RMG -The Spirituality Days of the Salesian Family are being attended by more than 400 participants from 37 different countries. Twenty-seven of the thirty groups that make up the Salesian Family are represented by their Superior Generals or their delegates.

The participants were the main protagonists in the afternoon, working in groups divided according to language ​​and areas of competence. Their task was to study how to put into practice the ideas and pastoral projects suggested by the various talks given on previous days.

The last inputs were given in the morning in the form of three valuable contributions made at the round table. The theme - young people as the place where we meet God – might seem challenging and even a bit fanciful as one of the speakers said, but it is fundamentally true according to the teachings of Don Bosco.

Fr Carlo Nanni, Rector of the UPS, gave a talk on the concept of mystery in the educational relationship with numerous quotations from the Salesian Constitutions. The mystery is not so much in the unfathomable soul of youth, but in the fact that it is there among them that we discover the presence of God who willed that we become his children, sharing in the sonship of Jesus. The best way to understand the preventive system is from the point of view of sharing in God’s plan of salvation for the young, a plan that is realized in and through the young people.

Marco Pappalardospoke on the same wavelength and confirmed the idea from experience. He described his own experience as a teacher and educator who allowed himself to be ‘tamed’ by young people. He spoke of the face of Jesus discovered in many young people whose names he mentioned one by one, and what he had learned from them. A further demonstration of Don Bosco’s reversal of perspective and its influence on his spirituality came from Sr. Piera Ruffinatto. It is more usual to consider the relationship between contemplation and action, between consecration and mission, in a logical sequence. Salesian spirituality however is like a web in which it is the outward commitment that dictates how we live the inner life.

In his address, the Rector Major helped those present to make a synthesis of the journey undertaken together. The Spirituality of the Salesian is rooted in the apostolate of one whose soul is characterized by pastoral charity. This is what enables a true experience of relationship with God, which strengthens us in our work and helps us find joy in it. This is what brings about a profound unity between being and doing.

In the words of Fr Natali, the Eucharist celebrated in the late afternoon should serve as encouragement and as food for the journey as we go out into the streets, to meet young people and touch young people's lives, as Don Bosco was told to do by his teacher and master Don Cafasso.

The pleasure of being together and celebrating, growing together in the mission, was well seen in the spirit of fraternity that prevailed. In the evening, to help us to enjoy this spirit, musicians, singers and actors took to the stage, many of them people who had participated in the course of the three days.  The good night was given by Fr Pierluigi Cameroni who spoke about the Hungarian Salesian Brother Sandor who was beatified last year. The evening ended with an unexpected fireworks display.

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Published 19/01/2014