November / 2020

CONTENT

……… Presentation

……… Greeting (Fr. Michael Gergen)

……… Seven Reasons: Why Are Important?

… Saints of the New Millennium (Juan Carlos Montenegro)

……… One Click from God (Jorge Galvis)

……… Fratelli Tutti

(Fr. Fabián Cárdenas)

… In Memory of Our Deceased (Luis Chacón)

… "It is enough that you know"

……… NEWS SAVIO

……….… Schedule

Presentation

The bulletin that you have present here,

has the sole intention of offering you a formative

and educational opportunity in order to grow in your Christian

faith with a special emphaiss

on the Salesian style of life and action.

We hope that the articles and stories that we publish

here will help you in be a more positive member

of our multicultural society. It was the vision of Don Bosco

that our efforts to read and relflect would world for creating

a world where each of us would grow in our Christian faith

and understanding and at the same

time make us better members our civil socitey.

We hope you can enjoy this small space that we lovingly provide; in advance, we extend our sincere thanks

for allowing us to reach you by this digital medium.

Cordially,

Your St.

4 Schedule

A year ago none of us expected a What is the meaning behind our

pandemic nor the kind of life that celebration on November 2nd, the

we would be living today. The “Day of the Dead”? pandemic has challenged us, not just It is our hope at St. Dominic Savio to change our way of life, but also to that we will “come out” of the ask ourselves: What is important? pandemic with a faith that has been Where is God in all this? Where is made stronger by having been God in my life? tested. We at St. Dominic Savio have

prepared this digital magazine to Fraternally yours, Fr. Mike Gergen, SDB offer you a way to deepen your faith Pas tor – St. Dominic Savio Parish A Salesian and your friendship with God. Who Community

are the saints? Who is Blessed Carlo

Acutis? What does

have to say to us about life today and

how we should respond to the

pandemic?

5 Seven Reasons:

Why Are Saints Important?

1: The Saints are real Seeing a photograph of Therese of Lisieux resting in a chair near the end of her life, some American parochial students surprised their teacher with the question: “You mean she was real?” The reality of Saints is the place for us to start; these men and women and their stories and words are not legends, or some kind of religious equivalent of super heroes, or even two-dimensional historical figures, however inspiring. They really lived, and still live in the heavenly world.

2: The Saints struggle with the same problems we do. When we’re anxious about the pandemic and the shutdowns, we should remember Saint Catherine of Siena, who ministered lovingly to the sick when her townspeople were dying in the streets from the Black Plague. When we’re dismayed by the limitations placed on Christian worship and the aspersions cast on Christian faith that we see today, we should remember Saint Lawrence the , who, while being roasted to death on a grill, told his pagan torturers, “I’m well done on this side. Turn me over!” When we’re troubled by harmful thoughts, we should remember Saint Mary of Egypt, who fought heroically and alone in the Palestinian desert for decades, fighting the urge to return to the decadent life from which she had been called. The Saints know what we are going through and will respond to our calls for their help.

6 Seven Reasons: Why Are Saints important?

: por qué los santos son importantes? 3: The Saints are our heavenly helpers. Many of us have experienced, for ourselves, what millions of Christians have found during the long history of the church – that the saints are ready to respond to our prayers, to bless, protect, heal, and sanctify us. And during their own earthly sojourn the Saints themselves discovered this for themselves. See how Saint John Vianney continually turned toward the martyr Saint Philomena for her miraculous intercession; how Saint Andre of Montreal found Saint Joseph to be a healer and helper in all troubles and counseled all he met to "Go to Saint Joseph"; how the little-known contemporary Egyptian Saint Pope Kyrillos VI made the third-century martyr Saint Mina his miraculous helpmate in his difficult task of leading the Coptic Christians.

4: The message of the Saints’ lives and teachings are timeless and timely. We may not face an emperor demanding we sacrifice to pagan gods, or a king requiring us to condone his adultery, but the supernatural courage and heroic examples of a Saint George or a Saint Thomas More are an inspiration for all times. And how pertinent they are to our own struggles, as the Christians of today face a new degree and manner of persecution. “For a Christian, there is no teaching that is more efficacious than reading of the life of a saint, especially of one who has lived in his own time.” - renowned contemporary iconographer Photios Kontoglou.

7 Seven Reasons: Why Are Saints important?

5: The words and :actions por ofqué the los santos son importantes? saints are a sure guide and authority on how we should live. In an age when millions find celebrities more attractive than sanctity, and virtue-signaling takes the place of real virtue, we need to move our focus from the ways of the world and turn to the saints for a guiding light. And why not use the very tools of this age to do this? You can find excellent videos of the lives of the saints on YouTube, and Amazon is a great source for biographies of the saints and books of their writings, many of which are out of print and only available from the many independent bookstores that list their inventory there.

6: Saints are the best models of holiness. If we make the remembrance of the saints our constant companion and study, we will discover that their example will become the measure of our own behavior. You become what you behold, as one of our subscribers wrote about his own of the saints and their icons. “Blessed is he who plants good plants in his soul, that is, the virtues and the lives of the saints” -Saint Ephraim the Syrian.

8 Seven Reasons: Why Are Saints important? : por qué los santos son importantes?

7: Become friends with the saints, who will be with us and help us. Christian tradition clearly shows us the way to open a window to Heaven. If we place the icons and images of the saints in our home and church, we honor and pray to them (especially on their holidays), and we always remember to turn to them for guidance and help in every need, large or small, we can experience for ourselves their blessed protection, healing and intercession. “Join the saints and set out on your journey, because those who join them will be sanctified” - Saint Clement of .

Visit: Monastery Icons- (https://www.monasteryicons.com/) and see the images of these and many more saints.

Parroquia St. Dominic Savio 13400 Bellflower Blvd C.A. Tel: 562 920 77 96 9 www.saintdominicsavio.org

Saints of the New Millennium

By Juan Carlos Montenegro

If we ask ourselves what it is to be a saint, surely our answers will be very different depending on our history and our points of view, but really, what’s it like being a saint? According to Wikipedia “Use of the term. The Hebrew and Greek words for "holiness" convey the idea of pure or clean in a religious sense, apart from corruption. The holiness of God denotes his absolute moral perfection. ... The word saint is used as an adjective to indicate a direct relationship with God.” As I read this definition I say to myself, my God I will never be holy, as a human being, we have to deal with the corruption of our humanity every day, but what is actually being a saint? It is a person who seeks to create a relationship with the living God, a relationship where God is present in everything we do. When Don Bosco was to be canonized as a Saint, one of the objections to him being declared a Saint was that he never had time to pray, that he was so involved in day-to-day activities, that he did not have time to pray, but as we study the life of Don Bosco more deeply, we realize that everything Don Bosco did, turned into prayer, so Don Bosco was a man who prayed all the time. If I do an examination of conscience, I could say that many times my life is on "automatic pilot" meaning, that I live life without really being aware of what I am doing. I get up, have breakfast, work, and sleep, without really being present in the moment and really be able to thank God for the day he has given me. I think that is Holiness, the ability we have to see God in everything we do. It is obvious that many times we will make mistakes or get angry, but the ability to get out of those moments and surrender them to God, is what will make better human beings and above all better Catholics. The challenge we have, is how can we teach this to our young people? And maybe this will be the topic of our next magazine, so stay tuned.

10 One Click from God () By Jorge Galvis

At the beginning of October 2006, he grew both knowledge of his faith a young man entered a medical and his strong devotion to Jesus in center for what seemed like a the Blessed and to Mary, common flu, however after several whom he would later define as “the examinations, the medical only woman in his life”. authorities realized what seemed like a harmless flu, it really was type M3 leukemia, which did not provide an encouraging prognosis. There was no cure for this form of leukemia. A few days after his diagnosis, he left this life and met his maker, the One in whom he has always trusted. He was only 15 years old.

We are talking about Carlo Acutis, Carlo was and always showed himself as a simple young man and shared an interest in many of the things that are part of the usual life of boys we might meet today. The videos and the photos he took while a young man born in London on he was alive show us someone who May 3, 1991, to Italian parents, who was filled with the joy of life. He a few months after the child's birth made it a goal to bring that joy to moved back to their country, to others and to share with ohters the settle in . His parents at that joy he felt and lived. He loved time considered themselves nature, was fascinated by animals, Catholic (although they were not keen to fly a kite, passionate about really practicing Catholics). His chocolates, excited by the journey parents, however, entrusted Carlo's and the adventures of knowing new education, to the Marcelinas sisters places, enthusiastic about football and the Jesuits. With their guidance, and like a good number of young

11 people, fond of video games. He the creation of websites for his was fascinated by computer parish and his high school. His technology and computer contribution on the web was such programing. that it has been thought about him, as a strong candidate to be patron of the internet. Pope Francis himself recognizes him as a young man who "knew how to use new communication techniques to transmit the Gospel, communicate values and beauty."

In addition to this, he had a great On the day of his funeral, there sensitivity and taste for service, since were several immigrants, homeless he volunteered in some popular and other people, who on the arrival soup kitchens in his surroundings, of his body for the last goodbye, and sometimes left his house to go thanked him for his work and social to people who lived on the street and had nothing to eat. It was then, when he decided to share his own dinner, without anyone suspecting it.

His great heart was molded by the person of Jesus, whom he admired in the . For that reason he felt driven (taking advantage of all his information and technological commitment, after recognizing the knowledge), and undertook his good he had done in their lives, but project of documenting around 136 until that moment nobody knew. Eucharistic Miracles with photos, Finally, on October 10 of this year, testimonies and complementary 2020, Carlo Acutis has been information that would respond to recognized as blessed in the Church this specific fact; He was a catechist by Pope Francis. and broke with the professorial schemes to offer his catechized a Now we take his words to ask new didactics and pedagogy of ourselves: "And you, are you willing evangelization, he collaborated in to be original, or to be a copy of this world?"

12 A un One Click from God

Age does not matter here, what How memorable and satisfying it is really matters is the desire to to say a few brief words from this improve our world, learning and young man who, without doing valuing to enjoy life that we can take anything out of the ordinary, set out advantage of in the passing of each to make the ordinary the living day and in this simple way, be saints. expression of a God acting in the The key to the success of our midst of daily life, which is displayed holiness is nothing more than in the interpersonal relationship that growing in what we are passionate everyone we experience daily. Well, about. It is finding pleasure in our this boy without any kind of power behavior and putting it at the service (in the style of our favorite of others. That has been the holiness superheroes), knew and understood of this young Millennial, and why his life from the friendly and not say it? This is the challenge of cheerful service, even more, without humanity, especially of our youth, any kind of recognition, he took who, taking advantage of their most advantage of the opportunities and beautiful years, can project and tools of the moment to generate a generate a rebellion that generates greater approach and impact, just shock, credibility, passion, taste, because his life was just one click pleasure and service for those who away from God. have been forgotten. Young people, You and I, that is WE, can also be brave, because in you is the forget the idea of being copies and present, the now of this society that reflecting the originality of our needs a change to believe again and actions and our being Christian, get the best out of the community in because the world we are in, now which we find ourselves. Our hope more than ever urgently needs a is in you, you just have to click with change of mentality that allows us to your life in order to begin this see each other as brothers, without transformation, now tell me: political, cultural, racial and even Can we count on you? religious differences. We need to -----et the best out of the unite as the family that we are, which community in which we find does not focus on differences to ourselves. Our hope is in you, you divide itself, but on the contrary, just have to click with your life, in uses them to work in different fields order to begin this transformation, for the same interest. now tell me: Call we count on you-- --?

13

FRATERNITY

and SOCIAL FRIENDSHIP Fratelli Tutti By Fabián Cárdenas SDB

Dear Salesian Brothers, young people and lay faithful, Fratelli tutti!

Receive my warmest greetings, hoping that all your pastoral activities are producing the best spiritual fruits.

As you can see with my initial greeting, I would like to dedicate a The words of Pope Francis spring few words to encourage reading and from a pastoral heart, from a deeply reflecting, personally and in human and spiritual being who community, the new encyclical that yearns for the Kingdom of God Pope Francis has recently given us: and the active PARTICIPATION Fratelli tutti! On fraternity and social of his sons and daughters in its friendship. construction.

Reading the encyclical, it seems to me to be listening to a prophet, a man sent by God, focused on Him, with his feet firmly planted on the ground, who with his words, breaks open and highlights the reality of a society that has turned its back on Many of us have had difficulties human beings, on our brothers and when it comes to addressing the sisters. pontifical documents, their length,

their purely doctrinal content, their With the same style of Jesus of high theology, and overall, writings Nazareth, rooted in the evangelical that are sometimes difficult to message, specifically in the figure of understand. However, in this latest the "Good Samaritan", with the encyclical; the Pope writes to the grace, efficacy and power of the people of God, to all of us, in a pedagogy of life and love, the pope simple, beautiful, pleasant, decisive shows us once more that the and profound way. PRACTICE of tenderness and

mercy are the only means to save society.

15 Fratelli Tutti

Yes, practice, praxis, less talk, fewer ideologies, what young people, for example, cry out for: Coherence between our statements, what we believe and say, and the way we act. Pope Francis affirms it well:

conjunctural and decisive events at the political and social level, not only for this country, but for

humanity as a whole.

“Belief in God, and the worship of I invite you all, as Christians, God are not enough to ensure that Catholics, and Salesians, to allow we actually live in a way pleasing to ourselves to be challenged and God. The guarantee of an authentic inspired by the wise and audacious OPENNESS to God is a way of words of Pope Francis, who has practising the faith that helps open been sent to us by God in the our hearts to our brothers and wisdom of the Holy Spirit. sisters.” Happy reading!!! What an excellent message from the Holy Father for our school and parish communities here in the United States, which are facing

Parroquia St. Dominic Savio 13400 Bellflower Blvd C.A. Tel: 562 920 77 96 www.saintdominicsavio.org

16 In Memory of Our Deceased Day of the dead, of all saints, "holy death" and holiness

Por Luis Chacón

The Day of the Dead has its roots in the culture of pre-Hispanic Mexico. The altar of the dead has a strong link with the traditional agricultural seasons (the indigenous people used to hold a celebration to celebrate the corn harvest). In this celebration, the deceased come from the Mictlan (land of the dead) to share with their family the products of the earth, because in the indigenous worldview, death was not a definitive end, but a step to perfection that included a certain transformation. The Spanish discovered that the day on which the natives celebrated their dead coincides very closely with the day of All Saint. Then an attempt to merge the "day of the dead" and the Catholic tradition of All Saints' Day began, however today it is celebrated more like the day of the dead. Mexicans are heir to two strongly ritualistic stories, concentrated in dates and symbols, both Spain and pre-Hispanic Mexico are the strong sources of symbolism of the Day of the Dead. The theme of death has always had relevant meaning for Mexicans. The relationship between Mexicans and death is very close, because we come from people that have constantly faced the possibilty of death, whether due to war, hunger, lack, disease, etc. They did not expect to live long lives. It was so much an illusion that children were taught to expect that their parents would not be around forever. They taught their children to fend for themselves from a very young age, not to think about a

17 In Memory of Our Decesased long-term future, but to expect that their parents would soon be out of the picture. Octavio Paz affirms that poverty in Mexicans can be measured in their parties. In rich societies there is no time for parties because you have to be productive. In conditions of poverty the party compensates for the achievement that the poor Mexican will not enjoy. The poor person needs to celebrate today and not wait for a time of abundance that will not come. Due to the continuous thinking about death, several new traditions have emerged in Mexico. Today, Mexicans continue to constantly think about death. This constant thought has resulted in various expressions. One of them is the cult of “la santa muerte.” This cult is very different from the tradition of the Day of the Dead and the feast of all saints. The veneration of "Santa Muerte" is a cultural religious expression created recently (2001 approx.). In Tepito, Mexico City, whose main spokesperson (not to use the word "prophet" or "minister") was Enriqueta Romero. The "Santa Muerte" seems to have its origin in a mixture of Aztec elements (which represented life and death in human figures), Mixtec, Mayan and some elements copied from the (in relation to the veneration of the saints). The traditions and practices that surround this neo-tradition are: having a figure of a skeleton fully dressed in some color (black, red, blue, green depending on the favor you want to ask for) in an important place in the house; light candles and incense; ask for favors or miracles in exchange for sacrifices and / or orders; put an altar in their honor adorned with flowers, fruit, water, alcoholic beverages, sweets and money, etc.

18 In Memory of Our Decesased

The Catholic Church does not recognize in any way the veneration of "Santa Muerte". For the Catholic Church, this neo-cult is even forbidden, since death is only a cessation of biological life and a step to eternal life. Death is not a person or an entity. In some prayer to Saint Joseph he is asked to “grant us a holy death”, this means that Saint Joseph intercedes for us to have the opportunity to die in God's grace, with our conscience clear and surrounded by the people we love. It does not refer to the cult of "Santa Muerte" that began in Tepito. Death for the Christian is a step into eternity, death for the Christian is the end of biological life and the beginning of eternal life. The Day of the Dead should help us in a pedagogical way to project what is going to happen to us one day, since whoever forgets death also forgets life. The Day of the Dead is a perfect opportunity to continue giving immortality to those we love, because love transcends death itself. The memory of who we love and who has already died, is a way to enter into intimacy with that person in an unprecedented form of communion. The Day of the Dead helps us understand the life of the one we love as a work of art, as a symphony that is only understood when it has reached its final note. The Day of the Dead puts us in tune with life itself. Knowing that we are finite and that one day we are going to finish, invites us to reflect on the way we live today, on whether we are struggling to be the best version of ourselves before harmonizing the last final note of our existence. To think about death for the Christian, is to think about the life he leads today, is to enjoy each of the minutes, hours, days, in order to be able to respond the same as Saint Dominic Savio, when his friends in the Oratory asked him about: What would you do if you knew that the moment of your death is a few hours away? (Domingo replied) "I would continue to do exactly the same thing that I am doing right now."

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Tel: 562 920 77 96 www.saintdominicsavio.org 19 PADRE NUESTRO

Por Georg Leben

When you pray, do it this way: "Father" because you live really grateful for the vitality you have;

Say "Our" because every day it teaches you to share what you have;

Recognize "Who is in heaven" since he wants to share the Kingdom with you;

"Sanctify his name" because you seek to do each work to his teaching;

Invocation "to bring his Kingdom to us" since the material does not meet your expectations;

Focus on "Doing his will" because the pedagogy of love is your way;

Ask for and be thankful for “our daily bread” because no matter how great the need, you have not lacked anything;

20 Our Father

Open your heart to "Forgive your offenses and that of others" if you find it difficult to forget;

Invite him so that "Do not fall into temptation" and remain free;

Pray that you "Deliver you from evil" and learn to see his will;

It states "That the Kingdom belongs to him" because he gives it to you at no cost;

He admits his "Power" because with humility he never makes you feel less;

Give "Glory" to the one who, in his greatness, was given the task of creating you as a unique being on all the face of the earth;

And always say "Amen" because your gratitude does not fit in your being.

Parroquia St. Dominic Savio 13400 Bellflower Blvd C.A. 21 Tel: 562 920 77 96 www.saintdominicsavio.org “It is enough that you know ”

With all the change experienced by This way of working has allowed us the pandemic and the consequences to share more types at home and that this virus has brought with it, I with it, the possibility of spending must say that my father has given more time in the warmth of home me life lessons that I want to share and family life. However, to be with you now. honest, I was already on the verge of madness, with my father's My father was part of a company meticulousness, because every time that provided technical support for a new computer arrived, he took a home computers, which was directly plastic box, inserted all the screws, affected as a result of the mandatory cables, tapes, circuits... He removed quarantine, taken as a preventive it, closed it, and marked it with the measure. In search of new date, the computer reference, and opportunities, my father never lost the customer's name. his calm and confidence, he used to repeat at various times: "Let's not I say my father's meticulous lose hope, everything happens for mentality, because after repairing something and maybe this time it the computer, I had to see how three will be for something better." So he or five screws were left out of place started offering his services but (as it usually happens to all of us from home; If someone needed when we want to fix something), maintenance or technical repair, however my father, following his they had to come to our house, leave commitment and ethics, returned to their computer at a safe distance, call disassemble everything, until you my father and inform him that his find the place of origin of each equipment was outside to be screw. checked.

22 “It is enough that you know”

One day I can't stand his - Exactly, just me, and that's enough, perfectionism and I express to him: to get things done. Look, in life we are subject to doing things, only if - Dad, you are wasting time in they are watching us, it is more we disassembling everything again, just believe that we deceive others, but to locate three simple screws, leave ultimately the one who is deceiving that as it is, just like the customer is nothing more than you. So when will never know you do something, it doesn't matter My father directed his gaze towards if others see you or not, it is enough me, got up from his desk and with a that you know it, to do things well, look full of feeling he replied: just because: - Who knows that these three screws "It is enough that you are not in place? know” - Nobody, but you (I answered) Anonymous

Parroquia St. Dominic Savio 13400 Bellflower Blvd C.A. Tel: 562 920 77 96 www.saintdominicsavio.org

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These are some of the news that continue to happen in our St. Dominic Savio Parish since the pandemic led us to close the physical doors of our temple:

1 Masses Online Monday to Friday 12:00 PM

Sundays 10:00 AM

www.saintdominicsavio.org

Masses Outside Saturday 5:30 PM

Sundays 6:30 AM / 10:00 AM 11:30 AM / 5:30 PM

Tune in to 88.5 FM radio (If you are in the parking lot of the Church) 2 4 3 LECTIO DIVINA Prayerful study of God's word through ZOOM

Wednesday 7:00 PM

www.saintdominicsavio.org

4 Eucharistic Adoration

Thursday 7:00 PM

www.saintdominicsavio.org

Food Pantry Food aid to those in need

Thursday Starting at 8:00 AM

www.saintdominicsavio.org

25 Young adult conversation (Spanish) Food aid to those in need

Wednesday 9:00 PM

7 Oratory Space for children from 7 to 12 years old. Recreation and explanation of the Word of God

Saturday 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Confessions 8

Saturday 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM Parish Hall

26 10

Schedule

November 2020

Domingo Lunes Martes Miércoles Jueves Viernes Sábado

1 2 Faithful 3 4 5 6 7 All St Martín St Carlos Departed de Porres Saints Borromeo Outside 6:30 PM 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Basilica of Letrán

15 16 17 18 19 20 21 St. Isabel Basilica of Presentation of St Pedro of the Virgin Hungría and Mary St. Pablo 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Memory of Thanskgiving Mass Mary Help of Christians Outside 9:00 AM 29 30 St. Andrew Apostle

Parroquia St. Dominic Savio 13400 Bellflower Blvd C.A. Tel: 562 920 77 96 www.saintdominicsavio.org

27

On behalf of our St. Dominic Savio parish community, we want to thank all the people who with their generosity and good hearts have donated to us in person or online through our website

saintdominicsavio.org/donate

Thanks to you, we have been able to continue with the pastoral work of our community; you will continue to be in our prayers so that our Good God continues to bless you and multiply your generosity.