Faith, Optimism, Excellence
By Fr. Eugenio Maglasang, SDB
Delegate for Pakistan
Lahore, Pakistan -- Last July 24, 2017 the Salesians of the 2 year old Delegation of Pakistan took time to sit together, among other things, to share their visions towards developing a vision for Don Bosco’s Mission in Pakistan.
The starting question was: “What type of Salesians should we be in order to make an impact among the youth in the Pakistan context?” Instead of anchoring the vision on the young people who are the recipients of the mission we decided to start our focus on ourselves as the agents of the mission. Living and actualizing the vision first is a better and more important way as we guide and educate others.
The vision can be summarized in three values: Faith, Optimism, Excellence
- Faith: the Salesian in Pakistan must have a lot of Trust in God. He must be a man of faith to work in a cultural environment where 96.28% are Muslims and only 1.59% are Christians. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, 2017). One must keep in mind that God came to Pakistan long before the Salesians. “He is not come a hero and savior of Pakistan. God is”.
- Optimism – The security and physical threats should not be allowed to hover a cloud of anxiety and negativism in the mind of the Salesian. He does what he can, believing that God will do the rest.
- Excellence – A Salesian must have a grasp of one’s own weakness and strength. With a good self-knowledge as starting point, he must strive to form himself professionally and psychologically. He strive for excellence inspired by St Irenaeus’ maxim “the Glory of God is Man fully alive”.
It is both the belief and aspiration of the Salesians in Pakistan to live with Faith, Optimism and Excellence and instill the same values to our young people by way of personal example.
