"Thinking about the message that can unite us as a Salesian Family in this year 2021, it is impossible not to take into account that for many months, to a greater or lesser extent, the world, all nations have remained, if not paralyzed (although many are), certainly blocked,” begins the Rector Major in his presentation text of the Strenna.
At the same time, “our message underlines and reaffirms that, faced with this harsh and painful reality with its heavy consequences, we continue to express the certainty of being moved by hope: because God in His Spirit continues to make 'all things new'.”
Illustrating the structure of the Strenna's message, Fr Á.F. Artime points out that Don Bosco himself experienced many difficult situations - including a cholera epidemic - without losing hope, on the contrary, always reacting and motivating others to increase their efforts, work even harder.
The current era, therefore, is the opportune time for awareness and commitment in the face of everything that even before the pandemic was not going well, but which we had become accustomed to: the suffering of many people, the epidemics of other less-publicized diseases, the damage to Creation ...
Here, then, the Strenna will serve to propose a Salesian reading of the present time in order to learn alternative processes to the dominant culture, capable of achieving a change of values and vision. And to maintain Salesian concreteness, to propose, at the same time, places and situations, where "to learn and exercise hope."
All this while always allowing oneself to be accompanied by Mary, "Mother of God, Star of Hope".
The complete text of the presentation of the Strenna is available from today, in Italian and Spanish, on the sdb.org website. The presentation will also be released in other languages in the coming days.
