IT is the second last day the St John Bosco relic is in Brisbane and among the crowd of faithful gathering to pray with the relic at Our Lady of Victories, Bowen Hills, is Gloria Cuevas who is heading inside to see the relic and give thanks.
Born in Colombia, Ms Cuevas knew the Salesians from their work in trade skill education in her home country, which was a continuation of the work of their Italian founder St John Bosco.
When she heard the Salesian saint was coming to Brisbane, she was “over the moon”.
She had fond memories of when the relics of St Therese of Lisieux and her parents Saints Louis and Zelie Martin were in Brisbane.
“Being with them (the relics), my heart opened and for the first time, I came to a deep consolation in the communion of saints,” she said.
It was not the same feeling when she encountered the relic of St John Bosco, not a feeling of consolation, but of grace to “go forth”.
She will be heading back to Colombia this year and says she goes with “so much peace” in her heart.
She had come to see the relic on its first day in Brisbane when it was at St Stephen’s Cathedral and wanted to see it off at Marian Valley, but because of other commitments, had to farewell St John on the Saturday at Bowen Hills.
She was not the only one who had come back to see the relic again.
One man, who did not want to be named, had seen the relic four times in its journey through the archdiocese.
He said if you spend 10 minutes with the relic in quiet prayer, “you would be amazed at the stillness of your heart”.
He said St John Bosco had been a great inspiration to him, especially being the patron saint of publishers.
Earlier that day, the Bowen Hills parish had a full church celebrating a Saturday morning Mass with the relic.
The Salesian Provincial Fr William Matthew hosted a talk after Mass and spoke about St John Bosco and his contributions to the Church.
Parish priest Fr Grzegorz Gawel said having the relic and the pilgrimage statue at the church had been a “huge blessing”.
“Lots of our parishioners and other visitors have constantly kept vigil and prayed and a large group of our young Polish Scouts came last night to venerate the relic and sang a song in Polish together at the end, which was very moving.
“We are inspired by Don Bosco’s dream about the importance of the two pillars of the Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady, always bringing hope to the Church and the world and we thank Father Provincial for his wonderful talk after Mass on Saturday.”
The relic that toured Brisbane over the last week is a tiny piece of St John Bosco’s brain, less than 1cm long, which is hidden beneath the clothing of the wax replica.
It left Queensland after a Mass at Marian Valley in Canungra on Sunday, October 22.
