Memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe & 400th Death Anniversary of St Francis de Sales, 12 Dec 2022
Last night while I was trying to make a little research on today’s memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I chanced upon a historic figure by the name of Hernan Cortes. Then I immediately thought of Hernan Cortes Street in Mandaue, were I usually pass coming here to Lawaan to avoid heavy traffic in Banilad area. I surmised that probably it was from him that the Mandaue street got its name.
Hernan Cortes is a famous Spanish conquistador who conquered Mexico in 1519-1521 bringing with him both the cross of Christ and the crown of Spain. Since then Mexico became a colony of Spain and a Christian country as well. This valuable piece of information made me realize that our Filipino Catholic faith is almost just as old as the Mexican Catholic faith with a difference only of two years. Today after five hundred years Mexico remains to be 77% Catholic while our nation is somehow a bit stronger with 81% of our population professing the Catholic Faith.
What I found most amazing, however, is that after only ten to twelve years of evangelization, the people of Mexico was already blessed with the first major apparition of our Blessed Mother under the title, Our Lady of Guadalupe. This apparition is actually the first Marian apparition in history that the Vatican has ever approved and endorsed with a widespread liturgical veneration. In fact the Church celebrates its memorial every December 12, and in the Mexico it is celebrated as a feast after Pius X proclaimed Our Lady of Guadalupe as its patroness.
I believe Mary’s apparition to the Mexican native Juan Diego was a clear sign revealing to us that our Blessed Mother is still actively interceding for her children in her Son’s work of redemption, particularly in the new world discovered in 1492 by Christopher Columbus. Mary seemed to be telling the newly baptized Christians in the new world that she faithfully remains to be their loving Mother who wants to extend her tender loving care towards all the disciples of her beloved Son. In fact on Dec 12 of 1531, the fourth day after her first apparition to Juan Diego she spoke clearly about this matter. On that day, Juan Diego failed to meet up with her at the usual venue because he had to urgently find a priest to minister to his uncle who suddenly fell ill and was at the point of death.
So Mary suddenly appeared to him again this time at the Tepeyac hill where Juan Diego made a detour in search for a priest. When she heard Juan Diego’s reason why he avoided seeing her, she chided him for not invoking her maternal help, saying “¿No estoy yo aquí que soy tu madre?” meaning “Am I not here who am your mother?” Then at that moment after assuring him that his uncle was already out of danger and was getting well, she asked Juan Diego to gather the fresh flowers strangely blooming out of season on the hill that winter day; and she ordered him to take them to the bishop who was requesting for a sign. This eventually made the bishop believe in Juan Diego. Much more than the fresh flowers, it was, however, the beautiful Marian image miraculously imprinted on the tilma of Juan Diego that convinced the bishop to approve the historic apparition. Later on he had a Marian shrine built on that spot to honor the request of our Blessed Mother.
On our part we Filipino Catholics also manifest a special devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, which was believed to be the first Marian image brought to Cebu by Miguel Lopez de Legaspi in 1565, that year when the Sto Nino image given to Queen Juana in 1521 was rediscovered. And in 1935 Our Lady of Guadalupe was declared patroness of the Philippines by Pope Pius XI.
Today, however, with due respect to our Blessed Mother, we have opted to celebrate as a province the feast of St Francis de Sales, whose death anniversary we shall remember this coming December 28 when most of us will be home for our vacation.
As a priest and later on as a bishop St Francis worked untiringly for the salvation of souls dedicating himself particularly in the ministry of catechizing the faithful and re-educating adults to the Catholic faith. Thus were thousands of Protestant Calvinists enlightened in their faith and led back to the Catholic Church within a very short span of time. For this, St Francis soon merited the title “apostle of the Chablais” and later on was declared Doctor of the Church.
As we already know Francis was born on August 21, in the year 1567 in Chateau de Sales in Thorens, France. We are glad to know that Bros John and Raffy were able to visit that place after attending the canonization of St Artemide Zatti. Hopefully they can share their experience with us later on.
Francis’ father had very good plans for him. What he desired most for his son was a promising career and an amazing love life. He wanted his son to be a magistrate and at the same time a senator. And he chose for his son a future bride, a wealthy and beautiful young lady, daughter of the counsellor to his Highness and a senior Judge of Chablais. In fact his father had arranged a date for the two of them in an amazingly beautiful place close to Mont Blanc, and he looked forward with excitement to their wedding day. But Francis on his part hesitated to give his heart to the woman of his date. According one biographer “The desire to belong to the Church had continually been growing in him. From his childhood he had felt carried towards the Church. He had this in mind when he asked to be tonsured at eleven years old. In Paris he had promised his chastity to God; in Padua, his intention grew firmer.” This same biographer added that “Francis did not refuse this ‘splendid match’ because he despised marriage, but ‘out of certain interior ardor’ urging him to ‘belong entirely to God without having to share his heart with anybody.’”
So Francis tried to discern his true vocation in life. He prayed for wisdom, and surprisingly God showed him a sign and paved for him the way. With the consent of his hesitant father he was eventually ordained to the priesthood in 1593. He was appointed first as provost. Then he was sent as a missionary in the Chablais region to win back the Calvinists, after which he was consecrated bishop of Geneva in 1602.
We can say that Francis was able to sacrifice so many C’s in his life, such as a promising career, a life of comfort, and the charm of a prospective wife. In place of all these he was able to gain more important C’s namely Christ and his Church especially in Geneva, the center of Calvinism at that time. According another biographer, at the beginning of his difficult mission as a young priest in Thonon (1594) there were only around twenty Catholics out of three to four thousand inhabitants. After two years St Francis began to reap the first fruits of his hard labor. Eventually in the years that followed, thousands of other Calvinists came forward and converted to the Catholic Church, manifesting the fruitful mission of St Francis, the apostle to the Chablais. And in the space of four years, Francis was able to bring back a whole province to the Catholic Church.
I believe the fruitfulness of his mission in Chablais can be attributed to his five “P” points: (1) he PREACHED as best as he can; (2) he wrote PAMPHLETS of catechism and POSTED his sermons for people to read; (3) with patience he made PERSONAL CONTACT and engaged in PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS with people everywhere from the poorest citizens to the highest pastors of Calvinism; (4) he exercised his PASTORAL MINISTRY with zeal esp. to penitents and to all his parishioners no matter how far and remote their villages were without complaining about lack of funds and personnel; (5) his personal commitment to PRAYER, PENITENCE and PERSEVERANCE in holiness.
And underneath all these five P’s we are amazed to see the principal driving force, that is, the POWER of his LOVE for God and for his people. I am glad to share with you what St Francis said at the beginning of his mission when he was appointed provost by his bishop. Refusing the use of force suggested by many of the clergy against the Calvinists, he said: “Love will shake the walls of Geneva. By love we must invade it; by love we must conquer it… The smell of powder and steel, the taste of them, suggest the furnace of Hell, and I do not propose their use to you. I have no interest in organizing those camps, the soldiers in which are without piety or faith. Our camp must be God’s camp, where the trumpets sound in harmonious melody: ‘Holy. Holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts.’ …Ardent prayer must break down the walls of Geneva and brotherly love charge them… Everything gives way to love. Love is as strong as death (Song of Solomon 8:6). And to him who loves nothing is hard.”
I believe this would sufficiently explain why Don Bosco chose St Francis de Sales to be the patron of his challenging work for poor and abandoned youth.
To conclude, if there is something that our Lady of Guadalupe and St Francis de Sales have in common, I believe it is their unbounded love for the Church, the mystical Body of Christ, especially for Christians in the mission territories and in the peripheries of society. Let us pray that our Blessed Mother as well as St Francis de Sales may guide us in these coming years to be more zealous in our ministry, more committed in building our communities, and more faithful in our Salesian vocation, so that we may not only be ready for the coming of the Lord but may also allow Jesus to be born in the hearts of many more young people entrusted to our care. Let us also pray for our mission in Pakistan, and for confreres assigned in the peripheries of our province, including those who are sick and in crisis. GiGsss!
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