Titolo notiziario Nome società N. 76 - April 2015
Newsletter for Salesian Missionary Animation
A Publication of the Missions Sector for the Salesian Communities and Friends of the Salesian Missions
Akash Bashir
19 years, Salesian
past pupil of La hore. His name
and his blood
filled the last part
of our journey of
Lent 2015. The
“hatred of the
faith" is a conditio
sine qua non for the Church to declare
someone a martyr. In this case, there
should not be just room for discussion:
martyr immediately!
In this month we pray for young Christians in the Middle East and North Africa. Let us allow ourselves to be in spired by the moving example of Akash. So young, yet in a short span of time he understood and put into prac tice the essence of the Gospel: to lay down his life for his brothers! “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it produces much fruit.” Behind every missionary availabil ity and behind every project of Sale sian volunteer service, the same desire should also be present: to give our lives for our brothers. Or, as Zeferino Namuncura once said, “to be useful for my people.” Thank you, dear Akash! Your life has been so “useful” for your people!
We will try to imitate you!
With best wishes for a fruitful
Easter!
Fr. Guillermo Basañes SDB
Councillor for the missions
T he heroic guard who last March
15,2015 (Sunday) in Lahore, Paki stan prevented a suicide attacker from
the Jamaat ul Ahrar group from entering
a crowded St John’s Catholic Church was
named Akash Bashir. Akash was a past
pupil of the Salesian technical school lo cated in the predominantly Christian
neighbourhood of Yuhannabad. He
caught hold of his assailant, using his
body as a shield.
Akash lost his life and saved the lives of many other peo ple.
Akash was standing together with an other security guard at the door of the church, checking those who entered. The suicide bomber approached the en trance and tried violently to get past the two young guards.
When Akash stopped him he noticed the explosives hidden under his jacket. Akash grabbed hold of the attacker and the lower part of his body was blown off in the explosion.
Thanks to his courageous action the death toll was much lower than was intended by the assailant.
"As a Christian minority there are times when our only hope is in God and His Mother, Mary" say the Salesians in Lahore.
Salesian past pupil
offers his own life
to save
other Christians
HAPPY EASTER HAPPY EASTER
to all the readers of “Cagliero 11”
I became a missionary to obey the will of God for me
For Young Christians in the Middle East and North Africa who
Suffer for their faith
T
he frequent passage of missionaries in my town, Ponte de Vagos, Aveiro - Portugal was, indeed, an important milestone. They themselves told, by mouth,
their fantastic stories with the help of some movies and pictures that made us
dream and question the possibility to follow their example, proclaiming the
Good News to so many people who, today, are unaware or have not yet accepted the invitation of Jesus Christ. Although I had the opportunity to continue my studies “regularly”, the idea and the desire to follow them remained
with me during my youth. But first I experienced the world of work through
construction, metalfabrication and office work. However, it was only after I
finished the compulsory military service that I decided to start the great adventure! I started secondary school, while
doing the aspirantate and pre-novitiate; followed, after a year of novitiate, 3 years of philosophy in Spain, 2 years of practical training in Portugal, and 5 years in Rome, where I obtained a degree in theology and a
licentiate degree in missiology.
So after four years of missionary life in Cape Verde at the service of my Portuguese Province, I am now part of the Vice Province of Mozambique since October 2013. The decision to make myself available to the Rector Major for the Salesian mission ad gentes, had given rise to some questions in people who knew me as well as among my own confreres in the Province. After all, Portugal is part of a group of countries where, currently, there are so many people who do not know Jesus Christ or who need to deepen their own faith ... So, why leave for the missions when there are is so much need at your doorstep?! Really, it is a fact and a mystery I can not answer ... I just try to do what I perceive to be the will of God for my life and where I am happy!
The knowledge of Don Bosco and the Salesian life, associated with the course of study that I underwent, along with the Course for New Missionaries held in Rome and Turin, gave me the courage needed to move on, in view of the worldwide Salesian mission, in order to serve the young and especially the poorest.
Challenges and joys that we find and live with in this mission land are many ... the challenge is to have the courage to let God fulfill in each of us His holy will.
Fr. Jorge Bento
Portuguese, missionary in Mozambique
Witness of Salesian Missionary Sanctity
Blessed Philip Rinaldi (1858-1931), third successor of Don Bosco, and whose 25 th
anniversary of the beatification (29 April 1990) we remember, was a great promoter of the
missionary work of the Congregation. In a circular letter he wrote: “Do not forget that the
apostolic ardour of Francis Xavier had been burning in his great heart, fed by a flame which
lit up the future through his dreams ... I see him, the beloved Father in the distant memories of my vocation, in the years of his greatest missionary fervour: an indelible impression
remained in me. Don Bosco was a true missionary, an apostle consumed with passion for
souls”.
