At the opening, all the guests were asked to say a few words about WYD Lisbon 2023 and their impressions of the young people of the Salesian Youth Movement (SYM) at this event. "We are living a beautiful, extraordinary moment... Everything is very well prepared, with a great effort," said Fr Á.F. Artime on the occasion. "As for our youth, whom I have greatly appreciated on SYM Day, here in Lisbon and in Estoril, I see them very Salesian, Christian, committed: capable of moving quickly from dance, song, celebration, to the absolute and impressive silence of adoration. My dream is that we will be able to make all this mature again, not only here where they are now, but also in the place where they will return and stay in the coming years'.
For her part, Mother Chiara Cazzuola herself also affirmed that she was impressed by the level of Salesian spirituality of the young people manifested during the SYM Day. "The atmosphere we experienced cannot be improvised: it is the fruit of remote preparation, and it also confirms us who work with young people, because it is the fruit of what was created before they arrived here. Now I am praying a lot that these young people can bear fruit in their local realities, and that we can continue to accompany them".
"The young people of Salesian Youth Movement are not young people without problems," Fr García Morcuende further testified. "But when they are motivated, they are capable of overcoming any obstacle. And again, it is important to emphasize that they are young people who are part of the Church, and when I happened to talk to other religious or priests from other realities, they immediately recognize that the young people of the Salesians are a living, active and vibrant force. It is important to emphasize this, because in ordinary reality these young people risk falling into anonymity'.
The first round of responses ended with the intervention of Sr Galve Borja: "A great joy for me in this WYD was to find young people that I had known before, some of whom had become priests or nuns, others who had matured... All this gave me proof that the Salesian Youth Movement is a reality that prepares one to take on responsibilities, to live fully. And another thing I love is that our SYM is opening up to be an increasingly open and welcoming movement, where everyone can feel at home".
Later, when asked about the world social reality and the great problems that have marked recent years - from pandemic to wars, from migrations to terrorism, from the exploitation of poor countries to the destruction of Creation - the Rector Major pointed to the young people, that they are capable of offering renewed energy giving new hope and a confident look at the future. "When we are close to young people, that is when the Salesian miracle of sympathy, of welcoming, of leading young people to acts of heroism takes place," he remarked, recalling the model of sacrifice of Akash Bashir, the Salesian past pupil who gave his life in Pakistan to prevent an attacker from carrying out a massacre in a church.
"Who knows that, instead of being absorbed by this world, by the current status quo, will it not be the young people who will put their faces against these situations that are not acceptable. I believe so much in this ability of young people, and of our young people certainly, to do" concluded the Rector Major.
On the relationship between young people and spirituality, Mother Chiara Cazzuola emphasized the importance of accompaniment, reiterating that young people are interested in faith and discovering the deep meaning of life, but on the part of educators there is a need to be able to adapt languages, processes, ways of acting and thinking.
And almost, as if to complete the discussion, the ability to dream, to be creative and be proactive, was the crux of the sharing by Fr García Morcuende, when asked about the approaching bicentenary of Don Bosco's Nine Years' Dream. The SDB's Youth Ministry Councillor specified, in fact, that only by dreaming together with young people it is possible to accompany an adolescent in his growth.
After Sr Galve Borja offered a recommendation on silence as a useful practice to be able to listen amidst a thousand distractions, 'the infinite and personal love that God has for each one of us', both Mother Chiara Cazzuola and Fr Á.F. Artime confirmed to the audience in the auditorium, on the ability the Salesian Family to reach out to young people, even beyond generational differences and technological distances, drawing primarily on the resources of the charism and the missionary drive, true to the heirs of Don Bosco.
Concluding, the Rector Major told emphatically to the journalists: 'Our young people, with their own style, their Salesian way of being, as true missionary disciples of the Lord, are giving flavour to this whole great reality, of this million young people'.
