Although it is the Rector Major's task to prepare and present the text each year, Fr Á.F. Artime emphasizes that this Strenna "is the fruit of a dialogue in the World Council of the Salesian Family which, fortunately and by grace, has much to do with this ecclesial moment of the Synod, and also with the last appeal that the document of the Synod launched on the theme of holiness."
The document presented today to the Salesian world consists of nine paragraphs. In the seventh, the Rector Major insists on an essential reality of holiness and he does it through a question: "what does 'holiness for you too' mean?" It is an exciting topic that this question offers, and even more exciting is the answer to each of the Salesian Family members. "Holiness is not an “extra”, an optional and a goal only for some. It is life to the full, according to God’s plan and gift. It is therefore a path of humanisation."
Daily sanctity has become a reality in the lives lived to the full in the Salesian charism. We are thus invited not to forget that in the course of history Salesian holiness has become visible, embodied, with proper names, people: Zeman, Stuchlý, Lustosa, Zatti, Srugi, Sandor, Lunkenbien and Simão Bororo, Comini, Ana María Lozano, Laura Vicuña, Alexandrina Maria da Costa, among many others ...
Fr Á.F. Artime goes on to say that the presentation of the Strenna 2019 "is a magnificent opportunity to be in harmony with the summons the Holy Father addresses in the Apostolic Gaudete et exsultate, which has much to do with our Salesian charism. Don Bosco was a great teacher in this sense, with the ability to inspire and accompany his children on the paths of daily holiness."
"What is important is to be holy, not to be declared as such," emphasizes the Rector Major. "The canonised saints are like the façade of a church; but the church contains many precious treasures inside, which however remain invisible."
The full presentation of the Strenna of the Rector Major for 2019 is available on the sdb.org website.
