Anniversary

Arrived in Detroit last night and have been spending much of the day preparing for my presentations to the Oblates of Francis de Sales for their yearly assembly or convocation. The more I prepare this, the less I know what to say… at least for the opening talk. The second and third interventions are all in good shape.

And today is 29 years - my anniversary of ordination. I have not had too much time to think of it since I have been on the road, but I have received a few e-mails of good wishes from friends, principally from classmates of mine of the Crocetta.

The day of ordination was a Saturday, feast of St Joseph Cafasso. My province companions for ordination were Jesús Montes, Michael Gergen and Robert Delis. They had decided the venue (St Bibiana Cathedral in L.A.) and left to me the date, since I had to travel from Torino. I opted for 23rd because it was a Salesian feast (St Joseph Cafasso was Don Bosco's friend and spiritual director)…

My second motive was that ordination on that date would allow me to celebrate my first mass on 24 June, feast of St John the Baptist. John the Baptist is my father's patron saint, as well as the saint celebrated by Torino and Don Bosco with his young people. It also meant the ordination was early enough in the summer so the others could move forward. They had all finished school in April at Berkeley and were surely becoming anxious. I had only finished a week earlier in Torino and, if I can admit it, I was very sad to leave that wonderful place that was the Crocetta, the oratorio there, the city of Don Bosco. Strange as it may seem, when I returned to my native Los Angeles, I was terribly homesick for Torino. But that's the feeling that I had, even through the days of ordination and first mass… and perhaps for the entire year.

But today I am in Detroit: the city where my mother grew up. Nobody here is aware of this anniversary and I am not telling them. It allows me to quietly dwell with it. I reflect and remember all the people that have been important in my life. I recall numerous events. I sit with gratitude for undeserved blessings. This is not the time for parties; it is the time for rememberings.