PARAÑAQUE:
2 June 2013 -- Gerald Manley Hopkins, in his
poem, The May Magnificat,
said: “May is Mary’s month and I muse at that, and I wonder
why?” Well,
as Salesians, you will really wonder why Mary is so much
present in
every community—it is because Mary is our Mother and guide,
just like
Don Bosco.
The Seminaryo ng Don Bosco (clerics sector) and the EAO
Salesian
Brother Formation House capped off the month of May with two
special
activities especially devoted to the Blessed Mother—a Marian
Pilgrimage
and a Special Rosary.
Last May 21, some brothers went to the Diocese of San Pablo
(in Laguna,
south of Manila; whose bishop emeritus is a Salesian, Leo
Drona) to
make a pilgrimage to centuries-old churches and Marian shrines
in order
to heighten their devotion to Mary and to enrich their
knowledge about
the cultural and religious heritage of the Philippines. They
visited
and prayed in seven pilgrim churches, and were able to hear
from some
devotees testimonies of miracles attributed to the Blessed
Mother. The
last stop was the Diocesan Shrine of Mary Help of Christians
in
Canlubang.
On the evening of the Feast of the Visitation, the brothers
closed the
month of May with a special Rosary where everybody contributed
to a
multi-cultural praying of the rosary. The Pater and Ave Maria
were led
in English, Japanese, Malagasy (Madagascar), Pijin, Tetum,
Vietnamese,
Bisaya (FIS), Burmese and Bahasa Indonesia. In between the
mysteries,
the different language groups serenaded or recited a poem to
honor
Mary. Carefully picked flowers from the seminary garden were
offered to
Mary while singing the Salve Regina.
In the good night talk of Fr. Gerry Batad, SDB, the economer
of the
Seminaryo, he stressed that the end of May should not be the
end of the
Salesians’ devotion to Mary. It should rather be a means to
heighten
our devotion. He challenged everyone that we should be the
primary
devotees and propagator of devotion to the blessed mother
(especially
the title Mary, Help of Christians) because she is our guide
and
teacher.
Many of those who remained in the seminary are the in-coming
first year
theology students and the Salesian Brothers. The rest of the
community
members are sent to different Salesian communities both in the
FIN and
FIS for their summer apostolate; while some went home to make
their
perpetual profession (2 Salesian Brothers in VIE; a cleric in
PNG).
Interestingly, the Seminaryo belongs to the parish of the
National
Shrine of Mary Help of Christians where they also helped in
the
animation of the novena Mass and actively participated in the
many
festivities.