The Feast Day of St. Francis de Sales

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Adapted from The Catholic News Agency

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

DeSales Weekly Editor: Fr. Bill McCandless, OSFS

Our Personal Construction Projects in 2020

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Joseph McDaniel, OSFS

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

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

Salesian Concept of The Epiphany

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

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

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

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

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

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

Francis de Sales offers this advice:

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

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

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

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

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

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

St. Francis DeSales' Last Christmas, 1622

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

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

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

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

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

My dear Sir and Son,

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

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

Your very humble and very obedient servant,

Francis, Bishop of Geneva.

On this the Eve of Christmas, 1622

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

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

-         Rev. Neil F. Kilty, OSFS

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

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

THE "O ANTIPHONS" OF ADVENT

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

Thursday, December 18

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

Friday, December 19

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

Saturday, December 20

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

Sunday, December 21

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

Monday, December 22

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

Tuesday, December 23

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

Mass of Christian Burial: Homily

Fr. Thomas E. Murphy, OSFS
October 28, 2019

Wisdom 3:1-9
Colossians 3: 1-3, 12-14
Luke 24:13-35

To Mary and Jim and your family, to Kathleen and your family and to Eileen’s children, Lori and David and your families  I hope that you are comforted by those present here this night as well the knowledge that countless numbers of people are praying for Tom and you in parishes from Florida all the way to Michigan. 

We share your grief and your loss.

What a blessing you were to Tom throughout his life and especially during his illness.

My Oblate brothers as well as others who visited Tom at Mary and Jim’s house these past few months witnessed your wonderful care for him.  Your love and devotion truly eased his pain and brought him comfort and peace

Like you, we the Oblate community have also lost our brother and friend.

For more than fifty years beginning with your wonderful parents and grandparents, Ed and Aisla Murphy, your family and the Oblate family have shared times of sadness and grief and also many more times of joy and laughter. 

As we became friends in the Oblates our parents also became friends through associations such as the De Sales Guild that met for many years at North Catholic. I remember one Christmas party in the North Catholic cafeteria when Mr. Murphy was Santa Claus.  My nephew Brian who was five at the time was thrilled that Santa Claus knew his name.

The bond forged over fifty years between the Murphy family and the Oblates is strong and will endure.

Those present here this evening, who are not members of Tom’s family may recall the first time they met Tom Murphy

For me as for some of my brother Oblates present here this evening it was more than fifty years ago
at a place not unusual for teenagers from the row houses of Philadelphia to meet – It was a farm.

That farm was the novitiate near Elkton Maryland where we began our formation as Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

We learned about religious life through prayer, study, recreation and community. 

In particular we were formed to serve the church through living and sharing of Salesian Spirituality. 

To Live Jesus through the practice of the little virtues that St. Paul encouraged in his letter to the Colossians  – humility, gentleness, kindness, patience. And over all these - love.

We learned early on that the words of St. Paul were to be the glory of our congregation- we have no bond but the bond of love which is the bond of perfection.

As novices we were not always studying in the classroom. We had time for sports and recreation.  In those times  I learned something all of you know about Tom – He enjoyed the company of others, and Oh how he loved to laugh.

As I mentioned, the Oblate Novitiate was also a farm

When our families came to visits on the last Sunday of the month, the younger members of our families may have said they came to see their brothers but they really came to visit the farm animals.

We spent many hours working on the farm -tending the gardens and the fields, baling hay, building fences cleaning barns and caring for the chickens, the pigs and the cows.

As novices we had the opportunity, or I should say the obligation, to meet those farm animals on a regular basis.  At the end of the work day you knew who had been assigned to the pigs or chickens or cows because they smelled like them.

Pope Francis would have approved.   In his homily to priests during Holy Week in 2013, Pope Francis said

This I ask you: be shepherds, with the “smell of the sheep”, make it real, as shepherds among your flock, fishers of men.

We were blessed in our formation as Oblates of St. Francis de Sales to learn early on that we were called to be shepherds with the smell of the flock – whether the flock be sheep pigs, cows or chickens.

This may not be considered the usual seminary formation, but it was real training for ministry – A sign that we were called to be

·       among those to whom we minister       
·      to identify with them
·       to be one with them
·       and to do so as St. Francis de Sales would want us to – with humility and gentleness.

Tom Murphy was a priest who always sought to be among those who he served. 

·       He identified with them. 
·       He was one with them. 
·       He did so with compassion. 
·       Their sorrows were his sorrows, their joys were his joys.
·       He loved being in their midst.

Just this morning in Cape May a woman shared with me how Tom helped her son when he was a troubled student at Judge. She said – Father Murphy did good for my son

When we were both young priests at Father Judge there was a commotion outside the Palestra following a Catholic league basketball game.

I mumbled -Let’s keep walking to the car, security will handle it.  

I looked over at him and discovered that I was speaking to no one.

He had already headed in the direction of the commotion.

Tom did not want to be an observer on the side line.  He always wanted to be in the middle, to be involved.  He wanted to be present.  He truly did what Pope Francis ask priests to do – to be among the people.

To his ministry Tom always brought a great passion. 

This may come as a surprise to most of you but at times he could really get excited.

Now, if you ever saw Tom’s father at a Judge basketball game when a referee may a bad call against Judge you knew from whom he inherited that quality.

As dean of students at Bishop Ireton High School in Virginia there were times when his temper would rise as he sought to address a wrong that had been done.  These moments the students affectionally called- MURPH QUAKES.

His passion was always in seeking what was fair and what was right and in ministry it was expressed as compassion for the sick, the poor, those who had been mistreated and those who had no voice.

In each ministry and place Tom was among the people working with them to build up the church, the body of Christ,

I reminded him recently of an incident which took place more than 50 years ago It was during a work period at the novitiate.

Tom and I were dropped off in a field far away from the house with the task of digging post holes for fencing. We were told that we would be picked up in three hours.

Of course, like many public work projects there were two of us but only one tool with which to dig the post holes.  One of us would dig the post hole and the other sat on a bale of hay.

As novices we were encouraged to be prayerful and work in silence, which Tom and I did – for the first five minutes.

Then one of us suggested that perhaps one day we would be together in the Oblate missions in South Africa. We would be in a field and given the task of building a church.

We let our teen age imaginations wonder and we came up even with a design for the building and the church’s name. 

Throughout his Oblate life and priesthood Tom Murphy labored in the field to build up the church, the Body of Christ - in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida, Virginia, Michigan and New Jersey.  He did so with his presence, his preaching,  his  passion and his caring ministry. 

And although he and I never got to build a church in the missions of South Africa, the one we imagined in a farm field at Childs Maryland fifty years ago, I was blessed to be able to build church with him, if only for a few months, in his last assignment at Our Lady Star of the Sea in Cape May.

Tonight, we are like the disciples on the road to Emmaus:

·       We have suffered a loss
·       we are disappointed
·       and we are confused about the event of these past few months.

But as with the disciples in the gospel reading so too with us:

·       The risen Lord accompanies us in our sorrow.
·       He consoles us with his word
·       And He makes himself present in the breaking of bread.

Mindful of the presence of our Risen Savior, let us give thanks to God for Thomas Edward Murphy of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

·       Proud Oblate

·       Dedicated priest, teacher and pastor

·       Loving brother and uncle

·       good and faithful friend

May God grant him the rewards of his labors.May God be Blessed