{"id":16606,"date":"2026-04-09T04:44:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T04:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/donboscoguwahati.org\/?post_type=province_news&p=16606"},"modified":"2026-04-09T04:44:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T04:44:58","slug":"do-as-he-tells-you-fr-alfred-marzo-sdb-marks-91st-birthday","status":"publish","type":"province_news","link":"https:\/\/donboscoguwahati.org\/index.php\/news\/do-as-he-tells-you-fr-alfred-marzo-sdb-marks-91st-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cDo as He Tells You\u201d: Fr. Alfred Marzo SDB Marks 91st Birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Province gathered around Rev. Fr. Alfred Marzo as he celebrates his 91st<\/sup> birthday. The Holy Mass was celebrated by Fr. Alfred Marzo himself, in the company of Rev. Fr. Sebastian Kuricheal SDB, Provincial and the community members of the Provincial House.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In a homily shared with the community, Fr. Marzo reflected not on his advanced age, but on a lifetime of listening, obedience, and unwavering work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI celebrate more than the ninety-one,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the seventy-fifth year of Salesians. Seventy-five years in the Salesian way.\u201d Fr. Marzo recalled his vocation beginning at a \u201cvocation camp\u201d in Italy, where Salesians would visit schools and villages, inviting young boys to spend a month observing religious life. From those early steps came a journey that would take him across continents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf these seventy-five years, seventy-four are in India, which for me is a great blessing,\u201d he said, speaking on a day of political significance. \u201cToday, as we celebrate, we pray for our country, India, especially for the state of Assam, where the elections are taking place today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The veteran missionary\u2019s homily, however, was not about nostalgia but about a simple, profound spiritual rule: obedience. He traced the Salesian mission in Northeast India back to the first missionaries who arrived in Guwahati and then moved to Shillong. Their first act, he noted, was to enter a church, where they found a statue of Mary Help of Christians waiting for them (now kept at the novitiate).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe secret of the work and the progress,\u201d Fr. Marzo said, \u201cis this: Do as He tells you. We have to work. There\u2019s no way out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He drew the lesson from the Strenna 2026 of the Rector Major and the Wedding at Cana: \u201cMary told the servants, \u2018Do whatever He tells you.\u2019 Because they obeyed, water changed into wine. Our difficulties will be turned into success through our obedience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fr. Marzo also recalled the motto of Monsignor Louis Matthias: \u201cDare and hope\u201d to work with courage, but to hope in the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rev. Fr. Sebastian Kuricheal SDB, Provincial, speaking on the occasion of Fr. Marzo\u2019s birthday, described \u201chis life as a beautiful homily, rich in faith, deep in compassion, and steadfast in service.\u201d His life, the Provincial added, is a \u201clife with no regrets.\u201d Three former Provincials were also present at the birthday celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he enters his 92nd<\/sup> year and continues to witness a life of service, Fr. Marzo left the Province with a simple instruction: \u201cLet us ask our Lord and Mother Mary Help of Christians to help us be faithful to our vocation till the end, by doing God\u2019s will as manifested through our superiors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Province gathered around Rev. Fr. Alfred Marzo as he celebrates his 91st birthday. The Holy Mass was celebrated by Fr. Alfred Marzo himself, in the company of Rev. Fr. Sebastian Kuricheal SDB, Provincial and the community members of the Provincial House. In a homily shared with the community, Fr. Marzo reflected not on his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":16607,"template":"","meta":[],"class_list":["post-16606","province_news","type-province_news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/donboscoguwahati.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0-3-1024x759.jpeg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/donboscoguwahati.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/province_news\/16606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/donboscoguwahati.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/province_news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/donboscoguwahati.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/province_news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/donboscoguwahati.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/donboscoguwahati.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}