Cagliero 11 december 2017 eng


Cagliero 11 december 2017 eng

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N. 108 - December 2017
Newsletter for Salesian Missionary Animation
A Publication of the Missions Sector for the Salesian Communities and Friends of the Salesian Mission
O ur Beloved Sisters, the Daughters of Mary Help of
Christians, have just completed a missionary jubilee
year: 140 years since their first Missionary Expedition,
the one led by Sister Angela Valais to their first American
foundation in Uruguay.
It is a fact that the SDB and the FMA share countless, beau-
tiful pages of missionary history. For numerous Salesian mis-
sionaries ad gentes the FMA have been true mothers and
sisters, who supported and encouraged them, sometimes in
very adversarial circumstances! Read, for example, the tes-
timonies of the missionaries in Ecuador about the care and
attention they received from Blessed Mary Troncatti.
Mother Yvonne, on the occasion of these jubilee celebrations, wrote in her
letter no. 972, asking the FMA about their missionary availability: "Dear Sisters, why not now? Do
we perhaps lack confidence? Are we too lost in our short term emergencies? Has the universal
outlook that was nurtured so well at Mornese now been weakened?"
The same questions - translated and contextualized - and the same appeals, could be addressed
today in their totality also to us, the SDB! Yes, a little less of calculations - which does not mean
giving up an adequate and up-to-date reflection - and perhaps a little more generous audacity. It
seems that this is what we still lack. Let's help each other!
Thank you and courage!
D. Guillermo Basañes SDB
Councillor for the Missions
“"The Church is in no sense alien to any people"
Pope Francis gives us yet another missionary event: he has declared an extraordinary missionary month in October
2019, to commemorate the centenary of the missionary encyclical Maximum Illud. We share here a few thoughts from
his letter of 22/10/17.
“The intention behind this missionary month is that of fostering an increased awareness of the missio ad gentes and
taking up again with renewed fervour the missionary transformation of pastoral activity. This initiative can enable all
the faithful to take to heart the proclamation of the Gospel and to help their communities grow in missionary and
evangelizing zeal. May the love for the Church’s mission, which is ‘a passion for Jesus and a passion for his people’
grow ever stronger!
Pope Benedict XV recognized the need for a more evangelical approach to missionary work in the world, so that it
would be purified of any colonial overtones and kept far away from the nationalistic and expansionistic aims that had
proved so disastrous. “The Church of God is universal; she is not alien to any people,” he wrote, firmly calling for the
rejection of any form of particular interest, inasmuch as the proclamation and the love of the Lord Jesus, spread by
holiness of one’s life and good works, are the sole purpose of missionary activity. Bendict XV thus laid special emphasis
on the missio ad gentes, employing the concepts and language of the time, in an effort to revive, particularly among
the clergy, a sense of duty towards the missions.
“Today, missionary activity still represents the greatest challenge for the Church and the missionary task must remain
foremost. What would happen if we were to take these words seriously? We would realize that missionary outreach is
paradigmatic for all the Church’s activity.
“It has a programmatic significance and important consequences. ... Throughout the world, let us be ‘permanently in
a state of mission’. ... The Apostolic Letter
Maximum Illud called for transending national boundaries and bearing
witness, with prophetic spirit and evangelical boldness, to God’s saving will through
the Church’s universal mission. May the approaching centenary of that Letter serve
as an incentive to combat the recurring temptation lurking beneath every form of
ecclesial introversion, self-referential retreat into comfort zones, pastoral pessimism
and sterile nostalgia for the past. Instead, may we be open to the joyful newness of
the Gospel. In these, our troubled times, rent by the tragedies of war and menaced
by the baneful tendency to accentuate differences and to incite conflict, may the
Good News that in Jesus forgiveness triumphs over sin, life defeats death and love
conquers fear, be proclaimed to the world with renewed fervour, and instil trust and
hope in everyone.”
To each and every one,
our best wishes for Happy Christmas.

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MY MISSIONARY LIFE IS A GIFT FROM GOD
I am a Salesian, originally from the Central African Province
(AFC) in Congo. When I was a student at the Salesian
school, I read the story of the first Salesian missionaries in
my country. Their testimonies appealed a lot to me. They have
contributed greatly to the evangelization and the social life of
my people. I felt inspired. I began to personally discern a mis-
sionary vocation in my own heart. I felt deep within me a call
to Salesian life and, during my novitiate, I expressed my desire to be a
missionary ad gentes, ad vitam. I was closely accompanied by my spiritual guide during
my three
years of philosophy. I wrote to the Rector Major to express my readiness for the mission. The
missionary theme of that year became my daily prayer: "Lord, send me". I thank the Lord for calling me to the
146th Missionary Expedition (2015) and to be a missionary in Sri Lanka.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is a vast country and Salesians are not present everywhere. They are needed
in many more areas of the country. With such a need for internal missionaries, the question arises why one
should become a foreign missionary. The Salesian Congregation is missionary. It offers us the possibility of being
a missionary in our own country or abroad because we belong to the great Salesian world. I felt the call of
sharing my Christian and Salesian life with others wherever the Lord would send me.
As a missionary in Sri Lanka, my first assignment is to do my practical training (regency) in the studentate of
philosophy. I feel great joy whenever we go out to meet the
young people in a completely Buddhist village. This is our
Sunday ministry. How nice it is to see Buddhist parents
accompany their children to our oratory. We deal with the
children and young people in a Salesian way and teach them
a little English. I am happy to give myself to this missionary
apostolate and I feel warmly welcomed. Sri Lankans are
known for their genuine and spontaneous smile. It is really
an oratory of joy, despite their material poverty.
I come from a culture very different from that in this part of
the world. The daily diet consists of rice and spicy sauces;
different local languages; bare feet in the church (temple,
house) ... These are small challenges that I will gradually
overcome in order to learn and appreciate this new culture.
The missionary course in Rome taught us to be patient when
experiencing "cultural shocks". Personal prayer helps me overcome my personal challenges.
To young Salesians who would like to become ad gentes missionaries, I would say, we must always remember
that a missionary vocation is a gift from God, who wants us to continue his mission all over the world. When we
feel called to the missionary life, we give an immediate and positive response, because it is God’s own initiative
in our regard.
Faustin BAHATI sdb
Congolese Missionary in Sri Lanka
Witness of Salesian Missionary Sanctity
Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni SDB, Postulator General for the Causes of Saints
The Venerable Attilio Giordani (1913-1972), a layman, husband, and father of a family,
worked many years with Christian enthusiasm in the Salesian Oratory of St. Augustine at
Milan. Then, with an extraordinary apostolic spirit, moved to Brazil. In his letters to his
girlfriend Noemi, his future bride, written in 1942, in the middle of the war, he jokes: "Miss,
we have had to clear out a lot masonry from our house and consequently we have a lot of
place for joy. Miss, I want you to be cheerful. As for myself, thank God, despite the usual
ailments, despite my advanced age with all the thoughts that come along with that, I am
quite cheerful ... It is my firm intention, and I invite you to pray for it, to always work for
the glory of God and not for any other purpose. Miss, I confess that I dream of a family
where the integrity of Christian peace and the innocent laughter of children (if the Lord
grants us such a great grace) are not disturbed by any clouds."
FOR ELDERLY AND ILL SALESIANS
Salesian Missionary Intention
So that they may continue to radiate the joy of the call and be inter-
cessors of the Lord's generous blessings on the Salesian mission.
Faith, hope, and charity are the virtues of Christian life, which lead us to "the fullness
of maturity in Christ" (Eph 4: 13). Those who are more advanced in age have an ever-
increasing treasure to draw on. It is a wealth that is renewed, the more it is given.
Even among confreres of differing generations we can have a communion of goodness
that challenges all changes in culture, language, taste and fashion. Let us pray that this
dialogue and encounter between wisdom and experience on the one hand and the new
generations on the other may be truly fruitful.