WHENEVER I go to the airport these days, I would always see a group of Chinese teenagers. And I would always wonder how their parents are able to send them to the US as tourists or as students. I’ll also get annoyed at seeing each one of them busy looking at their cell phones, either playing games or getting into social media. If St. Frances Xavier Cabrini were alive today, she would probably convince the pope or her bishop to allow her and her Sisters to go to China to evangelize the children and the people there.
That was Mother Frances Cabrini’s initial intention when she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1887. She wanted to go to China to spread the Christian faith and to do works of charity. But the Pope then, Leo XIII, told her, “No, not to the East but to the West.” Not to China, but to the United States of America!
Back then, during the Second Industrial Revolution and the Progressive Era of the US there was a burgeoning of immigrants from Europe. The pope wanted to Mother Frances Cabrini and her Sisters to minister to the Italian immigrants of Chicago, New York and other parts of the US.
Mother Cabrini took the challenge for her hearts was filled with zeal and fire to spread the Catholic faith and to help children and the poor. So she started opening schools, orphanages, and hospitals. Later on her ministry extended to Central America, South America, and other parts of Europe such as England and France. Mother Cabrini was unstoppable in her desire to help and to evangelize the poor, the children, and the immigrants. In her 28 years of fruitful ministry, she established at least 67 institutions.
Two of the institutions she established were here in Los Angeles. According to The Tidings (July, 24, 2007), in 1905, Mother Cabrini, at the invitation of Bishop Thomas J. Conaty, came to Los Angeles to serve the growing Italian immigrant population. She opened an orphanage on 610 North Hill street, and a parochial school at Alpine and Hill Street, which thrived for many years, serving more than 1,000 boys and girls.
Mother Cabrini was not only a woman filled with fire and zeal for the Gospel and for pastoral ministry. She was also gifted with strong administrative skills.
I’m certain that many of us can say that we’re also filled with fire and zeal for the Gospel and for pastoral ministry. That’s the Kingdom of God right there inside our hearts—that great desire to help spread our faith. We’ll have to keep recognizing and igniting it. For like Mother Cabrini, that fire within us can bear so much fruits; that fire later on can be translated in building communities and churches, and in organizing ministries for the sake of the Gospel.
But we should not only see or recognize the fire or zeal within us; we should recognize these gifts in others. And I’m sure that’ s what Mother Cabrini did—she also recognized the charisms in other people so she could fulfill her dream of building the Kingdom of God here on earth.
The faults of the Pharisees in the Gospel is that they did not perceive the Kingdom of God happening in their midst through the deeds of Jesus and those of the apostles such as he healing of the lepers and those with demonic possessions. They did not recognize the reign of God in the zeal and works of Jesus happening around them. And I’m sure that they were also blind to see what great things they can do for others if they were not blinded by their arrogance and prejudice.
Today, may we continue to ignite that fire and zeal for the gospel and pastoral works of the Church! May we see these gifts in others and invite them to use these gifts to bring fruitfulness to the Gospel!
(Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini was canonized on July 7, 1946 by Pope Pius XII. In Los Angeles, the saint’s only shrine is a one-room Marian Chapel that sits back in the parking lot of St. Francis Xavier Church in Burbank, California).
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From a Filipino immigrant family, Reverend Rodel G. Balagtas was ordained to the priesthood from St. John’s Seminary in 1991. He served as Associate Pastor at St. Augustine, Culver City (1991-1993); St. Martha, Valinda (1993-1999); and St. Joseph the Worker, Canoga Park (1999-2001). In 2001, he served as Administrator Pro Tem of St. John Neumann in Santa Maria, CA, until his appointment as pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary, Los Angeles, in 2002, which lasted 12 years. His term as Associate Director of Pastoral Field Education at St. John’s Seminary began in July 2014.
