"The art of asking questions is in our hands," began Fr Mendes dos Santos, who then added: "You are a point of reference for the Congregation", underlining the professionalism, the capacity for innovation, the commitment to new technologies , the value of charismatic communication, concern for identity, care for formation, reflection and collaborative vision among the Salesian houses in Spain.
Subsequently, after identifying several features of society and current communication, he launched some questions to the participants: How to concretize the dialogue with the Gospel in the youth environment? How to understand anthropology (languages, rites, symbols) and deepen the dialogue and accompaniment of young people? How to do pastoral work starting from today's anthropological and cultural reality? How to interpret the cultural reality of young people in a Salesian perspective?
The General Councilor emphasized the way of evangelizing through communication, taking into account the need for a profound dialogue between the Christian message, the person and his culture. This is why he developed the interpretative horizon of communication today by basing it on six pillars: first of all, he observed that the central root of communication is found in God, the communicator of love. The second pillar is Jesus, the incarnate Word, manifestation of communication. Thirdly, God enters human history, time and space. Virtual communication takes place in God's time, in God's space. Communication and redemption. Fourthly, the Word became flesh to let us know the love of God. Communication is living love as a vocation and ministry. Fifth: the presence of the person in the communicative ecosystemic world is a continuity of his natural vocation for communication. The person is the center of communication because he or she is the protagonist and creator of meaning.
Finally, in the sixth place, Jesus reveals the love and communication of the Father. Don Bosco - pastor of young people - communicates God's love to them. This whole reality is reflected in the "dream of his 9 years", as the archetype of Salesian communicative spirituality: images, rites, symbols, language, message, communication processes, sounds, immersion, interactivity, educational ecosystem.
After the dialogue with the participants, the General Councilor presented the roadmap of the Congregation after the GC28 and the programmatic proposal of the Rector Major for the six- year term, highlighting the request made by Fr Ángel Fernández Artime to the Department of Social Communication to offer tools and stimuli to inculturate the Salesian mission in the digital environment.
The formation day ended with reflection and work in groups on four areas: work on the web, podcasts, online design and presence in social networks.
