Thus, to remember that the spirit and missionary commitment are essential elements of Don Bosco's charism, today Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, Rector Major of the Salesians, addresses his annual missionary invitation to all Salesians in all the Provinces around the world.
In his letter the Rector Major points out that Don Bosco saw a profound link between his Dream at nine years of age, whose Bicentenary is celebrated in 2024, and his fifth missionary dream which took place while he was visiting the confreres in Barcelona on the night of 9 April 1886.
“In his fifth and final missionary dream he saw a large crowd of boys running towards him shouting, ‘We have been waiting for you. We have waited so long for you. Now you are finally here. You are among us and you will not flee from us!’ The shepherdess who led a huge flock of lambs helped him understand the meaning by asking him: ‘Do you remember the dream you had when you were ten years old?’ She then drew a line from Valparaíso to Beijing to highlight the immense number of young people awaiting the Salesians. Indeed, today in all continents there are young people who need to be transformed from ‘wolves’ into ‘lambs’” writes Cardinal Fernández Artime.
The 10th Successor of Don Bosco is therefore launching an appeal to the Salesians “who feel, in the depths of their hearts, through the feelings that move within them, the call of God within our common Salesian vocation, to make themselves available as missionaries with a commitment for a lifetime (ad vitam), wherever the Rector Major will send them.”
And then he announces that the 155th missionary expedition will be held, God willing, on Sunday, 29 September 2024, in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Valdocco, as has been done since the time of Don Bosco.
The full text of the letter is available in several languages at the bottom of the page.
