Bro. Jesus Alonso, CSC Professes Final Vows
The family of Holy Cross gathered recently to celebrate the final vows of Bro. Jesus Alonso, CSC. Affectionately known as "Chuy" to his friends and community members, Bro. Jesus publicly professed to live forever the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience according to the Constitutions of the Congregation of Holy Cross.
This commitment sometimes demands great sacrifice, but Bro. Jesus is no stranger to putting the needs of others before his own. Growing up in a family of migrant farmworkers, Bro. Jesus stated, "When you come from a poor background, you understand what it means to sacrifice for each other." From his earliest years as a child traveling the West Coast with his family to pick apples and berries, this new finally professed brother embraces a lifestyle that calls for "communal unselfishness." He views the vow of poverty as a way of sharing his gifts and talents with those who need them most.
A doctoral student in Microbiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Bro. Jesus hopes to work in Central Africa where the Holy Cross community ministers in schools and parishes. As Bro. Donald Blauvelt, CSC, Provincial Superior, remarked during the liturgy, "All of us, whether we’re priests or sisters or brothers in Holy Cross … believe that we can change the world."
We accept the Lord's call to pledge ourselves publicly and perpetually as members of the Congregation of Holy Cross by the vows of consecrated celibacy, poverty and obedience. Great is the mystery and meaning within these vows. And yet their point is simple. They are an act of love for the God who first loved us. By our vows we are committed to single-hearted intimacy with God, to trusting dependence upon God and to willing surrender to God. We wish thus to live in the image of Jesus, who was sent in love to announce God's rule and who beckons to us to follow him.
Constitution 5,43
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