Boston Area Participants Review First Three Modules
Members and friends of the Boston Area gathered virtually in February to participate in a discussion group focused on the first three modules of the American Association’s Fall/Winter Spiritual Initiative. The initiative, which runs from November 2020 through April 2021, consists of six spiritual topics to enrich our faith. A different chaplain has recorded a short talk on each of the topics designed to provide insight into the unique spirituality of the Order of Malta.
Msgr. James P. Moroney, ChM, the Boston Area Chaplain and Rector of the Cathedral of St. Paul in Worcester, Massachusetts, guided the discussion. Participants had been encouraged to listen to the recordings of the first three modules in advance.
The first module covered the universal call to holiness and how we might better follow and imitate Christ, who invited us to come after him. Msgr. Dennis Sheehan, ChC, who passed to the Lord in November of 2020, had recorded the talk. Participants discussed the Word of God in Sacraments, being called from where we are at the moment and the great graces that flow from growing in companionship with our members. “This great work of our lives is rooted really in our Baptism, living out that Baptismal commitment, as we seek to appreciate what it means to be joined to Christ in his Paschal dying and rising,” Msgr. Moroney said.
Module two, which was presented by Fr. Joe Cavoto, OFM, ChM, was about the charism of the Order. Fr. Joe touched on ongoing conversion and how as members of the Order we carry a sense of being cheerful out into the world. “It was such a joy to hear all the participants talk about their love for the Church and the poor,” Msgr. Moroney said. “One person said they saw the face of Christ both in the Church and in the poor, in the Sacraments, when they gaze upon the Blessed Sacrament, but also in that person whom they stopped to love and in whose life they really see the face of Jesus.”
The third module, presented by Fr. Joseph Johnson, ChM, focused on fundamental considerations for all members of the Order, including growing in holiness. Msgr. Moroney said the participants were all inspired by Father Johnson’s reflections on how to live out the two-part charism of serving the ill and the poor and defending and witnessing the faith in a very practical way. “It’s what the life of the baptized and the life of every member of Malta is all about, whether you’re in the parish or in the prison or in the nursing home or your own living room. It’s trying to live out in a very concrete way, what it means to be holy.
Commenting on how the discussion dynamic served those on the call, Msgr. Moroney said, “It’s the way that adults learn the best, by being able to speak from their hearts and listen to each other and to grow through that.”
