Every morning during morning prayers we pray for vocations - to and for all sorts; parenting, married life, jobs, religious life, Salesian religious life... Everyday one particular group. Of course, of these intercessions, given the present shrinking number of Salesians in UK and in Europe, the one closest to our heart is for the Salesian religious life. There's a small bookmark with set prayers for each group that we use for this purpose.
This morning as Fr Sean was leading the prayers and towards the end, he announced the title of the intention: Prayer for vocations. And then, flipping through his breviary to locate the prayer card and unable to do so, softly exclaimed, "somewhere".
I almost burst out laughing. The irony of 'Prayer for vocations... somewhere!' was too much for me to keep quiet. While Fr Sean's expression was as an innocent sign of exasperation at not finding the prayer card, and I did recognise that, my mind took a leap ahead to think of actual vocations ... somewhere!
While those of us from India - and other parts of the world, where there is a steady number of young people coming forward to join us Salesians - may take pride in this fact, it is still a cause of concern, at least for me. Most of our vocations are not from Salesian settings. They are youngsters who accidently heard of Don Bosco or literally strayed into the aspirantate! Not that they are bad or shallow - far from it! But my concern is about the youngsters in our own settings. There are thousands of youngsters with whom we are in touch with for years - every day of their life, in schools, colleges and boardings. Then there are those in our parishes and youth centres, whom we may not meet daily but do have a regular contact with. If these youngsters who know us from close quarters are not willing to explore their Salesian vocation, then there is something wrong with those of us who are already professed as Salesians! Vocations are the fruit of our youth ministry! Not the other way round!
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