St. John Bosco Parish P.O. Box 1336 MCPO 1253 Makati City - Don Bosco Philippine North Province (FIN)
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE SALESIAN MISSIONS ANIMATION OFFICE (FIN)
ISSUE NO. # 16
Soul of the Apostolate:
INTIMACY WITH CHRIST
JUNE 2008
he religious teaching given by Mamma Margaret to young John, is expressed in the
“the living sense of the presence of God, candid admiration of his works of creation,
gratitude for his benefits, conformity to his will, and fear of offending him”. And so, for
Don Bosco, God is a personal God who is reached through events to whom recourse is had in
daily life. He built the holiness of his boys on a solid evangelization, based on these truths
sustained by the “Word of God”. In this way the Salesian, immersed in the world and in the cares
of the pastoral life, “learns to meet God through those to whom he is sent” and “to
recognize the action of grace in the lives of the young” as Don Bosco did.
God awaits us in the young to offer
us the grace of meeting with him and to
dispose us to serve him in them,
recognizing their dignity and educating
them to the fullness of life. In this way,
the work of education becomes the
preeminent context in which to meet
him. If we want to live contemplating
God, if we are willing to hear his voice
and listen to his Word, we must be with
the young and stay among them. Then
God will speak clearly to us. In fact,
“we stay among the young because
that is where God has sent us, and we
examine the condition of youth with all
its problems because that is precisely
the channel through which we are
challenged by Christ himself”.
Hence to be with God and hear his Word, there is no need to separate one selves from young
people affectively and/or effectively, and to abandon the Salesian mission. When this is carried
out by us as representatives of Christ and at his command, it is the best way for going to him and
remaining with him.
Not even in moments of deepest contemplation must the Salesian community fail to keep in
mind the vision of young people with souls to be saved! To be with the young, to feel their needs
and share their requests, can never be an obstacle or an excuse for not seeking God and
willingly accepting his Word. From whom can we learn compassion for young people who are
.
poor, abandoned or in danger, if we do
not contemplate how much Christ
suffered for them and if we fail to hear
the “many things” he has to tell us? The
imitation of Don Bosco and the conviction
that we are “missionaries of the young”,
are the necessary preconditions for
listening to God contemplating Christ. It
is the intimacy with Christ that
pushes us to be true to the
mission of service.
“Prayer is the soul of the
apostolate,
but
the
apostolate also gives life to
prayer and stimulates it”. And
so there is no conflict between
mission and contemplation,
between apostolic life and
prayer life; on the contrary the
former flows from the latter and
is nourished by it.
Thus the life of prayer which
is a gift of God and a response
to him maintains an intimate
link with every element of our
missionary vocation and remains its
permanent stimulus: one who neglects
intimacy with Christ, one who has no
time for him, will sooner or later leave the
young aside from his pastoral activity,
neglect the common life and community
fraternity, and abandon the following of
Christ by the evangelical counsels.
S I M P L E H I N T S: I N T I M A C Y w I t h C H R I S T
1. Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.
2. Live your life getting to know the manner and lifestyle of Christ.
3. Trust that “God trusts you”
4. Shoot darting prayers to God often, Like “ My Lord is my God.”
5. Offer your work to God. Work is prayer.
6. Treat Jesus as a person. Do something special for Him every day.
7. The gauge on how much you love Jesus is how often you visit him in the Blessed Sacrament.
8. Let nothing disturb you; let nothing frighten you. All things are passing. God never changes. (St. Teresa of Avila)
9 I will have an hour of adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament and I will not give it up for anything.
10. "Never seen a man so much taken up by God." (Pope on Don Bosco)
11. Mention the powerful and holy name of Jesus always, anywhere and anytime e.g. even going down the stairs.
