The following comes from the Salesian News Agency:Sunday afternoon 23 May reflected the missionary and international flavour of the Salesian Congregation.
Early in the afternoon the Rector Major blessed a large cross on the Hill of the Beatitudes in front of the large church which today has become a Minor Basilica. This hill was the site of the fifth and last missionary dream which Don Bosco had in Barcelona, Spain, on the night between 9 and 10 April 1886. Immediately transcribed by Fr Charles Viglietti, the text was sent to Turin to Fr Lemoyne so that “it might be read to all the Superiors at the Oratory since [Don Bosco] hopes it will serve as an encouragement for a good start to a great work.”
In this dream Don Bosco “saw” the missionary expansion of his growing Congregation. A shepherdess appeared in the dream and invited the priest to look towards the horizon, and turning him around in various directions she showed him the continents and the nations in which the Salesians would arrive.
The large cross surrounded by a circle of small trees, represents something like a wind vane a “Salesian Missionary Vane”. Fr Egidio Deiana, Rector of the new Basilica gave a brief explanation. The Salesian Bishops, gathered under or near the trees placed in the directions from which they come, joined in the simple rite of blessing. At the end, inside the concrete base a brick was placed from the Cascina Biglione which used to stand where the church now rises and where on 16 August 1815 John Melchior Bosco was born.
The world-wide dimension was the theme of the meeting held in the theatre of the Salesian Institute. The topic – “The views of the Bishops to guide the Salesian Congregation at the present moment after the GC26. The stimuli and challenges of the Continental Synods” – was presented in short reports by some of the Cardinals and Bishops, one for each continent. Those who spoke were: Bishop Gaston Ruvezi, of Sakania-Kipushi, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, archbishop of Tegucigalpa, in Honduras; Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil, of Guwahati, in India; Bishop Adrianus van Luyn of Rotterdam, in Holland and Cardinal Joseph Zen, former Bishop of Hong Kong.
In their contributions they highlighted some the thorny issues, the crises and the challenges which form part of life in various cultures and societies. The pastoral experience of the speakers and above all the guidelines of the various continental Synods helped those present to understand better the current struggles of some of the countries and local churches.
No comments:
Post a Comment