Faithful Steps During Holy Week

The Lenten journey brought the Salesian office of vocations to a very moving and rewarding Holy Week. As the Church set out to engage in the most holy days of the year, the vocations team offered a group of faithful young men the opportunity to journey with Christ as they discerned their vocations. The second round of discernment days offered in March brought together Jerry Rice and Mathew Rueda from Mary Help of Christians in Tampa, FL; Daniel Korenchan from the University of Illinois in Champaign, IL; and Ben Russo from Archbishop Shaw High School in Marrero, LA at Don Bosco Residence in Orange, NJ from March 24-27 during the Easter Triduum.  Fr. Dennis Hartigan and Br. Bernie Dube served as members of the team helping me to facilitate the vocation discernment presentations and discussions. 

During the Triduum, we attended several services at the following in communion with the greater Church to reflect on and honor the tremendous love of Christ’s sacrifice. Our group was fortunate enough to participate in the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at Our Lady of the Valley Church in Orange, NJ; the Good Friday Liturgy at St. Mary’s Abbey in Morristown; and the Easter Vigil at St. Joseph Provincial Center with the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. The ability to spend those holy days in many beautiful places of worship allowed our group to physically and symbolically travel with Christ as He was on his loving journey for our salvation. We also made time to bond with the Salesian community in Orange to fully experience what communal religious life is all about.

For participants who were still around on Easter Sunday, we celebrated with local members of the Salesian family a festive meal  prepared by Br. Juan Pablo. Ben Russo, who was still with us on Easter Monday, participated in the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy by walking through the holy door at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, NJ.

These sacred days provided the means for the discernment participants to experience our family spirit while communally preparing for the Easter event. Having celebrating the Paschal Triduum with them, let us pray during the Easter season, that they may entrust themselves to the Risen One and serve the Lord with joy! May they, and all of us, continue taking faithful steps as the Easter people we are called to be.

March Madness: Vocation Style

The Salesians at the Don Bosco Residence had its own version of March Madness with a young adult discernment group this past weekend.  Members of Reborn Young Christ, a Korean ministry located in Stony Point, New York came together for fun, faith, and discernment in true Salesian style from March 18^th-20^th.  The four participant- Rono Yick, Jae Kim, Peter Chang, and Woojin Chae- experienced days in the life of our formation house to get a chance to see what it means to live communal vocation. They were able to participate in Mass, in vocation formation sessions, work period, recreation, praying the rosary, community building games, a Korean noodle social, and hearing vocation stories from some of our guys in initial formation.  One of the community building games featured “Whose Line Is It Anyway,” an improvisational comedy show that originated as a British radio program and later aired in America.

 For sure, the Salesian faith-based Reborn Young Christ organization provided common ground for participants to understand a Salesian context for discerning religious life. Another take on our March Madness for a new group of discerners will take place over the Tridium with participants traveling from Champaign, IL/ Tampa, FL/ and the Westbank of New Orleans.  

Encountering the Faith as a Community

           While many tend to travel to Florida for fun in the sun or the thrills of attractions such as Disney World and the Everglades, there is a growing number of Catholics who travel to Florida for a faith encounter. It is in those trips that many come to know Christ or to grow deeper in their faith through moments of fellowship, prayer, and Adoration. For the fourth consecutive year, thousands gathered at the Florida Eucharistic Congress for prayer, worship, keynote addresses, and breakout sessions that were geared for all who attended. Held on March 11-12 at the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center in Jacksonville, FL, the congress brought families together, religious men and women, and young people for a powerful two days which included some highlights like: a dramatic presentation of the Living Stations by the men and women of Comunita Cenacolo; and the presence of Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, who delivered the main keynote address and presided at the liturgy.   

Br. Branden Gordon and I worked at the vocation booth in the exhibit hall with gaming, arts & crafts, and educating congress attendees about our Salesian life.  Besides the local Floridians, we met a host of people from our Salesian family that came from New Jersey & New York, California, Europe, and Central America.  They related joy-filled stories of being affiliated with our camps, schools, and experiences they had during the Don Bosco relic tour.
 

            The Eucharistic Congress in Jacksonville continues to shape Catholics communally through faith, education, and prayer. Seen in a Salesian context, the Florida Congress expressed the Oratorian criteria:  a home that builds the ecclesial family, an education grounded in the catechesis of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and a lived faith encounter of the Passion of Christ through the Living Stations.

The Two Way Street To Easter

Lent can be thought of as two-way street when it comes to preparing to celebrate the joyous season of Easter. During this solemn time of the church we're called to journey with others in remembering Jesus' suffering and sacrifice while also being midnful to ensure that we are preparing our own hearts for the passion of Christ. On one hand, being in solidarity with the suffering of others comes with a sense of ease during Lent because of all the ways we come together.  On the other hand, when dealing with our own suffering, it’s not so easy to face.   I believe that personal suffering bears similarity with personal forgiveness.  When we wrong someone, we make amends with the other and with God, but we may not be able to forgive ourselves. 

Jesus responded to suffering through dialogue.  When he met the blind man near Jericho, there was a dialogue that ensued.  Jesus asked the man what he wants and Bartimaeus indicates that he wants to see (Mark 10: 46-52).  Through a personal dialogue, Jesus comes to restore the man’s sight. 

Jesus wants to dialogue with us about our personal suffering just as he did with Bartimaeus.  Lent, as a  two-way street, provides us with the opportunity to enter into the suffering of others, but we also need to dialogue with Jesus about our own suffering.  This dialogue will link us more intimately with Christ’s passion and ready us to experience the glory of God on Easter.   

Mercy: The Door Opener to Love

As a pilgrim preparing for the Easter event, I was prompted to ask during my reflections, “How are we to intentionally live mercy during Lent?”  For sure, Pope Francis’ document, The Face of Mercy is a guide to help us along that journey, but what more are we called to do to show love, compassion, and mercy in our daily actions? In the section on parables, Francis indicates how far God went to forgive in the story of the father with two sons (Luke 15: 11-31). The prodigal son returned after squandering away all that he had and losing himself to ask for his father's mercy and forgiveness. His second son, who had remained at home anf followed his father's wil, became upset at the open embrace and immediate forgiveness shown to his brother who had done so much wrong.  How did the father leave the door of mercy open for both of his sons? While the father welcomed back his wayward son, the door remained open for the older son who resented the Father’s welcome-back attitude.  For sure, God’s mercy is “tailor made” for us all just as it was for each son in their own situation.

While we don’t know the full outcome of the older son’s bitter attitude, our Lenten journey is a time for us to complete the story of the father and the two sons by looking into our own bitter tendencies.  Being bitter creates a stumbling block to receive and bestow God’s mercy.  Although we might have good reason to resent those who have wronged us, mercy invites us to temper our bitterness so that we can be freed up to sow mercy and reap the benefits of love.

John of the Cross voices the greatest motive for opening our hearts to mercy is that Mercy is the bridge that connects God and man, the grace that draws us near Him.  At the end of this life, when we meet God face to face, there is one question that we will all have to answer, “Did you open the window of your heart to love?"  Love was the motive for Jesus Crucified, because as it is written in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son." Let us remember during this Lenten season and everyday beyond that we're called to ask for and show God’s mercy, in order to open for each of us, the redemptive door of love.