The presence of Don Bosco was a very important moment for the Salesian Confreres. On the evening of 30 March at the Sacred Heart House of Studies they renewed their vows and re-offered themselves to Mary Help of Christians in a night prayer meeting.
Fr Simon Lam, Provincial of China leading the prayer said: “Mission and consecration cannot be separated. Consecration can bring us a sense of peace … We should prepare ourselves better to celebrate the everyday mass and frequently take part in eucharistic adoration. This is the source of our strength.”
The following day Thursday 31 March, after going to other Salesian Institutes in the morning and early afternoon, the casket was taken to the Cathedral of Hong Kong. Forming two lines the faithful went in procession to venerate the relic. Then with a congregation of about 2,000 people, the former Bishop of the diocese the Salesian Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, the present Bishop John Tong Hon, and the Vicar Generals Fr Pierre Lam Minh, Fr Dominic Chan and Fr Michael Yeung concelebrated Mass. After the Mass many Christians gathered to wait for the casket outside the Cathedral.
On 1 April, after a short ceremony at the Mary Help of Christians parish in Hong Kong, Don Bosco’s casket was taken on board a boat for Macao, where it arrived early in the afternoon. The first stop was at the “Salesian Institute”, the Mother House of the Salesian mission in China. When the truck with the casket arrived at the school the student welcome the saint with shouts of joy and applause. Then everyone, staff, students and all the Christians present were able to approach and venerate the casket personally.
There were other celebrations on Saturday 2 April, with Salesian Youth Day. Many children, youngsters and young people from the city gathered at the Institute, to play games, get to know each other and to get to know Don Bosco. First of all those young people organising the Day recognisable in their yellow shirts prepared a variety of games and learning experiences in the joyful style of the Valdocco Oratory. Afterwards they had the opportunity for a moment of prayer before the casket and using a special booklet led the smaller ones in prayer and reflection.
The climax of the whole visit to Macao was on Sunday 3 April with a procession of the casket from the “Salesian Institute” to the Cathedral of the city. About 800 faithful gathered, including teachers and students of various Salesian and FMA schools, other local and foreign faithful, as well as different groups of the Mass Media to accompany the casket with prayers and hymns.
Having arrived after about 2 hours at the Cathedral the casket was placed before the altar and Bishop Joseph Lai of Macao concelebrated Mass with Fr Simon Lam, the Vice Provincial Fr Andrew Fung, and another 30 priests in the presence of some local ecclesiastical and civil authorities.
Published 07/04/2011
