Good, trustworthy and
courageous slaves
In this Jubilee year, in this difficult world, we are invited
to stand up, restart, and walk in a new life on our journey as
men and believers.

The prophet Isaiah addresses Jerusalem with these
words: «Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory
of the Lord has risen upon you». (Is 60:1). The prophets
invitationto rise because the light is comingseems
surprising, as it is proclaimed in the aftermath of the harsh
exile and the numerous persecutions that the people have
experienced.
This invitation resonates today for us who
celebrate this Jubilee year. In this difficult world, we too
are invited to stand up, restart, and walk in a new life on
our journey as people and believers.
All the more now that we have had the grace, yes,
because it is a matter of grace, to celebrate in liturgical
remembrance the Holiness of John Bosco. Let us not make a
habit of it: Don Bosco is a great man of God, brilliant and
courageous, an unrelenting apostle because he is a disciple
deeply in love with Christ. For us, a father!
In life, having a father is extremely important;
in faith, in following Christ, it is the same: having a great
father is an invaluable gift. You feel it within you, and his
believing experience stirs your life. If this is true for Don
Bosco, why cant it be so for me?
This is an existential question that sets us in
motion and changes us, in the spirit of the Jubilee, becoming
renewed, changed people. It is the profound meaning of the
feast of Don Bosco that we have just celebrated, for all of
us: to imitate, not just admire!
In this Jubilee year that we are living, with the

theme of Hope, the presence of God, which accompanies us, Don
Bosco is a clear and strong reference!
Speaking of Hope, Don Bosco writes, as I have
taken up in this years Strenna text:
«The Salesian» Don Bosco said, and speaking of
the Salesian, he speaks to each of us who reads «is ready to
suffer cold and heat, hunger and thirst, weariness and disdain
whenever Gods glory and the salvation of souls require it»;
the inner support of this demanding ascetic ability is the
thought of paradise as a reflection of the good conscience
with which he works and lives. «In all we do, our duty, work,
troubles or sufferings, we must never forget that [&] the
least thing done for his names sake is not left forgotten; it
is of faith that in his own good time he will give us rich
recompense. At the end of our lives as we stand before His
judgement seat He will say, radiant with love: Well done,
good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a
little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your
master (Mt 25:21) ».
«In your work and sorrow never forget we have a
great reward stored up for us in heaven». And when our Father
says that the Salesian exhausted by too much work represents a
victory for the whole Congregation, it seems to suggest a
dimension of fraternal communion in the reward, almost a
community sense of paradise!
Stand up, Salesians! This is what Don Bosco asks
of us.

«Rejoice! In saving others, you save yourself»
Don Bosco was one of the great figures of hope.
There are many elements to demonstrate this. His Salesian
spirit is permeated by the certainties and industriousness
characteristic of this bold dynamism of the Holy Spirit.
Don Bosco was able to translate into his life the
energy of hope on two fronts: the commitment to personal
sanctification and the mission of salvation for others; or
better and here lies a central characteristic of his

spiritpersonal sanctification through the salvation of
others. Let us remember the famous formula of the three steps:
Rejoice, in saving others, you save yourself. It seems like
a mnemonic game said so simply, like a pedagogical slogan, but
it is profound and indicates how the two aspects of personal
sanctification and the salvation of others are closely linked.
Monsignor Erik Varden states: «Here and now, hope
manifests itself as a glimmer. That does not mean it is
irrelevant. Hope has a blessed contagion that allows it to
spread from heart to heart. Totalitarian powers always work to
erase hope and induce despair. To educate oneself in hope is
to practice freedom. In a poem, Péguy describes hope as the
flame of the sanctuary lamp. This flame, he says, is always a
descending border, in the depths of night. It enables us to
see what is now, but also to foresee what could be. To hope is
to stake ones existence on the possibility of becoming. It is
an art to be practiced assiduously in the fatalistic and
deterministic atmosphere in which we live».
May God grant us the gift to live this Jubilee
year in this way!
May we all walk this month with this vision that
shines in the darkness, with Hope in our hearts, which is
the presence of God.
I recommend that, this month, you pray for our
Salesian Congregation, which will gather in General Chapter;
and accompany us all with your prayer and your thoughts, so
that we may be faithful, as Salesians, to what Don Bosco
wanted.