I’m always struggling to catch up with the present in this blog! But I would be remiss, if I didn’t share the experience of the journeys on which I have been sent in the name of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts. For I know it is the Lord who sends me and it is Christ who accompanies every step I take.

The Risen Lord is with us!

In August, I was sent to different parishes to do mission appeals, a splendid way to witness to believers who as yet do not know us concerning the blessings and the challenges of our religious life and also to receive hospitality from Gospel-centered people for whom entertaining strangers is a joy!
In the first part of the month, I had the pleasure of being reunited with my brothers Father Pat and Father David.Thanks to them, I always have the joy of proclaiming, whether going or coming, that I always have a home, a home with a heart! After two weeks of local missions, I took a long journey to Detroit, traveling by car over a thousand miles, to a mission parish at he border to Canada, led by the Basilians, another religious order that I know and respect based on past experience. The church at which I arrived, Saint Anne de Detroit was huge, though the neighborhood had seen better days.

Looking toward the altar of St. Anne de Detroit Church from gathering space

Surprisingly, its biggest mass was in Spanish, and was broadcast on the radio. And that was the mass at which I was privileged to preach about the mission of our congregation. What a thrill that was! Afterward, I was invited by a warm, faith-filled man named Carlos to eat at a local restaurant where they played live music. It was wonderful, yet before leaving Carlos’ mother told me that Carlos had a serious case of cancer, asking for my prayers. Would you who read this pray for him also? As I was leaving that Sunday, I snapped a picture of the nearby bridge that leads into Canada, a symbol of our Catholic mission that crosses every national boundary

Bridge to Canada from Detroit

Remember!We are a Church that is missionary, missionary with the Heart of Christ!

After two days of exhausting travel, I finally arrived home in Massachusetts, just in time for our provincial retreat, one of the highlights of our religious life every year, as we share in learning and prayer, guided by a retreat master who has molded his message just for us!

A few of our priests and brothers doing adoration

For this retreat, we were led by Fr. John Keenan, a Blessed Sacrament Father,

Fr. John Keenan SSS

who taught us about the Eucharist as both a personal and cosmic event of the Kingdom, which is surely coming, as surely as the growth of fruit in summer follows the blossoming of flowers in spring. See, experience the Living God in action, and believe!

Dogwood Tree in Blossom

Dogwood Tree with fruit

The retreat ended with a special mass to celebrate 60 years of mission by our East Coast Province in Japan, which has now taken a new path with the erection of a new province linking Japan and the Philippines. As we contemplated the list of all the missionaries who have served in Japan these past years,

List of SSCC Missionaries to Japan

our provincial offered his personal thanks to the four former missionaries to Japan who are among us.

Left to right: Fr. Bill Heffron SSCC, Fr. Columban Crotty SSCC, Fr. Mike Annunziato SSCC, Fr. Brian Marggraf SSCC

Hip! Hip! Hooray!

The new provincial of the Japan-Philippines Province, Fr. John Yamada SSCC, offered his thanks and gratitude not only by his presence and that of Fr. Martinus Pariyanto SSCC

Left to Right: Fr. Bill Petrie SSCC, Fr. John Yamada SSCC, Fr. Martinus Pariyanto SSCC

but also through a special gift that he brought with him, a large wooden statue of our own Saint Damien.

New Statue of Saint Damien

Together with representatives of our sisters, secular branch members, and Men of the Sacred Hearts, we all celebrated a magnificent mass with true family spirit!

Part of our wider Sacred Hearts Family!

More of our Sacred Hearts Family!

As soon as the mass ended, Father David Lupo SSCC and I set off for a mission appeal, traveling together to the northernmost part of the state of Maine.

Wow! Are we there yet?

At the Northeast tip of the U.S.A.!

Looking over the other side of the St. John River, we were able to see over the border into Canada. Church and Town on Canadien Side of St. John River

In this area imbued with a strong French Catholic tradition of devotion to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and to our Blessed Mother,

A Beautiful French Canadien-American Altar for the Blessed Sacrament in Maine Country Parish

Altar to Mary in French Canadien-American Parish

we received over the course of two days a warm and beautiful welcome. The only disappointing thing was that despite all the warning signs about moose traffic, we didn’t see even one moose.

Moose Warning Sign!

O darn!

After the mission appeal was over, Fr. David brought me to Logan Airport in Boston, where I took a plane for another trip, this time to the southernmost part of the United States, on the U.S. border with Mexico, where our congregation has been in mission in the Brownsville Diocese for many decades. It was great to once more immerse myself in a Spanish-speaking Catholic environment where Our Lady of Guadalupe, missionary mother for the Americas, reigns supreme.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

I stayed in the rectory of Sacred Heart Church in Edinburg, Texas, knowing I was in good hands, the Sacred Heart of Jesus blessing me

The Sacred Heart Statue at Sacred Heart Church

and the able pastor Fr. Bob Charlton directing me with his strong leadership style.

Fr. Robert Charlton SSCC

While in Sacred Heart Church, I was privileged to form, for the first time, a parish vocation committee, consisting of laypeople with a strong interest in promoting vocations to ordained priesthood and consecrated religious life.

The New Vocation Committee at Sacred Heart Church

I also enjoyed the opportunity of attending a Lifeteen mass, a youth-centered mass that features increased youth involvement, as well as a Life Night program that encourages teen interaction and participation.

The Lifeteen Congregation

The Sacred Heart Church Youth Choir

That particular Life Night featured the "Office Olympics" with games and amusing pageantry.

Let the Games begin!

The Olympic "Flame"!

"How far do I have to go? Where are you?"

It's a goal!

At another time, I was happy also to join with Fr. Emilio Vega SSCC in leading a ritual of benediction after a session of Eucharistic adoration.

Fr. Emilio helps me with the humoral veil for benediction

Adoring the Lord!

The lesson for me was that happiness and intimate community is Jesus’ gift to us who love and pray with devotion to the Lord we love!

The Adoration "Gang"

Fr. Emilio with an aged adorer!

I was happy also to visit our Sacred Hearts Community in Harlingen Texas in the parish of Our Lady Queen of Peace, capably led by Fr. Bill Penderghest SSCC with the assistance of Fr. Alfie McHugh SSCC.

Community dining! (from left to right: Fr. Alfie McHugh SSCC, Fr. Bill Penderghest SSCC, friend of community, Fr. Jerry Shanley SSCC)

There, too, I attended a Lifeteen mass and accompanying Life Night.

The Youth Choir is all revved up!

Priests and teens gathered around the altar!

Can you tell how many jelly beans are in the jar?

What fun it was to see the youth involved and excited, also to see the affectionate relationship of our priests with the teens that is so characteristic of our youthful Sacred Hearts spirit. We may have gray hair, but our hearts are young!

Never too old to play!

I experienced this same pleasure myself firsthand, when I had the opportunity to witness about vocations to the local Newman Club for young Catholics at Pan-American University. What a charge it is to let college-age Catholics know that there is a vocation of graced love and stability available to them in this uncertain world! Just let me know if your own young Catholics in college want to hear a hopeful message about the Love of the Sacred Heart and the Call of a Vocation , and I promise I'll be there!

Sharing God's Inspiration with College Youth

Personal Conversation with a young seeker

A special highlight of my trip to Texas was to take a short side-trip to Reynosa, Mexico, where our happy missionary Fr. Jerry Shanley SSCC excels in serving people who are really poor in material things, but rich in their loving spirit! In the chapels he had built, one saw a simple beauty,

Saint Damien Chapel

A stained glass window showing the Heart of Jesus at the Assumption Chapel

A place of adoration at St. Philip de Jesus Parish

An offering of flowers to Saint Damien

and the same simple beauty was in the people whose devotion to Jesus and to Mary was the center of their lives.

Fr. Jerry with Valentina, who truly lives (!) at her chapel, praying and cleaning.

Fr. Jerry is known for his tireless efforts to bring basic necessities, such as food and clothing, to both persons and organizations who are in need. And one must remember that the poverty one finds across the border in Mexico is much more drastic and tinged with desperation than that which one normally encounters in the United States. Every week, Fr. Jerry goes with his helpers to the dirt roads of the poorest neighborhood in Reynosa to give food and clothing to the poorest of the poorest of the poor in Reynosa.

A truck full of food is ready to go!

Fr. Jerry surrounded by hungry people clamoring for food!

A long line of hungry people

I also saw him and his helpers feeding some of the migrant workers who are kicked out of the United States in a penniless state.

Migrant workers catching a snack at Felipe de Jesus Parish in Reynosa

Migrants in Reynosa gathered to share their experiences

How good that someone is willing to do this kind of work! Yet how much better it could be if more Catholics would open their hearts and wallets to these needy men and their families! Though it was just a short trip, I felt really blessed to have made the effort. Like the flamboyan tree that grows at an incredible rate in the stifling heat and sparse moisture of northern Mexico, though its origin is in Asia, God pushes me to grow in places that are different and challenging. Readers, are you ready to respond to God’s plan for your growth?

A three year old Flamboyan Tree!

I returned to Texas in time to give thanks for the blessings of the United States, as well as enjoy the Texan hospitality of my brothers. I saw them preparing for the celebration of Fr. Damien’s canonization.

Announcement of Saint Damien Celebration at Sacred Heart Church

Canonization Announcement at Sacred Heart Church!

How wonderful that we share such a saint as our brother!