A new general adviser of the CSCV

A new general adviser of the CSCV

.

Maria Sangiovanni and Msgr. Masalles

Relationship of Msgr. Masalles with the CSCV. He himself tells us: My first of many contacts with the members of the Community of the Servants of the Living Christ was in 1983, when I was ill. The doctor who treated me attended the Community, and encouraged me to be in contact with various members of it. At the inauguration of the “Casa de la Anunciación” (House of the Annunciation) in Santo Domingo, I felt very united to the community. I was invited to become part of it from 1985, thus introducing me to the ministry of preaching, which I consider to be one of the strong points of the Community. During my vocational life I lived in the House of the Annunciation for a year (1987–88), when I was barely in my first year of Theology, although afterwards I moved on to live in the Seminary.

When 1990 arrived I had to give up being a member of the Community, because there was a clause in its first statutes that did not yet allow clergymen to be members. Nevertheless, I maintained a close relationship with the Community, especially in its erection at the canonical level. In my work as parish priest in the Capotillo neighbourhood I somewhat lost contact with the Community, but on my trip to Rome I had the opportunity to accompany the 5 communities of Italy, helping them to live the vocation of Servants of the Living Christ.

I did not lose contact, nor the joy of preaching, especially with Father Emiliano and with María Armenteros, with whom I travelled on countless occasions. I also worked for the International Schools of Evangelization of Santo Domingo and Miami, in which I have given numerous biblical courses. After being appointed to the Parish of San José de Calasanz, I began a closer approach by taking part monthly in one of the community meetings on Monday nights at the Mother House, in which I have celebrated the Eucharist alongside a formative theme.

For this reason, in my address at the ceremony of episcopal ordination, I expressed to the CSCV my gratitude, because with the help of the ministry of the charism of preaching of the Community I have been able to become a man of the Word, who delights in the proclamation of the Word to the point of having as the motto of my episcopate: “Proclaim the Word” (2 Tim 4:2).