On 29 October 2025, the Saint Louis University (SLU) community gathered at the Prince Bernhard Gym, SLU Main Campus for a Eucharistic Celebration to conclude the Rosary and Mission Month.
In the homily, SLU President and mass celebrant Rev. Fr. Gilbert B. Sales, CICM, PhD, reminded the Louisian community of the very heart of the month-long commemoration: our faith and our mission, which is ‘love’. “Every act of mission, every act of service, every prayer we have offered this month, especially for the month of the Holy Rosary begins here,” Fr. Sales underscored.
According to today’s Gospel reading, the two greatest commandments are to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself.” Highlighting the interconnectedness of the Rosary and Mission Month, Fr. Sales mentioned that the missionary spirit that the university strives to inculcate is born out of an obedient heart that listens like Mary, acknowledging God’s call even in times of difficulty. “The rosary teaches us to love and trust God deeply,” he remarked. Embracing the essence of generosity, the congregation is also heartened to extend help in supporting the CICM mission. “…It invites us to bring that love to the world, especially to the poor, to the needy, to the sick, to the lonely, to those unwanted…also to those who have not yet known Christ,” Fr. Sales said.
Concluding the mass, Fr. Sales encouraged the faithful to continue praying the rosary beyond the Rosary Month, continuing the missionary command of love to pray like Mary, to serve like Jesus, and to give like true disciples who know that love has no borders, rooted in the fact that to love is to live by mission.
In line with the CICM advocacies of peace, justice, and the preferential option for the poor and abandoned, the series of culminating masses of the Rosary and Mission Month will be held until the afternoon of 29 October 2025. (Article by: John Erick Cortez, UIO Intern | Photos by: Catherine Rose Bondoc, UIO Intern)
