Barb Arland-Fye and Bishop Dennis Walsh take a break from recording Catholic Messenger Conversations at KALA Studios at St. Ambrose University in Davenport last month.
By Lindsay Steele
The Catholic Messenger
In the latest Catholic Messenger Conversations podcast (Ep. 68), Bishop Dennis Walsh offers additional insight into the subject of his Chrism Mass homily, focusing on the Viva Memoria. This Redemptorist spirituality focuses on the idea that we should all be a living memory of Jesus Christ. It’s “not just knowing the story of Jesus Christ but… when people encounter us, we should be transparent, and people should be able to see Christ in us,” he told podcast host Barb Arland-Fye. Bishop Walsh was a Redemptorist priest in the early part of his priesthood.
Blessed Maria Celeste Crostarosa, an Italian nun, developed the spirituality of Viva Memoria in the early 1700s, the bishop said. Her friend, Alphonsus Liguori, was an early adopter. She inspired the future saint to form the Redemptorist community and expand the Viva Memoria spirituality beyond Italy. “It was really Maria Celeste who had this vision for the congregation to go to all parts of the world.” Lesser known than the man who would become St. Alphonsus, Sister Maria Celeste was beatified in 2016, about 175 years after her death.
While Viva Memoria is especially pertinent to priests, the spirituality applies to everyone, the bishop said. “St. Alphonsus said all of us are called to be a saint and we should have that resolution every day. … To be that living memory of Jesus Christ in the world today.”
Walking this path may involve suffering, Bishop Walsh explained. “Jesus says you must be prepared to… take up the cross and follow me. I’ve always said that Jesus needs a better marketing manager because the cross is not the most appealing part of the Gospel message.” However, the cross “goes with the notion that to grow in holiness there has to be this process of dying to self, dying to selfishness, dying to that part of life that wants to live only for me. It means living for Christ and living for others.”
Bishop Walsh also shared what he appreciates most about the Chrism Mass and spoke about his previous Chrism Mass experiences in New York, where he began his priesthood, and Ohio, where he served as a diocesan priest.
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