Present at the Celebration: the Superior General of the FMA Institute, Mother Chiara Cazzuola, with her Council, Mother Yvonne Reungoat, Mother General Emeritus and USMI President, the Provincial of St. John Bosco Province (IRO), Sister Gabriella Garofoli, the Provincial Council and the Rectors of the Rome Communities, the Vice-President of the World Confederation of FMA Past Pupils, Ms. Olivia Furlan, along with other FMAs and novices from the Rome communities.

Mother General of the Comboni Sisters, Sister Luigina Coccia and her Council, some Sisters of the Rome Communities, and various members of the General Chapter - in progress - of the Comboni Missionaries also attended as did the Superior of the Vice-Province Mary Seat of Wisdom of the Salesians of Don Bosco, Fr. Maria Arokiam Kanaga, representing the Rector Major of the Salesian Congregation, Fr. Ángel Fernández Artime, and the Rector Magnificus of the Salesian Pontifical University (UPS), Fr. Andrea Bozzolo, with the Superiors General of several other Congregations and Institutes and personalities from the ecclesial world.

Card. De Donatis began his homily by taking up the words of the Responsorial Psalm - "Bless the Lord my Soul" (Ps. 103) - as an expression of the feelings of gratitude present in the souls of those at the Eucharistic Celebration. He then highlighted the bond of profound esteem and friendship that linked Saints John Bosco and Daniele Comboni: "Their charisms transmitted to you are like two tongues of fire of the Holy Spirit penetrating their hearts, kindling pastoral and missionary anxiety. Mutual esteem and admiration were manifested on various occasions... Now from heaven, the two Saints cannot but rejoice to see their spiritual daughters sharing in the joy of the journey thus far and also eager to go forward with the same ardor because they are united by the same esteem and friendship."

He continued by emphasizing several aspects of the Word of God from the Liturgy - gratitude, the courage of bearing witness, the dynamism of following - and expressing gratitude to the religious: "My wish is that you continue in your commitment, enriching the Church of Rome with your energies, your gifts, and also letting yourselves be enriched by the life of this local Church that has the Pope as its Bishop."

The celebration was a testimony of communion and synodality, fraternity, and celebration.

In the end, the two Mothers General, after the Cardinal's blessing, addressed a greeting to the assembly, of which we cite a summary:

"St. John Bosco and St. Daniel Comboni met more than once. From the correspondence between them, we can gather that there was a beautiful and intimate friendship between the two. In 1864 Comboni was hosted in the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales and met with Don Bosco and his young men. We know that at that time Comboni inflamed both the Salesians and the youth with the missionary spirit (cf. MB VIII 825-826). We deduce this from the only found letter from Comboni to Don Bosco dated July 3, 1870:

"I come to ask you a question, which requires an answer as soon as possible. Would you be willing to put together two or three young priests of your own, with four or five of your refined artisans and catechists, to be placed at my disposal so that I can take them to Cairo, Egypt, to my Men's Institute? These would be part of my Institute under my jurisdiction, for which I would take care of everything for travel, food, clothing, instruction in languages, and everything: but at the same time I would give them a convenient autonomy, so that in time aided and augmented by others from your Institute in Turin, my Cairo Institute would lead them to the point of being able in due time to direct a special mission in the Nigrizia Centrale, to be entrusted exclusively to the Don Bosco Institute in Turin."

It is clear that St. Daniele Comboni also wanted Don Bosco's charism to reach the heart of Central Africa. We know that at that time Don Bosco could not give a positive response to Comboni's request, partly because he had not yet obtained approval of the Constitutions from the Holy See. But after 150 years, if we consider the innumerable presences, expressing the Salesian charism in the feminine and masculine, that are today in Africa, a mission so dear to St. Daniele Comboni, we are certain that Don Bosco, with the Co-Foundress St. Mary Domenica Mazzarello, is responding generously to that invitation.

From the very beginning, our Institutes have lived the communion of Charisms. Our Founders testified to us that in the Church we are either in communion or we are not in the mission of the Church. Today we celebrate with gratitude our Holy Founders, great prophets with big hearts open to the world, to the universal mission of the Church. Their missionary charism has been vibrating for 150 years in the hearts of our communities and continues to infect many and many young people, laymen and laywomen in sharing the mission ad gentes and inter gentes.

What does the meeting of our holy Founders say to us today?

First of all, they invite us not to be afraid to cultivate great missionary dreams together.

In the celebration of this great jubilee, we want to strengthen our beautiful fraternity and place ourselves, together, to listen to the cry of humanity, the young, the poor, women, and the earth.

We can, together and in-network with other religious Families and with other institutions, make evangelical choices, courageous in the perspective of integral ecology, to dream together of new missions, and start again, continuing to build that dream in which our holy Founders believed and handed over to us.

On the eve of the Solemnity of Pentecost, let us invoke together, with Mary the Virgin of the Cenacle and maternal guide of our Institutes, the gift of the Holy Spirit, that she may continue to give the Church the charisms necessary for the holiness of God's people and the building of the Kingdom of peace and universal brotherhood."

Source: CGFMAnet.org

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