A Lived Consecration

By Fr. Steve DeMaio, SDB, Province Director of Vocation Ministry

From Wednesday, January 29, to Monday, February 10, Bro. Rafael Vargas and I had the blessing of traveling through Florida, where we visited the Salesian Family in Tampa, Naples, Miami, Gainesville, and Jacksonville. It was a beautiful chance for us to meet with current and past students and Salesian Family members. It was also wonderful to encounter other young people who are involved in their universities’ Catholic centers.

We encountered people, both young and old, who were actively striving to live out the consecration they received at Baptism. They were involved in youth groups and Bible studies, organizing parish events, spending time in adoration, helping to organize the liturgy, encouraging each other to serve the poor, and having fun in healthy ways. There were so many signs of hope and moments of real joy. For us, these were just some examples of the real blessing it is to be a Salesian and to be able to walk with young people in these ways.

One of these many encounters made me reflect deeply on our Salesian mission and my own vocation. We met two young men who were discerning priesthood and had a real passion for the education and evangelization of young people. They wanted to give their lives for “spiritual orphans.” So they want to help not only children without mothers or fathers, but most especially those who don’t know Christ, who perhaps have parents and financial security but live without direction or meaning. They recognized how many young people are lost, alone, and feel abandoned, even while being surrounded by a lot of people and involved in a lot of activity. To these young men, this apostolate among orphans was a mission that was worth laying down their lives for.

It was incredible to hear these young people speak in a way that so clearly resembled the heart of Don Bosco. They wanted to live their baptismal consecration for the good of abandoned young people. I was inspired by their gift of self, and it made me stop and reevaluate my own zeal for these spiritual orphans who are surely in all the works of our province. How well are we living out this mission in our province? Can we be more intentional?

It made me remember why I joined the Salesians in the first place. In 2009, I was face-to-face with children who were removed from their families and placed with the Salesians Sisters because the situation at home wasn’t healthy. The Sisters became their spiritual mothers, and in that moment, I felt I was being called to be a spiritual father. It was the beginning of Jesus’ invitation for me to live out my baptismal consecration as a Salesian priest. My conversation with these two young men reenforced the desire to go back to the roots of our founding, to really focus on the abandoned young people to whom we are called to make the first approach and invite into the family experience of the oratory.

According to my professor in Ecuador, the Salesian Congregation was founded to heal the wounds of abandonment. May we never lose the wonder of this mission that is being entrusted to us, and the courage to live it as Don Bosco did in his time.