This morning when Fr Jose Mathew began his talk stating that he is basing himself on the GC26, I almost put myself off. However, knowing him to be a man of substance I was all ears. He basically elaborated the first theme: to know, love, make known and pray to Don Bosco. I was struck at two points during his sharing. The first was when he was talking about the aspect of 'Work and temperance' in the context of 'knowing' Don Bosco. What 'work' meant for Don Bosco and the Salesians, I was more or less sure. But I was quite startled when I realised for myself that I had absolutely no idea of what 'temperance' meant!! So much for our 'ignorant claim' of knowing Don Bosco!
The second thing that struck me was the aspect of praying to Don Bosco. Frankly speaking I myself have never prayed to Don Bosco. Fr Jose Mathew hit the nail on the head when he attributed this attitude of excluding Don Bosco from the list of saints we pray to, to our enthusiasm about Don Bosco. We get stuck there. It is all about love and loyalty; to move from there to devotion and reverence, is something we find it odd. Perhaps Don Bosco is more for us a friend than someone up above! Whatever be the case, it strikes me that this idea of praying to Don Bosco is not odd at all. I've heard this from Fr Louis before, and was quite amused he could come up with a thought like that.
Whatever be the case, it is a good beginning (at least personally) for a Chapter.
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