It is not simply a rhetorical question, but an exhortation to the Congregation to focus attention on the figure of the Salesian and to "synchronize or tune in" with the needs of today's youth, in whatever context Salesians are summoned.
This journey, just begun, shall gradually involve all the Salesians of the world, who with their contribution will help develop a quality instrument to be used at the GC28. At the center of every reflection is the figure of the Founder, who ever since that dream as a 9-year-old and from the origins of the Congregation asked himself the same question.
The development of the GC28 at the “Mother House” of Valdocco, a setting full of meanings for the Salesians, will certainly give body and tone to the work to be discussed and carried out.
In his letter of convocation dated 24 May, the Rector Major proposed a challenge and three orientations to be explored in the Provincial Chapters. There is an invitation to seek together, to respond to a wish, "the desire for greater human authenticity, a more intense spiritual profundity and a more radical vocational coherence."
The first challenge is then to look deeply into the Salesian mission among today's youth. A second challenge is the profile of the Salesian being formed to serve young people today; and finally there is the co-division, or sharing, with the laity, in the mission and in the formation that is projected into the future.
The framework wherein the GC28 takes place is certainly very complex. Young people today are immersed in a digital world; there is a need for professional and vocational training; some young people suffer the painful experience of exploitation; some have to emigrate to other nations. These realities, which were not even mentioned 30 or 40 years ago, today have an impressive relevance for the Salesians. These are situations that lead out of one's individual or personal security and preconceptions.
Without a doubt this question, "What kind of Salesian for today's youth?", is born of an experience of love, from the same question Don Bosco asked himself as he walked the streets of nineteenth-century Turin. Because only he or she who wants the good of the Other is constantly searching for new ways to do good in way that is indeed better, looking for ways to help people who love each other to be happy.
It is something that occurs in all kinds of relationships: in marriage, in the life of a family, in friendship and, above all, in the love that moves people who consecrate themselves for the good of the most needy.