LAHORE: 22 April 2006 -- It was always the way Don Bosco did it
anyway,
at the Oratory: remember the group who headed
out during the cholera epidemic to help locals around Turin at Don
Bosco's request? It
has been much the same with the young Pakistani candidates for Salesian
life over the past six months, since it is they who have worked so hard
to sustain the regular trips to earthquake affected victims in the
north west frontier region of Pakistan. Now in a final effort,
they
have prepared 15 tonnes of foodstuffs to go to the camp that was set up
all those months ago. At the camp the inhabitants have already
begun
to grow their own lentils and potatoes, but items like milk,
flour,
sugar, cooking oil still have to be provided. All this has now
headed
off in a convoy of trucks and students.
Meanwhile, most of the postulants went in the other
direction - four of them to the airport to take their flight to the
Southern Philippines where they will continue their formation
programme. As Fr Miguel puts it, if these vocations need to be
put to
the test, then the efforts of the past six months have certainly won
his recognition!
As an aside, but appropriate just at this moment, Fr
Miguel notes
that he was a novice in Spain when, early in his novitiate days, the
very first
guest they had was Fr Valentin de Pablo. His (Miguel's) task was
to
pour the sauce over the guest's spare ribs and potatoes - instead he
missed the plate
and poured the sauce over the visitor! But
what was so typical of the man, Fr Miguel now notes, was that he said
absolutely nothing about what had happened, and it was only an
observant Sister who pointed out the fact. That was the type of
man he
was. Fr Miguel survived his first crisis, however, to shouts of
'Novice, get lost, I don't want to see you again!' from the novice
master.
If you wish to comment on or add further information
to this news item, please feel free to do so at BoscoWiki
austraLasia page.
_____________________
AustraLasia
is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific.
It also
functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please
contact admin@bosconet.aust.com
Try out BoscoWiki
to be interactive. For RSS feeds, subscribe
to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xml
