| RMG – Closure of the 2014 Spirituality Days of the Salesian Family |
| Italy – Congress of Delegates for the Salesian Family |
| RMG – Days of Spirituality of the Salesian Family towards a vocation culture |
At the Mass for the Third Sunday of the year the Rector Major Fr Pascual Chávez presided while a good number of priests including many members of the General Council concelebrate.
Commenting on the liturgical readings which had a strong reference to vocation, Fr Chávez said “changing the world will be the result of the new evangelisation and this needs new evangelisers. At this time in history it is up to us to make the beauty of the face of Jesus shine out in our personal lives, in the life of the community, in the way our institutions are organised, and in the sphere of the Church and so give young people hope and a future . From this point of view, the Strenna: ‘Come and see’ or the need for vocation ministry is an exciting spiritual and pastoral programme - but a very demanding one.”
In the Hall of the Salesianum Fr Guido Novella led a liturgy of the Word during which the work of the groups from the two previous afternoons were presented. Passages from scripture and short meditations were interspersed with songs by the “CGS Life” youth group from Biancavilla and some well-prepared symbolic gestures.
When he spoke, the Rector Major referred to the results of the group work and offered them to those present for their future implementation “as the real protagonists in pastoral action wherever they might be.” After a rapid summary of some of the ideas which emerged during the Days, Fr Chávez suggested that the topic of the Strenna for 2011 could be seen as the fifth key issue developed in recent years by the Salesian Family. “We could sum up in five words the topics which so far the Strennas have offered us: life, family, education, evangelisation and vocation. It is along these lines that our future activities will flow.” The Salesian Family is called to take these up as the values by which to live and making them subjects for education and development in the context of today’s world where they are not always welcomed positively.
Then before concluding, Fr Chávez recalled the rapidly approaching bi-centenary of the birth of Don Bosco, an event for which a suitable process of preparation was needed.
On sdb.org there is a special section in which can be found the texts of the talks, photographs and video summaries of the Days. Media coverage of the Days was made possible thanks to collaboration between the Social Communication Department and Missioni Don Bosco. Shortly a box-set of the video and all the other material will be available.
Published 24/01/2011
