Provincial’s Message for the Month of February


My dear confreres,
With the availability of vaccines that are expected to work against the coronavirus, hopes are soaring high that the global pandemic can be contained. If the vaccines are efficacious, it could mean a return to normalcy before the end of this year. Though the vaccines have indeed been developed in record time, there is a lingering fear whether there will be the same urgency to distribute them fairly. Many are also asking whether the poorest and most vulnerable countries will get the vaccines before the pandemic takes its toll of more human lives. Another question that worries the world is the appearance of new Covid-19 variants, and whether the new vaccines will be effective against them or not. So, on the one hand, we have reasons to hope for a world free of the pandemic, on the other hand, there are new fears and anxieties. Nevertheless, we continue with our prayer to God for health and healing and protection from the pandemic.
In this third year of the preparation for the centenary of the arrival of the Salesians in Northeast India, we reflect on Salesian spirituality. In this circular letter, I would like to share with you some reflections on the need to cultivate union with God, which is one of the central theological principles of Salesian spirituality.
THE NEED TO CULTIVATE UNION WITH GOD (GRACE OF UNITY)
The human need for union with God is one of the most infrequently dealt with topics today among the clergy, religious and Christians in general. It is rarely dealt with in books, sermons, conferences and podcasts in the Christian world, and if anyone attempts to introduce it, it is dismissed as outdated and irrelevant. This is mainly due to our lack of interest in spirituality and things religious, and owing to the invasion of our minds with secular ideas and excessive preoccupation with material things. And yet union with God is the most profound relationship and the most satisfying spiritual experience we can ever have in our life. In reality, union with God is a relationship that we already have: God has never left us. He is deep within us. It is ‘in him that we live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17, 28). But this truth is something that we need to discover for ourselves through personal experience and with the help of divine grace.