guerin, OSFS Memorial Dinner Dance - Photos from May 21, 2022

SAVE THE DATE!

For the next Rev. William A. Guerin, OSFS Memorial Dinner Dance:

Saturday, Jan. 14th

Union League. Center City, Philadelphia, PA

We hope to see you there!

About the Guerin Dinner Dance:

This annual celebration is a great opportunity to come together in community and celebrate the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales and the late Fr. Bill Guerin, OSFS, as well as so many Oblates who work to spread Salesian Spirituality. 

This special event supports our priests and brothers whose lives have positively impacted countless students, parishioners, families, and co-workers.

All funds raised are dedicated to caring for our infirm and retired men living at the Oblate Retirement Residence in Childs, MD or the Salesiansum Residence.

Christ the King and Thanksgiving

In a few days, we will celebrate the end of the liturgical year with the feast of Christ the King and, a few days after that, the Thanksgiving holiday.

For me, these two celebrations are deeply connected. I am grateful for many things in my life: for my parents, my three sisters, good friends and Oblate confreres, my faith and my vocation, as well as for relatively good health.  

But I am most grateful that Jesus is the kind of king that he is. When Pilot placed the words, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews,” on the cross over the head of Jesus, he was mocking him on many levels: this wretched specimen of a man, bloodied, wounded, naked, and crowned with thorns who hails from the backwaters of Nazareth –this man is your King?

Throughout his life and ministry, Jesus chose to be poor among the poor; to be an outcast among outcasts; and to serve people who were on the margins of society such as the leper, the widow, the young, and the little. 

He preached the good news to all who would listen of course, but it was usually the sinner, the outcast, and the poor who listened, heard, were healed, and came to faith.  The high and mighty, the powerful, and the wealthy often turned a deaf ear to what he preached and a hardened heart to what he promised.

His behavior was the parable.  As the human face of God, he was revealing God who accompanies and companions the least and the last.  He was also driving home this truth to all who would hear: we are –all of us—the least and the last.  If, in humility, we can accept that truth, then we have a Savior in Jesus.  

St. Paul will later describe this truth in terms of the fallenness of the entire human family in the sin of the first Adam and the promised hope of salvation for all of us in the new Adam.  But Jesus preferred to convey this truth by the manner in which he lived, poor among the poor, and by the manner in which he died, the mocked and ridiculed King of the Jews!

As Thanksgiving nears, I am grateful for the many blessings in my life, chief among them my faith in Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews!

Rev. Lewis S. Fiorelli, OSFS

Provincial

Wilmington-Philadelphia Province

A "Hidden" Salesian Saint

St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal developed a practical, positive and heart-centered spirituality that has been a part of the church for over 400 years.  Since the foundation of the Visitation Sisters at the beginning of the 17th century, this spiritual way of life has offered an opportunity for Christians to “live Jesus” through small deeds, simple actions, and a deep love of God.

This humble and gentle outlook on life has had countless followers over the years and has produced many saints. 

Following St. Francis and St. Jane were St. Margaret Mary Alocoque, St. John Bosco, Mary de Sales Chappuis, Blessed Louis Brisson, and the Visitation Martyrs.  These students of the devout life have all been recognized for their everyday approach to holiness.  There are probably an untold number of Salesian saints that have never been formally canonized.

On November 18 the Church remembers St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, a French religious sister, and educator. She is the foundress of the American branch of the Society of the Sacred Heart.   Those who know the life of St. Rose recognize that her experience as a young religious and her own path to holiness may make Rose a “hidden” saint in the Salesian tradition.  

Born in Grenoble, France in 1769, Rose entered the Visitation monastery at age 19 and was trained in the teachings of St. Francis and St. Jane.  When the French Revolution began, the convent was closed and Rose returned home.  During these years she continued to live with her family while still following the Visitation rule.  All the while she was taking care of the sick, the poor, and those displaced by the revolution.

When the Reign of Terror was over, Rose tried to revive the monastery with a small group of former sisters. Realizing they were too small to continue the work of the Visitation, they joined the Society of the Sacred Heart.  This community was founded after the Revolution by Madeleine Sophie Barat (who was canonized a saint almost 100 years ago).  

The new congregation had a similar spirit and mission as that of the Visitandines.   They educated young women and were devoted to the Heart of Jesus.  Unlike the Visitation order, the “Madames of the Sacred Heart” (their original name), was an active community that could go out into the villages and homes of the people.

No longer bound to a cloister, Rose felt the freedom to become a missionary and at the age of 49, she came to the United States to bring the Society of the Sacred Heart to the new world. 

Like St. Jane, Rose was open to new situations in her life and was challenged to live the present moment.  Like St. Francis, Rose had a missionary desire that led her to bring the Gospel to others.  Dedicated to love God and neighbor, Rose encountered Christ in her daily life and tried to “live Jesus” in all of her actions.  

At the age of 72 Rose fulfilled a life-long wish and worked with Native American children in Kansas.  Her final years were spent in prayer and contemplation, sustained by the spirituality she learned as a young, cloistered, Visitandine nun.  Rose Philippine Duchesne died in 1852 at the age of 83, a sister of the Sacred Heart but also a Salesian at heart.  She was canonized in 1988.  

Rev. Jack Kolodziej, OSFS

Director of Development

Wilmington-Philadelphia Province