Walk with us!

Dehonians visiting with the family who helped them soon after crossing the border

India has been hit especially hard by the pandemic. Much of the country is under travel restrictions. Br. Thambi Joseph, SCJ, shares some of the challenges he and fellow Dehonians faced during a trip from Tamil Nadu back to Nambur  in Andhra Pradesh:

Two days before we started our journey, we learned of the new rules for our fifth lockdown in India. We no longer needed an e-pass to enter our state, but states still had the authority as to whether to accept federal rules. We brought along a copy of the latest rules of the central government, assuming that we would be allowed to enter our destination of Andhra Pradesh.

At 4:15 a.m. we left our house in Chennai with a car full of luggage. We prayed the rosary together, praying for an easy border crossing from Tamil Nadu. An hour later we reached the border. The officer asked for our e-pass.

We said nervously “Sir, we don’t have any e-pass.” He asked us where we were going and we told him Andhra Pradesh. After seeing our state ID cards he allowed us to continue.

But we only got about 500 meters. At the border of Andhra there was a wall of 15 policemen. We approached them and were told to stop our vehicle along the side of the road. Once again we were asked for our e-pass. We told the officer that we did not have an e-pass because the central government said that they were no longer needed to enter one’s own state. Unfortunately, Andhra Pradesh had not adopted these new rules.

Although the policemen were very polite with us, we were stuck. We could not enter Andhra and we could not go back to Tamil Nadu. Fr. Hruday remembered that there was a lawyer in the parish at Nambur. He contacted the lawyer and asked for suggestions; the lawyer asked for 20 minutes to look into some possibilities. True to his word, a phone call came from authorities asking that we be allowed to cross into Andhra. With a sign of relief, we left for Guntur.

On the road, the phone rang and it was a relative of the lawyer who had just assisted us. He knew that we had a long ways to travel still and that little was open along the way due to COVID-19. We spent over an hour with his family, enjoying a generous breakfast and prayer before resuming our journey.

It was a challenging journey but at the end I once again realized that God is always with us, helping us in difficult times and allowing us to see the beauty in our lives.

This is how we had returned to Guntur, and after experiencing both the good and bad in our journey, I have come to realize that God helps us in our difficulties and makes our lives run smoothly. He does beautiful things in our lives.

“When individuals in the movement ask why I joined the SCJs out of all of the religious orders out there, I tell them, it’s simple – I felt like I was at home from the start and it is because of VEYM that I am an SCJ.”

-Frater Henry Nguyen, SCJ

Frater Henry Nguyen, SCJ, one of our seminarians at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology, shares the following reflection:

While Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology was on its spring break two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement (VEYM)’s Annual Servant Leader Retreat – 2019 in Rosemead, CS, at the St. Joseph Salesian Youth Retreat Center. It was directed by Fr. Tri Dinh, SJ.

Henry

The retreat was called Hành Trình Hy Vọng: The Heart of Faith, (English translation of Hành Trình Hy Vọng is “The Journey of Hope”). When individuals in the movement ask why I joined the SCJs out of all of the religious orders out there, I tell them, it’s simple – I felt like I was at home from the start and it is because of VEYM that I am an SCJ.

Being in VEYM continues to reinforce my vocation of Ecce Venio. Recently, I read a post by the president of VEYM in the United States and it dawned on me that the SCJ charism was nurtured in me way before I knew what that meant. The VEYM is the youth branch of the Eucharistic Youth Movement (EYM). The spirituality of VEYM and the SCJs is not that far apart as members in VEYM are taught to Live the Eucharistic Day which is comprised of three parts: Morning Offering, Mass and Holy Communion, and lastly, Night Offering. These aspects of Living the Eucharistic Day remind me of Oblation, Reparation, and Adoration. As the Eucharist is the source and summit of our Christian faith, in VEYM, we have Mass and Adoration daily.

During this retreat, we were first asked “How is your soul” in order to reflect on our journey of faith and how we got to where we are today. As I discern this question and my journey of faith, I am loved by God and I want to share that love with the world. It then got personal, I was asked, “Who is Jesus to me” and I thought of my personal relationship with Jesus, as my Shoshben, as someone whom I can talk to on any level. I took notice that I had to reprioritize my life and see what is important to me and how to make God more present in my life. The past, present, and future: I understood that how I got here leads me to immerse myself in the present moment, to discern where I go from here.

I know I was meant to be on this Journey of Hope: Heart of Faith as it was the same weekend as St. Polycarp’s 25th Year Anniversary as a VEYM chapter (I had joined VEYM at the age of eight at St. Polycarp, Stanton, CA). The weekend renewed my spirit, my Dehonian spirit. I was reminded to let go and let God. I pray that I am able to accompany and walk with others on their own journeys and really be available to them.

As I came home to Sacred Heart Monastery, I stumbled upon a painting in the stairway that was hung up after I had left for the retreat. The painting was of Jesus washing the feet of one his disciples. At the retreat, we reflected on the reading of Jesus washing the feet of the Disciples and this same image was used. Although I was tired from traveling, I couldn’t help but be in awe. Jesus is the true message of servant leadership.

Currently, my involvement in VEYM is both at a local chapter and the national level. I was elected as the Vice President of Academic Affairs at Dong Hanh chapter in Franklin, WI (at St. Martin of Tours) and recently appointed as the Sub-Committee Lead of Vocations of the National Executive Committee.

Do you feel called to religious life? Contact our vocation office for more information about the Priests of the Sacred Heart (Dehonians). Click here to email the director; or call 800-609-5559.

Br. Diego Diaz

Br. Diego Diaz, SCJ, writes about his recent experience at a La RED meeting. La RED (the National Catholic Network de Pastoral Juvenil Hispana) is a network of Catholic organizations and pastoral ministers committed to the evangelization, holistic development, and ongoing support and formation of Hispanic teens and young adults in the United States. La RED promotes the concerns of youth at national and regional levels, and fosters the creation of diocesan networks. Br. Diego writes:

The recent Synod on Youth convened by Pope Francis urged the Church to listen to young people and create spaces for them to express their ideas, feelings and hopes. It was with this in mind that I attended the La RED meeting in Chicago, November 8-11.

Approximately 100 of us from around the country took part in the meeting. We were joined by the auxiliary bishop of Chicago, Bishop Alberto Rojas. It was significant for us to have a young bishop among us, one who has been active in youth ministry and who endorsed our mission to accompany and encourage Hispanic youth in the United States.

In my home country of Argentina I spent many years working in youth ministry. The La RED meeting helped me to understand the reality of young Hispanics here in the United States: their concerns, their needs.

At the Chicago meeting we heard young people speak about being disciples and missionaries with other young people; we heard about the situations in which they live. In small table discussions we thoughtfully listened to each other. We concluded the first day with Eucharistic Adoration; it was touching to see how the young people prayed, taking time in silence to process everything shared during the day.

The next day we had discussion tables for particular interests such as teenage ministry, new technologies, and the National Dialogue Project. The National Dialogue is a collaborative effort of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry, the USCCB National Advisory Team on Young Adult Ministry, the Catholic Campus Ministry Association, and La RED.

In order to serve youth, we must hear their voices. They ask us –– the Church –– to accompany them in their growth, but that accompaniment cannot be one-sided.

I hope to continue to bring our Dehonian spirituality to young people and those who minister to them.

RECENTLY PUBLISHED: As Br. Diego writes, he has been active in youth ministry for many years. In March, he published a book about the Argentine Province’s summer youth ministry program, a 40-year effort based in the spirituality of Fr. Leo John Dehon. “Accompaniment is a ministry within the Church that is often neglected,” wrote Br. Diego in the introduction to El Acompañamiento de los Jóvenes, una Experiencia de Misión. “My own experience of being accompanied in my first steps of discernment guided me in my decision to seek in the spirituality of the Heart of Jesus a way of living, and a way of accompanying others.” Br. Diego is currently working on an English translation of the original Spanish text.

Fr. Tomasz

“When we all work together, we become a beautiful example of the Church’s community in its diversity and unity”

-Fr. Tomasz Flak, SCJ

Fr. Tomasz Flak, SCJ, was the main celebrant and homilest at the October 3 multicultural Mass at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology. It was a liturgy that highlighted the many cultures and languages represented in the seminary’s ESL program. In his homily, Fr. Tomasz spoke about the call we all have to develop our vocation, whatever it might be, and to share and learn about each other. His homily text follows:

Today we heard about vocations. About how to follow Christ, even if there are many difficulties. We have used the idea that a vocation is a way to the priesthood or religious life; but it is not true. After all, each of us was endowed with a vocation, either as a wife, husband, priest or religious. We are all gifted with the same gift in various forms. And each of us was called to develop this gift and make it beautiful and abundant in fruit.

Today, more and more often, we speak about other types of vocations. Maybe sometimes we can call it as a passion to do something. In various professions, how often can we meet people who do their job just because they have to?  On the other hand, we can see the other people who do their work with dedication and determination. They are called people with a vocation to do this job. For example, a doctor who takes care of his patients, dedicates his time to them, and not just treats them as another client in his office. Or a teacher who allows his students to become enthusiastic to learn about the world. To discover the beauty of art, literature; wonder of biology, technology; ability to use other languages.

Today, we are here, together, as one school, which consists of many elements. Administration, staff, professors, teachers, students of philosophy and theology and of the ESL program. It is a very rich reality! Each of us, in his own position, is developing his skills and abilities to become better and better in his own task. We develop our life vocation, but also we develop our professional or student vocation to create a better community. When we all work together, we become a beautiful example of the Church’s community in its diversity and unity.

We are here from many countries and continents. Our tasks are different, but we share a common goal – developing of our vocation. Each of us becomes a teacher when we talk about ourselves, our family, our culture and customs. Each of us becomes a student when we are open to meeting another person, who perhaps speaks a little in our common language – English, to know about him, his family, his culture and customs.

Today’s Mass with many languages becomes an example of our common opening to the beauty of other cultures; to the beauty of diversity, which, when synchronized, creates harmony and order. This mass invites us to open ourselves to become a teacher who shows the new world and also to be open to being a student who wants to learn about this new world.

We are called to develop our calling to follow Christ more and more in daily life. In our Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology, we have special conditions for our vocation to develop it in an intercultural way.