(ANS - Genoa) - Yesterday with the Feast of the Salesian Family the visit of the Rector Major to the Province of Italy Liguria-Tuscany (ILT), which began on Sunday afternoon 22 April, came to an end.
The Feast began wirh Mass in the church of St Siro in the historic centre of Genoa where Don Bosco often went to pray when he was staying in the city. Taking his cue from the Liturgy of the Word the Rector Major invited those present to love Jesus and to become missionaries of the gospel in a context such as that of a Europe that was losing its Christians roots. "There is a need," he said " for skilled guides who are patient, self-controlled and humble in the service of the younger generations in order to help them to discover their own path in life in the light of the gospel." This implies the educational intuition of Don Bosco - "My life is to be with you" - which needs concrete expression in daily life otherwise there is the danger of gradually creating a physical, affective and cultural separation from the world of the young.
During the Mass, at the end of his homily, the Rector Major received the promise of 4 new Salesians- Cooperators and gave his blessing to young volunteers who this summer are leaving for a month of practical missionary experience in Africa. At the end of Mass Fr Vincenzo Di Martino gave Fr Chávez the medal of the National Salesian Football Team he founded and which on 7 December made its victorious debut
The last official engagement of the Feast was in the late morning in the Auditorium of the Textile Warehouses where Fr Chávez met representatives of various groups of the Salesian Family in the ILT Province. He reminded them, after they had welcomed him with host of yellow umbrellas the symbol of the Strenna for 2007, that the Salesian Family is a Spiritual Apostolic Movement called to a visible witness to faith in Christ and to Salesian joy; and called to be credible, efficient and effective "because young people are at stake."
Published 26/04/2007
