Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

February 1 - Commemoration of Deceased Salesians

In the celebration of the Eucharist the memory of our deceased confreres is not only an act of suffrage, but also an act of thanksgiving to God for having given to his Church so many generous men who have responded to the voice of the Lord by committing themselves to work with Saint John Bosco, in the practice of the evangelical counsels, for the benefit of the young.
As our fathers and brothers, they have passed on to us a precious heritage. Some of them are still fresh in our memory; others are held in benediction; and there are those whose humble and hidden lives are recorded only as names in the Necrology.
Rather than recount the praises of their virtues, this holy assembly wishes to recognize the good they were able to carry out in the Church through God's grace. This is an attitude which stems spontaneously from faithful and grateful hearts also, when we remember those with whom we have worked, believed, hoped, suffered and loved; they are an incentive to us to continue with fresh enthusiasm in our own vocation.
The redeeming death of Christ has enlightened for us the mystery of death, and so the prayer texts invite the faithful to make a profession of faith in the Father whose mercy knows no limits, and who has promised unending happiness to those who seek first the kingdom of heaven.
In entrusting our deceased confreres to the Father, the giver of life, who sustains all things by his providence, the assembly recalls that they have spent their lives in the service of the Gospel, following the way marked out by Saint John Bosco; and that they worked in the vineyard of the Lord carrying out their pastoral ministry in the service of the young.
For them, as they await the coming of the Lord, the assembly asks the reward promised to faithful servants: pardon, joy, eternal light and peace and a reawakening to the glory of the resurrection,' so as to enjoy for ever the vision of God's countenance.
But their memory, in the sacrifice commemorating the death and resurrection of
Christ, is also a motive for supplication that every confrere may continue faithfully on
his own pilgrimage in the Church at the service of the Gospel.