|
The Miles Jesu members at the St. Josaphat Formation Center in Phoenix, Arizona celebrated the Vatican approval of Miles Jesu on Sunday, February 10th, with almost 80 members and friends present. Phoenix is the birthplace of Miles Jesu, and so the Vatican approval had a special importance for those members here who go back to the founding of the Institute. At the reading of the Vatican Decree everyone in the chapel applauded enthusiastically, giving thanks to God for this big blessing from His Church and for the perseverance of our founder and Father General, Fr. Alphonsus Maria Duran, M.J., in working tirelessly to improve and expand Miles Jesu.
Besides the special significance of the January 6th date of the document being on the feast of the Epiphany, a significant feast for Miles Jesu, the September 13th date cited in the Decree of the initial erection of the Institute by the Bishop of Phoenix in 1973 is another special “coincidence” of God’s providential plan. September 13th is the feast of St. John Chrysostom in the Latin Rite. Since 1990 Miles Jesu has made an enormous commitment to the Church and society in Ukraine with 5 foundations to date, including a parish church, a Boys’ Town, a soup kitchen for the poor that feeds 300 people a day in L’viv and three domus communities, all celebrating daily the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. The hard working members of Miles Jesu in Ukraine have been very well received, and have been recognized by the Episcopal conference there as the Institute from the West that has inculturated itself most effectively in Ukrainian society and the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Rite. As a fruit of this generous work in Ukraine, the community at the Baseline property has been under the canonical jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Catholic Rite since 1998 — whose Major Archbishop-Cardinal Lubomir Huzar is a strong supporter and good friend of Miles Jesu.
The February 10th celebration of the approval had added meaning since it was the anniversary of Paul Murphy’s death, the eve of the feast of our Lady of Lourdes. A plaque and other keepsakes at the Center remind all who come here that Paul lived in this very same house before his death in 1976 from a malignant brain tumor. As a layman with vows of poverty, chastity and obedience who worked as a professional in the world and attained a high degree of holiness as such, Paul Murphy is the exemplary model for members of Miles Jesu. Paul lived here along with Father and other Miles Jesu members-some now deceased and others still going strong-when Bishop McCarthy of Phoenix officially erected Miles Jesu as a pious union in the diocese. Paul is still working for Miles Jesu from Heaven interceding for all we do, and surely he helped to obtain the Vatican’s approval. We give special thanks to God, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and to our brother Paul for this important milestone in the life of Miles Jesu, while at the same time we beseech their continued blessing and protection!
Previous | Next
|
