(ANS – Montevideo) – Young people attending the Salesian Leadership School in Montevideo had an opportunity to spend Holy Week in a remote area of the Durazno department, far from the capital and their usual routine, experiencing a deep Salesian spirituality. Various groups of young missionaries, with their family members, visited around 60 families.

This leadership school known as “Talleres Don Bosco” comprises a group of young people who have a missionary experience of leadership and service. They meet once a month and use these regular occasions to form themselves as true missionaries and proclaimers of the Gospel through their own lives guided by Salesian spirituality.

Preparations for the Holy Week mission began with a retreat, where the young leaders reflected on how to best discover the personal resources they had, to offer to others.

The mission, the fourth for this Leadership School, was held in the “Our Lady of Lourds de Chileno” area. Though in continuity with earlier missions, this one had some new features: it was the first to be carried out in a rural area, and during Holy Week as well as being the first to involve members of their family.

“Having had other Easter experiences in the School, we felt the need to bring our families in and share our experiences with them; and then it seemed interesting to talk about all of our experiences: Easter and the mission. The exchange was very valubale and each one felt nourished by the other's experiences as well, according to the stage of life each was at: the children, up to the adults, covering seven decades!” one of the group members said.

Because it was in a rural area, the mission was different from others: longer distances, different hospitality, the style of acceptance and openness of people. The mission involved lots of visiting; families were welcoming, doors flung open, time and food and room were all offered and people shared their life experiences with the young missionaries, all of which became an stimulus to growth for them.

The Leadership School also prepared the Easter Triduum celebrations, realising that for many local people this was in fact the first chance they had had to celebrate thus. All the functions were well attended, and all expectations were surpassed for the Easter Vigil. “We saw that we were real instruments, bringing the Word and the Sacraments: Eucharist, Baptism and Confessions”, another missionary concluded.

Published 10/04/2013