The Salesian vocation is strongly linked to the call of God for young people. It is through these that God calls, as stated by Fr George Wadie: "I met Don Bosco through the oratory." And it is precisely at a time when schools and oratories remain closed is the pain of detachment most felt; or better yet, to use an expression of Fr Pedro García, they look like "a wadi of the desert (bed of a stream dug by a pre-existing waterway, Editor's note): it occupies a large space, but is without its sap."
"The day has changed a lot," continues Fr Wadie, "it has become devoid of the beautiful thing, our mission is to be amid and for young people."
"Without the kids and without the oratory I don't feel like a Salesian of Don Bosco!" - thus the feelings shared by Fr George Al Mouallem. Despite this, according to Fr García, in the current context "the need to be together, to move forward next to each other remains ... Taking advantage of the possibilities that new technologies offer us."
The Salesian presence in Egypt has always been characterized by incisiveness and discretion: building a responsible citizenship by educating the hearts of young Egyptians and not trying to change their temporal structures. A commitment renewed also during the pandemic period. Indeed, Fr García says: "We have not been called to solve the problems of the universe, but we have been involved in continuing to spread the Father's Kingdom, wherever one is." And here, then, the daily contact through a song, a prayer, a photo, like those sent to his boys by Fr Al Mouallem.
In this climate, Fr Luca Pellicciotta's invitation resounds, that is "… to hope accompanied by responsibility, personal commitment and the wise reading of the story and history one lives", to "understand the will of God" in the light of our personal "earthly experience."
And this is the final appeal that the four interlocutors ideally wanted to address to Martin and all his Egyptian peers: do not abandon yourself to sufficiency, renew your commitment capable of changing history, do not make God, in whichever way you call Him, an empty structure. On the contrary, as Fr Pellicciotta strongly emphasized, continue to dream: "The greatest gift we can have from God is to dream of a happy, holy, good life. This is why the presence of God is important, the real one, the concrete one. Wish for, desire God, dear kids!"
Martin Milad Wadie, with the collaboration of Antonio Nucera
