"He is born and is ready to begin a new life at your side. He will make but one demand of you; that your gaze pass from the crib to your own heart. Will you offer your heart to this little Child, to this your God who had become man to save you?"
- Venerable Emmanuel d'Alzon, Founder of the Augustinians of the Assumption

A Christmas Message from Fr. Dennis Gallagher, A.A., Provincial Superior of the North American Province.

The Chapel of the Holy Spirit was the recent site for the Festival of Lessons and Carol, a cherished holiday tradition at the college. It drew its inspiration this year from the recent Vatican Synod on the Amazon and the care of creation. The music was led by the Chapel Music Ministry and the readings were proclaimed in several languages by various members of the Assumption community of students, faculty, staff and administrators. The presider was Fr. Ron Sibugan, A.A.

We had an impressive group of young men visiting with us last night from St. John’s Prep. In our conversation with them after dinner, each of them was asked to offer an observation about the service work they had done earlier in the day at a soup kitchen and a residence for adults with cerebral palsy. There was nothing at all “pro forma” about their words. Each of them highlighted a particular dimension of his experience in a way that indicated how much he had been moved by it.

Ordination to the Priesthood of Father Jean-Bosco Kambale Kanyama, A.A. a young religious from the Democratic Republic of Congo, by Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec.

Augustinians of the Assumption

Le Montmartre Quebec City, Canada

November 3, 2019

www.lemontmartre.ca

Reflections from Fr. Dennis Gallagher, Provincial of the Assumptionists North American Province

Should we sing patriotic hymns at Mass? At the parish I go to on weekends, “America the Beautiful” or even “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” is often the recessional hymn on weekends before national holidays. At one time there seemed to be more ambivalence about this - mixing up, it was said, two different loyalties and two different loves. That's not unreasonable, but one hears this complaint less frequently nowadays. Maybe it's the circle I travel in.

The civic holiday that appears least in danger of being out of sync with Christian sensibilities is Thanksgiving. You could certainly muck up that assertion by referencing the treatment of Native Americans, but at least in terms of the core disposition underlying the holiday, its affinity with Christian faith is pretty clear. To have survived the perils of the voyage and the hardships of settling in an unfamiliar and often inhospitable land was just the ticket for setting aside time to give thanks. It must have felt like redemption. Protection from disease, the blessing of a bountiful harvest, freedom from religious persecution were all signs of a divine hand at work.