| RMG – Holiness: An expression of a life lived in faith and apostolic fruitfulness |
| Italy – The III in the series of “Saints’ Race” |
The Saints’ Race is becoming a Salesian tradition in Italy as this sporting and cultural event is held for the third time – a new and creative way of celebrating this Solemnity, nor forgetting the dimension of solidarity. Linked with the Race this year is a fund-raising campaign for Salesian work in Pakistan.
So the day began with the Rector Major of the Salesians celebrating Mass at the altar of the chair of Saint Peter accompanied by his Vicar Fr Adriano Bregolin, about a hundred Salesians from Italy and some of those who have been taking part in the “Don Rua in history” International Congress, and attended by over a thousand young people and adults from Salesian houses in Italy and beyond.
“This feast of All Saints reminds us what our vocation is: we are born in love, for love, to love and to be loved and so be happy for ever,” Fr Chávez said introducing his homily. A celebration of the past, remembering those who have already lived according to the Gospel and of the future “because it makes us see in anticipation what we all shall be in the world of the risen.”
Recalling the close connection between the feast of All Saints and the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed, the Rector Major said that each one had to be true to his calling as a child of God “taking on board the Magna Carta of the Kingdom which represents the overturning of the hierarchy of this world’s values.” Living according to the Beatitudes which are the “constitution” of the Kingdom of Heaven, the Christian is called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
“Recovering the value of holiness in the face of a widespread mediocrity in life, re-discovering the value of community in the face of growing individualism, experiencing the Beauty of God in the face of glittering but false images of beauty in vogue” are the steps to take in order to become the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
“You, my dear brothers and sisters, my dear friends are being called to be happy and filled with joy, with hope, and to be the future of this world;… you are called to holiness!”….
The celebration of Mass was then followed by the start of the Saints Race which, in spite of the threatening weather, took place with the joy and the enthusiasm of those taking part.
Published 01/11/2010
