Ratisbonne, Jerusalem, 13 June 2020 -- June 14, 2020 marks the 40th anniversary of the arrival of the first Salesians in Araimiri, PNG to start the first Salesian presence in Melanesia. Br. Sylvester Kuli, a student of theology at Ratisbonne, Israel share's his reflection on this anniversary.
In Melanesia we don’t say ‘thank you’ but show it. Yet, we have to say it, in situations which we cannot show it. Away from home I would like to share some thoughts regarding our PGS Vice Province synthesised in the two words: Patient and Zealous. Thank you PGS Vice Province and our former Provincial Fr. Alfred Maravilla for sending Br. Bernard Kaiau and me here to the Holy Land for our theological studies. The reality of being sent to a place far from home in a totally different situation is a question that the Vice Province had certainly thought of before deciding to send us here. I presume one of the questions would have been: What would be the benefit of sending them to the Holy Land? We also ask a similar question: Who are we to be given this great privilege? Although the Vice Province patiently accepted the fact that we are limited, we were sent here with the hope that we would take up the challenge of being capable of greater team work in the near future.
I admire how patient our confreres in PGS were to us and our people especially the young under privileged. Like them, I too once found myself left out by a system that caters only to the intellectually superior. I now realised that the patience of the confreres is a means for us to answer promptly to the voice of God in the style of Don Bosco. Sometimes I tell myself ‘’mi wanpla kanaka ples man! wai na mi kam?’’ (I am a bushman, why did I come here?). But I realised that I came to the Holy Land because the confreres had a great love for the people they serve: “Love is patient, love is kind…. It bears all things, believe all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never fails” (1Cor.13:7-8) says St. Paul. Only love conquers the heart of people. Indeed we are challenged to do likewise.
Although our Vice Province is just newly born with less than fifty confreres from 16 countries, I can say PGS is patiently growing in making the Salesian charism more rooted in our Melanesian lifestyle. Here in Ratisbonne we see the enriching interplay of diversity. Salesians from different parts of the world living in a cultural setting different from their own. My eyes were opened only here that, although we come from different cultures, we are all working towards the same goal. Talking and listening to different experiences of Salesians here in Ratisbonne, I realised that their Provinces have long been established with the Salesian identity fully imbedded in their cultures. This made to me reflect on our Vice Province that is just at its beginnings. I hope that PGS too would one day be like their Provinces. However, this is God’s work and only in his time things will happen, especially when we least expect it. As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the arrival of the first Salesians in PNG, we recall with gratitude all the good experiences we had with Salesians who came from different parts of the world to work in PGS. All different but working in the same Salesian style of evangelising.
A simple request to all the aspirants, Bosconians, Past pupils, parishioners: the Salesians in our Vice Province are sent by God to us. Be open to them. I assure you they will guide you well to learn and grow spiritually and intellectually.
Thank you dear confreres!
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