He Gets Us

Jan 22

Students pose with St. Francis statue at Father Judge High School.

A few years ago, I was participating in the spring open house for potential students at Father Judge High School in Philadelphia, PA. Throughout the evening, student leaders and volunteers walked families through the building and around campus. They told the young visitors and their families different facts about the school and showed off many of the good happenings around campus. Academic offerings, clubs and activities, sports programs, and cafeteria cuisine were all discussed as they walked throughout the building.

As I was hurrying to give a presentation in the auditorium, I stood back and watched as a freshman student council leader stood in front of a statue of St. Francis de Sales and told an eighth-grade visitor and his parents, “This is St. Francis de Sales. He is our patron. That means he helps us. We try to live like him because he tried to live Jesus.”

The Judge student never saw me, but the parents and the eighth-grader could see the smile on my face. I was so proud that this young man, just starting in his high school journey, was already so well-versed in Salesian Spirituality. He was not reading off a note card or a prepared statement. He was speaking from the heart. He was speaking from a Salesian heart.

This incident happened around the same time a series of television commercials and billboards began that promoted Jesus and Christianity with the tagline “He Gets Us.” These ads are still around. They are part of a campaign to introduce (or reintroduce) people to the life and values of Jesus.

Thinking about the Judge student and his short explanation of our spirituality made me think that this young man – and so many other Salesian gentlemen and women from around the Oblate world - “get us.” They understand St. Francis de Sales, they understand his spiritual values and teachings. They “get” what it means to be a Salesian even if they have not studied his life or read his writings. People “get” St. Francis when they are introduced to him through others. They get to know him and his teachings through the actions and attitudes of those who strive to live each day well.

As we celebrate the feast day of our patron saint on January 24, may we follow in his footsteps and, in the words of that Judge student, “try to live like him, because he tried to live Jesus.”