The morning opened with a video presentation on the life of Mons. Giuseppe Cognata, SDB, founder of the Salesian Oblates of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (SOSC): a fitting tribute to the first anniversary of the declaration of juridical validity, by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. The process for the beatification of this great Bishop of Bova crossed this significant milestone on 11 January 2023. This moment served also as a tribute to how the response to the needs of a population abandoned (from a spiritual point of view) found a generous response according to Don Bosco’s charism, by the foundation of a community of religious dedicated to the poorest in Calabria during a period sandwiched between the two wars.
This was followed by Mr Tulio Lucca, from the Association of Mary Help of Christians, (ADMA), who, then introduced the four protagonists of the round table: Fr Bruno Ferrero, Emilde Cuda (Argentina), Fr Rafael Bejarano (Colombia) and Blažka Nerkac (Slovenia). It was up to them to present wide-ranging considerations on the theme of the Dream of Don Bosco and then to answer targeted questions from the moderator.
The reflection of the Director of the Salesian Bulletin of Italy, Fr Ferrero, was very moving and engaging. "Vocation is the most important thing that exists," he premised, and Don Bosco's vocation must be considered in the context in which it manifested itself. "His family was poor, the house where they lived was little more than a shed for shelter at night. Mamma Margaret was pressed by financial difficulties and had even been called before a judge for some outstanding debt. Little Johnny was reached through a call which seemed to extract him from that context, to open up a completely different perspective. It is not a call with the possibility of evasion. As Don John Baptist Lemoyne, Don Bosco's first biographer, recounts. The adverb used to describe the tone in which Jesus expresses himself in the dream is "imperiously". And the little boy sets off, obeying the command "follow me" without the certainty of where to. With Mary's method, tenderness and meekness, he sets out into the desert of the young people of his time. A desert that today is made up of aridity of feelings.
The path is tiring, sometimes disappointing, but the young priest does not disarm! Just to pay the expenses for his studies he went begging for food to take to the seminary’s pantry, and in the same way he continued to beg for resources to serve his boys. In the same way of literally begging, he built the Valdocco Oratory and the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians for them. Turning to those present, Fr Ferrero recommended: "Let us remember that every time we enter the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, we enter Don Bosco's dream. Know that you were also in that dream and whatever he wrote down to describe it -he did it for us".
From the past to the present, from the educational dimension to the social dimension: Emilce Cuda, professor of political science and theologian, head of the office of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, in her presentation insisted on the close relationship between the 'dream' for each person of becoming the 'image of God', to the collective commitment of building hope. A vast process of dialogue between young university students from all continents, desired by the Pope, is underway precisely to bring out their dreams. But there are situations - like the one expressed by a student from Haiti who in an assembly repeated 'I cannot dream' - where the foundation of human dignity is missing. "One cannot live without dreaming," reiterated Professor Cuda, "while we observe that technologies, virtual worlds and consumerism propose moving in the direction of what is - as Pope Francis himself well describes with an oxymoron - an individualist community".
Fr Bejarano, from the Youth Pastoral Sector, developed his reflection on the aspects of becoming "humble, strong and robust". He offered it as a real "programmatic plan" for the entire Salesian Family. In the light of Pope Francis' Magisterium, he pointed out that it is capable of going beyond the scope of Don Bosco's charism to become the style and strategy of the entire contemporary Church. Wherever "cracks" appear, the reference to "the little Johnny of the dream" allows the welding to take place. He said: “individualism, genericism, activism, disintegration, improvisation are cracks in the service to young people which are healed with community, confrontation, study, sharing”. He further insisted that “Planning together and not just assembling different answers, is important so as to not end up with a model that artificially unites divergent intentions, -and this is the challenge of the moment” he concluded.
Blažka Merkac, a collaborator with the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians entrusted with education of Youth at Risk, presented her experience as an example of the path that lay people wrapped in the Salesian charism can also adapt. For her, everything unfolded from a summer camp inspired by the life of Laura Vicuña! A simple invitation for her became a vocation, -guided by many "pastors" along the way who "guided me while leaving me free to choose, in the end, which path to follow". A nun recognized a Salesian heart in her. The difficult balance between respect for the person and his need to be helped, to orientate oneself in life is the quality of the educator, which the children know how to grasp: "They appreciate honesty, authenticity, not being false. They immediately recognize who is with and for them,' she emphasized.
The Daughters of Mary Help of Christians were also the focus of the subsequent video testimony of the group of FMA Past Pupils. 'Hands in the world, rooted in the heart' the phrase (and the gesture) representing Mother Mazzarello's spirit -also reaching out to the present. When Fr Filippo Rinaldi laid the founding stone of this association, the ground for action was identified in training activities, in health care, in everything that today is considered the implementation of human rights. Following the example of Mamma Margaret, the one who not only recognized the vocation in John's dream, but also helped to welcome it.
