To Live as Salesian Religious

This homily was given on Monday, August 15, the Solemnity of the Assumption, at the Mass with Renewal of Religious Profession.

On July 2, 1618, St. Francis de Sales gave a homily on the Gospel passage we heard today. July 2 was the feast of the Visitation at that time, and Francis de Sales was speaking to the Sisters of the Visitation. During the homily, he highlighted the charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, manifest when she went in haste to visit her relative Elizabeth and served her in her need. He also highlighted Mary’s humility, being a creature and yet carrying the Creator. Toward the end of the homily, Francis de Sales admonished the sisters with these words, "...what zeal you should have in imitating Mary, especially her charity and humility, which were the chief virtues which urged her to make this visitation. You should therefore be particularly distinguished in their practice...whenever there is an opportunity of practicing humility and charity, you ought to do so with a special care and promptness." He further commented that being a consecrated religious is not a matter of where you live, for example in a convent or monastery, or what you where, a particular habit or veil. In fact, he told the sisters, "...to be satisfied with this would be degenerate." Instead, he encouraged them to imitate Mary’s holiness and her virtues.

As we witness the renewal of religious profession of these brothers, John, Francis, and Paul, and are united with Kevin in Marrero, we let the words of St. Francis de Sales inspire us: don’t be a degenerate! I don’t think that will be an issue with these men. Over the course of these years of association with the Salesians of Don Bosco, I believe we can all agree that their religious life is much more than living in a residence of the religious order, and their habits are much more than the clothes they wear or even the medal they received at first profession. Their religious life reflects the practice of the virtues we find in the Gospel today, charity, humility, joy, and, most importantly, keeping Jesus at the center of life, as the Blessed Virgin Mary did.

I asked the brothers if they would like to share a sentence or two about this day. Each, in his own way, helps us understand the whole-hearted response to the vocation to be a Salesian religious. Br. John felt it would be helpful to emphasize the renewal of profession as something that each of us must do every day, not just at the moment when men in temporary vows formally need to renew. In fact, the formula for religious profession includes these words, "although it is my intention to offer myself to You for all my life," recognizing that the covenant God made with us at Baptism is renewed daily and always invites a more complete response from us. Each day, in our Salesian communities, usually at the end of meditation, we renew our commitment to live as Salesian religious. As is our custom, at the end of the retreat, we will once again renew our commitment to our religious consecration by reciting the formula for religious profession. Indeed, renewal of profession is not intended to be a temporary status, but a continuation of the journey to give ourselves entirely to the Lord in the service of the young.

Br. Paul asked that we keep in prayer the young to whom we are sent, most recently the campers and staff that the brothers met at their respective summer assignments: Montreal, Orange, Chicago, Washington, Marrero, Harvey. These young people and our colleagues in these summer apostolates are still very fresh in our minds and hearts. This is a beautiful expression of the missionary dimension of the Salesian vocation, with Mary as our model of being a Church that goes forth, una Iglesia en salida. We are sent to the young; the mission sets the tenor of our whole life. However, lest we become degenerate, we reach back to our spiritual roots of St. Francis de Sales and St. John Bosco and ensure that our service flows from our union with God. We go forth to announce the Good News because we have first encountered Jesus, the source of true happiness.

Although Br. Kevin isn’t with us physically, we are united with him in the Spirit and prayer. He feels it's a privilege to be able to renew religious profession in the presence of the young at Archbishop Shaw High School in Marrero. The communion shared in religious life overcomes differences and distances to bind us in charity, the same way Mary and Elizabeth found themselves united in mutual charity, despite their differences in age and the distance that separated them. As religious, we are called to be experts in communion, and how much the world, wounded by division and hatred, needs this radical witness of communion. In some ways, Mary is Ark of the Covenant, the tabernacle carrying the living presence of Jesus, reminding us to have communion with Jesus as the basis for communion with each other.

Even though the Gospel story of the Visitation spends most of the time recounting the actions and words of Mary and Elizabeth, the central characters are really Jesus and John the Baptist. They remain silent, but central. Br. Francis remained in silent contemplation as he prepared for this celebration of renewal of religious profession. Perhaps such an attitude is the most appropriate. When in the presence of mystery, we rarely have the words to describe the experience. Like John the Baptist, the best we can do is feel our hearts leap for joy. Or like Mary, we can burst forth in song, extolling the great things God has done for us.

St. Francis de Sales, after admonishing the Visitation sisters to avoid becoming degenerate, encouraged them to be most careful to model their lives on Mary—to be meek, humble, charitable, and kind. He promises them that if they followed Mary’s example and proclaimed the greatness of the Lord with their entire being, they would undoubtedly sing the Magnificat in Heaven, with the Virgin herself. On this Solemnity of the Assumption, the canticle of Mary takes on special significance. Mary had seen how God showed the strength of his arm, when in the Resurrection of Jesus, he conquered even death itself. As the icon of the Church, she hoped to share in the resurrected life of her Son, and God has fulfilled that hope, taking her body and soul into Heaven. Continuing our journey of faith, we, too, hope to experience the fullness of life in Christ in Heaven, where we will sing God’s praises forever. May the daily renewal of our commitment to our vocation, our generosity in serving in the mission, our communion with Christ and each other, and our openness to the transcendent enable us to experience a bit of Heaven on earth.