(ANS – Roma) – The Rector Major, Fr Pascual Chávez, invites the Salesian Family to join the Solemn Eucharistic Adoration which will be held at the same time everywhere in the world on Sunday 2 June. The initiative has been taken in the context of the Year of Faith, and is being undertaken by Episcopal conferences, parishes and religious congregations, which will join spiritually in the Eucharistic Adoration to be held in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome at 17.00 (GMT + 2).

Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Salesian Family,
The Church is getting ready to live this time of Eucharistic Adoration which will be celebrated worldwide in union with Pope Francis on Sunday 2 June. It is really a beautiful and profound initiative because it testifies to the great devotion the Church has always had towards the mystery of the Eucharist.
Don Bosco had a great love for devotion to the Most Holy Sacrament. He practised this devotion very frequently even from the time of his youth. In the dream of the two pillars (30 May 1862), Don Bosco saw the Eucharist as the anchor to overcome all difficulties in life and he proposed it constantly to his boys as one of the cornerstones of his spirituality.
The Eucharist is the source and summit of the life of the entire Church and of its mission. We cannot approach the Eucharist without allowing ourselves to be drawn into the movement which starts from the very heart of God and reaches out to all people. Missionary endeavour is, therefore, a constitutive part of the Eucharistic way of Christian life, as expressed in the words of Jesus to his disciples, “You yourselves give them something to eat.”
Without Eucharistic life, there is no apostolic life!
The element that reveals, more than any other, how much the life of Don Bosco is marked by the Eucharistic mystery, is the link with pastoral charity which he expressed in the motto “Da mihi animas, cetera tolle”. These words express Don Bosco’s resolve and his effort to be conformed to Christ, who offers his life to the Father for the salvation of all.

I invite you to take part in this initiative, wherever possible by joining in Eucharistic Adoration in the Cathedral, and where this is not possible, by coming together as Salesian Family. Let us make our own the intentions of Pope Francis and, at the same time, pray for him and for the mission entrusted to him.

Published 31/05/2013