The readings of the liturgy of the day, connected in various ways to the question of God‘s call and human response to it, preceded the listening to a "letter from Father Gio’ Bosco" as an implementation of it today. As was then explained at the end of the morning, it is a summary of the reflection and prayer of the participants in the Salesian Spirituality Days on the theme of the Dream at Nine Years of Age.
The inclusion of this text in the Rector Major's homily meant close attention from the faithful who were physically present or connected through streaming. Using Don Bosco's words and heart, the insight of the Strenna 2024 was sealed - two hundred years after the event that involved little John and through him the vast Salesian movement in the Church - by the current and propelling value of that call. “If you are here today, it is because you were chosen for a mission. This is your vocation: you are called to continue what I began. To bring to fulfilment, today, all God’s dreams that are also mine. And to fulfil them together, as a family”, Cardinal Á.F. Artime read.
The solemn concelebration therefore took on the nature of a refounding for the Salesian Family, not because there is a need to calibrate activity that is already amply generous in terms of service to the youth of the world, but so that it may be tempered by the warmth, which is not only sentimental but also theological, of the “dream”. Therefore, this “unexpected” letter, as the celebrant pointed out - certainly not miraculous but an expression of a miracle of good that is repeated every day in the 136 countries touched by the Salesian charism - deserves to be listened to again (the homily can be found from 1:01:01 in the video at this link).
Jonah, as the first reading recalled, had become frightened of God’s call, which was too demanding. But he was encouraged by the events he experienced to take that invitation again and accept it. “We too have received the baptism that is our personal call2, recalled the Rector Major, who warned: “We have no right to be discouraged, to live without strong reasons for hope.” This thought, when applied to the Salesian Family, is expressed with a “we have no right not to be prophetic, not to be courageous, not to mean something good for the world and for the Church.”
This is the timeliness and power of Don Bosco's dream. The “letter” states: “I ask you to get on the move and go. Get on the move, once again. Get on the move, relentlessly, without ceasing. Like Abraham, like Joseph and Mary, like Levi, Simon, Andrew, and all the others.” The 10th Successor of Don Bosco continued to read a few lines from the letter: “Let this be your direction: to go to Heaven and take as many boys, girls and young people with you as possible.”
The shared effect was that the words seemed to come from Don Bosco's mouth: a consequence of fidelity to the origins of the charism and the strong communion of intentions of the Salesian Family that has gathered over these days with full willingness to be fascinated once again by the dimension of the dream. Which is a close relative of poetry.
As Fr Joan Lluís Playà, Central Delegate for the Salesian Family Secretariat then explained in the assembly, there was intense preparation of the text on Saturday. The language groups produced a summary of the Days in 12 pages which were then reviewed and rewritten by the Secretariat faithfully, aimed at extracting the most essential thoughts from it. Then the hand of Fr Bruno Ferrero, a sensitive pedagogue and writer, gave it a lyrical style to touch hearts.
The unpublished “letter of Don Bosco 2024”, translated into the languages of those present, was read in its entirety to the assembly at the end of the work: a further reminder of the roots of Salesian spirituality, friendly but demanding:
Wherever you are, build! On your feet, always. If you are lying down, get up! The world needs you! Love people. Love each one individually. Respect everyone’s path, be it a straight line or curved, because every person is sacred. Cry with those who cry, but work so that there are no more tears in this world. Your way of loving is a transformative power that leads to happiness. Have pure love, sow joy and be a blessing wherever you go. Don't waste your life. Infect the world with your joy.
There was time to watch the video presentation of one of the last groups associated with the Salesian Family, the Sisters of the Visitation of Don Bosco, a women's religious Congregation dedicated to those in need of material and spiritual care, founded by the Indian Salesian, archbishop of Shillong-Guwahati, Archbishop Hubert D’Rosario: a striking example of how to embody Don Bosco's apostolic dynamism in the peripheries of the world, so as to grow, over twenty-five years into a missionary presence abroad, in South Sudan.
At the end of the event, the Rector Major commented on these days, drawing a positive balance sheet: “We have shown the maturity of the Salesian Family.” It was his final goodbye to the Days as Rector Major. Now this Son of Don Bosco is preparing for a service closer to the Pope: this too is a “dream”.
The 'Don Bosco Letter 2024' is available at the bottom of the page in several languages.
