By Fr. Christopher Foeckler, MJ •  St. Josaphat Formation Center • Phoenix, AZ

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity.” (Psalm 133:1) Indeed, the Psalmist’s observation captures the hope of the world today that all men of different races, cultures and especially religions would, by the grace of God, live in peace and unity. This is also the main intention of the celebration of the Solemnity of the Mother of God on January 1st every year: World Peace and Unity! On a much smaller scale closer to home, the above passage captures the hope of our Miles Jesu men’s community on Baseline – of brothers living together in unity.

For six years now the nine men of our community here in South Phoenix has had to live in two separate places because the old house with one dormitory simply wasn’t big enough to hold us all. It was a huge added expense to our tight budget, but most of all it made our everyday life as a community so much more challenging to get together for prayer and other common activities. And community living is at the core of who we are as Soldiers of Jesus and Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

As priests and especially as consecrated lay men who work at various kinds of secular jobs, community life is essential to help keep the spirit and zeal for the Gospel in the midst of an ever increasing secularization of our “post-modern” culture. Mutual support from one another and simply having a safe haven to recuperate one’s spirit every day after work is part of our charism of working on the “front lines of the new Evangelization.”

Our men work in a variety of jobs as Catholic high school teacher, a financial advisory firm intern, a lawyer at the attorney general’s office, a Catholic counselor and at a horticulturist worker. These are their full-time jobs, but they all engage in various other apostolic works that range from St. Paul’s street evangelization, 40 days for life, and Cursillo team leadership to taking hours of Eucharistic adoration at a local parish. With such diverse schedules and obligations, it is hard to see each other during the week, but in two separate houses it is nearly impossible.

So by the grace of God, long planning and the generosity of many of you, as well as a substantial part coming from our own men who contribute their salaries to the community, we are now literally laying the foundation at this time for a new residence on our Baseline property. It is for a modest one-story building where we can all live together.  We will have to pay off a loan for construction, but with God’s Providential help and your generosity, we members of the Miles Jesu-Phoenix men’s community can “live together in unity.”

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