To the Band of Brothers:

 BYM Edition #2
 

7/3/2025
Fr. Willie, S.J. ’87 | President

One of the highlights of the BYM experience are the shared homilies during the daily Masses. I know best practice is for the presider to give a short reflection after the gospel is proclaimed, but this rare exception provides an opportunity for our boys to ponder the experience and share it with their classmates.

The fact is, when encouraged, these guys have great potential for reflection. The key is to get them to realize that examining the experience is where they can truly identify the presence of Jesus. Even all the way up here, in the dust and heat and exhaustion, they can find Christ and take great comfort in him.

After getting his permission, I wanted to share one powerful reflection…

Many of the boys spend hours carrying PVC pipes on their shoulders and walking them up and down the mountain to where another group is digging a trench. After several trips, one of our guys began to feel the physical strain of such an arduous task. He began questioning why he would spend nine days of his summer doing this. Then, he saw his shadow cast by the afternoon sun on the dirt road. In it he noticed a resemblance to what could have been Jesus carrying the cross. While he carried pipes down the mountain, Jesus carried the cross up.

What motivated Jesus to take on such an arduous task amid the dust, heat, and exhaustion when he didn’t really have to? Why such suffering? The only answer, he said, was love. In the suffering of Jesus was the love of Jesus. Sometimes, to love means to suffer. And so it was for him. In his suffering in the mountains of the DR, his love for the people of the DR was his motivation.

I have to tell you, I have preached to these kids a million times about the necessary link between love and suffering. I have pointed to the marble crucifix that hangs on the back wall of our chapel a hundred times to get the point across. But it was in that shadow on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere that the message made the most sense.

I assure you, there was no homily I could have preached last night that could have come close to being as perfect as that boy’s reflection. It just shows you how the Holy Spirit can muscle his way into our hearts and produce an abundance of grace. Jesus was there, even in the shadows.

Don’t forget the Hail Marys.

Auspice Maria.