Hajja Salesjana January February 2017

4 Dear Óajja Salesjana readers, as 2017 begins to gradually unfold, adding another new chapter to our life’s novel, may we journey forward with hope, trust and peace in our heart as we are assured of our Lord’s constant and reassuring presence in our life. No wonder his name is Emmanu-El , God with us! Let’s never forget this fact, no matter what we face in life. Lately I heard a phrase that truly caught my attention – the ability “ to live in sync ” i.e. in internal harmony. Actually, I found myself wondering, thinking about this seemingly simple and yet profound phrase. I began to question myself: How can I, as a follower of Jesus, live in sync with Him today? How can I, a disciple of Our Lord, remain in sync with Him in a society that no longer gives Him his due centre stage role? How can I, as a companion of the Nazzarene, the Son of God made man, faithfully stay in sync with His eternal Word and evangelical values in a world that is derailing itself from all sides for more reasons than one? I mused and thought to myself that the secret of living in sync with God is to be able to actually find time for Him daily in our busy, fast paced life were often we are whizzing from one thing to the other, where we constantly juggle between the roles we have in life, where life’s pressures and stresses can often become so great, that we tend to become forgetful of those around us and blind to God’s signs of faithfulness in our daily life. Indeed, without being in sync with God, we risk living a drab life dashing forward in a senseless rat race without a significant aim and higher purpose. Surely, this is not how life is meant to be. Life is far too short to be lived without any form of awareness, without any form of quiet time with God, no matter how fleeting, without any moment whereby we can fathom what we are on about here, what we are going through and where we are heading towards. Do we need to get sick or to come to a literally crashing halt to reflect on all this? I have no doubt that Don Bosco himself, whose feast we celebrate this month, was a man who lived in sync with God. The signs are all too clear! Hence together with you all dear Hajja Salesjana readers, let us make a joint effort to make this our firm New Year resolution i.e. to live in sync with God by giving Him and ourselves precious time in our life. By doing so I can then live in sync with others and with myself. Hence, let us find time for prayer in our lives. This is not a luxury but a necessity if we are to be authentic! It is not the quantity of hours that matter but the quality of even the minutes we can spare. We will surely be all the better for choosing to do so, for it is only He who can offer us the tranquillity and the peace we all long for, as we strive to deal with life. Yet, we can only recieve these precious gifts if we ask them from Him and if we make an effort to spend time with Him. Only then can we truly live in sync – being fully human, fully alive, fully Christian here and now. The choice is in our hands! Fr. Sandro Camilleri sdb “...THE SECRET OF LIVING IN SYNC WITH GOD IS TO BE ABLE TO ACTUALLY FIND TIME FOR HIM DAILY IN OUR BUSY, FAST PACED LIFE ” E D I T O R I A L L i v ing in sync wi th God