austraLasia #3442
Jerusalem-EAO: Ministries and Profession
JERUSALEM: 26 May 2014 -- The solemnity of Mary Help of Christians was celebrated amongst us with great joy, as any good sons of Don Bosco, or members of the Salesian Family would do. But this year for the Ratisbonne Community at the Studium Theologicum Salesianum – Faculty of Theology, Jerusalem Campus – it was a special celebration graced with the presence of Fr Pascual Chavez and Fr Adrian Bregolin, former Rector Major and Vicar respectively. They had been on pilgrimage in the Holy Land for two weeks. For one of those weeks they chose to stay at Ratisbonne. During this time the community enjoyed listening to Fr Chavez' good nights, homilies and other interventions.
Fr Pascual presided at the Mass on the evening of the Solemnity. During the Mass the Rector Major “emeritus” received the Perpetual Profession of cleric Finansiuns Sidabutar, from the ITM Province and conferred the ministries of Reader and Acolyte on the clerics who conclude their first and second year.
From our Region four clerics – Dang Lam Giuseppe Cassino, Huang Long-Hsuan, Sidabutar Financius and Vu Duc Huan Giuseppe - were instituted as Readers, and Cleric Lian Thuan Piang as Acolyte.
In his homily Fr Chavez exhorted the congregation to emulate Mary’s attitude at Cana: first to be attentive to the needs of others, especially to the needs of young people, the least, the underprivileged, those who count for nothing in society, sometimes even in the Church! Secondly, to learn to turn to Jesus as the only one capable of responding to our deepest meaning. Thirdly, the need to bring Jesus to everyone, for “Christ is the right of everyone”, he said. “If we give Jesus to the youth, we give them everything”, conversely, “we may give them many things, but they are nothing without Jesus”.
Finally, speaking to those receiving the ministries, Fr Pascual asserted that the ministries have a pedagogical purpose. They are aimed at developing values, cultivated attitudes which are part of Christian identity. The goal of the ministries of Reader and Acolyte is threefold: configuration with Christ, identification with the Church, and service. With regards to religious profession, Fr Pascual described it as a profound anthropological act, because “we are dealing with love; it is a profession of love; you are confessing that you are loved by Someone who never deserts and never disappoints.” For this reason we do not become Salesians to do something (we are not volunteers or social workers), no! We become Salesians because of Someone who has loved us first, who has fixed his gaze on us”!
Jerusalem-EAO: Ministries and Profession
Fr Pascual presided at the Mass on the evening of the Solemnity. During the Mass the Rector Major “emeritus” received the Perpetual Profession of cleric Finansiuns Sidabutar, from the ITM Province and conferred the ministries of Reader and Acolyte on the clerics who conclude their first and second year.
From our Region four clerics – Dang Lam Giuseppe Cassino, Huang Long-Hsuan, Sidabutar Financius and Vu Duc Huan Giuseppe - were instituted as Readers, and Cleric Lian Thuan Piang as Acolyte.
In his homily Fr Chavez exhorted the congregation to emulate Mary’s attitude at Cana: first to be attentive to the needs of others, especially to the needs of young people, the least, the underprivileged, those who count for nothing in society, sometimes even in the Church! Secondly, to learn to turn to Jesus as the only one capable of responding to our deepest meaning. Thirdly, the need to bring Jesus to everyone, for “Christ is the right of everyone”, he said. “If we give Jesus to the youth, we give them everything”, conversely, “we may give them many things, but they are nothing without Jesus”.
Finally, speaking to those receiving the ministries, Fr Pascual asserted that the ministries have a pedagogical purpose. They are aimed at developing values, cultivated attitudes which are part of Christian identity. The goal of the ministries of Reader and Acolyte is threefold: configuration with Christ, identification with the Church, and service. With regards to religious profession, Fr Pascual described it as a profound anthropological act, because “we are dealing with love; it is a profession of love; you are confessing that you are loved by Someone who never deserts and never disappoints.” For this reason we do not become Salesians to do something (we are not volunteers or social workers), no! We become Salesians because of Someone who has loved us first, who has fixed his gaze on us”!
