Hajja Salesjana April June 2018

25 us that if one day he should have reached the end of his life, he would have gone serenely to his meeting with God. Our confrereTom prayed every day for his captors and for their lives. He prayed for Mother Teresa of Calcutta’s Missionary Sisters of Charity, who had been assassinated in front of him. He prayed for his dear ones, for the Salesian Family and for the young. Since he could not celebrate Holy Mass with bread and wine, he daily recited the prayers of the Mass from memory, and this gave him great strength. He kept his thoughts peaceful and prayed – prayed and thought peacefully – keeping tight rein over them lest they be obscured by anxiety or fear. Now he has returned to us filled with peace and serenity. Indubitably, he grew very much in his spiritual depths from having lived this painful experience. He expects nothing, nor does he hope or look for any recognition. Essentially, he shall continue serving and working serenely. We also spoke about his status as a missionary. He was in Yemen as a missionary, and he felt himself to be a missionary more than ever during those 18 months – even if he could “do nothing.” Actually, he “did everything” because he offered up each day with total innocence. “I MYSELF WAS THE EUCHARISTIC SACRIFICE. MY OWN BODY WAS A LIVING SACRIFICE PLEASING TO GOD” At the same time that our brother Tom was in Rome, another 21 SDBs and 13 FMAs received the missionary cross. All of them, with their hearts prepared to serve where they are most needed, leaving behind the world and the life familiar to them, are leaving behind closeness to the ones they love, so as to forge new ties in new lands by accompanying other persons. A bridge between Fr. Tom and the new missionaries was quickly built. His witness to these new missionaries was the witness of a life given for others. These are the things we lived just a few months ago in September – and it is in no way make-believe! It is the very life of these men and women; it is the life of believers who have decided to give themselves in an absolute and radical way. It is, undoubtedly, a witness which challenges each of us.