St. John Bosco – January 31, 2023

Patron Saint of the Youth

John Bosco was only two years old when his father died, leaving the support of three boys to the mother, Margaret Bosco. His early years were spent as a shepherd and he received his first education at the hands of his parish priest. At the age of nine, John had a dream, which influenced and gave great meaning to the rest of his life. In the dream he saw himself amidst a great throng of young people whom he was charged to care for by means of goodness, kindness and love, rather than by means of force and compulsion. Even as a boy he commented to his mother on the fact that the priests he met were cold and distant and never bothered to speak to him. “If I am ever a priest,” he told her, “I won’t be like that. I will devote my life to young people. Children will never see me pass by them looking distant. I will always be the first to speak to them.”

In 1835 he entered the seminary, and in 1841 he was ordained a priest on the eve of Trinity Sunday. In the first year of his priestly ministry, another incident made an indelible mark on his future ministry. On a visit to the prisons of Turin, he came upon children who had been abandoned to the most evil influences, and with little before them but the gallows. In February, 1842, Don Bosco (“Don” being the Italian name given to a parish priest) established an “Oratory” for the shelter of young boys, all of whom had been taken from the streets. He spent the rest of his life dedicated to the youth. The name “Don Bosco” became extraordinarily well known throughout Europe – especially Italy, Spain and France as a result of his prolific activity in such a wide range of civil and ecclesial projects. When he died on January 31, 1888, the order he founded, the Salesian Society, ( the Society of St. Francis de Sales) numbered 773. Today there are in excess of 17,000 Salesian priests and brothers, 18,000 sisters, and tens of thousands of lay people working in every continent and most countries of the world to continue the spirit and mission of Don Bosco amongst the young.

What is Ordinary Time?

The Christmas Season officially concluded on the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord last Sunday, and Monday we began “Ordinary Time” with the colors of the vestments and altar furnishing returning to green from the violet of Advent and the white of Christmas. What’s so “ordinary” about it? Actually, “Ordinary Time” is the English translation of the Latin Tempus Per Annum (“time throughout the year”) and gets its name from the word ordinal, meaning “numbered,” because we begin to count the weeks rather than the seasons. Ordinary Time, depending on the year, runs either 33 or 34 weeks, and makes up the time in the Church calendar that does not fall within the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, or Easter.

The Church celebrates two periods as Ordinary Time. We just entered the first period, which runs until the evening of Mardi Gras when Lent begins. The second period begins on the Monday after Pentecost and runs until Advent begins. This period includes Christ the King Sunday, the final Sunday of Ordinary Time.

The use of the term “Ordinary Time” was used before the Second Vatican Council, but it was not until after the council that the term was officially used to designate the period between Epiphany and Lent, and the period between Pentecost and Advent. The older names for those seasons were the “Season After Epiphany” and the “Season After Pentecost.”

Ordinary Time celebrates the mystery of the life of Christ in all its aspects, and contains many important liturgical celebrations, including, Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi, the Assumption of Mary, he Exaltation of the Holy Cross, All Saints, All Souls and Christ the King. In addition, the Church continues to celebrate other feast days of Mary, feasts of many saints, and the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

January 18 -25

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity has a history of over 100 years, during which Christians around the world have taken part in an octave of prayer for visible Christian unity.  By annually observing the WPCU, Christians move toward the fulfillment of Jesus’ prayer at the Last Supper “that they all may be one.”  (cf. John 17:21)

The theme of this year’s WPCU is “Abide in my love… You shall bear much fruit” from the Gospel of John, chapter 15, expresses the Grandchamp Community’s vocation to prayer, reconciliation and unity in the Church and the human family.

Here, Jesus reminds his disciples that he is the vine and we are the branches. If we abide in him, in Jesus and the Covenant made in his precious blood, we will be such a healthy branch as to bear much fruit, abundant grapes.

Jesus manifests this in his references to loving one another: “Abide in my love.” This love of Christ figuratively speaking is akin to the healthy sap that nourishes the vine throughout all its branches. Jesus the man is lovingly begotten into human society by the love God has for all human beings, through the cooperation of a human woman, the Virgin Mary. In return, humanity is repeatedly raised from sin to justification by the love of Christ, the only Son of God, one with the Father and the Spirit through all the ages. This resource for abiding in his love is endless.

The image of branches helps believers understand that they are all diverse as individuals, but brought together in the one Vine, who is Christ alive in the Church. It can also point out, in these times of growing ecumenical witness, that the differing expressions of Christian faith are also branches which cannot live on their own and still authentically proclaim the Gospel to all creatures. We preach Christ crucified and risen to a needy world, that the world may have hope. Separately, that “sap” which keeps all the branches healthy, gets stuck in blocked veins of animosity, distrust, bigotry and ignorance. Only open veins will allow the sap to flow. Only then can all the branches bear much fruit.

Therefore, abiding in Christ’s love, let us love one another.

Twelve Days of Christmas

I always loved Christmas when I was growing up. It wasn’t just the gifts, the lights, the holly or the music. It was the magical feeling of awaiting the Birth of Christ. In our house, we always had a creche scene, an Advent calendar and a Christmas tree with a star on top. But every year, December 26th seemed like such a let-down! Sure, we still had the tree and decorations, but the excitement, the sense of joy, and the feasting gave way to empty wrapping paper and leftovers.

One problem is that Christmas has become an isolated feast day, excised from its place in the liturgical year, especially Advent, Epiphany, and the Baptism of Our Lord. Just as we often ignore the hopeful and quietly expectant mood of Advent, we also forget about the feasting and joy of the full Christmas season. But if we pay attention to those “Twelve Days of Christmas” falling between December 25 and Epiphany on January 6 (even though we celebrate Epiphany on January 3 this year!) we can continue to sing the carols, read the Scriptures and experience the joy of the birth of our Lord for the whole season! Instead of one isolated Christmas day, the joy and festive spirit of Christmas can permeate the entire “Twelve Days of Christmas!” That’s the story behind the traditional song and the daily gifts!

During the Twelve Days of Christmas and Christmastide the Church also celebrates other major holy days including those of our patron St. Stephen, St. John the Evangelist, the Holy Innocents, and the Holy Family. St. Stephen and the Innocents were martyred for the faith, and St. John suffered. The Holy Family was driven from their homeland into Egypt. The Church places these feasts in the midst of the season of Christmas to remind us that the mystery of the Incarnation is more than just the Lord’s Birth: it is also about His suffering and death! As followers of Christ, our celebration of Christmas is more than just trees and presents. It’s about our obligation to lead radical Christian lives that say that we would be willing – like St. Stephen and the Holy Innocents – to give up our lives for Christ!