In the missions I am learning what is true happiness
D uring my childhood Uruguayan missionaries in Angola sometimes visited
us. When I was 15 a Salesian priest invited me to join the group Juventud
Misionera Salesiana where I had my first missionary experiences in the poor
suburbs of Montevideo. At 18 I entered the aspirantate. At 24 I had in my heart
the certainty that my Salesian vocation meant leaving everything and going out
to wherever Jesus wanted to take me. The following years were years of much
personal prayer and discernment, in the meantime, the inner desire to realise
this call continued to increase. The help of my spiritual director as well as that
of my Rector in the theologate, who advised me wisely and prudently, were
crucial.
I wanted to be a missionary ad gentes, even if in Uruguay there are many peo-
ple who do not practice their faith because being a missionary does not come
from an idea nor from a personal desire but from the certainty of having discovered the call of God that teaches us
to share what we are and have from our poverty and not from what is superfluous for us. I want only to be faithful
to the vocation I have received and follow it without looking back.
I feel that the Course for New Missionaries was a gift from God! It has helped me become more clearly aware that
the missionary vocation ad gentes is for life, that you cannot set out to the deep and yet continually look back at
the shores you have left behind. It also taught me to accept with humility that one arrives in the new mission like a
child, with the need to learn, to listen, to respect and that it is normal that sometimes this situation produces im-
patience or anger. Finally, the course has confirmed to me the idea so old yet ever so relevant
to make Jesus the centre of my life, to give him all my heart once and for all!
It is now 3 years that I live in the poorest neighborhood in the city of Luanda called “Lixeira”
which means “rubbish dump”. However, for me, Lixeira is a great school of life where God
really dwells. In this school I learnt in a short time from our Oratory animators: One day they
came with sad and angry faces. Talking with them one of them told me, “one of those white
people who arrived ... we were in their home and they told us that it was time for the family
meal so they told us to come back later. We felt very bad”. There I understood that in this
school there is always room for one more at home, or 2 or 10! Here hospitality and care for
others is so natural which, unfortunately, we have forgotten in our culture because we live
surrounded with gates, alarms and sometimes the best friend is “virtual”. The hug, the smile,
the bread, the roof is not something that is denied to anyone because tomorrow it will be
your turn to eat or sleep in my house. This is the lesson of solidarity from the poor, the
friends of Jesus!
Thus, in this school I am learning that the essential things in life are few, that happiness is in little things, or rather
in one: Jesus Christ! I knew it before, but now, here in the “rubbish dump” with them, I feel it, I experience it and
enjoy it endlessly as long as God permits.
Fr. Santiago Boix Puig
Uruguayan, missionary in Angola
Salesian Missionary Intention
BRAZIL - Missionary Volunteer Service
That all the Provinces of Brazil may foster the growth of the
missionary volunteer movement.
The materials and video for Salesian Mission Day 2011 offer insights
from the experiences of some Provinces of Brazil. The growth in volun-
teer Service is understood both in the quality of educative proposals -
pastoral and vocational guidance of young people involved, and the in-
volvement of the whole Salesian community. We want to involve chil-
dren and young people of all ages, from experiences of the Missionary
Childhood Society to missionary voluntary service among young adults.
We want to accompany the groups from the experience of short intense periods (Christmas, Easter, summer and win-
ter holidays) to long-term commitment or choice for life.
