THE MESSAGE OF THE RECTOR MAJOR Don Ángel Fernández Artime

“Once again in my travels around the Salesian world I was able to see for myself that Mary Help of Christians—as Don Bosco promised—is a beacon that illuminates, a safe harbor, and maternal love for her Son and for all of us, her sons and daughters.”

THE MESSAGE OF THE RECTOR MAJOR, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime

His name is Alberto. She’s a young mom whose name I don’t know.

He lives in Peru; she in Hyderabad, India.

What unites these two life stories is that I met each of them while carrying out my mission of service – in Peru for the one, and the following week in India for the other, the young mother.

What they have in common is precious: they experienced God’s caress in the welcome that Don Bosco once gave each of them in one of his houses, changing their lives, and saving them from the situation of poverty – and perhaps death – to which they were doomed. I think I can say that the fruit of the Lord’s Passover is also communicated through human gestures that heal and save.

Here are the two stories.

THE MESSAGE OF THE RECTOR MAJOR Don Ángel Fernández Artime, SDB

The day after the great solemnity of St. John Bosco was a very special morning. I had obtained the permits to enter the Ferranti Aporti Penitentiary Institute for Minors (IPM) in Turin, at one time called the Generala.