SCJ Philippine District

Pope John Paul II appears at the window of Rome's Gemelli hospital February 27, 2005, where he is recovering from surgery to his throat. Pope John Paul missed his weekly blessing for the first time in his 26-year pontificate on Sunday, but speaking through an aide, thanked the world for its concern over his health and asked the faithful to pray for him.



Lord, You invite all who are burdened to come to You. Allow your healing hand to heal your servant, John Paul. Touch his soul with Your compassion for others. Touch his heart with Your courage and infinite love for all. Touch his mind with Your wisdom, that his mouth may always proclaim Your praise. Most loving Heart of Jesus, bring him health in body and spirit that he may serve You with all his strength. Touch gently this life which You have created, now and forever. Amen.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on the sick and dying.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our death, Amen.



Please, feel free to place your personal prayers for the intention of the Holy Father.

Our former General Superior, Fr. Virginio Bressanelli, SCJ, has been appointed by the Holy Father as the bishop of the diocese of Comodoro Rivadavia in Argentina. It was announced by the Holy See on February 19, 2005. The SCJ District in the Philippines welcomes this news with great joy and supports the new bishop with prayers.

Here, below is the text of the letter of the present General Superior, Fr. José Ornelas Carvalho, SCJ, sent to the whole Dehonian Family on this occassion.





Recife, February 19th, 2005

Prot. N. 52/2005


To the Members of the Congregation



Dear Brothers,

I’m extremely pleased to inform you that the Holy See has officially announced that the Holy Father has appointed as the bishop of the diocese of Comodoro Rivadavia (Argentina) our fellow-Dehonian Father Virginio Domingo Bressanelli, who is my predecessor as Superior general of the Congregation.

Father Virginio Domingo Bressanelli, born at Beravebù (Santa Fé, Argentine) on 1st May 1942, began his formation curriculum for the religious and priestly life at one of the apostolic schools of the Congregation in Argentine, from where he was then transferred in Italy, where he achieved his studies in the universitarian institutes of Trento, Monza and Rome.

During this period of studying in Italy he pronounced his first religious profession in Bolognano (Trento) on 29th September 1961 and later on he was ordained a priest in Rome, on 17th December 1966.

In 1967 he obtained the Licence in Theology at the Pontificial Gregorian University in Rome. Then he turned back in Argentine, where he continued studying psycho-pedagogics. Subsequently he set on to work in the pastoral care and in the formation field.

At the birth of the Argentina-Uruguay SCJ-Province in 1983, he was appointed as the 1st Superior Provincial, holding this office for two three year periods till 1989. His service was characterized by his enthousiasm and openness to the probems of the Province and of the whole Congregation as well. During these first years where the young Province was confronted first of all with the problem of being understaffed, he never shrinked back from helping the new presences of the Congregation sending out his own religious in missions that needed them more (the Philippines).
This style of his service was earning much approval also on the part of other religious bodies in Latin America who recognized in his personality great capacities for this type of service. For that very reason he was elected vice-president of Latin-America’s Major Superiors (CLAR) which post he occupied from 1988 to 1991.

In the run-up for the XIXth General Chapter of 1991, he was a member of the Preparatory Committee, and during the labour of the General Chapter itself he was elected to be the 8th Superior General of the Congregation, which post he held for two mandates (=12 years), from 1991 till 2003.

In the capacity of a General Superior he has been also member of the 18 Consultors to the Holy Congregation for the Evangelization of the Peoples, and moreover he has taken part in the Bishops’ Synod celebrated in 2001 which occupied itself with the theme of the role of the bishop in the world and in the Church.

When his General’s mandate had come to the end, he passed a sabbatical year in Spain, studying and updating his acquaintance with formation themes in order to prepare for the formator task that awaited him when once he had come back in his Province.

Today the Holy Father entrusts him with the episcopal ministry over the diocese of Comodoro Rivadavia, a diocese situated in the South of Argentine, in the Patagon solitude on the Atlantic coast.
According to the Annuarium Pontificium of 2004 this diocese the foundation of which dates February 11th 1957, has un extension of 234.000 km². It has about 413.000 inhabitants, 345.900 of which are Roman Catholics and the sum total of diocesan priests is 26, of seminarists 9, and 22 members of male institutes; all this for 33 parishes and 90 churches and mission stations.

A not light task is awaiting Father Virginio’s but thanks to his human, spiritual riches and skillful leadership, he will no doubt succeed in serving this church in the spirit and truth of a son of Father Dehon. This is a service he takes upon himself with much Dehonian disponibility and a great love to the Church.

Having got to know and appreciate Father Virginio in his service as Superior General of the Congregation, we partake the joy of the whole church of Comodoro Rivadavia for his appointment as their leader, and we remain grateful for his service to the Congregation as our Superior General and for the testimony of his life, simple and disponible, we have witnessed of.

On behalf of the Congregation we assure him of our brotherly support, consisting in friendschip, prayer and help, so that he may be the shepherd the local Church of Comnodoro Rivadavia needs: a shepherd after the Heart of Jesus.

This year of the Beatification of our Founder, we give thanks to the Lord for bestowing the episcopal consecration on our brother, and to the Holy Father for demonstrating his confiding in the person of Father Virginio and in the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

We are brotherly associated with the Argentine Province, where Father Virginio was born for the religious life in the Congregation, celebrating togetherly the spirit of disponibility in the service of the Church, because we believe that God will not cease from blessing the generosity the Province furnished a clear proof of by accepting this service to the Church, specially in the context of the recent manpower problems the Province is facing up to.
We congratulate the relatives of Father Virginio also on behalf of the whole Congregation. We associate ourselves with them praying the Lord that he may bestow upon the new bishop abundant blessings for his service as the bishop of the Comodor Rivadavia diocese.

With kindes regards, in the Heart of Jesus,



Father José Ornelas Carvalho SCJ
Superior general

There are at three different Saint Valentines, all of them martyrs, mentioned in the early martyrologies for the date of February 14th.

One is described as a priest in Rome, another a bishop (of Interamna, the modern Terni). Both apparently were martyred in the second half of the third century and buried at different places on the Flaminian Way outside of Rome. The third St. Valentine was martyred in Africa with a number of companions.

Almost nothing is known about any of these early Christian men -- except that they died for the love of Christ!

The popular customs connected with Saint Valentine's Day's probably originated in medieval Europe. At that time, when "courtly love" was in flower, there was a common belief in England and France that on February 14th, precisely half way through the second month of the year, the birds began to pair.
Thus, we read in the 14th century English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer's "Parliament of Foules":

For this was on Seynt Valentynes' day
Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate. (Chaucer's original spelling).

This belief about "love-birds" is probably the reason Saint Valentine's feast day came to be seen as specially consecrated to lovers, and as a proper occasion for writing love letters and sending lover's tokens. The literature of the fourteenth and fifteenth-century in both France and England contain allusions to this practice.

This association with romantic love, along with the medieval revival of interest in classic literature, no doubt led to the "paganizing" of this martyr's feast, so that the Roman god, Cupid (the counterpart of Eros in Greek mythology), supplanted the saint in the celebration of the feast. In Roman mythology, Cupid, the son of Venus, was a winged immortal who had the mischievous habit of shooting invisible arrows into the hearts of mortals, which inflamed them with blind and helpless passion -- for the next person they might see.

The Golden Legend, a medieval book of stories about saints, says that Valentine, a priest, was imprisioned by the emperor Claudius II for leading people to Christ. While Valentine was being interrogated by a Roman officer, the priest preached Christ as the "one and only Light". The officer, who had a blind daughter, challenged Valentine to pray to Christ for her cure. The girl was cured, and the entire family were converted to Christianity.
According to legend, while awaiting execution, he wrote notes of instruction, affection and encouragement to the Christian community in Rome, which were secretly delivered by a boy who visited him in prison.

It is ironic that a Roman Christian who died defending the faith is now chiefly associated with a pagan god, Cupid!


A Prayer for Saint Valentine's Day

Most Gracious Heavenly Father, You gave Saint Valentine the courage to witness to the gospel of Christ, even to the point of giving his life for it. Help us to endure all suffering for love of you, and to seek you with all our hearts; for you alone are the source of life and love. Grant that we may have the courage and love to be strong witnesses of your truth to our friends and family and to the whole world. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Christ, as we begin this season of Lent, help us to open our hearts, minds and souls so we may transformed within. You have given us your teachings and your own life as a model of compassion, mercy and forgiveness; may we reflect on these more deeply as we prepare for the hope of Easter.

Help me to love you, Lord, and heed your voice as I listen intently to your scriptures and the social doctrine of your Chruch. Help me to always choose life and fulfillment by choosing the way of solidarity with everyone in the global community. May this Lent be a time when I move closer to understanding how I can live out your callings and challenges and how I can recognize myself as a part of your human family.


Thank you for the light you have given me, Creator, and guide me during this season of Lent, so I can reflect on your call and respond to your healing teachings. Help me to share my talents and gifts to build your Kingdom, where the hungry are fed and the oppressed are set free.


Lord, I trust in your promise to guide me and give me a rich inner life when I follow your call to share my bread with the hungry and help the afflicted. I delight in your goodness and the wisdom of our Church.


I give thanks for your unending love, Creator and Lord. You nourish my soul and I grow in knowledge, spirit and discernment as I listen to your teachings. I long to be ever more authentically human and to be open to the work of transforming structures and systems that prevent others from being fully human.


You invite us to follow you, Lord, and challenge us to love all your children, especially the poor, the marginalized, and even the sinners. Help us not to retreat in fear from them, but give us the courage to truly look at your least ones and to see you in them. We trust in your liberating mercy for all of us.


You nurture us as a loving parent, O God, and you delight in our creativity. Forgive us when we do not use this gift to build up your Kingdom; free us to work in joy and with our full powers to sow the seeds of truth, justice and peace.


Create in us a renewed and open heart, O Lord, and help us not remain indifferent to social injustice anywhere in your world. Help us shape the words "justice" and "peace" and teach us to use them daily so we can proclaim your goodness.


Dear God, your commandment to love our neighbor is so simple and so difficult. Guide us through the complexities of responding to this commandment and grow us in love.


Peace you offer us, Lord, but we so often turn away. Deepen our desire for peace every day, and help us be open to promoting peace every day.


You came to us in love, O Lord, and you offered yourself up to suffer and die out of love for us. Give us a love that is as wide as the whole world and let us rejoice in this love.

O Jesus, you place on my forehead
the sign of my sister Death:
"Remember you are dust,
and to dust you shall return."
How not hear her wise advice?
One day my life on earth will end;
the limits on my years are set,
though I know not the day or hour
Shall I be ready to go to meet you?
Let this holy season be a time of grace
for me and all this world.
"Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart."
O Jesus, you place on my forehead
the sign of your saving Cross:
"Turn from sin and be faithful
to the gospel."
How can I turn from sin
unless I turn to you?
You speak, you raise your hand,
you touch my mind and call my name,
"Turn to the Lord your God again."
These days of your favor
leave a blessing as you pass
on me and all your people.
Turn to us, Lord God,
and we shall turn to you.
Amen.

Lord,
you know your own,
those who love you,
those who walk in your footsteps,
those who call your name
with love and hope.

Be with those this day
in their beds of sickness,
those who you will take home,
those who you will give healing
those who will linger
in that twilight
until they are ready for the next step.

Tonight, I ask
especially that you watch over your servant
John Paul
who has worked until his body
has grown twisted and weary,
his heart, though, bright with your light.
And in this time of acute sickness,
hold his hand,
comfort him,
and be with him
and all others in such need of you.

Amen.