A Missionary Thought for the 11th of December

By Fr. Alfred Maravilla
General Councillor for the Missions

Sacro Cuore, Rome, 10 December 2020 -- The feast of Christmas brings us to the heart of our Christian faith. However, when any reference to the birth of Christ is eliminated, it isn’t Christmas anymore. Indeed, there is no Christmas without Jesus Christ!

We are often invited to start a Salesian presence in many places because they appreciate our ministry for poor and abandoned youth, our technical training in our centres or our social work in favour of refugees, marginalised youth and displaced people. This is a great blessing. However, it could also become a risk. We Salesians could risk focusing so much on our work for human promotion and development of the poor and marginalised that we could end up less as evangelisers and more as social workers or social services providers. If this happens, soon the desire to do good will fade and the joy of evangelising will no longer be felt. There is no mission without Christ! In fact, “there is no true evangelisation if the name, the teaching, the life, the promises, the Kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God are not proclaimed” (St Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, 22)!

Certainly, “no believer in Christ, no institution of the Church can avoid this supreme duty: to proclaim Christ to all peoples” (Redemptoris Missio, 3). But there are situations or contexts where we cannot even mention the name of Jesus nor display Christian symbols. In these cases, although it is not prudent to speak about Jesus, we should never lose that interior desire and inner intention of doing what we do to bear witness to Jesus. The challenge is to live in such a way that our witness of life becomes a means to stir up an interest to discover the person of Jesus. Indeed “being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” (Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, 1).

Living Don Bosco’s missionary spirit today means renewing daily our personal encounter with Jesus Christ so that we may not preach ourselves but be credible bearers of The Message we bring: our Lord Jesus Christ!

Questions for Reflection and Sharing

§ Do I take care of nourishing my faith in Jesus?

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