By Fr. Andrew Tin Nguyen, SDB

       Darkhan, Mongolia, 28 May 2022 -- At Mary Help of Christians Parish Darkhan, I recalled that time flies so fast. It seemed just like yesterday when we were preparing for the mission at Darkhan, Selenge, now already 17 years since the day the Salesians came to this area for education and evangelization. That was when we began the mission with zero Christians!

       Today, after so many changes, changes in the people, change of leaders leaders, change of Salesians, change of buildings, the changing environments, etc.… but the Church and the Salesian spirit continue still.

       The feast of Mary Help of Christians is our Parish feast. The faithful gathered for the feast. After the Novena they came to the parish with flowers, real flowers. Some of them were looking after the flowers which they had planted at home; some of them were carrying flowers which they picked up on the way to the Parish, or simply flowers which they found along the way (luckily this time in Mongolia is the time for the flowers to bloom). And of course the Parish encourages them also to offer spiritual flowers and write a letter to Mary.

       So after Holy Communion, the parish priest burned all the letters before Our Lady and then replied to them with Mary’s answering letter. It’s really lovely and nice to see how the people respond, how they put their faith in Our Lady. The Salesians here are just instruments in her hands to help people reach out to the heart of Mary and Jesus. As Don Bosco told us: “Above all, be deeply, sincerely, and constantly devoted to the Blessed Virgin. If you could only understand how important this is, you would not trade it for all the gold in the world! Therefore, cherish this devotion. I hope and pray that you may one day say, "All good things came to me together with it.' (Wisdom 7:11)" and "Be devoted to Mary most holy; frequently call on Her. Never was it known that anyone who trustingly had recourse to Her was not promptly heard."

       So as a “shepherd” I keep praying for the flock as Don Bosco prayed: "My Lady, what can I do? How can I keep this great flock of sheep and lambs? I have no pasture for them."

       And it seems I heard the answer from Our Lady: "Don’t be afraid, I will watch over you and will help you." Day by day I wish and pray with her for our sheep here. They are so young, so weak, so little but all of them I entrust to the care of our Blessed Mary. Please lead them to Jesus as your most loved son. Amen.

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