austraLasia #2898 An extraordinary personal testimony
SEOUL: 2 August 2011 -- From 3-6 August, at
Czestochova, Poland, an event will take place which is
drawing people from all around the world, including from our
Region: the 6th International Congress for the Mary Help of
Christians Association (ADMA, as it tends to be called,
based on the initials from the Italian term for this group).
The Rector Major and his Vicar will be there as well. For
those who are not so familiar with the group, it was amongst
the groups founded by Don Bosco, when he first requested
permission to establish it in the archdiocese of Turin in
1869.
While what follows is not directly
connected to ADMA as such - the group is only in its initial
stages of growth in Korea, the testimony below comes from
the pen of Fr John lee, who died at the beginning of 2010
and whose name has been featured a number of times in this
newsletter. With the Congress now about to begin it just
seems to be the right moment to offer this - it comes from a
homily he gave, and not all the homily is included here,
obviously:
"In Korea devotion to Mary Help of Christians is not as
strong as devotion to her under other titles: Mary Queen
of Peace, or Our Lady of Mercies. This is why, before I
became a Salesian, I had neither heard of nor ever said
the invocation: “Mary Help of Christians pray for us" that
we Salesians would say at least three times a day.
[Given the passage form the Wedding
feast at Cana which we have just read] I could not but
recall a brief story of my own vocation.
At the time I had come to understand the Lord
was calling me, I had a wonderful experience of Mary Help
of Christians. When I decided, with much joy, to set out
on the path to becoming a Salesian, I suffered some
anxiety about the fact that I needed to tell my mother
about it! Since my father had died when I was 10, my
mother had to struggle a lot so I could go and study
medicine. Thanks to her many sacrifices, I was able to
become a doctor. It was at that point that I could begin
to help my mother and pay her back for the many sacrifices
she had made without asking anything of me in return. this
made it very difficult for me to tell her about my
decision. In fact it was almost impossible for me to do
so. I made many attempts but never succeeded because every
time I looked at her, I lost courage. I also tried to tell
one of my sisters to whom I was very close and could talk
about many things with ease. But I couldn't even tell her!
Three months went by without me saying anything.
One wonderful day, when I went to see
my sister, I stood there astounded, mouth open. My sister
had already found out about my decision through a dream
she had had the previous evening. (I would love to tell
you that dream but I should not do so without talking to
the Bishop first). However, my sister then told my mother
about my decision by telling her of the dream. All my
problems were resolved at that moment.
However I had not worked out at that
time that this was Mary Help of Christians at work until I
heard, for the first time from my novice director that the
vocation of every Salesian is tied to Mary Help of
Christians.
I had not asked Mary for her help. But Mary
was aware of my problem and quietly helped me. This was
the first experience I had had of Mary's help. It was such
an important experience for me because through it I gained
such a real image of Mary as the Lady who loved me very
much. This enabled me to understand Mary as “Help of
Christians” and I learned to adopt the attitude we must
have when we help others: be attentive to their needs and
ready to give them all necessary help. From then on I was
able to speak with certainty to young people about the
presence of Mary Help of Christians...
Mary is not a special privilege just for
Salesians. She is the Help of all Christians. But we
Salesians are very grateful and sensitive to Mary as
Helper. With this sensitivity Don Bosco chose Mary Most
Holy as his inspiration, Mother and Teacher of his
Congregation..." _________________ AustraLasia
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