The seminar began with the votive Mass of the Holy Spirit, celebrated in the Church of St. Francis de Sales by the Rector Major, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, and concelebrated by the Postulator General for the Causes of Saints of the Salesian Family Fr Pierluigi Cameroni and the Rector Major's Delegate for the Secretariat of the Salesian Family Fr Joan Lluís Playá. The Rector Major illustrated some of the characteristics of holiness that was seen in the Church, the protagonism of the Holy Spirit; the flowering of humanity that the same Spirit generates; the harmoniousness and completeness in the lives of the saints, in which God's action has shaped every aspect and dimension; and the spirit of communion.
In his homily, the Rector Major emphasized, the ultimate goal of every cause: “only to give glory to God and the Church”, pursuing a continuous path of purification that frees us from any particularism or vague ambitions of recognition of any group.
Again Fr Á.F. Artime reiterated in his introductory greeting to the participants: “I believe very much in the service you pursue, as a link between the pilgrim Church on Earth and the triumphant Church in Heaven”. And he offered his best wishes for what he described as "much more than just a seminar... It is a meeting to share and enrich faith and life with regard to all those realities in which the Spirit of God continues to accompany us”.
It was then Fr Cameroni who illustrated the objectives of this third seminar, starting with the image of the 'Circle of Saints': an evocative representation taken from a painting by Fra Angelico and taken up by Fr François-Marie Léthel, OCD - a great collaborator of the Salesian Postulation - when he preached the Spiritual Exercises to Pope Benedict XVI and his collaborators in the Roman Curia. “It is not a childish depiction, but rather a very Salesian call: to communion among ourselves, with the spirit of the little ones, and in the vision of the Gospel”.
Inviting all those present to become aware that they are carrying out a ministry at the service of the Universal Church, the Postulator General of the Salesian Family also recalled some significant numbers: the 63 Causes (58 from the different groups and five external) currently entrusted to the Postulation; the 16 groups - out of 32 of the SF - that have open Causes; and the five other Causes whose possibilities for opening are being studied.
The conception of the saints as those 'who let the light of Christ shine through', their pastoral significance for the young and the poor, their ability to also account for the different dimensions of the Salesian charism, were the other elements for which Fr Cameroni was able to exhort all those present to become 'heralds and repeaters' of the holiness to which, with particular intensity in these days, they are and will be witnesses.
The first day ended with the 'Salesian goodnight' video-message sent by Mother Chiara Cazzuola, Mother General of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, from India to all those present. Referring to the holiness for all advocated by St Francis de Sales and assumed and re-proposed by Don Bosco and Mother Mazzarello, Mother Chiara Cazzuola traced the common traits of everyday life, humility, resourcefulness, charity and freedom of spirit among the holy figures in the SF. "May this meeting be a relaunch in the Salesian Family of the path towards holiness for all of us," she concluded.
https://www.infoans.org/en/sections/news/item/18851-italy-the-salesian-family-in-the-circle-of-saints#sigProId0b2fa348db
