Today is the birthday of Fr Mauro Casarotti, one of the great Salesians I have had the fortune of meeting and interacting - though not very closely - especially during my early years of formation. I met him for the first time while in Nashik while studying philosophy. He was actually based in Mumbai but would occasionally come to Nashik and hear our confessions. I don't really remember much of the confessions I went to him for but remember very clearly his joyful presence along with us along the corridors of Divyadaan. He was already very elderly then but he was a typical grandfather to all of us.
As if that personal experience was not enough, I also heard about a very intense and tragic incident that happened during his term as provincial of Mumbai many years ago. Hearing it first hand from the one who was at the centre of it all and how he truly felt Fr Casarotti's support, not as a provincial, but as a very loving and understanding father, made a great impression on me.
I got to know him more closely when I was back in Mumbai Province for my communication studies in 2005 - just two years before he passed away. I was in Matunga, the school community and he was in the Provincial house. He was still working in the propaganda office of the Shrine and I did meet him once at his desk in the Shrine office. But it was mostly as my confessor that I remember him during my year at Matunga. I met him regularly in the provincial house in his room or in the parlour. Still the same lively smile and welcoming spirit. Age had only managed to bend his spine, slightly. Nothing more! For me he was like Fr John Lens. The same spirit of generosity, openness, a kind of understanding that made me feel completely at home. Even if there was any hesitation or doubt about whether I should ask him or speak to him about something, the moment I would meet him, all those hurdles would just vanish. That was his simple presence. The same for Fr Lens. And I didn't have to explain things in detail or at length, they just understood me perfectly.
Consider myself truly blessed for having met and lived in the time of such stalwarts of the Spirit and Salesian life!
I got to know him more closely when I was back in Mumbai Province for my communication studies in 2005 - just two years before he passed away. I was in Matunga, the school community and he was in the Provincial house. He was still working in the propaganda office of the Shrine and I did meet him once at his desk in the Shrine office. But it was mostly as my confessor that I remember him during my year at Matunga. I met him regularly in the provincial house in his room or in the parlour. Still the same lively smile and welcoming spirit. Age had only managed to bend his spine, slightly. Nothing more! For me he was like Fr John Lens. The same spirit of generosity, openness, a kind of understanding that made me feel completely at home. Even if there was any hesitation or doubt about whether I should ask him or speak to him about something, the moment I would meet him, all those hurdles would just vanish. That was his simple presence. The same for Fr Lens. And I didn't have to explain things in detail or at length, they just understood me perfectly.
Consider myself truly blessed for having met and lived in the time of such stalwarts of the Spirit and Salesian life!
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