5708_Lay People and Salesians as Missionary Disciples

By Fr. Alfred Maravilla SDB
General Councillor for Missions

RMG, 10 October 2021 -- Through the Sacrament of Baptism, all Christians are part of the people of God and share in the mission of the Church. The Second Vatican Council emphasised in a special way that every baptised person and all Christian communities share in the missionary task of the Church of broadening the boundaries of faith (Ad Gentes, 2, 6). Therefore, every disciple and every Christian community is challenged, and invited to be missionary by making its own, the mandate entrusted by Jesus to the Apostles, to be his “witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1,8). Thus, Pope Francis insisted that for every baptised member of the Church “we no longer say that we are ‘disciples’ and ‘missionaries’ but rather that we are always ‘missionary disciples’” (Evangelii Gaudium, 120).

As consecrated persons, our Salesian religious profession is a unique and fruitful deepening of our baptismal consecration in view of our particular mission in the Church. As Salesians, we are, everywhere, true missionaries of the young and youth is our mission land. We live our being missionary disciples by living Don Bosco’s missionary spirit. This missionary spirit – summed up in the ‘Da mihi animas’ – is the heart of pastoral charity, which manifests itself in the ‘oratorian heart’, fervour, drive and the capacity for intercultural and inter-religious dialogue. It is the passion for evangelisation, especially of young people, and the willingness to be sent wherever there is a need, expressed in the ‘ci vado io’ (‘I’ll go there’) that Fr Albert Caviglia considered as being the ‘Salesian motto’. In short, the missionary spirit is typical of every Salesian, because its roots are in Don Bosco’s charism itself. It is this missionary spirit that makes us live the Salesian consecrated life “permanently in a state of mission”.

In the multi religious and multicultural context of our EAO region, being missionary disciples means being passionately attentive to fostering initial proclamation in every occasion.

For Reflection and Sharing

How do I live my missionary discipleship as a lay person or as a consecrated person?