The effects of the pandemic has again this year weighed on the program of the most characterizing solemnity for Don Bosco and his children, but last year's experience was treasured, already conditioned by the lockdown and forced social distancing. Thus the constraints have become, at least in part, the opportunity to formulate new solutions. Certainly the most significant was to make the most of the connections over the airwaves and via the web; the greeting that was given at the beginning of the rosary prayer at 20:30 was addressed with special affection to all the people who followed on the social channels of ANS, Don Bosco Italia, Salesiani Piemonte and Missioni Don Bosco, and on the Rete7Piemonte and Telepace television stations.

During the afternoon Eucharistic celebration, the Rector Major himself observed the participation of the representatives of the Salesian Youth Movement (SYM): "Usually you are together with the other faithful; this time the central benches have been reserved for you and I can distinguish you more easily." In a certain sense, a due privilege in the spiritual home of those who totally consecrated their existence to young people.

The atmosphere of familiarity allowed Fr Á.F. Artime to insert a personal memory into the homily, why it was received with great sympathy. The faith in Our Lady that his grandmother manifested, he recalled, was born from an attitude of trust that did not have many words to express itself, but that showed a powerful substance. At that time, prayers were recited in Latin in church, and in this language - incomprehensible to most people - Masses were celebrated. Yet, even simple people grasped the essence of devotion to her "who will always be a loving mother for us... who leads to the Son."

“It is about perceiving and feeling in our hearts and in our whole being that today, as yesterday, the words of Our Lord on the cross, 'Mother, behold your son', become a reality for us. The same thing He said to His beloved disciple, He says to us today: 'Beloved children, here is your Mother'."

The evening prayer expressed in a palpable way the union with the entire Salesian Family, entrusting the recitation of the first part of the Hail Marys to three voices from three continents - Asia, Africa and Latin America - connected live with the basilica: a young man from the Philippines, a Daughter of Mary Help of Christians from Mozambique, a mother from Peru.

"We lived the Feast in different moments with sobriety," commented the Rector Major, united with the prayer that the Pope asked to dedicate to Mary in this month of May to overcome, with hope, this pandemic.

All photos are available on ANSFlickr.

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