January 31: Saint John Bosco, Founder (1815-1888)
Saint John Bosco accomplished what many people considered an impossibility; he walked through the streets of Turin, Italy, looking for the dirtiest, roughest urchins he could find, then made good men of them. His extraordinary success can be summed up in the words of his patron Saint, Francis de Sales: The measure of his love was that he loved without measure.
John's knowledge of poverty was firsthand. He was born in 1815 in the village of Becchi in the Piedmont district of northern Italy, and reared on his parents' small farm. When his father died, Margaret Bosco and her three sons found it harder than ever to support themselves, and while John was still a small boy he had to join his brothers in the farm work. Although his life was hard, he was a happy, imaginative child. Even as a boy, John found innocent fun compatible with religion. To amuse his friends he learned how to juggle and walk a tightrope; but he would entertain them only on condition that each performance begin and end with a prayer.
As he grew older, John began to think of becoming a priest, but poverty and lack of education made this seem impossible. A kindly priest recognized his intelligence, however, and gave him his first encouragement, teaching him to read and write. By taking odd jobs in the village, and through the help of his mother and some charitable neighbors, John managed to get through school and find admittance to the diocesan seminary of nearby Turin. As a seminarian he devoted his spare time to looking after the ragamuffins who roamed the slums of the city. Every Sunday he taught them catechism, supervised their games and entertained them with stories and tricks; before long his kindness had won their confidence, and his Sunday School became a ritual with them.
After his ordination in 1841, he became assistant to the chaplain of an orphanage at Valocco, on the outskirts of Turin. This position was short-lived, for when he insisted that his Sunday-school boys be allowed to play on the orphanage grounds, they were turned away, and he resigned. He began looking for a permanent home for them, but no decent neighborhood would accept the noisy crowd. At last, in a rather tumbledown section of the city, where no one was likely to protest, the first oratory was established and named for Saint Francis de Sales. At first the boys attended school elsewhere, but as more teachers volunteered their time, classes were held at the house. Enrollment increased so rapidly that by 1849 there were three oratories in various places in the city.
For a long time Don Bosco had considered founding an Order to carry on his work, and this idea was supported by a notoriously anticlerical cabinet minister named Rattazzi. Rattazzi had seen the results of his work, and although an Italian law forbade the founding of religious communities at that time, he promised government support. The founder-priest went to Rome in 1858 and, at the suggestion of Pope Pius IX, drew up a Rule for his community, the Society of Saint Francis de Sales (Salesians). Four years later he founded an Order for women, theDaughters of Mary, Help of Christians, to care for abandoned girls. Finally, to supplement the work of both congregations, he organized an association of lay people interested in aiding their work.
Exhausted from touring Europe to raise funds for a new church in Rome, Don Bosco died on January 31, 1888. He was canonized in 1934 by Pope Pius XI. The work of John Bosco continues today in over a thousand Salesian oratories throughout the world. No modern Saint has captured the heart of the world more rapidly than this smiling peasant-priest from Turin, who believed that to give complete trust and love is the most effective way to nourish virtue in others.
Lives of the Saints for Every Day of the Year. (Reprint of the work of John Gilmary Shea, with Appendix including recently canonized Saints) (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1955. Third Edition: Tan Books and Publishers: Rockford, Ill., 1995).http://www.magnificat.ca/cal/en/saints/saint_john_bosco.html With permission.
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31 Janvier: Saint Jean Bosco, prêtre, confesseur, fondateur des Salésiens (1815-1888)

Jean Bosco naquit en 1815 dans un village du Piémont. Ses parents étaient de pauvres paysans; mais sa mère, demeurée veuve avec trois enfants, était une sainte femme. Le caractère jovial de Jean lui donnait une grande influence sur les enfants de son âge. Il les attirait par ses manières aimables et il entremêlait avec eux les divertissements et la prière. Doué d'une mémoire extraordinaire, il se plaisait à leur répéter les sermons qu'il avait entendus à l'église. C'étaient là les premiers signes de sa vocation apostolique. Son coeur, soutenu par celui de sa mère et d'un bon vieux prêtre, aspirait au sacerdoce. La pauvreté, en l'obligeant au travail manuel, semblait lui interdire l'étude. Mais, par la grâce de Dieu, son courage et sa vive intelligence surmontèrent tous les obstacles.
En 1835, il était admis au grand séminaire. "Jean, lui dit sa mère, souviens-toi que ce qui honore un clerc, ce n'est pas l'habit, mais la vertu. Quand tu es venu au monde je t'ai consacré à la Madone; au début de tes études je t'ai recommandé d'être Son enfant; sois à Elle plus que jamais, et fais-La aimer autour de toi."
Au grand séminaire, comme au village et au collège, Jean Bosco préludait à sa mission d'apôtre de la jeunesse et donnait à ses condisciples l'exemple du travail et de la vertu dans la joie. Prêtre en 1841, il vint à Turin. Ému par le spectacle des misères corporelles et spirituelles de la jeunesse abandonnée, il réunit, le dimanche, quelques vagabonds qu'il instruisait, moralisait, faisait prier, tout en leur procurant d'honnêtes distractions. Mais cette oeuvre du dimanche ne suffisait pas à entretenir la vie chrétienne, ni même la vie corporelle, de ces pauvres enfants.
Jean Bosco, bien que dépourvu de toute ressource, entreprit donc d'ouvrir un asile aux plus déshérités. Il acheta pour 30.000 francs une maison payable dans la quinzaine. "Comment! lui dit sa mère devenue son auxiliaire, mais tu n'as pas un sou vaillant!" -- "Voyons! reprit le fils, si vous aviez de l'argent, m'en donneriez-vous? Eh bien, mère, croyez-vous que la Providence, qui est infiniment riche, soit moins bonne que vous?"
Voilà le trésor divin de foi, d'espérance et de charité dans lequel Jean Bosco, malgré toutes les difficultés humaines, ne cessa de puiser, pour établir ses deux Sociétés Salésiennes de Religieux et de Religieuses, dont la première dépasse le nombre de 8 000, et la seconde celui de 6 000, avec des établissements charitables multipliés aujourd'hui dans le monde entier.
Abbé L. Jaud, Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950.http://www.magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/saint_jean_bosco.html Avec permission.
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El 31 de enero: San Juan Bosco, Presbítero (1815-1888)

Es el santo de la juventud. El santo de los obreros, el santo de la alegría, el santo de María Auxiliadora y el santo de muchas cosas más. El verano de 1815 nacía en Becchi-Piamonte (Italia) de padres humildes pero muy buenos cristianos. Desde muy niño hubo de trabajar duro al lado de su santa madre, la mamá Margarita, para sacar la casa adelante. De su santa madre recibió una profunda educación cristiana y un gran amor a la Virgen María junto con un gran respeto hacia los sacerdotes. Ambas cosas quedaron profundamente impresas en su alma.
Ya desde niño demostró estar en posesión de cualidades nada comunes en todos los sentidos: Era simpático, agudo, inteligente, trabajador y muy mañoso con cuanto se proponía. Desde niño y después de joven, pero sobre todo de sacerdote, trabajará tanto que parece casi imposible cómo en sólo 72 años de vida pudo realizar tantas y tan importantes obras. Alguien ha dicho que trabajó él solo más que diez hombres juntos de no cortas cualidades.Cuando llegaba a Castelnuovo, Asti o Murialdo y algún titiritero atraía a pequeños y grandes durante el tiempo de la Misa o del Rosario, se presentaba él y decía: "Yo lo hago esto sin haceros pagar, tan bien o mejor que él pero con una condición: Que vengáis después todos conmigo a la Iglesia"... Lo hacía y arrastraba a los espectadores a tornar parte en cuanto en el templo se hacía. Así iba llenando la iglesia de fieles a la vez que limpiaba el pueblo de personas poco recomendables...
Ya dijimos que mamá Margarita admiraba a los sacerdotes. El los veía demasiado arrogantes y lejanos del pueblo, sobre todo de los niños y decía: "Si yo llego a ser sacerdote, como espero, jugaré con los niños y los querré, les haré cantar y con alegría a todos querré salvar"...
Cuando vistió el hábito clerical le amonestó aquella santa mujer que fue su madre: "Puedes imaginarte, hijo mío, la gran alegría que embarga mi corazón, pero, por favor, no deshonres nunca este hábito. Sería mejor que lo abandonaras. Cuando viniste al mundo te consagré por entero a la Virgen María; cuando comenzaste los estudios te recomendé la tierna devoción hacia Ella; ahora te encarezco que seas todo de Ella... Si llegas a ser sacerdote, recomienda y propaga siempre su devoción..."
Tenía muchos sueños y todos ellos muy "famosos y se cumplían". Se ordenó sacerdote el 1841 y desde entonces no paró hasta dar cobijo y digna educación a tantos niños que veía abandonados por las calles. El rezo de un Ave María hizo el milagro y fue el primer eslabón de esta maravillosa cadena de sus ORATORIOS. Centenares, millares de niños abandonados encontraron calor, educación, comida, vestido y cobijo cariñoso como en su propia casa. Mamá Margarita y su hijo se desvivían por ayudar a aquellos rapaces que el día de mañana serían buenos padres cristianos.
Dos eran las armas de que se servía, sobre todo, D. Bosco, para formarles: La eucaristía y la penitencia. Estos dos sacramentos obraban maravillas en aquellos jóvenes... Hasta le creyeron un poco mal de la cabeza por los "sueños" que llenaban su corazón y su mente en favor de los abandonados... Obraba milagros, pero siempre era Ella, la VIRGEN AUXILIADORA, quien los hacía, decía él. "No he sido yo, ha sido la Virgen Auxiliadora quien te ha salvado"... "Cada ladrillo de esta iglesia - se refería a la gran Basílica que en su obsequio empezó el 1863 - es una gracia de la Virgen María"... Para continuar su OBRA el 1857 fundó los Salesianos y poco después las Hijas de María Auxiliadora. Ellos llevan su espíritu. Antes de que le llegue su preciosa muerte a pequeños y grandes durante el tiempo de la Misa o del Rosario, se presentaba él y decía: "Yo lo hago esto sin haceros pagar, tan bien o mejor que él pero con una condición: Que vengáis después todos conmigo a la Iglesia"... Lo hacía y arrastraba a los espectadores a tornar parte en cuanto en el templo se hacía. Así iba llenando la iglesia de fieles a la vez que limpiaba el pueblo de personas poco recomendables...
http://www.magnificat.ca/cal/es/santoral/san_juan_bosco.html Con el permiso.

[The latest in a reflection series on Franciscan virtues by Friar Pete, O.F.A., St. Michael's Hermitage, Regina, SK]

The hardest trial for most of us, especially those of us in religious life, is road rage.  Especially when we are so knowledgeable about the rules of the road.  How could anyone cross a yellow line to turn over the lane of oncoming traffic to get into the gas station!  You know, traffic would run so much smother if people would just stop swerving around cars wanting to turn left at an intersection:  why are they being so bleepity bleep inpatient!

Clearly, there are moments when as a Franciscan I’m tarnished by my attitude.  (Or maybe it’s just an opportunity to learn patience!)

Our society has perceived rules which make it run smoother, or are at least designed in such a way as to create a smother flow.  Traffic rules make it easier for traffic to flow provided everyone follows the rules.  But when people slip from seeing rules as rules and instead perceive them as guidelines, accidents happen.
In a very similar way, we have conventions and rules in our social interactions.  You’re supposed to treat people kindly and with respect.

When I was in Toronto for the first time last June, I noticed after I left Union Station and began my walk to the convent the vast distances between people.  Sure, people were walking and driving busily at the end of a business day, but as I walked down Bay Street I couldn’t help but notice that while there were people in very expensive clothes, there were literally people peeking out from the alleys around the garbage bins, people who weren’t being noticed.  There were people in front of Union Station trying to sell things, everything from pirated music cd’s to Jesus.  And, in the pocket parks between Union and Church, there were people literally asleep on the grass wearing everything they owned.

Here in Regina, because I’m not always downtown I don’t notice if there are homeless.  But there is a guy who wheels down the alley every couple of days; he goes through the garbage bins looking for scrap, in what I suppose is his means of income.

When I hear people talking about the homeless, or the underemployed, the most common thing that I hear is:  why don’t they clean themselves up and get a job?  Their lives would be so much better if only they could get work.

I used to be of this mindset.  I used to believe that if people would just pick themselves up and dust themselves off, their lives would be so much better.  But I’m beginning to realize that people who say these things are playing by guidelines, not rules.

Because the reality, I suspect, is that if a homeless person did clean themselves up to the best of their ability, they wouldn’t be able to get a job because the rules of the road say:  don’t hire someone who will create fear in your work environment.  And in a culture of fear, especially a culture of fear no one wishes to acknowledge exists, poverty is one of the key fears we run from.

One of my pet talking points is the moment that St. Francis realized he was playing by guidelines and not rules.  Francis’ had a toxic fear of lepers.  When he would see a leper approaching from one side of the road, he would cross to the other side, cover his mouth and nose with his hand, and look the other way. 

This was hit home to me during the Toronto Pride Parade.  As I stood on the sidewalk watching, streams of people walking past myself and my bishop, A homeless man looking very much like an Indian sadhu (long hair, long beard, shirtless, but in ecstatic joy and dance from the festival going on) walked one way through the crowd, and in the opposite direction a young man, well dressed, very metrosexual,  grimaced, covered his face, and looked the other way.

Francis realized that in order to be truly courteous, in order to exercise courtesy in a sacramental way, he had to play by the rules.  Which meant that courtesy had to be extended not only to the individual he felt safe with, but those who terrified him.  So, one day, when he was traveling along the road and a leper approached, he embraced his fear, accepted it, but did not allow it to control him.  He dismounted the horse, walked to the leper, gave him a coin, and kissed his hands.  This is a big thing, even for us!  Leprosy is a disease that fills the skin with “corruption” (read a polite way of saying decay, rot, filth, odour, gangrene).
To put this into perspective, consider the most filthy, disgusting, or frightening thing you can imagine.  Consider your greatest fear or phobia.  Now consider embracing that to the point that you surround yourself with it, engulf yourself with it, because this is an act that brings you closer to the Divine.  This is what Francis did.

Many of us are eager to engage with mission, or we want to go out into the world and do great things.  This in itself is not a bad thing, or an undesirable thing to do.  But in order to practice service in the spirit of Christ, we must be willing to first engage and embrace those among us who are the lepers of our locality.  We must be willing to engage and embrace the homeless, the minorities, the oppressed.  We must be willing to engage those who are crippled by the poverty of excess, the poverty of wealth, the poverty of prejudice, the poverty of privilege.  The poverty of religiosity (or modern day Pharisees and Sadducees of the religious far right and left). 

And, we must be willing to engage in the courteous act of prayer with God, engage in the courtesy of sacramental life with Jesus Christ.  Without the solid foundation of regular engagement in prayer, we are at risk of being broken by the world.  A regular holy hour, if possible in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, that includes reading scripture or scriptural commentary, is a means of building a foundation to work with courtesy in the world.  For me, this includes centering prayer as a regular practice.  If we are not willing to follow the rules of courtesy before God first and foremost, the rest of our lives will eventually crack and crumble.  I’ve experienced this in my own life in the last few months, where a relationship with my boyfriend put my prayer practice second.  It was just a little bookmark saying, “I will come back to you, Lord.”  But the implication of doing so was so significant that I’ve had to come back to making a regular, dedicated effort to daily prayer and contemplation.
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Courtesy begins with God and our relationship with God.  It transcends down into our relationships with friends and family, transcends into our attitudes towards our neighbours and colleagues, transcends finally into how we approach our fellow human beings, and the planet we live on.
As a gardener?  This makes perfect sense.  Treat the soil well, the soil will treat you well in return.  Treat the space as Sacred, and the space will in turn respect your sacred part within it.

January 29 (Novus Ordo: January 24): Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop, Doctor of the Church (1567-1622)
Saint Francis de Sales was born in 1567 near Annecy, of noble and pious parents, and studied with brilliant success at Paris and Padua. On his return from Italy he gave up the grand career which his father had destined for him in the service of the state, and became a priest.
When the duke of Savoy resolved to restore the shattered Church in the Chablais, Francis offered himself for the work and set out on foot with his Bible and breviary, accompanied by one companion, his cousin Louis of Sales. It was a work of toil, privation and danger. Every door and every heart was closed against him. He was rejected with insult and threatened with death, but nothing could daunt him or resist him indefinitely. And before long the Church blossomed into a second spring. It is said that he converted 72,000 Calvinists.
He was compelled by the Pope to become Coadjutor Bishop of Geneva, and succeeded to that see in 1602. Saint Vincent de Paul said of him, in praise of his gentleness, How good God must be, since the bishop of Geneva, His minister, is so good! At times the great meekness with which he received heretics and sinners almost scandalized his friends, and they protested when he received insults in silence. One of them said to him, Francis of Sales will go to Paradise, of course; but I am not so sure about the Bishop of Geneva: I am almost afraid his gentleness will play him a shrewd turn! Ah, said the Saint, you would have me lose in one instant all the meekness I have been able to acquire by twenty years of efforts? I would rather account to God for too great gentleness than for too great severity. God the Father is the Father of mercy; God the Son is a Lamb; God the Holy Ghost is a Dove; are you wiser than God? When a hostile visitor said to him one day, If I were to strike you on the cheek, what would you do? Saint Francis answered, with his customary humility, Ah! I know what I should do, but I cannot be sure of what I would do.
With Saint Jane Frances of Chantal, Saint Francis founded at Annecy the Order of the Visitation nuns, which soon spread over Europe. Though poor, he refused provisions and dignities, and even the great see of Paris. He died at Avignon in 1622.
Reflection. You will catch more flies, Saint Francis used to say, with a spoonful of honey than with a hundred barrels of vinegar. If there were anything better or more beautiful on earth than gentleness, Jesus Christ would have taught it to us; and yet He has given us only two lessons to learn of Him — meekness and humility of heart.
Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894); Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 2.http://www.magnificat.ca/cal/en/saints/saint_francis_de_sales.html With permission.
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29 Janvier (Novus Ordo: 24 Janvier): Saint François de Sales, Évêque et Docteur de l'Église (1567-1622)
Saint François de Sales naquit au château de Sales, en Savoie, de parents plus recommandables encore par leur piété que par la noblesse de leur sang. Nommer ce saint, c'est personnifier la vertu de douceur; il fut le saint aimable par excellence et, sous ce rapport particulièrement, le parfait imitateur de Celui qui a dit: "Apprenez de Moi que Je suis doux et humble de coeur." Ce sera là toujours le cachet et la gloire de François de Sales.Toutes les vertus, du reste, lui étaient chères, et sa vie, depuis son enfance, nous en montre le développement progressif, constant et complet. Jeune enfant, au collège, il était le modèle de ses condisciples, et dès qu'ils le voyaient arriver, ils disaient: "Soyons sages, voilà le saint!"
Jeune homme, il mena la vie des anges. Prêtre, il se montra digne émule des plus grands apôtres, par ses travaux et par les innombrables conversions qu'il opéra parmi les protestants. Évêque, il fut le rempart de la foi, le père de son peuple, le docteur de la piété chrétienne, un Pontife incomparable.
Revenons à sa douceur; elle était si étonnante que saint Vincent de Paul pouvait dire: "Que Dieu doit être bon, puisque l'évêque de Genève, Son ministre est si bon!" Un jour ses familiers s'indignaient des injures qu'un misérable lui adressait, et se plaignaient de le voir garder le silence: "Eh quoi! dit-il, voulez-vous que je perde en un instant le peu de douceur que j'ai pu acquérir par vingt ans d'efforts?"
"On disait communément, écrit sainte Jeanne de Chantal, qu'il n'y avait pas de meilleur moyen de gagner sa faveur que de lui faire du mal, et que c'était la seule vengeance qu'il sût exercer." -- "Il avait un coeur tout à fait innocent, dit la même sainte; jamais il ne fit aucun acte par malice ou amertume de coeur. Jamais on n'a vu un coeur si doux, si humble, si débonnaire, si gracieux et si affable qu'était le sien."
Citons quelques paroles de François lui-même: "Soyez, disait-il, le plus doux que vous pourrez, et souvenez-vous que l'on prend plus de mouches avec une cuillerée de miel qu'avec cent barils de vinaigre. S'il faut donner en quelque excès, que ce soit du côté de la douceur." -- "Je le veux tant aimer, ce cher prochain, je le veux tant aimer! Il a plu à Dieu de faire ainsi mon coeur! Oh! Quand est-ce que nous serons tout détrempés en douceur et en charité!"
Saint François de Sales mourut à Lyon, le jour des saints Innocents.
Abbé L. Jaud, Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950.http://www.magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/saint_francois_de_sales.html Avec permission.
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​El 29 de enero (Novus Ordo: El 24 de enero): San Francisco de Sales, Obispo y doctor de la Iglesia (1567-1622)

San Francisco de Sales "uno de los más fieles trasuntos del Redentor", era hijo de los marqueses de Sales. Nació en Saboya el año 1567. Se educó en Annecy, en París y en Padua. En 1593 es ordenado sacerdote. Pasa largas horas de oración. "Las almas se ganan con las rodillas", confesaba. Atiende sin prisa al confesonario, predica, asiste a todos los necesitados.
Su celo apostólico no tenía fronteras. La provincia de Chablais había caído bajo el protestantismo. Hacia allí se dirige con su primo Luis para devolver aquellas ovejas al redil. Fue un trabajo paciente y costoso. Redactaba unas hojas sueltas, las célebres Controversias, que luego llegaban hasta los protestantes. Así le leerían los que no acudían a oírle.
A él se debe la conversión de más de sesenta mil calvinistas. El obispo Granier, que ve los frutos de la predicación de Francisco, lo recomienda como su sucesor. El año 1603 fue consagrado obispo. Multiplicó ahora su tarea apostólica: catequesis, predicación, sínodos diocesanos. Las dificultades eran numerosas. Entre otras la situación de la diócesis, que comprendía zonas de Saboya, Francia y Suiza. Era obispo titular de Ginebra, pero desde la rebelión protestante los obispos residían en Annecy. Un día Enrique IV, rey de Francia, le ofreció un rico obispado. Francisco contestó: "Me he casado con una mujer pobre. No puedo dejarla por otra más rica".
Uno de sus más fecundos apostolados fue el de la pluma. Tratado del amor de Dios. El arte de aprovechar nuestras faltas. Cartas. Controversias- Y quizá su mejor libro, de perenne actualidad, Introducción a la vida devota, que comprende una serie de normas para santificarse en el mundo.
Francisco se encontró en su camino con un alma excepcional, Santa Juana Fremiot de Chantal. Entre los dos surgió una honda amistad, ejemplo típico de equilibrio afectivo entre dos almas que caminan hacia Dios. Juntos fundaron la Orden de la Visitación, que consiguió pronto óptimos frutos.
Su vida era muy intensa. En París se encontró con Vicente de Paúl, que diría después: "¡Qué bueno será Dios, cuando tanta suavidad hay en Francisco!" Vuelve a su diócesis, y al llegar a Lyon se sintió desfallecer. Allí rindió su alma con la calma y serenidad de toda su vida. Era el 28 de diciembre de 1622, a los 56 años de edad. Sus restos fueron trasladados a la catedral de Annecy. Hoy reposan, cerca de la Cofundadora, en el monasterio de la Visitación, que domina el bello paisaje del lago y la ciudad. Canonizado el 1665, fue declarado Doctor por Pío IX el año 1877.
Santos son aquéllos que guardaron toda la agresividad para sí mismos, suele decirse. Eso fue Francisco, exigente consigo mismo, y ejemplo de moderación y de equilibrio para los demás. Es el santo de la dulzura, el apóstol de la amabilidad. "El más dulce de los hombres, y el más amable de los santos", a pesar de su fuerte temperamento. Se cuenta que al hacerle la autopsia, encontraron su hígado endurecido como una piedra, explicable por la violencia que se había hecho aquel hombre de fuerte carácter, que era en el trato todo delicadeza y suavidad. "En los negocios más graves derramaba palabras de afabilidad cordial, oía a todos apaciblemente, siempre dulce y humilde", afirma la Cofundadora, que le conocía bien.
La influencia de San Francisco de Sales en la espiritualidad ha sido enorme. Cuando San Juan Bosco buscó un protector para su familia religiosa lo encontró en él, y por eso su obra se llama salesiana. Salesianos y salesas llenan el mundo. Y es patrono de los periodistas católicos.
http://www.magnificat.ca/cal/es/santoral/san_francisco_de_sales.html Con el permiso.

Septuagesima Sunday [Dominica in Septuagesima]: January 28, 2018
Delivered by Most Reverend Roger LaRade, O.F.A.
Primate, Eglise Catholique Eucharistique - Eucharistic Catholic Church
Beloved Disciple Catholic Church, Toronto
© 2018 Roger LaRade
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1 Cor. 9, 24-27 & 10, 1-5; Matthew 20, 1-16
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In the Traditional Roman Calendar, a period named pre-Lent begins three weeks before the First Sunday of Lent. This year, this period begins today with Septuagesima (Seventieth) Sunday, to be followed by Sexagesima (Sixtieth) and Quinquagesima (Fiftieth) Sundays. These Sundays are connected, by their titles, with Lent, called in Latin ‘Quadragesima’ (Fortieth). These three Sundays are not numbered exactly to Easter, yet their spiritual significance stands as a preparation for Lent, and so, for Easter. In the Mass, the tone is penitential: the Gloria in Excelsis is omitted, the Alleluia before the Gospel reading is replaced with a Tract, and purple vestments are used. This will continue throughout Lent until Holy Saturday. The period of pre-Lent helps us to ease into the great fasting and penitential observances of Lent.
 
On this Sunday, we re-begin our journey toward Easter. Indeed, some liturgists see in Septuagesima Sunday rather than the First Sunday of Advent a more appropriate beginning to the Liturgical Year. In the Divine Office, the readings bring us to the beginning of the Book of Genesis; that is, to the beginning of humanity’s journey in relationship to God. We are reminded of humanity’s distancing itself from God and of God’s invitation to us to return. The Church places us in the midst of the mystery of human life and of salvation history.
 
The Gospel readings for the three Sundays are, respectively, the Parable of the Labourers in the
Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16), the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23), and Jesus’ Going to
Jerusalem, with the Cure of Bartimaeus (Luke 18:31-43).
 
In the Gospel for this Sunday we hear the Parable of the Vineyard, in which workers called at different times, and therefore having worked different amounts of time, are all paid equally. This strikes me today as a beautiful image of God’s love for all of us. No matter at what time we respond to God’s invitation to love, God’s love will fill us according to His will. The Kingdom of God is not a meritocracy. God’s love is egalitarian.
 
And so, the Parable is also a poignant image of God’s answer to our pride and self-centeredness, and entitlement. No matter the value we place on our efforts in discipleship, no matter how we may highly esteem our ways compared to others, God loves us all equally. I am no better – and hopefully no worse – than anyone else who endeavours to love God and do good in the world.
 
Today, God is calling us to love Him in others without pride and self-centeredness, and entitlement; calling us to love without tallying the rewards; calling us to love without competition; calling us to love for His love alone.
 
As God invites us today, at this beginning of our preparation for Lent, let us consider how we love one another, and let us ask for the grace to love ourselves, to love others, as God loves us.

Das Kapital vs Das Evangelium
Homily for Septuagesima Sunday 2018
Father Richard Sorfleet
​Saint John the Evangelist Eucharistic Catholic Church Mission, Renfrew ON

The parable of the vineyard owner and his hired help is always a difficult one for us to come to terms with given our views of social justice and fair labor practices, and the natural instinct of expecting more pay and benefits for hrs worked and last in the door/first out. However we are not dealing with the principles outlined in Marx's Das Kapital but Christ's Das Evangelium.
On the surface all had been offered and as a key point, accepted one denarius as their pay for the day's work, and all in the end took the money when paid off by the steward when quitting time came.
The vineyard was not a cooperative where workers and management sit down a collectively set the product quotas and employees' pay and benefits. Right from the outset it is made clear who is the owner and who are the workers, and who themselves were given the opportunity to accept or decline the job offer.
And that brings one to the opening of the parable itself even before the owner sets off to the city square to offer a day's work to the men for hire and having been to the MidEast this is still a daily practice and means of employment and livelihood for many.
Matthew beings with 'the kingdom of God is like...'
Everything else that follows must be seen in that context, not in collective ageeements and minimum wages measured by the hour.
We are given the opportunity to work in the Lord's vineyard. We can accept or decline that offer. The terms are very simple to understand as was that of the one denarius. However, the kingdom into which we enter is a place where all are equal and equally treated. There is no last in the door/first out, and God's grace is for all in equal measure. 
We still see God's Kingdom and Heaven in terms of a celestial reflection of the medieval world and its hierarchy of those of the elite that rule and fight, those that pray and the vast rest of us that work; a reflection without all the horse manure, cold, hunger and early death.
True, as the conclusion to the preface to the eucharistc prayer  reads
and so with angels and archangels, with thrones and dominions, and with all the hosts and powers of heaven
there is a heavenly host but we are not part of that,
rather we are the great multitude [Rev 6: 9, 19: 6] invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb; the vineyard's one denarius everlasting life to stand as part of that great assemblage to rejoice and exult [Rev 19: 7] 
One of the workers complained about bearing the burden of the day and the sorching heat
Again in Revelation7: 16- 17
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
    the sun shall not strike them,
    nor any scorching heat.
17 
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
    and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes 
ESV
He didn't get the point of the parable he had just experienced, and after hearing it the question is do we?