austraLasia 913
SAMOA (AUL): Rector Major's 'stolen heart'!
APIA (Samoa): 19th-20th October ´04 -- "As Don Bosco told his boys....'You are thieves too,you have stolen my heart.!' You have stolen my heart with your beautiful songs and dances. It is not possible to experience this in any other part of the world! You are unique!' This was how Fr Pascual Chávez reacted to the students at Don Bosco Technical Centre, Alafua in the heart of Polynesia, Samoa.
The journey from Australia took the Rector Major and his small team briefly through New Zealand and Tonga en route. After but a few hours rest, he was amongst the Salesians, students, families and local authorities at Alafua for the blessing of the foundation stone of what will be the new multipurpose hall at the school. The event was televised for the nation.
Fr Chávez told the large crowd that he was 'at home' in Samoa. He had already learned two most important words, Talofa (welcome, hello) and Faafetai (Thank you), and he brought to them the smile and heart of Don Bosco. He then gave them, especially the young people present, Don Bosco´s 'secret of happiness' in three lines: The gift of life - Your deal is to discover your dream, your vocation, your mission in life´. The gift of education - 'everything that helps you to grow. It is sad to see millions of youth around the world living without meaning'. The gift of faith -´'I have this, my small cross (showing it) because Jesus gave his life for me. He won victory over death. To believe God loves me is the faith.'
Later Fr. Chávez had lunch with the Salesian community and then spent some hours with the novices. This will be a separate report.
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'austraLasia' is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia-Pacific. It functions also as an agency for ANS, based in Rome. Try also www.bosconet.aust.com 'Progetto' is a most important word in Salesian discourse. What does it actually mean - plan, project, something else? For further comment cf. Lexisdb
