MESSAGE OF THE RECTOR MAJOR

FR. ANGEL FERNANDEZ ARTIME, SDB

I DREAM OF A SALESIAN FAMILY

MADE UP OF HAPPY WOMEN AND MEN

translated by Fr. Mike Mendl, SDB

Our communities, our presences, and our works can’t be other than places where people feel good and are happy with their lives, with what they do, and with the life they give day after day.

I keep in my mind and heart the unforgettable memories of the feast of the bicentennial of Don Bosco’s birth, which we had the pleasure of experiencing in August in the Salesian holy land of Valdocco and Colle Don Bosco. Sharing many days together with thousands of young people who came from 58 countries was, simply, a grace and a wonderful gift.

Exceptional was the marvelous celebration of the closing of the bicentennial at Colle. I was filled with joy when I heard the news and the reverberations of the celebrations that took place in so many corners of the world throughout the whole year that just ended. Thanks to the Holy Spirit, the Salesian Family shows that is fully alive.

The moment has come after this great Salesian jubilee year that we’ve experienced to make detailed plans and carry out everything we have in our hearts. Thinking of the future and of our Salesian Family spread throughout the world, I wish to highlight for you a very personal dream which I communicated a few months ago in a letter to the SDBs.

My dream is this: after this bicentennial of Don Bosco’s birth, I dream that the fruit of this magnificent event will be a Salesian Family made up of happy men and women.

Does this surprise you? Do you think it’s strange to have this dream, this desire? Or do you think it’s utopian?

I see it every time as a growing reality and a great necessity for our world and even as something that our boys and girls deserve.

Do you know what? I’ve got no doubt that in the whole world and among all people, with so many friends of Don Bosco, young leaders and committed lay catechists, we do well, very well even, but I don’t think this is sufficient. Important, yes, but not enough.

This good we do must come from the witness given by women and men, consecrated or lay, everyone who bears the identity of “Salesian,” that they feel happy and are happy. Our communities, our presences, and our works can’t be other than places where people feel good and are happy with their lives, with what they do, and with the life they give day after day.

We all know people whom life has terribly wounded. That’s part of life. No one can avoid this dark, painful corner. A Christian’s joy is a very human joy that doesn’t forget the bodily and relational aspects of our lives and is most evident, as St. Paul says, in our finding “joy in the midst of tribulations.” This means that Christian joy dwells in the depth of the believer and comes from his life hidden with God. It’s the joy that no one can uproot because no one can keep the Christian from loving the Lord and his brothers even in extreme situations: the martyrs remind us of that.

Therefore, every day we must show with our serenity and our smile that we are happy with the life that we’re living and the life that we’re giving. And if all Christians must be up to the task of radiating this light, how much more must we do so, men and women of the Salesian Family, even in the uniqueness of each group, we who are branches of the tree of Don Bosco’s charism. We are children of a father who taught that holiness means always being happy, and we have with the same enthusiasm dedicated our lives and time to the service of others.

We can’t communicate and give our lives with the feeling that it’s not worth the trouble. The mirror where we saw this lived daily and most plainly was, first of all, in our mothers. They’ve given and are giving their lives every day, with unconditional serenity and tenderness, without ever showing the burden of their own weariness or sorrows.

The Salesian charism enjoy a unique quality: it has everything that serves to let hope, optimism, and enthusiasm burst forth. And we who have the fortune of incarnating it today, I and all of you, must announce to the world that we are happy, that our lives have a wonderful significance, and that following Jesus in Don Bosco’s footsteps fulfills our lives.

If this isn’t motivation enough, my dear friends, it’s obvious in our complex, often hard and indifferent world, that deeds convince and move hearts more than words do. And if there’s anything this world hungers for and absolutely needs, together with peace, it’s hope and men and women who almost without wanting to do so radiate and communicate hope.

This year I will celebrate the feast of Don Bosco on January 31 in Sierra Leone. I preferred to forgo Valdocco (surely with permission from Don Bosco himself in heaven) to be with our Salesian brothers and the Salesian Family of Sierra Leone and with the hundreds and hundreds of little boys and girls who’ve lost their parents because of Ebola.

I would like my presence to symbolize that of the Salesian Family of the entire world, to convey a message of hope, of affection and closeness, to live with them the joy and happiness of which I’ve dreamed, together with the strength to overcome the challenges of every day.

My dear Salesian Family, together let’s make this dream a reality. Don Bosco deserves such a family.