By VIE SocCom
HCM City, Vietnam, 15 November 2024 -- On 13 November 2024, in the joy of celebrating the feast of Saint Artemides Zatti, the Ba Thon Sacred Heart Novitiate held the First Profession Mass of Brother Augustino Pham Van Long. The Novices also celebrated their patron day. At 9:30 a.m., the Novices welcomed the presence of the Provincial Father Barnabas Le An Phong, along with priests, teachers, parents, and relatives of the Novices with a joyful and bustling brass band. The Mass was presided over by Father Barnabas in a sacred and solemn atmosphere. Concelebrating with him were the Rector of the Sacred Heart Community, the Novice Master and the Salesian priests.
In his homily, Father Provincial stressed three attitudes of people towards one another through the parable of “The Good Samaritan”. The first attitude is “Usurpation - robbing others”. Nowadays there are many people who do not hesitate to rob others: robbing money, robbing love, etc. The second attitude is “Your business, not mine”, this is an accepted and very common attitude. Indeed, people can ignore everyone and every event around them, thinking that those things do not concern them. The third is an attitude of “a meddler.” These people consider other people’s business as their own, they worry about others, and they themselves can suffer losses or get in trouble, but that is the attitude of the Samaritan.
Saint Artemides Zatti also lived the fullness of Pastoral Charity through this attitude. The attitude of “a meddler” is what the Gospel invites every faithful to live, especially for the Salesians. Fr Provincial advised that being a Salesian is to embrace the concerns of young people, especially the poor and abandoned. Don Bosco invited the Salesians to serve the youth on a path full of roses and thorns. This is the Cross that God gives to Salesians and also the path to holiness that God gives to us. After the homily, brother Augustin received the Salesian Constitutions. Then he made his vows to live in obedience, poverty and chastity according to the Gospel path outlined in the Constitutions. After the Mass, Brother Augustin with his family and the Artemides Zatti batch had some photos with all the present Salesians, followed by the agape full of family spirit.