Greetings my dear brothers and sisters, confreres, Redemptorist Lay partners on mission, associates, and collaborators,
On the 5th of January we, the Redemptorist family celebrate the feast of St. John Neumann. The Life of St John Neumann is a shining example of one who was a pilgrim of Hope. We have just entered into this New year 2025, a special year in the Catholic Church, a Holy Year, a Jubilee Year with the theme of this Holy year as Pilgrims of Hope. The Holy Father in inaugurating the Holy Year with the Bull of induction entitled SPES NON CONFUNDIT. “Hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5).
On this occasion, we have another Online Triduum preached by Fr. Ivel Mendanha, CSsR, General Consultor for the preparation of the feast. So, each of these days in preparation for the feast we will reflect on the following themes.
Day 1: St. John Neumann a pilgrim of Hope
The Life of St John Neumann is a shining example of one who was a pilgrim of Hope. We have just entered into this New year 2025, a special year in the Catholic Church, a Holy Year, a Jubilee Year with the theme of this Holy year as Pilgrims of Hope. It is in this context we reflect today on St. John Neumann as a pilgrim of Hope. He knew what it was to hope and he never gave up despite the many challenges and obstacles that he had to endure all his life. Let us reflect on a few of them. St. John Neumann new suffering. He experienced it personally in a myriad of ways. Yet, he never gave up. He was steadfast in his HOPE. The sufferings were many in his life: First, The loneliness in the seminary in Prague, away from his own hope town. Yet, he never gave up but kept hoping that one day he will be a priest. Second, His desire to be a missionary priest in the USA. Third, his life as a missionary diocesan priest in upstate New York Fourth, His life as a Redemptorist was a joyful one as he went about proclaiming the Good News in mission preaching as a missionary of Hope especially among immigrant people. Fifth, without warning, in 1852, Pope Pius IX commanded the Redemptorists to accept Neumann’s appointment as bishop of Philadelphia Finally, Neumann hoped that one day if it was God’s will, he would see his family. But the little Bishop’s service came to an abrupt end, for on January 5, 1860, while on his usual rounds, he collapsed in the street and died. In 1921 Pope Benedict XV declared that Neumann practiced all the Catholic virtues to a heroic degree. Pope Paul VI beatified Neumann on October 13, 1963, and canonised him on June 19, 1977. He was the first American man to be elevated to sainthood. Neumann was truly a pilgrim of Hope all his life until his life pilgrimage ended with his going home to the God of Hope and uniting with the Lord in heaven.
Day 2: St. John Neumann a Missionary of Hope
In Spes Non Confundit, “Hope does not disappoint”, Pope Francis says that during the Holy Year we are called to be signs of Hope to our brothers and sisters who experience hardships of any kind. In this reflection in preparation for the feast of St John Neuman we reflect on how St. John Neumann was a sign of hope himself, how he was a Missionary of Hope in the footsteps of the redeemer to so many women and men and children who were experiencing hardships of various kinds.
First, we begin with his life as a Missionary priest in upstate New York. Neumann believed that allowing Catholic immigrants to remain empty of the Word was contrary to God’s will. Further, he believed that God wanted him to be the messenger of the Gospel to those isolated from the Church. So, he embraced his calling with ‘all the zeal of a missionary of hope.’
Second, his life as a Redemptorist Missionary of Hope.
Third, Neumann as Bishop, a missionary of Hope. Without warning, in 1852, Pope Pius IX commanded the Redemptorists to accept Neumann’s appointment as bishop of Philadelphia. He was consecrated bishop on Passion Sunday, March 28,1852, taking the words, ‘Passion of Christ, strengthen me,’ as his Episcopal motto and becoming known as the ‘Little Bishop’.
In conclusion, John Neumann is called today, the patron of immigrant people and especially immigrant children for whom he opened so many schools as Bishop so that they would have a good Catholic Education. He was truly, to use the words of Pope Francis, a sign of Hope to the poor immigrant people from different European cultures struggling to live their Catholic faith in a largely anti Catholic environment in the USA.
Day 3: St. John Neumann and sources of his Hope
In Spes Non Confundit, “Hope does not disappoint”, Pope Francis states that Hope is born of love and based on the love springing from the pierced heart of Jesus upon the cross: “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life” (Rom 5:19). That life becomes manifest in our own life of faith, which begins with Baptism, develops in openness to God’s grace and is enlivened by a hope constantly renewed and confirmed by the working of the Holy Spirit.
So, we ask ourselves today in this third reflection, what were the sources of Hope in the Life of St. John Neumann. There are many:
First, His desire to do the will of God. Deprive me of everything, my God, but not of the desire to unite my will to your will in perfect resignation! (Neumann’s diary).
Second, His total trust in God. I have always had the greatest confidence in God, who always seconds what one undertakes for his glory. (Neumann’s letter to Sister St. John)
Third, Rooted in Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. The very core of the Life of a Redemptorist Missionary comes from his union with Jesus, the Redeemer most powerfully experienced in the Blessed Sacrament.
Fourth, His devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Hail! Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy! … Unto us all give strength against our enemies and thine, courage to those that fear, joy to those that mourn, peace to the contrite of heart, and perseverance to the just. (Neumann’s pastoral letter, The Feast of Saint Charles Borromeo, 1854).
Fifth, The Missionary Spirit from the Gospels and St. Paul. The Word of God was always a source for deep reflection and that fuelled the Hope in St John Neumann.
Sixth, The Redemptorist Congregation, its charism and mission with inspiration from the founder St. Alphonsus. The Redemptorist charism which was a call to proclaim Good News to the most abandoned and especially the poor fuelled his Hope that enabled him a Redemptorist to reach out to the poor and abandoned immigrant Catholics with the Word of God, a Word of Hope. The example of St. Alphonsus as missionary and founder, as Bishop and Pastor was a great example and beacon for John to follow in his own life as a pilgrim of Hope.
Seventh, the world of creation. He writes in his journal a beautiful thought which reflects how he drew from creation for his inner life of Hope. O my God! I thank you for the love you have planted in my heart. I will cultivate this precious flower. I will guard it night and day that nothing may injure it. O Lord, water it with your grace. (Neumann’s diary)
All of these were the sources of a life of deep Faith, Hope and Love in St. John Neumann that made him a true pilgrim of Hope and a Missionary of Hope. We thus seek his intercession today.
Feast Day: St. John Neumann: A missionary with a heart for the Poor, Simplicity and Humility rooted in the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and in devotion to Mary.
The Communicanda, “You are the Light of the world” speaks of the 5 lamps that each Redemptorist must have lit constantly so as to encounter with joy the hour of the Redeemer. These lamps are what fuel our hope in the Redeemer and thus enable us to be Missionaries of Hope in his footsteps.
The 5 lamps are: The Light of our witness of life, The Light of our missionary availability, The Light of our simplicity of life and fidelity to our evangelical counsels, The Light of our humanity, and finally The Light of our capacity to serve the most abandoned.
We see that each of these lamps were burning brightly in the Life of John Neumann.
First, The Light of his witness of life. Second, The Light of his missionary availability. Third, The Light of his Simplicity of Life, the Evangelical Counsels. Fourth, The Light of his humanity. Fifth, The Light of his service to the Abandoned.
The Holy Father, Pope Francis speaks about being a sign of Hope for immigrants today in his Papal Bull for the Holy year. He says, “Signs of hope should also be present for migrants who leave their homelands behind in search of a better life for themselves and for their families. Their expectations must not be frustrated by prejudice and rejection. A spirit of welcome, which embraces everyone with respect for his or her dignity, should be accompanied by a sense of responsibility, lest anyone be denied the right to a dignified existence. Exiles, displaced persons and refugees, whom international tensions force to emigrate in order to avoid war, violence and discrimination, ought to be guaranteed security and access to employment and education, the means they need to find their place in a new social context.
John Neumann lived his life as priest, Redemptorist and Archbishop as a true light, a sign of Hope to immigrants, the most abandoned of his time in the USA.
Each day will be uploaded before the start of the Triduum (from the 1st of January evening) so that those you can get the link to the video, reflect upon and pray with us any time of the day.
Scala News
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