God, our Father, we give you thanks that You called Don Bosco for the salvation of the young and have called us to the Salesian life by the light of the Holy Spirit.

Bless our Salesian brothers to be faithful to their proper vocation in the spirit of Don Bosco for the salvation of the young. Fill our hearts with the passion for the evangelization to the young, especially the poorer.

We humbly ask You, O Lord, to make us appreciate the nobility of the Salesian Brother’s vocation and to send us many young people who would desire to live this vocation so that our Salesian vocation may be more abundant. Amen.

Bro Philip and Tim COi, KOR

"The Father and I are one ad we shall come and make our home in you..." (St John: 10, 30)

Psychologists tell us that intimacy, born in and nourished by a loving presence, is the surest guarantee of a lasting, enriching, personal relationship. Intimacy is linked with feelings of closeness, safety, trust and transparency among partners in a relationship. For intimacy to be nourishing and sustainable it also requires a friendly ease in communication and frequent rituals of connection.

The sweetest sound in any language is the sound of our own name given by parents in a moment of joy, the birth of new life. Jesus was the name given to him by Gabriel in the presence of the Maid of Nazareth. I have known a confrere who would never use "Jesus" but always in referred to him as "Our Blessed Lord, Our God and Saviour." There are four essentials for a joyful, lasting, intimate relationship, namely the physical, emotional, intellectual, and the spiritual and to use a person’s name is to signal a physical trustful relationship.

Physical rituals of connection are important: how often our talk with Jesus is formulised and kept to our prescribed community prayer times. But "love talk" to Jesus, should season the day. We are creatures of habit performing daily many repetitive actions. Let us make one such action, a ritual of connection to Jesus. For me it is every time I place a key in a door or car, I talk to him and here the ancient, venerable 'Jesus Prayer', beloved by so many Christians with all its variations can prove useful in creating a physical intimacy with Jesus.

In such moments we will probably begin to share our opinions, feelings, fears, and dreams which constitutes emotional intimacy. In later moments of personal, or community prayer, when we ponder the Gospel words and the ways of Jesus, we begin to gain enriching insights and to harmonise our own ideas and personal philosophy of life: we thus create Intellectual Intimacy. The most challenging form of intimacy is Spiritual Intimacy which promotes mutual respect with each person doing everything possible to make the other person known and loved by others: this gives life and reason for our evangelising activities as Salesians, especially among the young. Such intimacy with Jesus, fostered by living a 'sacramental' day in our community, is the guarantee of joyful perseverance in our chosen vocation.

Maranatha Emanuel
(400 words)

Or said in another way and in another genre

"Lord Jesus, think on me ..."
(Hymn for Lent: No 17)

Shall the mighty pinions of God, beating back
unruly universes, soaring to the unknown,
wherein worlds rise beneath their hovering span,
stop, to think on me, a seed in selfishness sown?
Assuredly so, for have I not his Son’s guarantee;
"the Father and I am one and we shall come to thee."

Shall The Word welling up from "in the beginning",
parallel pulse beats of all creating divinities,
turn from awesome ardours to count as treasure me
amid the pressing moments of my day’s activities,
to share the intimacy of closeness in peaceful adherence,
to live His gospel words and ways in joyful perseverance?

Assuredly so! For precious to him is the vowed soul,
who works in his vineyard bearing the heat of the days.
His loving presence enriches, he, a lover of intimate ways,
the proof of which was that long foretold love laden leaping,
which distanced a God from all fulfilling immensities
to Nazareth as a single cell for a maiden's keeping.

Oh yes, Lord Jesus, think on me
And by your grace, I’ll think on thee.

[ Frank Freeman: Lent 2012]

This intimacy with Jesus had its first small roots in the happy days of my Salesian
aspirantate. We were encouraged to make frequent visits to Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament and pray at the altar of Our Blessed Mother. What I saw in my seniors
was a "come-on" for me to grow in my friendship with Jesus.

Frequent visits to Jesus began to build up this intimacy and we would often pass
by the chapel during breaks and before games, classes and work and outings.
We didn't make long prayers... just saying, "Hi Jesus! This is for you!" We felt that
Jesus took interest in whatever we were saying or doing: in other words He was always
there with us!

This intimacy became deeper in times of retreats and recollections and with the daily
Masses and Communion where we would mention the community and our dear ones
at home, and the missions and the congregation.

And now as I review my 60 years of Salesian life (I professed May 8, 1952). I am very
grateful for the help and training I received to grow in this intimacy with the Lord and His
Holy Mother - I AM VERY MUCH HERE STILL!!!

Fr. Althon Fernandez
FIN, confessor in Seminaryo ng Don Bosco, Paranaque

"Lord Jesus, thank you for calling us as Priests and Brothers to serve the young in the Church and in the Salesian Congregation.
May You inspire some more young men to follow you as Salesian Brothers.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
One God, forever and ever. Amen. "

An insight by Rev. Fr. Jose “Pepe” Reinoso

Rector of Seminaryo ng Don Bosco, Parañaque, Philipines (FIN)

"Our vocation is an answer to God's call. In the Gospel we realize that there are different levels in a call. As religious we are called to be part of the inner circle of Jesus. We are called to share even the same roof, to live with Jesus twenty four hours a day.This, if it is properly understood and well lived, will surely create intimacy between us and the Lord. He even calls us friends. The origin of that friendship is in his choosing us. Now, the greater the intimacy, the greater the attachment between us and the Lord.

A religious who has developed great intimacy with the Lord, will he ever 'abandon' him?

We could say: Failure in following one's vocation is failure in intimacy with Christ. That is why statistics show that when a religious is in the process of leaving his congregation the first thing he abandons is prayer, just like a husband in the process of leaving his wife, the first thing he abandons is communication with her.

We could convincingly say therefore that a daily, joyful, persevering and enthusiastic response to God's call is the result of a loving intimacy with the Lord.