![\"Screen](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/salesianbulletin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/screen-shot-2020-04-10-at-11.04.36-am.png?resize=720%2C399&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nToday, Holy Thursday, I returned to the Provincial House after my 14 days of quarantine.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I came back on time to join the provincial community for their Holy Thursday Mass and dinner.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I wish to thank Fr. Jospeh Mathew Paradayil, Pastor and Director of the St. Francis Salesian Community and the entire Watsonville Salesian community for their very kind and warm hospitality.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I thank Br. Mike Herbers for preparing a wonderful space for me to spend the last 16 days and delivering the care packages sent by the community.\u00a0\u00a0 I am grateful for the Salesians\u2019 care and visiting me (from afar) and all the small kindnesses which made my stay more enjoyable. \u00a0Although mostly isolated from people, I did have a chance to keep in touch with many people through phone calls or internet communication.\u00a0\u00a0 I had the privilege of being able to take long walks on the camp property, around the neighborhood and down on the beach.\u00a0\u00a0 The scenery and beautiful sunsets were very impressive and easily inspired moments of prayer and reflection.\u00a0\u00a0 I thank God for this powerful time and experience!<\/p>\n
I have had two zoom meetings with the provincial council and one with the Directors and Pastors of the Province.\u00a0\u00a0 While these meetings have not been long (an hour to two), it has been good to connect and see how everyone is doing.\u00a0\u00a0 The Provincial Council plans to connect through zoom every week, if needed.\u00a0\u00a0 We will try to connect with the Directors and Pastors again in a few weeks.\u00a0\u00a0 We will try to include community members who wish to participate. \u00a0The Youth Ministry Department, under the guidance of Br. Al Vu and with help of Gina Robles and Andres Neria, have also been able to keep in communication with young adults and CYMS.\u00a0\u00a0 They have prepared a Triduum retreat which you can access online.<\/p>\n
I would like to thank all of our provincial leadership, whether lay or SDB, for their dedication and accompaniment of those in their charge, especially, the young.\u00a0\u00a0 All of our schools are doing distance education or learning and seem to be doing a great job.\u00a0\u00a0 I have only heard positive feedback.\u00a0 Some have offered other resources for spiritual accompaniment which are quite impressive.\u00a0 Fr. Thien Nguyen mentioned to me that he was doing distance oratory with the young people of St. Francis.\u00a0\u00a0 I know it has been a challenge and has taken a great effort to set up adequate communication mechanisms, but it seems to be working and the young people are responding in a positive way.\u00a0 THANK YOU and CONGRATULATIONS!<\/p>\n
I wish to thank our Pastors and their associates for setting up daily live-streaming services.\u00a0\u00a0 I am impressed how every parish is stepping up to accompany their flock and be present to them during these trying times.\u00a0 Different parishes have tried different options to offer not only the Eucharist through the internet but also Lenten and Holy Week retreats, resources which offer hope, strength and spiritual growth.\u00a0\u00a0 Most of you are also offering the Triduum Services!\u00a0 THANK YOU!<\/p>\n
![\"IMG_3112-preview\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/salesianbulletin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/img_3112-preview.jpg?resize=720%2C960&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n
Today we have begun the Sacred Triduum, the three most holy days for us Christians.\u00a0 Our Jewish sisters and brothers are also celebrating Passover and our Muslim brethren celebrate Ramadan at the end of this month.\u00a0\u00a0 All three religions celebrate significant feasts which require crowds and groups to gather.\u00a0 This year, perhaps, like never before in our life time, have we been challenged to celebrate these days with a minimum amount of people and through the internet.\u00a0\u00a0 Our Easter meal gatherings will be limited to our communities.\u00a0\u00a0 Families are opting to celebrate with only those living in the same household.\u00a0\u00a0 But, already we hear stories of people connecting and celebrating via the internet.<\/p>\n
As we celebrate these significant days which have meant so much to us, let us connect with each other in prayer.\u00a0\u00a0 Our Heavenly Father sent Jesus, his son and our brother, to show us how to be truly human and at the same time, divine.\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus came to show us primarily the face of our compassionate God and how to love.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The washing of the disciples feet was more an act of love than an act of teaching us humility.\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus loved and because he loved, he was willing to stoop down and humble himself.\u00a0\u00a0 To humble oneself without love is an empty gesture.\u00a0\u00a0 Christ even loved Judas who betrayed him, and offered him forgiveness and hope.\u00a0\u00a0 That is the good news.\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 Crucifixion was another act of love and an example of how to respond in love to acts of violence and ignorance, \u201cFather, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0In the midst of hatred, fear, jealousy and \u00a0the insecurity of losing power, which we read about in the Gospels, Jesus shows forgiveness, patience and strength, which came from his rootedness to God, his merciful Father.\u00a0\u00a0 In the end, that which seemed hopeless and dark, that which gave the impression of death and failure,\u00a0 was transformed, through the power of God, to new life, light and Resurrection!\u00a0\u00a0 These holy days are meant to lead us into a deeper reflection on how we live our lives.\u00a0 These days, if celebrated with devotion and honesty, will also lead us to new life and hope.\u00a0\u00a0 Even in the midst of our darkness and fear, God is there to show us his faithfulness and his power over death.\u00a0\u00a0 We do not always know how that will happen in our lives or how it will be experienced.\u00a0\u00a0 Hopefully, the weeks after Easter will give us all a chance to tell those stories of hope and resurrection.<\/p>\n
![\"IMG_3068-preview\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/salesianbulletin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/img_3068-preview.jpg?resize=720%2C540&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n
In the name of the province and all our Salesians brothers, I wish all of you a very Holy and Blessed Easter!\u00a0\u00a0 May you experience moments of resurrection and new life.\u00a0 \u00a0May you and your families be blessed and graced with God\u2019s love and protection.\u00a0\u00a0 Be assured of our prayers, especially, during the Easter Season.\u00a0\u00a0 And, may we soon be able to gather in large groups as we did before and share stories of hope, resurrection and new life graced by our living and faithful God.<\/p>\n
Fr. Ted<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Salesian Sisters and Brothers, Today, Holy Thursday, I returned to the Provincial House after my 14 days of quarantine.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I came back on time to join the provincial community for their Holy Thursday Mass and dinner. I wish to thank Fr. Jospeh Mathew Paradayil, Pastor and Director of the St. Francis Salesian Community and the entire Watsonville Salesian community for their very kind and … Continuar leyendo Provincial Letter: April 10th, 2020<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":10336596,"featured_media":2865,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20310044,69785],"tags":[35890,686820593,100143],"class_list":["post-2864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-province-news","category-provincial","tag-featured","tag-provincial-letter","tag-sdb"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/salesianbulletin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/img_3068-preview.jpg?fit=4032%2C3024&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p59ePG-Kc","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10336596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2864"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2871,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2864\/revisions\/2871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}