Homily on the First Religious Profession; 24 July 2025, Shrine of St. John Bosco the Dreamer, Lawaan
Today is a big day for all of us. For the past three or four years, FIS had been suffering from a kind of vocational drought, a kind of provincial calamity which has brought about the absence of Novices professing for three consecutive years. Today we are thankful to God that he has finally blessed us again with Novices who together with their companions from FIN have persevered till the end of their novitiate formation to take this bold step of making their first religious profession in the Society of St. Francis de Sales.
I remember the day when I myself made my first profession 40 years ago in Don Bosco Canlubang together with Fr Fidel, and Br George. We were around 25 novices at that time including three from Sri Lanka. Although the celebration was much simpler and very private with no one from our families present to witness it, since they have already been invited earlier for our solemn investiture three months in anticipation, nevertheless we felt the pure joy of offering ourselves totally to the Lord, to become one with him in Obedience, Poverty and Chastity.
Dearly beloved parents of our professandi, we feel happy and blessed by your presence today. The Church and in particular the Salesian Congregation is sincerely thankful that you have allowed your sons to offer themselves to God in response to his call, and to be numbered among the sons of Don Bosco dedicated to the education and evangelization of youth especially the poorest among them. Certainly this big act of sacrifice you are making will never go unrewarded by the Lord who is never outdone in generosity. You are definitely a big inspiration to parents who are still hesitating to allow their kids to enter the religious life.
Dear Parents, I can feel what you feel. The smiles on your faces reveal the profound faith in your heart, somehow wanting to tell your sons, “My son, we would prefer to keep you at home with us but you are now in better hands;” or “My son, when you were born you became a big blessing from God to our family. Today is your birth in the Salesian Congregation, you are now our most precious offering back to God (kahit masakit, kahit may konting kirot sa puso namin).”
Dearly beloved Novices, do you realize the preciousness of this moment? It is not only you but also your whole family making this offering to God. They are offering you back to the One who gave you to them. But their offering can be acceptable to God only for as long as your self-offering is truly selfless, total and perpetual (though canonically your temporary vows may only be for one year or so.
We thank you for saying yes to God. Like Samuel in today’s first reading (1 Samuel 3:1-10), you have heard God calling you, and his voice you have gradually recognized by leaving home and entering the seminary. Now we thank you for responding courageously and generously with a BIG definitive YES to Him who loves you for who you are despite your weakness, despite your failures, despite your sins. May many more young people be inspired to give their YESes also to God with no fear, no hesitation, and no condition.
You have rightly chosen the name “Con Dio” Novices, which means “Novices with God.” All these years of your formation you have come to know Jesus Christ more clearly and more deeply as God’s beloved Son, Lord and Savior of the world. He is also the Bread of Life, who gives you his flesh and blood in the Eucharist so that you may have eternal life. He is also the Good Shepherd, who takes you to ever green pastures and keeps you one with him and his Church, safe from thieves and wolves. He is indeed the Good Shepherd who called Don Bosco and gave him the mission not only to protect the Lord’s flock from wolves but also to transform the wolves to lambs and sheep.
Today you are making your religious vows because you have reached the conviction that your happiness lies in Jesus alone, that without Him you are truly nothing. And rightly so because in today’s gospel (John 15:1-8) Jesus said “I am the vine, you are the branches… whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit. For without me you can do nothing.” Brothers and sisters, if we want to be fully alive, deeply happy and very fruitful in our ministry, we should strive to always stick to Jesus and never allow ourselves to be separated from him.
In these recent years there has been so much demand for internet connectivity. People, everywhere they go, feel the need for a strong and stable internet connection that will constantly link them with family, friends, and loved ones. However, what Jesus is telling us today is that all this internet connectivity will do us no great good if we miss being connected with the most important person in the whole wide world. And that person is no other than Jesus.
Today Jesus is saying to each one of us as he once did to his apostles, and he is saying it most especially to you, dear Professandi “I am the vine, you are the branches… whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.” This is the most important connection that we should establish and maintain consistently in our life. And it is a special connectivity that needs no wifi at all because it is powered and kept uninterrupted by at least three means: meditation, celebration and devotion.
(1) Meditation: it is the reflective listening to his God’s Word proclaimed to us especially in the Mass or printed in the Bible waiting to be read; (2) Sacramental Celebration: this refers to frequent Holy Communion prepared for by a regular Confession, and (3) Devotion: it refers to personal prayers and pious acts of devotion lifted up to God throughout the day “twenty-four-seven”.
For you dear Professandi and for us Salesians and religious we are actually blessed with two more means by which we can stay connected with the Lord throughout the whole day: (4) our community life and (5) our fidelity to the vows. These are the most effective ways by which we can be intimately united with Jesus and keep our connectivity with him, so that we may bear abundant fruits for the glory of God, for the well-being of those under our care, and for the building up of the Church.
Brothers and sisters, why are these five young men here in front of us so resolved to give up the world and become Salesians of Don Bosco? It is because of their passion for Christ and their willingness to dedicate their lives entirely for the young following the footsteps of St, John Bosco. Therefore, let us rejoice in the choice they have made precisely on this Jubilee Year of Hope. And let us pray during this Mass that these five young men who are offering their lives on this altar may be so abundantly blessed by God, in the same way that the five loaves and two fish were blessed long ago by the Lord, so that the miracle of multiplication may take place once again to fully satisfy the deep hunger of today’s youth for Jesus. GiGsss!
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