austraLasia #2992

China Province : Salesian Family Spirituality Day
HONG KONG: 18 January 2012 -- According to custom, the China Province organizes a Salesian Family Spiritual Day in mid-January every year. Leaders from the Daughters of Mary of Christians, Sisters Announcers of the Lord, Salesian Cooperators, Past Pupils, Don Bosco Volunteers and Mary Help of Christians Association, gather to share the Salesian spirituality and charism and study the Rector Major's Strenna, so that we can walk together with other Salesian Families in the world and fulfill the mission of Don Bosco. This gathering was held on 15 January 2012 at Tang King Po School.

    The Rector Major has decided that 2015 is a 'Salesian Holy Year', the bicentenary of the Birth of Don Bosco. He also set out the theme for the coming 3 years – to know Don Bosco, study his preventive system and deeply understand his spirituality. We hope this 2015 preparation and eventual celebration will benefit us to the greatest extent. Therefore, the main purpose of the Tang King Po gathering was to understand the general goal, the resources available and our action plan for the goal.

 Fr. Simon Lam, Provincial of China Province, explained what such a 'Salesian Holy Year' is. He mentioned that the aim was to invite us to imitate Don Bosco and sanctify our daily lives. He emphasized how we could shape ourselves after Don Bosco and allow Don Bosco to be born again through us on the earth. Fr. Simon indicated that every action should be done consciously for God and connected with God. Giving meaning to every action was referred to as “the deep water” in the Gospel's “Put out into the deep” (Luke 5:4). He also gave us 3 practical hints on how to put out into the deep: i.e. to connect every action to God, to do it with a heart for unifying people around us, and to always remember and to think about God.

 Fr. Antonio Leung shared the following thoughts with us: we can use Salesian China Province online resources for our continuous formation. He introduced the rich collection of online resources on the web. Using the search function, we can easily locate the relevant resources that are available. The Salesian network in China Province website is a network to connect all units of the Salesian Family together. Fr. Antonio hoped that all of us could set www.sdb.org.hk as the front page of our internet browser.

 Following a sharing, Fr. Andrew Fung, Vice-Provincial, guided us to use Don Bosco’s trait – “dreaming” for the coming 3-year preparation and the 2015 celebration. The mission and vision is set out for the coming 3 years. One person’s dream is but one dream, however. If more people dream the same dream, it will come true.

The ideas dreamed by participants were recorded, listed and will be further discussed each unit's meeting. This gives us a basis for more tangible actions to be taken in the 3-year preparation.

    Finally, the Salesian family offered all their dreams to God for his blessing in the evening.