(ANS - Rome) - Fr Ángel Fernández Artime’s first day as Rector Major was  intense and maybe also tiring, but certainly joyful. He spent it in the company of the Chapter members and many visitors who came to offer a greeting, a thank you, a wish or a prayer.

Tuesday, 25 March, finished late. After the evening meal there was a lengthy celebration with musical items and presentations by groups of Chapter members from the different Regions, and by representatives of the international communities of Salesians and Daughters of Mary Help of Christians from around Rome.

Several times the new Rector Major said that this was not the time for policy declarations, but time to express feelings of trust and gratitude. "Today, more than ever before, I understand the many passages in the Bible where people who are called by God feel that he is asking of them something that is beyond their strength. But in the end, I accept in faith. ‘My grace is sufficient for you.’ His grace is enough for us."

As well as  trust in God, I also feel gratitude. I am grateful to the many Salesian confreres because, as Fr Chávez stressed repeatedly, "the confreres are the greatest wealth of the Congregation. This is the profound conviction that I would like to have in mind every day. I don’t want ever to forget it."

He continued: "Thanks to every confrere in every part of the world for his life and his Salesian vocation. On behalf of the young people and of Don Bosco who wants us for their sake, I want to thank you all."

This morning, Wednesday 26 March, the Rector Major presided at the Eucharist. His homily was inspired by the words of Deuteronomy: "Listen, Israel (...) that you may live,  and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, gives you ... ".

Making these words his own, the Rector Major said: "I feel that the Lord is telling me once again: 'Now, my son, listen ... ' He is asking me to listen attentively to each of you, to the whole Salesian family and to the cries of the young. He is asking me to listen to my brothers, together with you and never without you. (...) Don Bosco was a man who listened: he knew how to interpret the needs of the most abandoned young people."

Listening is not an end in itself. We listen in order to serve. "Listen … and take possession of the land which the Lord gives you. It is the land of young people, in all kinds of situations,  in the new digital world and also in the old traditional places where we find them. Taking possession of the land does not mean becoming masters, but servants, like Moses in the Sinai desert.  Take off your sandals, for the lives of our young people are sacred. The lives of young people are the burning bush from which God speaks to our hearts, and where God is waiting for us to meet with Him."

Published 26/03/2014