The month of August can be a powerful time to ignite missionary zeal among us, as it brings together significant national, spiritual, and Salesian celebrations. The birth of St. John Bosco on August 16 while marking the 210th anniversary, inspires a renewed commitment to his missionary spirit of serving the young, especially the poor and the abandoned. The Feast of the Assumption of Our Blessed Mother on August 15, closely linked with Mary Help of Christians, deepens Marian devotion and motivates us to follow Mary’s example of total dedication to God’s mission. This day also coincides with our 79th Independence Day, offering us a chance to form socially conscious youth who are committed to nation-building and justice. In most of our Salesian houses, the Marian month is celebrated from 16th July to 15th with recitation of the rosary, special events to honour Mother Mary, serenades, academies and other outreach devotions that foster spiritual growth and missionary enthusiasm. With schools and youth centers active during this period, it is an ideal time for youth retreats, catechesis, vocation promotion, and community outreach programs. Together, the above-mentioned events and celebrations make August a vibrant month where faith, patriotism, and missionary zeal come together in the true spirit of St. John Bosco’s charism.
 

St. Thomas the Apostle, the Salesian Charism and the Salesian Identity

While reflecting on the zeal that sustains mission, the lives of St. Thomas the Apostle and St. John Bosco, though centuries apart, reveal a shared fire: one ignited by a personal encounter with Christ. For Thomas, it was a dramatic moment of revelation: he demanded personal proof, and in touching Christ’s wounds, was touched in return. This encounter transformed him into a fearless witness, proclaiming, “My Lord and my God!” (Jn 20:28). For St. John Bosco, the encounter was quieter but no less real, born in dreams, in the celebration of sacraments, especially Reconciliation and the Eucharist, moments of prayer, spiritual direction, and most of all in the faces of young delinquents, poor, abandoned and forgotten youth. He found Christ “in the ordinary,” and his faith matured not through an extraordinary spectacle but sustained love. St. Augustine teaches us that faith is to believe what we do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what we believe. In both saints, St. Thomas and St. John Bosco, Christ’s call became deeply personal and thus, unshakable, because of their staunch faith in God in his plan. 
 

Their methods of evangelization also diverge while harmonizing in spirit. Thomas, bold and apostolic, crossed borders and cultures to plant the Church in India. His was a missionary life marked by movement and proclamation, deeply apostolic in form. St. John Bosco’s method was more local but no less transformative: the Preventive System rooted in reason, religion, and loving-kindness. He believed that presence – patient, joyful, and daily – was itself a form of evangelization. “Education is a matter of the heart,” he often said, and that heart had to beat with Christ’s love. While Thomas preached to kings and commoners alike, Don Bosco walked playgrounds, work spots and workshops – both making the Word flesh in their respective contexts. What unites them further is their relationship with doubt. Thomas’ famous doubt was not cynicism but longing for a truth he could touch. The Church Fathers admired this honesty; St. Gregory the Great even wrote, “The disbelief of Thomas has done more for our faith than the faith of the other disciples.” Don Bosco, too, did not dismiss the doubts of youth; he walked with them gently, believing that questions were the pathway to encounter. He listened, accompanied, and allowed time and tenderness to do the work of conviction. For both men Thomas and Johnny Bosco, doubt was not a door closed, but one waiting to be opened.
 

Their legacies testify to the fruit of their faithfulness. Thomas is revered in India as its Patron and the spiritual father of Eastern Christianity. The Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Churches owe their roots to his apostolic labours. Don Bosco’s legacy is no less vast: a global family of schools, youth centers, oratories, and missions that now span 137 countries. Where Thomas built churches of stone and faith, Don Bosco built communities of hope and learning. 
 

Both the saints we are reflecting on, also reveal a striking commitment to the margins. Thomas went to the edge of the known world, embracing the unfamiliar in culture and language. Don Bosco went to the emotional and social margins, those abandoned by society and even the Church. His charism called him to “be signs and bearers of God’s love for the young, especially the poor.” Their courage at the edges reminds us that Christ is always waiting for us at the margins. 
 

And finally, while Thomas bore witness through martyrdom, shedding his blood at Mylapore, Don Bosco offered his life daily through spiritual martyrdom. Every hour spent listening, every sleepless night in service of his boys, every drop of patience was a sacrifice. “Work, suffer, and be silent,” Don Bosco often told his Salesians. It is an invitation to lay down one’s life not just in a single heroic act, but in countless unnoticed ones. 
 

The symbols of their lives capture their essence. Thomas is remembered with a spear, marking his martyrdom, and a hand, symbolizing both his doubt and his deeper faith. Don Bosco is remembered through the playground and the chapel, where joy and sanctity met in the laughter of youth and the quiet of prayer. Together, they teach us that the call to mission is diverse in form, but always the same in fire: a life poured out in love for Christ and His people. 

The growth and vitality of the Salesian Province of Chennai (INM) stand today as a living testament to the faith, courage, and tireless dedication of the Salesian missionaries who first sowed the seeds of Don Bosco’s charism on Indian soil. Coming from distant lands like Italy, Spain, and beyond, they were men deeply in love with Christ and consumed by the desire to bring His Gospel to the young and the poor of India. They arrived not as conquerors, but as humble servants, willing to learn new languages, embrace unfamiliar cultures, and walk alongside the people with simplicity and love. In the spirit of St. Thomas, the Apostle, whose missionary blood sanctified Tamil Nadu, these Salesians embodied the same apostolic passion, proclaiming Christ not only in word but in a life poured out for others. 

They built more than schools and churches, hearts, homes, and hopes of the people of our land. Living the Preventive System with creativity and compassion, they reinterpreted Don Bosco’s charism in ways that resonated deeply with the Indian reality, through education, catechesis, technical training, rural outreach, and pastoral care. Many of them lived in poverty, faced illness, isolation, and at times even hostility, but they remained faithful, anchored in Christ and committed to the young. Their lives were an offering: Eucharistic, hidden, and fruitful. Because of their sacrifices, the Salesian presence in South India today is strong, widespread, and deeply rooted in the lives of countless families. Today, we stand on their shoulders and so, as inheritors of a great legacy, we are called now to carry forward their mission with the same daring faith, enduring hope and burning love. 
 

Conclusion

In this dialogue between the ancient apostle and the youthful Salesian, we find one heart beating through time: a heart that seeks, serves, and saves. Whether in first-century India or twenty-first century urban slums of India, the missionary spirit thrives where love is personal, presence is intentional, and the Gospel is incarnated. Let us go forth as modern-day Thomases and Don Boscos, doubting honestly, believing courageously, and loving tirelessly. The world still waits to hear the Gospel not only preached, but above all, lived in daily authenticity.

As we close our reflections on the missionary zeal, let me recall the words of Henry Nouwen: “God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another… I have my mission.” In God’s mission and that of the congregation, according to the late Pope Benedict XVI, “each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed. Each of us is loved. Each of us is necessary.” So, our patron St. Francis de Sales tells each of us personally, “be who you are and be that well, to give honor to the Master Craftsman whose handiwork you are.”