Italy – "Remain in me, as I do in you": 4th In-depth Seminar on the Centrality of the Eucharist in the Salesian charism

29 July 2024

(ANS – Rome) – 13 Salesians (11 priests and 2 brothers) met for the fourth In-depth Seminar on the Centrality of the Eucharist in the Salesian charism from 24 to 27 July 2024, at the Salesian  San Tarcisio house in Rome, , starting from the writings and testimony of the Servant of God Vera Grita, Salesian Cooperator. The meeting, coordinated by Fr Pierluigi Cameroni, Postulator General for the Causes of Saints of the Salesian Family, concluded the online initiative to explore the 28th General Chapter of the Congregation "on the urgent need to make the ‘Da mihi animas, cetera tolle’ a reality in the proclamation of the Gospel", organised by the "Work of Living Tabernacles" Study Centre and the Conference of Salesian Provinces of Italy (CISI) Formation sector.

On Thursday, 25 July, two contributions showed the intimate relationship between the message of the Work of the Living Tabernacles and the life of Servant of God Vera Grita. Dr Lodovica Maria Zanet, collaborator at the General Postulation, dealt with the "Eucharistic Life starting from the Vera Grita Positio", showing how the very life of the Servant of God is a Eucharistic message. In the afternoon, Dr Maria Rita Scrimieri, Coordinator of the Association of Living Tabernacles, offered some keys to reading the Work itself, emphasising the question of union with God and the value of the offer of life in communion with the redemptive sacrifice of Christ.

On the morning of Friday 26th there was a contribution from Dr Ignazio Punzi, a psychotherapist, who spoke about the"Eucharist: anthropology of a sacrament. For an anthropological interpretation of the Eucharist starting from ‘Take me with you’”. The day then had an opportunity for celebration at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart where the Eucharist was celebrated at the altar of Mary Help of Christians, in memory of the bicentennial of the dream at nine years of age.

There was also the grace of a fraternal meeting with the Rector Major, Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, who said in his greeting, among other things: "I am convinced that our journey as a Congregation, and also as a Salesian Family, does not and will not depend on any strategic plan, on any last-minute methodology, on the latest animation technique... I say this with deep conviction: seeing the Congregation around the world does a lot of good; we can truly be a mediation to save many lives in the broadest sense... But if there is something we lack, and I am convinced of it, it is this: we lack more spiritual depth; we lack more prayer; we lack more contemplation of the Eucharist, adoration of the Eucharist... So in this sense I tell you and I encourage you to continue in your personal life to deepen your reflection on the Eucharist, the reflection on what the Lord asks of us, also as Salesians, the reflection on adoration, on the message of the Sacred Heart in Vera Grita and do everything that puts us in a situation where the times of God will be felt."

In the afternoon there was a visit to the Basilica of San Gioacchino in the Prati district. The group of participants renewed their baptismal promises in this church, where Vera Grita was baptised on 14 December 1923.

On the final day, Saturday 27th, Br. Paolo Zini, Salesian brother and professor of Philosophy, presented  "The ground wheat of the Eucharist in the life of Vera Grita. A sacramental grammar ", showing how even Vera Grita did not"witness the truth of the Kingdom with words alone and not only through her concern for a specific form of evangelical mission, but with what happened in her life, even in the mysterious mix of the world and people, nature and things, circumstances and events."

Finally, Fr Francesco Marcoccio, recently appointed by the Rector Major as Coordinator of the Centro Studi Opera dei Tabernacoli Viventi, took stock of the path taken in recent years and outlined some directions for the future. In the sharing that followed, the will to experience fraternal communion  as Salesians, placing the Eucharist at the centre was manifested in the conviction that the theological and spiritual understanding of the Eucharist through the meditation of the messages of Jesus to Vera Grita helps to internalise the Eucharistic spirituality lived by Don Bosco. In this way, the ‘Take me with you’ with which Jesus addressed Vera Grita, becomes an experience of communion and deep friendship with the Lord, which then becomes a mission and translates – as Jesus himself teaches the Servant of God – into a 'Take me to everyone' ."

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