Italy - SFSD2025: Mass and Goodnight on the first day
Turin, Italy - 16 January 2025 - After the opening session of the 43rd Salesian Family Spirituality Days, the approximately 360 participants who are gathered at Valdocco thronged to the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians to take part in the Eucharistic celebration, presided over by Fr Stefano Martoglio, Vicar of the Rector Major. During the homily, the preacher, Fr Juan Carlos Pérez Godoy, Councillor for the Mediterranean Region, focused his attention on hope, the theme of the Strenna and of this year's Jubilee, and pointed out that it manifests itself: in living ‘guided’ by the Light of the Word; in living ‘in communion’, supporting each other in a family spirit; in living ‘trusting’ in the Lord who accompanies and precedes our steps; and finally in the Salesian distinctive trait: ‘always being joyful in the Lord’. In the evening, at the end of the first day, Fr Martoglio delivered the ‘Salesian goodnight’: firstly, he emphasised the joy and beauty of being all together in the ‘holy place’ of Valdocco; then he gave some information on the imminent General Chapter of the Salesians of Don Bosco, the 29th, inviting us to pray for the event; finally, he wished everyone to fully enjoy the harmony and fraternity of the SFSD.