missionary animation afm
NEWSLETTER № 4 11th June 2009
Walkerville 1st June 2009
Dear Confreres With the celebration of Pentecost on Sunday, I can welcome you back to Ordinary time. The special seasons are times to look forward to but there is a certain relief at not having to turn over so many pages in the Liturgy of the Hours. June has its own celebrations, some of which must have an influence on the way we remember our 150th Anniversary.
Corpus Christi reminds us of corner stone of Salesian spirituality and it falls on the 11th! Thus our missionary Animation should be Eucharistic this month.
June 19th is the feast of the Sacred Heart and that is of special significance to the Jubilee as I explain alongside. The feast of John the Baptist was the day Don Bosco celebrated the Salesian Community as a family and so it also has a link with our founding.
I shall be preaching retreats to our senior Salesians in Farnborough and Bolton during the second and third week of this month. Please remember them in your prayers.
Yimina Malahle
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THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS
If the 18th December 1859 marks the first definitive step in the founding of our Congregation, I think we can equally say that Don Bosco’s venture of faith into completing the Pope’s dream of a Basilica to the Sacred Heart in Rome was one of the final steps. He put all his energies into it and they were his last – the Salesians of the day were sure it was a factor that finally wore him out and speeded on his death.
We have always associated devotion to the Sacred Heart to our work of formation of our young salesians as important for their growth. Certainly Don Bosco was happy to promote devotion to the Sacred Heart. But there was another motive. Towards the end of his life his focus was on founding our society and he saw an important Church in Rome as a God-given opportunity to have the society at the heart of the Church and next to the Pope. To respond to the request of the Pope enabled him to win much good will towards the Congregation and facilitate its recognition and stability within the Church.
We can read in chapter 24 of Volume XIV of the Memoirs of Don Bosco, how he overturned the decision of his Council with his enthusiasm and faith, and go on to vote in an extension of 40 feet to the propose plan. A reading of this chapter would make a good preparation for this feast as another event of our 150th anniversary celebration of our founding.
