Melbourne, Australia, 3 September 2020 -- In the Australia Pacific Province we celebrate Salesian Missions Day over a course of a month. Due to the lockdown in Australia, and particularly in Melbourne, this year we have worked hard on a social media campaign to celebrate our Salesian Missions Month.
The Rector Major reminds us that ‘we were all born in the oratory’. At the heart of the oratory is joy, and for that reason the gospel verse to accompany the theme this year is: Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say: Rejoice’ Phil 4:4. This theme is very timely for our world right now as our reality has changed so drastically. It causes us to question....where is my joy? Despite the challenges in the world and in our individual lives we know that if our joy is in the Lord we can persevere through difficult times.
It is such an important message for our young people who are suffering so much right now. When we think of the Oratorian model of home, school, parish and playground, so many of them have been stripped of these very important places. These are beautiful moments for us to contemplate and pray for our world and particularly the young people within our care....whom many of us have not seen for so long and miss very much.
In line with the biblical verse ‘Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say Rejoice’ (Phil 4:4), the videos are exploring our universal need to find joy, happiness and meaning in life. Thirty voices from across our Province (Australia, New Zealand, Samoa and Fiji) are pondering some of the questions about seeking true joy and finding true happiness and fulfilment in life. There are some beautiful messages of hope, joy and meaning expressed from around our Province.
Each day we will upload a new video on our Salesian Youth Ministry Facebook page
If you have access to Facebook I would encourage you to check it out!
For those that don't have access to Facebook you can also find the videos on our AUL YouTube channel. The introductory video for the month is here
