How to Live Jesus!

Artwork by Brother Mickey McGrath, OSFS

I write this reflection from Baton Rouge, LA where I am preaching a Parish Mission at St. George Parish.  The parish Music Director, Joseph Smaldino, worked with the parish Director of Adult Faith Formation, Karen Fawley, Pastor Father Paul Yi and the Parish Staff to develop the Mission Theme.  We are reflecting on Making Ordinary Time Extraordinary by Living Jesus.  It is always a great gift to discover how many people have been touched by Salesian Spirituality.  I even met a couple, the Daigles, who belonged to Our Lady of Good Counsel, an Oblate parish in Vienna, VA, before moving to Baton Rouge.

Saint Francis de Sales said, “Many are satisfied with carrying the Lord on their tongue, recounting His marvels and praising Him with great ardor; others carry Him in their hearts with tender and loving affection, which becomes part and parcel of their lives, thinking of Him and speaking to Him. But these two ways of carrying the Lord do not amount to much if the third element of carrying Him in their arms by good works is missing.” (Sermons 2; O. IX, p. 22)  As much as we might love the Lord or speak about Jesus, it is by good works, carrying the Lord in our arms, that He is known. It is by Living Jesus that He is known and seen.  I like to put it this way: Love is known when it is shown.  Jesus is known when He is shown by our words, deeds and attitudes.

My mother’s version of this was, “Don’t tell me you love me. Clean the toilet. Do the dishes. Give me flowers that you pick from our garden or buy from the store. Tell me you’re sorry and show me that you mean it.”  In other words, show me that you love me.  I believe that is the message that de Sales conveys by telling us that we must carry the Lord in our arms by good works.  Mother Frances de Sales de Chappuis, the Good Mother, said it this way, “Imprint the Gospel in your flesh and blood.”  So I ask, “Do we? Do I?”

I see it in little and big ways.  A wife walks by the side of her husband who uses a walker, ready to assist him if necessary but supporting his independence as much as possible.  A couple holds hands while sitting together or walking down the street.  On the day of my writing this reflection, a man fell before our session and people immediately got up to see if he was alright and to offer a hand to help him stand up.  People volunteer to assist others in need, like one of our confreres who has gone to Florida twice to help with hurricane relief.  Students go on mission trips during their breaks, like the students I would take to Appalachia when I was a University Chaplain,  the students from Salesianum who recently served in Central America, or the people who volunteer at De Sales Service Works in Camden, NJ. Love is shown when people stop to visit with or eat with one of our sisters and brothers who are homeless.  People bring meals to assist a family in need, drive others to appointments or offer to sit with a spouse suffering from dementia or on hospice so that the caregiver can have some relief.  Where do you see someone carrying the Lord in their hands?  Where do you help Jesus be known because He is shown in your good works?

A number of years ago I worked with a man whose daughter went to Bishop Ireton High School, a high school in Alexandria, VA that was administrated by the Oblates for many years.  He and his wife went to a Live Jesus! event.  While they were registering, they heard a woman behind them read one of the banners.  Instead of “Live Jesus” she read “Jesus, Live!”  She saw that sign and proclaimed that the day would be better than she had thought it would be.  She was going to see Jesus alive that day.  Well, after we laughed, our conversation reflected on the fact that when we carry the Lord in our arms by our actions, our words of support, our prayers, an email or a phone call and….you fill in the blank, we live Jesus in ways that help Him to come alive.  Our Salesian Spirituality makes a real and practical difference in people’s lives. 

I find this both comforting and challenging.  The comfort comes from the fact that Jesus is as near as our hearts, our minds and our very bodies.  The challenge comes from the fact that living Jesus, carrying Him in my arms by doing good works, stretches me to look and see where those works are needed and then to actually do them.  And so I ask myself:

•  “How can I carry Jesus in my arms by good works?” 

•  “Where do I see Jesus?”  

• “Where can I live Jesus so that He is seen by others?” 

When we do these things, the ordinary becomes extraordinary because the One whose name is engraved on our hearts, Jesus, is made visible for others to know and see Him.  Live Jesus and make Him alive in our midst so that His love can be known by being shown.  May God be praised!

Father Paul Colloton, OSFS

Superior, De Sales Centre Oblate Residence

Childs, MD

Advent Begins

An Advent song by Father John Foley, SJ, has this refrain: “Patience, people, till the Lord is come.”  Patience is one of the Little Virtues of Saint Francis de Sales, the other virtues include gentleness, humility, patience, simplicity, good-naturedness, tenderness towards our neighbor, bearing their imperfections, etc.  

We need patience because Advent is a time of waiting: to celebrate Christmas, to give birth to Christ this year by the way we live, and to deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ.  Many of us have a hard time waiting.  I lived with a priest who prayed, “Lord, give me patience and give it to me now.”  His prayer defeated its purpose because patience is defined as “the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset” (Oxford Languages online).  There was no tolerance for delay in my confrère’s prayer.

Our Liturgy gives us Advent to prepare to celebrate Christmas.  It is a time of anticipation, a time to wait to celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ in time many years ago.  Advent readings offer images of what will happen when the Christ, the Messiah, comes: valleys filled, hills made low, rough ways made smooth, the blind given sight, the deaf given hearing, the ill, mute and lame given healing, prisoners freed, debts forgiven, enemies made friends, and all peoples dwelling together on God’s holy mountain.  What a vision!  Especially when we consider the times in which we live where what divides and separates us seems more the focus than what unites us as God’s people.  And so Advent is counter-cultural.  We’re already celebrating Christmas with our trees, decorations, lights, music, shopping and more, but we’re called to wait with patience.  

Blessed Louis Brisson, OSFS, tells us that, “Advent means ‘coming.’  This time is set aside to prepare for Christmas,” which is the first great Advent when Christ became a human being to reconcile us with God.  He goes on to say, “The second advent of Our Lord is made in our hearts.  Every time that we have a good thought, every time that we take the Good God with us…” (Cor ad Cor, p.  11).  In other words, Advent is also about making Christ known today in clear and tangible ways.  So our songs, decorations, shopping and partying need not take away from Advent waiting and patience.

While these things are expressions of our love and care for those in our lives, when Christ comes, we are able to express our oneness as children of God on God’s holy mountain.  When we practice the love that God is and Christ made visible for us, we take the Good God with us and make God known today.  When we gather to celebrate the goodness of life, faith and love-made-flesh, we make the “Little Virtues” known and they can make a big difference in how we view ourselves and others as precious in the sight of God.  When we take time to be with those in need or take to give gifts of clothing, food, money, and presence to our sisters and brothers, we imitate Jesus’ care for all people.  When we visit family, friends, neighbors, and strangers, Christ is with them because we take the Good God with us.  And, in my experience, Christ comes to us in clear ways because of this welcome and gratitude.  When we work for systemic change so that injustice and oppression are less and inclusivity and egalitarianism are more, we challenge ourselves and our world to live the promises we hear in our Advent readings and we make God’s ways known in practical and clear ways.

Living the second Advent which Blessed Louis speaks about requires that we take time out to pray, to be with the Lord whose coming we celebrate.  We need to stop, be quiet, listen for God’s voice, share our hearts and minds with God in prayer, and wait for the response that will empower us to “Live Jesus” every Advent day and beyond.  

So I invite you to consider this prayer exercise each Advent day.  Make it your own 5-10 minute Advent calendar where you open the door of your mind and heart to discover how Christ can be known through you:

• First, close your eyes and quiet yourself.  

• Second, breathe deeply and let your breath and God’s breath unite.  

• Third, ask Jesus “How can I make you known today?” Review your day and look for opportunities to do just that.  

• Fourth, choose one of those activities and do it.  Take the Good God with you or pledge to see Jesus Christ in someone else.  

• Fifth, take a deep breath and say, “Thank you for being with me.  Give me the patience to do your will.” 

Then, not only will you see Advent as the time to celebrate Christ’s first coming years ago.  You will also see Christ coming to you and through you each day until Christmas and beyond.

Father Paul Colloton, OSFS

Superior, De Sales Centre Oblate Residence

Childs, MD

Change is Constant

Autumn began on September 22 and we went from days in the 80s and 90s to temperatures in the 60s and 70s, and the 50s a few weeks later.   One could see leaves beginning to change color, ever so slightly, and leaves began to fall from the trees.   There was a change in the air, as someone noted to me at table, “It feels like fall.”  And Pumpkin Spice Latte appeared in a variety of forms weeks before that!

Even memes on various platforms highlighted these changes.  Some rejoiced in the colors and cooler temperatures.  Others bemoaned the fact that they are simply a prelude to the frigidity of winter, the work of raking or blowing leaves, and trees that are bare.  However one feels about the season of autumn, it is a time of change for both good and ill.

Change is a fact of life.  A woman religious friend of mine often says, “The only thing certain in life is change.”  To some this is good.  To others, it is a challenge.  If someone enjoys change, they are positive.  If someone bemoans any change, they are negative.  I once attended a workshop where the presenter held up a diaper and said, “You know the only people who like change…[PAUSE]…are those wearing diapers, and even then the change isn’t appreciated until they are clean and dry because they’re wearing a new diaper.”  While we laughed at this example, we all knew that it was true.

But another constant in life can help us negotiate the changes that come our way.  God is with us at all times.  We are another “constant” in the midst of change.  Change happens to us.  Change happens through us.  Saint  Francis de Sales said, “Our hearts are trees, our affections and passions are their branches and our works or actions are their fruits” (Introduction to the Devout Life  4.  13 – 323). Notice it is our hearts, our, affections and passions, and our works.  God is with us, constantly, even when we are not conscious of God’s presence.

Our hearts, no matter what shape they are in at various points throughout our lives, are within us during every stage, and every change of life, until they no longer beat to give us life.  Our affections and passions, which can change greatly throughout our lives, even throughout a day, are branches on which the life situations we face are made known.  In good times, those leaves are beautiful, whether green like summer or with the rainbow of color that fall can provide.  In difficult times, those leaves start to fall and our branches become empty.  Emptiness seems overwhelming at times.  However, falling leaves make room for new growth that can come when our life cycle changes.  And those affections and passions become visible by how we live, the works we do or don’t do, and the places in which we place our energies and treasures.

When I was Chaplain at Ohio Dominican University, the school motto was “Connect your passion with your purpose.”  I would often rephrase that to “Connect your passion with God’s purpose.”  In other words, make God’s Will your will and look for God’s presence in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, no matter what that moment in your life looks like.  If we do that, the autumns of life give way to winters that help us lay fallow until a future spring brings new growth.  Isn’t living God’s Will the one constant the Saint Francis de Sales sets before us no matter what?

So, I ask you, how’s your heart this autumn: strong and steady or irregular and in need of an adjustment?  What are your affections and passions? Where we place our time and energy reveals the answer to that question.  As Scripture says, “By their fruits you shall know them.”  Does our passion reflect only our purpose or is God’s Will, evident too?  What needs letting go, like leaves in autumn, to make room for the growth that God can give?  I find this image, Lessons from Autumn, helpful in answering this question.

Yes, change is constant but so is God and so are we.  What kind of autumn will give way God’s new growth in you, even through the dead of winter?

Father Paul Colloton, OSFS

Superior, De Sales Centre Oblate Residence

Childs, MD