STRENNA 2026 FINALE - ENG


STRENNA 2026 FINALE - ENG

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STRENNA 2026
‘DO WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU’
Believers, free to serve
Introduction
a. Jesus’ first sign is a ‘gateway’
b. God’s final breaking into history
c. Jesus inaugurates a relationship of love, a covenant of kindness
and abundance
1. LOOK - Welcoming the signs of the times
a. Mary was not a ‘neutral’ guest.
b. Challenges and difficulties must be acknowledged and addressed,
not set aside.
c. History is the treasure chest that reveals God’s action.
d. Invitation to reflection
2. LISTEN - With deep roots in faith in Christ
a. Events must be read and experienced in the light of Christ
b. God’s will emerges from the events we experience
c. A process nourished and enlightened by the Word
d. Invitation to reflection
3. CHOOSE - Living the call with freedom
a. Listening freely with complete trust
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b. Every action makes sense – logos – only in and from the Word –
Logos
c. The risk of a faith that adapts to the dominant culture
d. Invitation to reflection
4. ACT - Serving with total generosity
a. Serving freely because we are deeply-rooted in Christ
b. Co-workers in God’s plan for the young
c. The boldness of faith
d. Invitation to reflection
5. 150 years – Salesian Cooperators: Don Bosco’s prophetic dream
continues
6. Some pastoral proposals
1. ‘Do whatever he tells you’: towards a pedagogy of personal listening
2. Mary at Cana: educator of genuine freedom
3. The art of reading the signs of the times with young people
4. Choosing: Christian freedom as a vocational response
5. 150 years of the Salesian Cooperators: a model for today
Conclusion
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STRENNA 2026
‘DO WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU’
Believers, free to serve
Commentary on Strenna 2026
My dear confreres,
Daughters of Mary Help of Christians
All members of the Salesian Family,
Young people,
Every year the appointment with the STRENNA offers the opportunity
for all the Groups of the Salesian Family to come together around a
particular theme, to share and experience powerful moments of prayer and
reflection, of listening and fraternity. It is my wish and hope that each
Group – and the individuals within it – may find nourishment for their
journey and support for their educational, pastoral and personal
experiences.
Introduction
The STRENNA that accompanied us last year, built around the Jubilee
theme of hope, offered all of us the opportunity to look at the mystery of
Christ as a source of light that helps us contemplate the wonders of God in
the present moment. We experienced moments that strengthened our faith
in what the Lord still has to reveal to us, and we have perceived hope as the
strength of the ‘already’ and the courage of the ‘not yet’. We also
contemplated how the power of hope, for Don Bosco, helped and sustained
him on his journey of discovery and implementation of God’s plan.
150 years ago, hope was the driving force of Don Bosco’s pastoral
heart, a heart capable of reading the signs of the times and looking at the
world sustained by faith in God. The commemoration of the 150th
anniversary of the first Salesian missionary expedition is not intended to
be a celebration limited to a chronological moment. In recalling this
historical moment we have contemplated how the spirit of God found an
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open and available heart in Don Bosco. Don Bosco’s response was capable
of surpassing a narrow and self-referential perspective on life.
Don Bosco lived in Turin, but his heart and mind inhabited the entire
world. His was a hope founded on the certainty – once he discovered God’s
plan – that there is no other way but to follow his will to the end.
Contemplating the theological virtue of hope that animated his life, we can
glimpse what his first disciples already heard and later commented on: Don
Bosco a man of faith, Don Bosco a believer, ‘Don Bosco with God’.
This year I would like to propose, as the Strenna, the theme of faith.
It emerged gradually but clearly at the beginning of June 2025 when the
various Groups of the Salesian Family met for the World Advisory Council
meeting. The shared reflections indicated the theme of faith: not only as a
natural continuation of hope but as the ‘foundation’ of it. If the power of
hope is based on faith, a life truly filled with hope leads to a deeper and
more authentic relationship of faith with Jesus, the Son of the Father, who
became man for us and continues to be present among us through the
power of the Spirit. It will therefore be like a pilgrimage in the faith of the
entire Salesian Family: renewing ourselves together, living in the world as
Christians (and Salesians) together.
In his first Encyclical Letter Lumen Fidei, Pope Francis offered some
very pertinent insights in this regard.1 First, as a general introduction to the
theme of faith, Pope Francis invited us to change our perspective: faith is
not something theologically distant, but rather ‘a light to be discovered.’
Believing, living by faith means wanting to walk in the light. Faith, then, is
the foundation we have and the path we take because we really want to live
life in a beautiful and healthy way. Embracing faith expresses that deep
desire to live in the light, refusing to live in darkness, emptiness, and
meaninglessness. Pope Francis writes that this call ‘ to see once again that
faith is a light’ is something we want to pursue, ‘for once the flame of faith
dies out, all other lights begin to dim. The light of faith is unique, since it is
capable of illuminating every aspect of human existence.’ (no. 4)
This first invitation challenges us directly when we recognise that our
mission is to educate to faith and in faith. The challenge that immediately
arises is very clear: how can we do this if this source of light within me is
growing dim? How can we remain calm when we realise that extinguishing
the light in our hearts means, in the long run, leaving young people and all
those we accompany in the deepest darkness?
1 Pope Francis, Encyclical Letter Lumen Fidei. (2013).
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In addition, this light has certain characteristics that should be
mentioned. These are characteristics that serve as necessary anchors in
hard and difficult moments in the journey of faith.
First of all, for it to be powerful, the light of faith ‘cannot come from
ourselves but from a more primordial source: in a word, it must come from
God.’ (no. 4). It is not just a matter of offering human, intelligent and
professional services, but much more than that. And so this light is not
ours, but is granted to us.
There is a second aspect, the result of this extraordinary divine
generosity, and Pope Francis describes it in terms that are both profound
and tender: ‘Faith is born of an encounter with the living God who calls
us and reveals his love, a love which precedes us and upon which we can
lean for security and for building our lives.’ Faith is not a product. It is born
not so much ‘from the encounter with God’, but ‘in the encounter with God.’
An encounter that should be experienced as an expression of complete
freedom and as a continuous source that nourishes us with its light.
This brief introduction already lays the necessary foundations for
placing the theme of faith within a relational dynamic. A dynamic that is
typical of our Salesian charism. The experience of faith in the encounter
with Jesus, Son of God, emerges as the backbone of our actions through the
power of his Spirit. Through this Trinitarian energy, we are the first
beneficiaries of that gift which gives form and meaning to all that we are,
and consequently to all that we do and propose for the salvation of young
people.
‘DO WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU’
Believers, free to serve
Let us allow this year to be guided by words from the Gospel of John
spoken by Mary at the very beginning of the Gospel itself. What was
supposed to be a wonderful wedding reception is marred by a problem: there
is a shortage of wine. Faced with the possibility that a celebration might
turn into a failure, we find the reaction that comes from Mary’s heart:
someone must intervene. And what Mary does is simply present the real
situation to Jesus. But his hour, Jesus’ hour, has not yet come. Mary, the
caring mother, with great serenity invites the servants just to listen to what
Jesus will say to them when ‘his hour’ comes.
This year I propose that we accept Mary’s invitation with the same
attitude of openness and freedom that we see in the servants. We too,
members of the various Groups of the Salesian Family, must remember the
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truth of our choice and identity: we are servants, mere servants. And Mary
says to us today: ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Whatever Jesus tells us, we
must simply accept it, take it on board and live it, without ifs or buts.
I invite all of you, dear sisters and brothers, after having experienced
the power of hope, that ‘hope that does not disappoint’, to allow Mary’s
words to reach our hearts, and to turn our gaze and our listening to Jesus,
to what he will say to us, in the awareness and joy of being servants.
We want to be sustained by the same faith in filling the jars to the
brim, in bringing the water turned into wine to the daily realities we live in
and share with everyone. As many of us find ourselves on the front line in
difficult situations and critical places, we recognise the risk of weak faith,
sometimes even absent faith, with the dramatic consequences that we then
see, of a failure to share the ‘wine’ of kindness, empathy and love.
Gospel of John, 2:1-11
1On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the
mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples had also been
invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus
said to him, ‘They have no wine’. 4 And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman,
what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ 5
His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’
6 Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of
purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to them,
‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. 8 He said
to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they
took it. 9 When the steward tasted the water that had become wine,
and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had
drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10 and said
to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine
after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine
until now.’
11 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed
his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
Let us enter into the heart of the passage that inspired the title of this
STRENNA, with a meditation on the first ‘sign’ that Jesus performed at Cana
in Galilee, as recounted by John (2:1-11).
Three brief introductory reflections offer us the ‘hermeneutic’ key
that makes the piece significant for our personal and community experience.
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a. Jesus’ first sign is a ‘gateway’
In one of his audiences Pope Francis commented on this passage with
a very concrete image. He says that Jesus’ first sign is ‘a sort of “gateway”,
on which are engraved the words and expressions that illuminate the
entire mystery of Christ and open the hearts of the disciples to the faith.’2
Jesus’ first sign is not a spectacle to be admired, but rather an invitation
addressed to the heart of every believer. In it, we find a reference to those
attitudes that ensure the acceptance of the proposal of faith in him, as
evoked at the end of the passage: ‘his disciples believed in him.’ (v. 11) This
first sign at Cana goes straight to the heart of Jesus’ message: the
invitation to stake our lives on his word. Today, ‘Cana’ is the house where
we live, the work where we carry out our mission, the group of young
people, teachers and parents whom we accompany. We are the servants
and disciples of various actual and everyday experiences.
And as at Cana, Mary continues to have a fundamental and founding
mission in this process today. It is she who, by walking with us, invites us to
take the step of faith, a faith freely assumed in order to be authentic
servants. And this same process consisting of faith, freedom and service, is
the same one that Don Bosco experienced throughout his life. Ever since his
dream at the age of nine, Don Bosco recognised Mary as the Mother and
Teacher who supported him in his faith and gave him the courage to be a
free servant to young people in the field she had indicated.
b. God’s final breaking into history
A second point for reflection is offered by Pope Benedict XVI starting
from the words that introduce this first sign: ‘On the third day there was a
wedding in Cana of Galilee.’ (v.1)
In his book Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict says that here we find
ourselves at the heart of the mystery of God revealing himself. The temporal
indication is a symbol of all God’s action in history. The ‘third day’
communicates the anticipation of the fulfilment of the history of salvation
that takes place in Christ’s resurrection on the third day. At this precise
moment, says the Pope, we have ‘the definitive irruption of God upon earth.’
Cana is a place that, in a humble and hidden way, contains the fulfilment
of the project of God’s love for humanity.3 Cana is every place where we are
2 Pope Francis, General Audience, 8 June 2016:
https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/audiences/2016/documents/pa
pa-francesco_20160608_udienza-generale.html
3 Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI, Gesù di Nazaret [Jesus of Nazareth], Libreria
Editrice Vaticana, Vatican City, 2007, p. 292.
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sent, as a space where God continues to make himself present through
those who hear his word, believe it and live it.
This reflection has truly significant implications for us. If ‘Cana’ is
every place we live, then we are the ones whom the Lord calls to be signs
and bearers of his love for young people, for humanity. Certainly, ‘the
irruption of God upon earth’, his breaking into history, does not depend on
us, but we are given the opportunity to facilitate it as a gift freely received
and freely accepted. Every generous action we take contributes to God’s
plan... but every act of resistance or refusal we make risks denying others
that ‘good wine’.
c. Jesus inaugurates a relationship of love, a covenant of
kindness and abundance
A third introductory point, also drawn from Pope Benedict XVI: the
setting of the ‘wedding’ feast is the most appropriate dimension that
characterises God’s relationship with all humanity, the wedding covenant
par excellence.4
In truth, we realise that Jesus does not simply come to leave us a
message. Through this first sign, what Jesus is about to inaugurate is a
relationship of love, a covenant of kindness and abundance. Jesus invites us
to enter into a living, life-giving relationship. With him, we inhabit a sacred
space where, first and foremost, we discover that we are loved. In this loving
relationship we are positively challenged and encouraged to follow him.
Recognising that we are always searching for that ‘good wine’ that
never fails, there is only one path to follow, the one indicated by Mary: ‘Do
whatever he tells you.’ The wedding feast on the one hand inaugurates a
new reality and, on the other, confers a seal on the new and eternal
covenant.
We can say that the experience of Cana is a true ‘womb’ in which God’s
faithfulness comes to meet us, completing and bringing to fulfilment man’s
search for love. This means that when the time comes, Jesus responds to
the suggestion by obeying (ob-audire), by listening to the faith, lived
faithfully.
The banquet thus becomes the altar that generously distributes the new
wine of the Word. A generous distribution, the fruit of faith lived with
freedom. Following Mary’s invitation, this life illuminated by the Word of
Jesus is lived in the form of service for the good of all, with complete
openness of heart.
4 Idem.
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In light of the passage about the wedding at Cana, STRENNA 2026
presents us with various challenges. I am convinced that the call for every
group of the Salesian Family to live its charism more fully finds further
inspiration in this passage from the Gospel to be lived for the benefit of
young people and all those who share in the Salesian mission. Not only that,
but also to serve many people in various parts of the world to whom the
Lord asks us to bring the wine of hope, the joy of communion.
1. LOOK - Welcoming the signs of the times
The first call I invite you to accept and reflect on concerns Mary’s
attitude: the woman who was attentive to what was happening around
her. The Gospel simply tells us that ‘on the third day there was a wedding in
Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there’ (v. 1). The Gospel gives
no further information. But when we listen to these few words and connect
them with her reaction, we begin to glimpse some significant elements of
Mary’s heart.
a. Mary was not a ‘neutral’ guest.
She was attentive and alert to everything that was happening around
her. In figurative but meaningful terms, we can say that Mary embraced
the time and history of those who wanted her as a guest at their wedding
feast. Mary could easily feel that she should not interfere, even though she
sensed the sad consequences of running out of wine. Yet she chose not to
remain indifferent.
Here is a first aspect that we, as followers of Jesus, are called to ask
ourselves: to what extent do we feel challenged by the events of history that
we are experiencing and in the places where we live? What position do we
take when we could also choose to remain distant because, on certain
matters,‘it’s not up to me’ or ‘it’s not my responsibility’?
In the light of what Mary did, faced with the challenges that surround us,
we feel deeply and personally challenged. In a culture of anonymity and
indifference, we recognise that we too risk making choices based on ‘political
correctness’!
Embracing time and history as an existential attitude implies
certain requirements that we can only grasp and assume in the light of faith
in Christ.
In the field of pastoral education, Mary’s choice is a strong yet gentle
reminder for us not to fall into indifference which not only justifies things
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but also passively and indirectly encourages them. How often do we find
even so-called ‘churchgoers’ who, when faced with the plight of refugees, the
poor and the vulnerable, retreat into their comfortable lives, considering
them only a nuisance and a burden?
b. Challenges and difficulties must be recognised and addressed,
not set aside
This is what Mary did at Cana. How often does it happen, when faced
with unexpected situations of hardship, that instead of tackling them with
serenity and apostolic passion we distance ourselves from them, justifying
ourselves all too easily! The danger is that this pastoral inertia may
gradually become part of our ‘culture’ too. We wait – and insistently demand
– for others to do their part, perhaps blaming them, and in this way we
believe we can numb our consciences, pretending to believe that we have
nothing to offer, or that we are not involved.
When the poor knock on our door, we cannot pretend not to notice.
For our father and teacher Don Bosco, his response did not stem from
calculating the means, but from the openness of his heart, which was in
tune with the young people of his time. Right from the start he was moved
by the desire to get in touch with them, poor and needy as they were. Let us
be careful not to get caught up in the prospect of a consecrated and pastoral
life that is strongly influenced by a bourgeois and selective mentality. We do
not choose the poor, but they are sent to us by Providence. Welcoming poor
young people and doing everything possible for them is a calling that we
must take seriously.
c. History is the treasure chest that reveals God’s action.
A third insight we gain from Mary’s action is the awareness that in
small and humble moments, when lived with generosity, history becomes a
treasure chest that reveals God’s action. A simple motherly gesture, a
solicitous invitation to the servants, prepare the ground for Jesus’ hour, for
his first sign. How much the Lord surprises us when we pay attention to the
details of human existence, especially when we are with the poor and needy!
How many lives have experienced the balm of God’s mercy through gestures
of care from educators who, with motherly kindness, have offered a smile or
a word of encouragement instead of looks of condemnation or humiliating
words!
Don Bosco's entire experience tells us that ‘the courtyard, the
playground’, both physical and metaphorical, is the place where God’s
goodness is revealed. We communicate loving-kindness by living it serenely
when we are present among and for young people, who thus feel recognised,
appreciated and loved. Sharing is built into our relationships with those who
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work with us when they ask us for those ‘five minutes’ of listening. Pastoral
and educational wisdom is conveyed through everyday gestures, experienced
with an open, receptive, attentive and affectionate heart.
It is worth recalling here a reflection that is more relevant than ever,
offered by Salesian Dominic Veliath on the context of South Asia5. He writes:
The Salesian charism is still on a pilgrimage. Every pilgrimage involves a
certain amount of risk; at times one is challenged to venture along what may
seem as yet an uncharted course. It is in this setting that every Salesian,
including the Salesian in the South Asian context, confident in the abiding
presence of the Spirit of God, rooted in the Salesian charism and in fraternal
communion with the Salesian congregation at large, is called to continue his
journey with a little of that trust which has so insightfully been described by
the poet Antonio Machado in his poem Caminante no hay Camino:
‘Wayfarer, there is no way, the way is made by walking’.6
Mary, the woman attentive to what was happening around her,
invites us not to remain distant and indifferent to the needs of those whom
the Lord asks us to accompany.
d. Invitation to reflection
- As communities and groups, let us ask ourselves if we have spaces
and times where we can reflect together on the poverty that
surrounds us.
- Let us ask ourselves whether our lifestyle is truly an authentic
witness to those who know us, to those we serve, who are
sometimes truly poor in body and soul.
- Let us ask ourselves whether the poor are numbers and objects of
ideology and pastoral strategy, or whether we are servants to them
with the means we have. How generous are we with our ‘five loaves
and two fish’?
2. LISTEN - With deep roots in faith in Christ
Mary, attentive to what was happening around her, said to the
servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ (v. 5) The invitation is clear and simple.
5 Dominic VELIATH, “Encounter of the Salesian Charism. South Asian Context”,
in, Journal of Salesian Studies, July–December 2015, Vol.16, n.2, pp.189-207;
cf. https://www.salesian.online/wp-
content/uploads/2020/03/JSS_16_N_2_Encounter_of_the_Salesian_Charism_wi
th_the_Southern_Asian_Context-Dominic_Veliath1.pdf
6 Idem, p. 207.
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But we know it’s also very challenging. It is not only a matter of recognising
events with their urgent moments and necessities, but of interpreting them
in the light of faith in Christ. Most of the time, we interpret events correctly,
professionally and competently, with analyses that are generally well
developed and accurate, at a ‘horizontal’ level, so to speak. But for those of
us who follow Jesus, this level – which must never be lacking – must
absolutely be accompanied by the ‘vertical’ one. How easy it is, in
responding to various emergencies, to embark on a frenetic course of action
in favour of the poor and needy, and in the long run, we often end up being
sucked into a vortex of activism that leaves us no time to look at the faces of
those we want to serve, nor even the face of the One who called us to serve
them in his name!
a. Events must be read and experienced in the light of Christ
Mary invites us to respond in a way that certainly addresses the
unexpected difficulty, but with a very clear instruction: ‘Do whatever he tells
you.’ The primary emphasis is not on what must be done, but on the One
who says what must be done! Events should be read and tackled in the light
of Christ. This is an undeniable indication as well as a source of real energy
for those who believe. There are different ways to respond to poverty. The
believer opts for this: to act starting from the Word of Jesus. For those who
believe in Christ, what many saints of charity have passed on through their
lives and witness applies. Our father Don Bosco himself passed this on in a
clear way: to act in the name of Jesus.
It is of great importance to us how much the first Salesians preserved
the figure of Don Bosco in their memory, especially in his most profound
spiritual and mystical aspects. In an article of the Salesian Constitutions,
Article 10, which opens the section on the Salesian spirit, we find a
summary of this calling that Don Bosco lived in an authentic way:
Article 10:
Under the inspiration of God, Don Bosco lived and handed on to us an
original style of life and action: the Salesian spirit.
It is summed up in and focused on pastoral charity, characterized by
the youthful dynamism which was revealed so strongly in our Founder
and at the beginnings of our Society. It is an apostolic zeal that drives
us to seek souls and serve God alone.
b. God’s will emerges from the events we experience
In this dynamic, which is deeply rooted in Christ, an experience
unfolds that gradually reveals God’s plan to us. God’s will emerges from
within our collaboration in the events we experience in him and because of
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him. And when we are sincere and act according to his gaze, the Lord of life
always surprises us in the most unexpected ways. Believing, then, is not a
choice that guarantees success and triumph; believing is placing oneself in
his hands, growing in the sure certainty that comes from a heart guided by
divine providence. If this radical choice is replaced by the logic of
calculation, then everything takes a different direction, the destination of
which we do not know. Mary remains the guide of total and trusting faith.
That is how she was, and that is how she continues to be.
In the Gospel passage we are meditating on, we find no words of doubt
or mistrust, or even resignation on the part of the servants: only gestures of
complete and total trust:
His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’
Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of
purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them,
‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. He said to
them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ And they
brought them to him. (vv. 5-8)
These verses convey – in the total silence of the protagonists in the
account – a willingness, readiness and generosity that may leave one
somewhat perplexed. But no! It is the reaction of those who choose to stake
their lives on the Word they have heard. It is the position of those who truly
believe. It is the choice of those who do not stand there asking questions or,
worse still, setting conditions. Here is the faithful servant!
c. A process nourished and enlightened by the Word
Finally, let us note something that we believers must not lose sight of:
this is a process that endures because it is continually nourished and
enlightened by the Word. Interpreting everything in the light of God and
contemplating his will in the events that unfold before us is not something
that happens automatically. It requires a heart attuned to the power of the
Word. This is a need that in a culture like ours – where efficiency takes
precedence over efficacy and where the result is considered more important
than the process – we constantly risk underestimating, proceeding directly
to action, even with the best of intentions. The consequence is that the point
of reference – the Word meditated upon and contemplated – becomes
increasingly weaker and, in the long run, is even considered a waste of time.
How often do we hear, even in our religious communities, that we do
not have time for meditation because we are so busy with pastoral
commitments? And the greater our commitments become, the more we
abandon our friendship with the Word. Unfortunately, the result is a
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pastoral self-referentiality that is reinforced in the name of pastoral activity
and commitments. In line with what Pope Francis once defined as ‘spiritual
worldliness’, we run a very similar risk, the dead end of ‘pastoral
worldliness’. That is, we do God’s work with great commitment, but in the
long run we forget the God who initially called us to serve him. What a
tragedy when, believing we are serving God in the poor, we end up justifying
his own irrelevance. We end up idolising our own pastoral projects!
I would like to offer here a reflection on the power and centrality of the
Word of a saint of charity whom many of us have encountered: Mother
Teresa of Calcutta. She writes to her sisters words that are also valid for us
today:
I worry some of you still have not really met Jesus—one-to-one— you
and Jesus alone. We may spend time in chapel—but have you seen
with the eyes of your soul how He looks at you with love? Do you
really know the living Jesus—not from books, but from being with
Him in your heart? Have you heard the living words He speaks to you?
Ask for the grace, He is longing to give it. Never give up this daily
intimate contact with Jesus as a real living person—not just an idea.
How could we spend a single day without hearing Jesus say to us: I
love you? It is impossible. Our soul needs it as much as our body
needs to breathe. Otherwise, prayer dies and meditation degenerates
into reflection. Jesus wants each of us to listen to him and speak to
him in the silence of our hearts. Be vigilant about anything that could
prevent this personal contact with the living Jesus.’7
The warm invitation of Saint Teresa of Calcutta is addressed to
anyone who wishes to make faith the source of their identity and actions.
Being believers places us at the heart of history so that, as protagonists, we
may welcome and live history and in history in the light of Christ. Only in
this way – nourished and fed with the food of the Word – will we be able to
observe with amazement how God’s will emerges more clearly before our
eyes.
d. Invitation to reflection
- Do we recognise how easy it is to respond to the needs of the poor
and offer educational and pastoral processes without first making
a human and spiritual assessment of the situation?
7 From the letter Mother Teresa wrote to the entire family of the Missionaries of
Charity during Holy Week 1993 – 25 March, see: R. Cantalamessa, La Terza
predica d’Avvento, 19 December 2003: “Conoscete il Gesù vivo?”
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- As communities and groups, do we recognise the urgent need to
have the courage to ‘waste’ time reflecting and praying before
acting? The value of the proposals lies in the roots that nourish
the tree so that it bears good and lasting fruit.
- Have we internalised that serving the poor is a consequence of our
encounter with Christ, because they themselves bring us back to
him to serve them even more?
- Do we constantly realise that the danger of ‘pastoral worldliness’
ultimately feeds our ego, with the result that instead of serving the
poor, we end up using the poor?
3. CHOOSE - Living the call with freedom
The story of the ‘sign’ at Cana offers further insights that shed more
light on our lived experience of faith, as a guide and reminder for our
educative and pastoral journeys. The servants listen, welcome and obey, as
Mary had asked them to do. Their attitude and choices are like the
fulfilment of another statement by Jesus, when – in Luke’s account of the
‘woman in the crowd [who] raised her voice and said to him: “Blessed is the
womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!” but he said, ”Blessed
rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”’ (Lk 11:27-28).
Here is the point on which everything turns. It is important and
decisive to feel part of human history, welcoming and ‘reading’ the signs of
the times; it is absolutely necessary to be deeply-rooted in faith in Christ.
But the truth of these two attitudes is most evident when we accept and live
by the Word. What emerges, then, is the path of authentic faith, marked by
healthy and solid growth.
a. Listening freely with complete trust
The point on which everything turns is marked by free listening
characterised by complete trust. The words in the Gospel have a very
powerful impact and a meaning that is always relevant.
Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to
the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief
steward.’ So they took it (Jn 2:7-8)
When someone trusts in Jesus, there is no room for anything else.
Indeed, human availability becomes even fuller and more joyful, more ready
and generous. The author of the Gospel provides a detail that, as educators
and pastors, we cannot fail to notice: ‘they filled (the jars) up to the brim.’ (v.
7) To the brim, beyond the already large quantity of litres in the jars. It is
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always worthwhile to be generous, with an ‘overflowing’ generosity. When
Jesus calls, we go forward in this way, obeying – ob-audire – freely and
without measure, again and again, as the Gospel continues: ‘He said to
them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.”’ So they took it’
(v. 8)
I believe that many of us, in our lives, as children and young people
but also as adults, have had the joy of meeting people who remind us of the
generosity of these servants. People we still carry in our hearts and minds,
not so much for the things they did, but for the free and generous attitude
they passed on to us. They certainly left their mark on us, because their
hearts were filled with the presence of Jesus. They had hearts that were
enlightened and guided by the Word and nourished by the Eucharist.
b. Every action makes sense – logos – only in and from the Word
– Logos
We see in the servants what is asked of us today if we truly want to
offer an experience of integral growth to those we are called to serve. We will
only be authentic educators and pastors when every action we take draws
meaning (reason, motive, logos) from and in the Word (Logos). Only by living
a life interwoven with words and actions that are inspired by the Word can
we overcome the wall of indifference and apathy that is so widespread today.
When we see that the wine of hope and true joy is lacking, when we feel
powerless in the face of so many real challenges we encounter every day, the
temptation is to defend ourselves by distancing ourselves and doing the bare
minimum.
But there is another option which is evangelical and Salesian: to
‘surrender’ and ‘trust’ in his word... As the servants testify to us, as Don
Bosco and many well-known Salesians testify to us, with their concrete
choices, always preceded by a precise and systematic attention to the
sources of their lives. Everything emanates from this sacred and profound
space. They were disciples and servants who, through their lives for and
with others, had an experience that prolonged their relationship with Jesus,
lived with the power of his Word. Theirs was not abstract devotion or
emotional piety, but rather an expression and synthesis of human and
spiritual maturity, intelligent and wise foresight, human empathy and
mystical enthusiasm. In their ob-audire lived with a strong and determined
personality, we see no signs of weakness or passive resignation. We can say
that they lived their prominent role within a relational framework marked by
the grace of unity, an existential framework that was profoundly human and
profoundly divine. By obeying, they did not give up their personality at all,
but rather shaped it through such obedience. Their trust in Jesus’ word,
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like that of the servants, continues to offer us new wine that inaugurates a
new life, for us as well as for our young people.
c. The risk of a faith that adapts to the dominant culture
And here we recognise the invitation not to succumb to the risk of a
faith that conforms to the dominant culture. The prophetic dimension of our
mission must contend with a context such as the current one, which ‘drags
us down’ towards the immediate, the useful and advantageous, that which
gratifies us here and now, and even the most comfortable. Jesus’ words to
his servants could have been ‘managed’ and ‘dealt with’ in a purely human
way, with a distrust that was entirely plausible and ‘reasonable’. The result
would have been very different, as we can easily imagine.
How often does it happen to us today that, when faced with urgent
pastoral challenges, human reasoning takes over? A purely horizontal
interpretation, however skilfully constructed, ultimately weakens and even
excludes a faith-based interpretation of the challenges we are called upon to
face. On the one hand, we are aware that studies and research on young
people invite us to listen to their search for meaning, but on the other hand
– despite this awareness that calls for a prophetic response – we limit
ourselves to giving only a horizontal response, perhaps responding only to a
need rather than to the implicit question of meaning.
It seems that we sometimes project our fears onto young people
because it is uncomfortable to face and overcome them, as it forces us to
step outside our comfort zones. Remaining on the purely human and
rational side, or that of the dominant culture, we feel superficially justified,
while our young people continue to cry out in the wilderness.
Reading the story of the beginnings in Valdocco, in the Pinardi house
from 1847 onwards, we see that Don Bosco offered young people powerful
and solid experiences. He went looking for poor, homeless young people to
give them at least the bare minimum: food, shelter, education. But right
from the start, Don Bosco was aware that it was necessary to offer proposals
that we now describe as ‘integral’. Pietro Braido writes:
Humble in its origins, Don Bosco’s first institution grew slowly but
with increasing vigour and fame, like the Gospel mustard seed. This is
owed to the fact that he was a man of such inner strength, such solid
human and Christian faith, such outstanding ability that he was able
to involve and enthuse people. But in the end he presented an image
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of himself that was more expansive than things really were. It would
remain thus in the future. 8
Of course he was not working only for the sake of publicity. In the
activity of rehabilitating and empowering young people, especially
young workers, in religious, moral and hence civil life, he knew how to
have recourse to powerful means such as retreats. Already in 1847 he
had tried a first experiment with the Oratory boys... More reliably
attested by Don Bosco himself was the repetition of a similar
experiment in 1848. Then he had around fifty participants and it
meant them staying a whole day and overnight in premises at the
Oratory, made possible by having all of the Pinardi house at his
disposal.9
In order for our response to be filled with faith in Jesus’ words, it is
imperative that we accept this invitation with great openness, both towards
the One who calls us and as a response to those who are waiting. Our
hesitation, our indecision must not have the last word.
d. Invitation to reflection
- Let us strive to ensure that our life of faith takes the form of a
relationship marked by freedom and trusting abandonment.
- Let us examine our conscience regarding our motivations, whether
they are rooted in and nourished by the Word (Logos), free from
self-referential motivations.
- Let us develop our intellectual capacity always in the light of God’s
wisdom. May our intelligence not obscure or weaken the prophetic
voice of the Good News.
4. ACT - Serving with total generosity
The wedding at Cana was an enriched ‘feast’ because of the servants’
trusting and generous response to Mary’s invitation to do whatever Jesus
told them to do. When service is marked by generous self-sacrifice, a
generosity rooted in faith, the results are a gift for everyone. We can see this
in the various educational and pastoral processes carried out by people
8 Pietro BRAIDO, Don Bosco, prete dei giovani, nel secolo delle libertà, (LAS – Roma
2009), Vol. I, Cap. VII: La rivelazione di don Bosco educatore (1846-1850),
p.216.[Also available in English translation on the Salesian Digital Library SDL:
https://sdl.sdb.org:9343/greenstone3/library/collection/dbdonbos/browse/CL
4#CL4.4,CL4.4.4]
9 Idem., p. 223.
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dedicated to the mission, by collaborators who feel themselves to be an
active part of the Salesian charism and pastoral project. Their dedication
and sense of belonging are a true and real acceptance of the call, its
realisation, not a mere appendage. Ultimately, it is these fundamental
choices that give soul to every path of integral growth for young people.
These are options that positively influence the outcome.
a. Serving freely because we are deeply-rooted in Christ
There is no freedom more authentic and true than that which
emanates from this relationship with him. The joy of the free servant
emerges from a heart that has already found the centre of its identity. The
servant who feeds on the source that is Christ has no alternative intentions
or motivations. Such a servant serves well without needing to depend on
seeking personal gratification from outside sources. This servant’s heart is
already filled with the One who called and sent him or her, and that is more
than enough.
The servant’s gift of self, therefore, is clear, and for this reason it
communicates that sense of inner freedom to the outside world. This is
where the true joy that every authentic servant of young people carries with
them comes from. We are bearers of good wine, we are ‘signs and bearers of
the love of God for young people, especially the poorest of them’ (C. 2), not
because we produced it ourselves, but because we believe it was given to us
freely. We are only asked not to keep it as personal property, but to
distribute it generously. The joy we communicate when we are rooted in
Christ is a joy that is given to us in abundance, but with the promise that
this joy will become complete when we share it. Jesus’ promise at the Last
Supper continues to sustain us in this service:
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If
you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have
kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said
these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy
may be complete. (Jn 15:9-11)
In recent months, during the Jubilee of the Holy Year 2025, many of
us experienced or closely followed the Youth Jubilee between late July and
early August. It is fitting here to recall the words that Saint John Paul II
wrote in his Apostolic Letter, Novo Millennio Ineunte, at the end of the Holy
Year 2000, where we find a comment on the Youth Jubilee of that year,
2000. These words truly convey joy. They seem to have been written for us
today, as we deal with young people born around the turn of the
millennium:
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Is not Christ the secret of true freedom and profound joy of heart? Is
not Christ the supreme friend and the teacher of all genuine
friendship? If Christ is presented to young people as he really is, they
experience him as an answer that is convincing and they can accept
his message, even when it is demanding and bears the mark of the
Cross. For this reason, in response to their enthusiasm, I did not
hesitate to ask them to make a radical choice of faith and life and
present them with a stupendous task: to become “morning
watchmen” (cf. Is 21:11-12) at the dawn of the new millennium. (NMI
9)10
Yes, young people are still searching for those who have the courage
and conviction of faith in Christ. There is no lack of seeking by young
people. We need people who are mature in their faith, ready to present the
face of Jesus, as servants and pilgrims. We need educators and pastors who
are ready to listen and live the good news.
b. Co-workers in God’s plan for the young
Through this committed and joyful service, we, as educators and
pastors, become co-workers in God’s plan for young people. Like Mary, we
too have made the choice not to distance ourselves from what is happening
around us. We have chosen to be part of young people’s story. Because we
are convinced that these young people, now more than ever, carry in their
hearts the question, ‘Where are you staying, Lord?’ They may be looking for
him without even knowing it. They do not have the vocabulary to express it,
but they have that deep thirst that does not leave their hearts at peace. If
the right language is lacking, the restless heart is certainly not.
How great is our responsibility, we who have encountered Jesus, who
spend time with Jesus frequently, every day! However, only when we
experience this encounter faithfully and consistently can we understand and
comprehend the silent question of young people. In this logic of a ‘silence
that speaks loudly,’ genuine educators and pastors communicate that spark
which alone can ignite hearts through their witness and fidelity. We have
been entrusted with the ‘talent’ of the good news. Woe betide us if we neglect
it, or worse still, if we bury it.
In her short but intense life, Simone Weil (1909–1943), French
philosopher, political activist and mystic, a woman desperately searching,
left a profound mark on 20th-century French philosophical thought. At a
certain stage in her life, she was in contact with Father Joseph-Marie Perrin,
a Dominican. She writs about this experience in her diary:
10 St John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, 6 January 2001.
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It is not by the way a man speaks of God, but by the way he speaks of
earthly things that one can best discern whether his soul has dwelt in
the fire of God’s love.11
These are succinct words that fit very well with our educative and
pastoral contexts. Most of the time, our encounters with young people and
with all those whom the Lord brings into our lives consist of simple human
contact and generous availability regarding immediate needs and issues. Yet
that space of pure humanity becomes a place where God’s love is revealed:
in those moments, we occupy ‘sacred ground’ that must not be trampled
upon. In the courtyards and playgrounds of the world, our presence is not only
physical, but carries with it what our hearts hold. Even when speaking of ‘earthly
things’, without realising it, we are communicating ‘who’ or ‘what’ we have
accented and welcomed into our hearts. In these simple moments, our presence,
bearing a healthy heart, surprisingly facilitates the unveiling of God’s plan for every
young person we encounter. Blessed are we if we are constantly aware of this.
Blessed are the young people who meet these faithful servants, generous and filled
with true and genuine joy.
c. The boldness of faith
Finally, we should not be afraid or ashamed: let us encourage
boldness in faith at a personal and community level. This is not about an
attitude that challenges the world, nor is it senseless fundamentalism.
Rather, it is an option that grounds us in Christ, and thus we go out to meet
the world. It is not a question of opposing, but of fostering spaces of
fraternity, promoting a culture of dialogue, and living relationships marked
by compassion and empathy.
In one passage from the Encyclical Lumen Fidei, Pope Francis reflects
on the potential of a faith that does not seek to conquer but to collaborate
for the common good. As bearers of a charism that educates and
evangelises, the Pope’s reflection enlightens us and urges us to move
forward.
Faith does not draw us away from the world or prove irrelevant to the
concrete concerns of the men and women of our time. Without a love
which is trustworthy, nothing could truly keep men and women
united. Human unity would be conceivable only on the basis of utility,
on a calculus of conflicting interests or on fear, but not on the
goodness of living together, not on the joy which the mere presence of
others can give. (no. 51)
11 Simone Weil, Quaderno IV, pp. 182-183.
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The Pope then recalls that this stance becomes an invaluable gift
because of its social consequences. This reminder is crucial for us, the
Salesian Family Groups, because it warns us against the danger of
considering ‘faith’ as ‘private property’ that we have in opposition to others.
That is not the meaning of the call. Recalling the context of the feast at
Cana, wine is for everyone, even for those who have not done their sums
properly, even for those who have gatecrashed the party, and for passing
beggars. Faith in Christ, like new wine, inaugurates the feast of the
covenant. Here are the words of Pope Francis:
Faith makes us appreciate the architecture of human relationships
because it grasps their ultimate foundation and definitive destiny in
God, in his love, and thus sheds light on the art of building; as such it
becomes a service to the common good. Faith is truly a good for
everyone; it is a common good. Its light does not simply brighten the
interior of the Church, nor does it serve solely to build an eternal city
in the hereafter; it helps us build our societies in such a way that they
can journey towards a future of hope. (no. 51)
The boldness of faith is a confirmation that we want to take seriously
the call to be co-workers in God’s plan for young people. Don Bosco
experienced this calling with extraordinary awareness and turned it into a
system, a project, a family experience. His boldness led him to say (and live
by): ‘in those things which are for the benefit of young people in danger or
which serve to win souls for God, I push ahead even to the extent of
recklessness.’12
We live the boldness of faith to foster a future marked by hope. The
boldness of faith that finds its roots in the heart of the educator, the
shepherd, who never ceases to love, to hope, to care for his flock.
d. Invitation to reflection
- Let us not be afraid to ask ourselves, in an intimate and sincere
way, whether we are truly serving young people or whether we are
using them for our own agenda and personal reasons.
- Called as a community to educate with the heart of the good
shepherd, let us strive to find moments that strengthen within us
the awareness that our presence and our contribution are
intended to foster the discovery of God’s plan for every young
person.
12 Letter to Charles Vespignani, 11 April 1877, in Francesco MOTTO (ed.),
Giovanni BOSCO, Epistolario, Vol. V (1876-1877), LAS-Roma 2012, p. 344.
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- Recalling Simone Weil’s words, is my soul dwelling in the fire of
God’s love? If I do not dwell in this furnace of God’s love, it matters
little where the alternative is, where I decide to live!
5. 150 years – Salesian Cooperators: Don Bosco’s prophetic
dream continues
I invite you to view the 150th anniversary of the founding of the
Salesian Cooperators as an experience that extends Mary’s words to the
servants: ‘Do whatever he tells you.’
The reflections made so far can be seen updated in the project that
Don Bosco developed from the beginning of his mission in Valdocco.
i. Don Bosco’s heart was a heart open to welcoming the signs of the
times, with their challenges and opportunities.
ii. From the outset, it was a journey rooted in faith in Christ, and this
personal experience had its starting point solely in Christ.
iii. The proposal that was taking shape aimed to offer young people and
his first collaborators a call to discover and live their life project with
freedom.
iv. In a healthy and holy environment, where reason (reasonableness)
and faith (religion) nourished each other in a context of loving-
kindness, this path had the sole purpose of serving young people
with complete generosity and loving them unconditionally.
In recent decades, we have had various opportunities and moments of
reflection that are helping us to contemplate the experience of Salesian
Cooperators in the light of the Salesian charism. I refer to three sources that
can nourish moments of study and reflection during this year, as well as
research into new and creative pastoral proposals.
Fr Pietro Braido dedicates several pages to the Salesian
Cooperators.13 Here I would like to mention just a few ideas for an overview
that offers us a memory projected beyond historical and temporal
immediacy. If we truly remember Don Bosco’s choices, we realise that the
13 P. Braido, Don Bosco prete dei giovani nel secolo delle libertà. Vol. 2, LAS
2009.[Also available in English translation in the Salesian Digital Library SDL,
https://sdl.sdb.org:9343/greenstone3/library/collection/dbdonbos/browse/CL
4#CL4.4,CL4.4.4] I recommend reading Chapter Twenty-Two. A Catholic
solidarity project in the mission to young people (1873-1877).
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theme of STRENNA 2026 is fully in tune with his actions, as he was always
attentive and obedient to the guidance of the Spirit of God.
Don Bosco’s idea was to create a truly organised missionary force, a
‘potentially unlimited army of people, men and women.’ The revolutionary
feature was that these members would share in the Salesian mission while
remaining in the world, without the obligation of religious vows (poverty,
chastity, obedience) or the community life typical of religious orders. They
were called to live an ‘evangelising and civilising’ faith in their daily lives.
Since the Oratory’s inception, Don Bosco had always been able to
count on the collaboration of priests and lay people. The real novelty was in
giving this collaboration an official and structured form: an ecclesiastical
Association or Union. This entity would be formally ‘aggregated’ to the
Salesian Society, creating a recognised spiritual and legal bond.
The idea did not come about suddenly. Already in the drafts of the
Salesian Constitutions of the 1860s, Don Bosco had included a chapter on
‘Extern Members’. Although this proposal was initially rejected by the
Vatican authorities, Don Bosco did not give up. He wanted to transform a
network of spontaneous and informal helpers into a recognised spiritual
family, with a clear identity and an active role in the Salesian mission.
In the Introduction of 1854 to the Regulations for the Oratory of St
Francis de Sales, Don Bosco expressed his hope that the regulations
would ‘serve as a rule (...) for administering this part of the sacred
ministry, and as a guide for clerics and lay people who, with
charitable solicitude, devote their efforts there in large numbers.’
Indeed, there had been a large group of clerics and lay collaborators
whom he loved to recall. (Braido, 174)
Don Bosco’s original vision still challenges us today, inviting us to
renew that same apostolic spirit that he dreamed of as a basis and
foundation. For Don Bosco, the figure of the Salesian Cooperator was like a
multifaceted figure with a very specific identity and mission.
Their identity was that of a Salesian in the world: a Christian (lay
person, priest, man or woman) who lives the Salesian spirit in his or her
own life situation, in the family and in society. They are not a religious, but
they share the same heart and the same passion for the salvation of young
people with the Salesian religious.
Their mission had a dual purpose: personal sanctification (‘doing good
for oneself’: that is, being called to live an exemplary Christian life, with a
simple and virtuous lifestyle, almost as if they were ‘in the Congregation’).
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Then there is the salvation of others, apostolic action, with the aim of
actively helping others, with a special focus on ‘at-risk youth’.
Don Bosco, with great practicality, established that those who could
not carry out these works directly (‘of their very selves’) could still contribute
by supporting those who did them (‘through others’). This principle made
the experience accessible to everyone, regardless of age, health or financial
resources.
Fr Egidio Viganò in his letter The Association of Salesian
Cooperators,14 on the occasion of the solemn promulgation of the then new
Regulations for Apostolic Life of the Association of Salesian Cooperators, 1986,
wrote that these new Regulations were not a simple regulatory update, but an
event of historic significance that completed the post-conciliar renewal of the
entire Salesian Family. Fr Viganò writes that while ‘Don Bosco did not
consider his long and troubled mission as Founder was at an end before he
had been able to give a valid structure to this Association and provide it with
its own Identity Card’, this process of renewal is in continuity with the
experience up to that point, which ‘had been present to some extent and in
embryo from the very beginnings of his plans for the work of the Oratories.’
He adds that the Salesian charism has a ‘flexible vitality’ that allows it to
adapt to the times without losing its essence. Don Bosco started from the
fundamental intuition of the youth mission and the urgent need for ongoing
collaborators. Only after more than thirty years of discernment, from 1841 to
1876, did he manage to give definitive shape to his project, moving from a
diocesan dimension to a universal vocation.
Finally, Fr Pascual Chávez, in an article on Don Bosco’s idea of the
Cooperator,15 comments on ‘The Project of Apostolic Life: a way of fidelity
to Don Bosco’s charism,’ emphasising Don Bosco’s original intuition and
recalling the famous line: ‘I always needed everyone!’ This expression
perfectly sums up his vision, which is not limited to seeing Cooperators as
mere helpers, but as essential protagonists in a vast network of
collaboration that has effectively made the worldwide spread of Salesian
work possible.
Fr Chávez writes that according to Don Bosco, the identity of the
Cooperator is articulated in three fundamental dimensions: first, he or she
is a Catholic Christian; second, he or she has a secular vocation; third, he
14 E. Viganò, The Association of Salesian Cooperators, Letter published in AGC no.
318, 1986.
15 https://www.donboscoland.it/it/page/il-cooperatore-nella-mente-di-don-bosco
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or she is a Salesian in the world, recalling Don Bosco’s own conference in
1885. During that conference Don Bosco said:
What does it mean to be a Salesian Cooperator? Being a Salesian
Cooperator means working together with others to support a work
founded under the auspices of St Francis de Sales, which aims to help
the Holy Church in its most urgent needs; it means working to
promote a work so highly recommended by the Holy Father, because it
educates young people in virtue, in the way of the Sanctuary, because
its main purpose is to instruct young people who today have become
the target of evil, because, I say, it promotes in the world, colleges,
hospices, festive oratories, families, a love of religion, good morals,
prayer, attendance at the sacraments, and so on.16
In light of Don Bosco’s vision, the Project of Apostolic Life (PAL) charts
the path to becoming an authentic witness to God’s plan for the integral
growth of young people. This path becomes real when Salesian Cooperators
commit themselves to:
a. ensuring the identity of the Association through dynamic fidelity to its
original charism. The study of and reflection on the charism is a
source that continually nourishes the understanding and experience
of the call;
b. strengthening the unity of members in their diversity. The richness of
each member’s background and the variety of gifts they possess,
together with their personal circumstances, should be seen as an
opportunity to create spaces for convergence, sharing and inhabiting
new areas of action.
c. finally, promoting the missionary vitality of each Cooperator. The call to
feel that we are like Don Bosco means being guided by a heart that is
ready to ‘go out’, a heart that feels sent, a missionary heart. This
conviction overcomes the danger of shutting oneself off, which
ultimately causes one to lose sight of the call.
Along with these proposals from Fr Pascual Chávez, it is worth
reiterating his invitation not to lose the freshness that Don Bosco
communicated and that today it is up to us not to lose or weaken. His
project still demonstrates its value today in the extent to which every
Salesian Cooperator strives to be, first and foremost, a person dedicated to
the common good in the political, social and humanitarian spheres. From
16 Bollettino Salesiano Luglio 1885, Anno IX. no. 7 see:
https://sdl.sdb.org:9343/greenstone3/library/collection/bolletin/document/HAS
Hf4b23f9c8aeedeefebb44e;jsessionid=5747EC043839057DDD329A721E7B8FAA
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this perspective, secondly, the privileged attention to the poor and the
excluded becomes the driving force behind pastoral action. Thirdly, the
commitment to a believing community is reaffirmed, in supporting the
vitality of the Church through a spirit of authentic, genuine and selfless
service. Finally, the invitation to continually educate oneself so that witness
as a whole and everywhere is nourished by the lay spirituality that forms
one for evangelical life, a life that brings good news, is a leaven in society.
6. Some pastoral proposals
In this last section, I offer some pastoral proposals that can be studied
and discussed within the various Groups of the Salesian Family. These
proposals emerge from the various considerations outlined above and are
closely linked to the Word of God that has accompanied us in this STRENNA
2026. My wish, for myself and for every single member of the Salesian
Family, is that we always keep the power and light of the Word before us.
From this energy, we ask the Spirit of God to grant us courage and
determination to live the message of Jesus with faith, and by living it, to
bring the ‘wine of hope’ to young people.
1. ‘Do whatever he tells you’: towards a pedagogy of personal
listening
Mary’s words to the servants at Cana offer a true educational method.
Mary invites us to listen personally, leading us from indifferent individualism
to responsible and supportive autonomy, from sterile external conformity to
conversion of the heart.
- Let us educate young people to listen personally to the word of God,
guiding them towards a mature and conscious faith.
- Let us promote discernment at the personal and community levels, in
groups and assemblies.
2. Mary at Cana: educator of genuine freedom
Mary does not force the servants, but points them to the One who can
transform their lives. He is the model of every genuine educator in the faith:
not imposing, but proposing; not forcing, but accompanying; not substituting,
but enabling.
- Let us grow as educators who help young people ask the right questions,
avoiding the danger of giving ready-made answers.
- Let us become aware that authority stems from consistent and authentic
testimony, not from suffocating authoritarianism.
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- Let us accept that educating for freedom also means anticipating the
risk of a ‘no’, a negative response, a rejection, and that in any case, we
must always respect the choices of young people as they gradually grow
up.
3. The art of reading the signs of the times with young people
An incarnate pastoral ministry knows how to interpret the reality of
young people without prejudice or nostalgia for the past. Young people live in a
complex world, facing unprecedented challenges: the digital revolution,
uncertainty about the future, the crisis of traditional institutions, and new
forms of existential poverty.
- Let us listen with empathy: before judging, let us try to understand the
world of young people from within.
- Let us interpret things from a perspective of wisdom: let us see cultural
changes not only as threats, but also as opportunities for proclamation.
- Let us promote conversation in the Spirit: let us experience ‘synodality’
in a tangible way when we involve young people themselves in listening
to one another, analysing their reality and formulating new proposals.
- With a gaze of faith, let us recognise God’s action even in situations that
seem far removed from the Gospel.
4. Choosing: Christian freedom as a vocational response
One of the most delicate issues in Salesian youth ministry today is the
relationship between faith and freedom. Only ‘free listening’ allows us to
experience the liberating power of the Gospel.
- Let us offer young people spaces and experiences characterised by
courageous, fearless Christianity, a proposal for a simple and credible
Christian life.
- Let us focus on action: every action and concrete proposal must be lived
and guided by the Word so that they become signs of an integral
spirituality. Service then emerges as a natural expression of mature faith
and genuine freedom.
5. 150 years of the Salesian Cooperators: a model for today
The commemoration of 150 years of the Salesian Cooperators offers the
Salesian mission a unique opportunity: Don Bosco’s dream of a ‘great
movement of people’ committed to the good of youth.
- Active involvement of the young: young people are not merely recipients
of pastoral action, but active participants. Like the first Cooperators from
the very beginning, young people shared Don Bosco’s dream. The same
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must apply to today’s young people: they are called play an active role in
evangelisation, and more explicitly, of their peers.
- Educational alliances: the Salesian mission cannot be the work of
individuals, but requires networks of collaboration between families,
Christian communities, schools, associations and the world of work. The
Salesian Cooperators of yesterday and today represent this spirit of
pastoral alliance.
- Missionary dimension: the Salesian charism is intrinsically missionary.
Every pastoral choice cannot be limited to preserving the status quo, but
must be open to the peripheries, to new forms of poverty, to young
people who are furthest away.
- Fruitful secularity: Salesian Cooperators bear witness to the beauty of the
lay vocation in the Church. This means valuing and taking seriously the
specific role of lay people in education to the faith, respecting and
promoting their competence and autonomy.
Conclusion
STRENNA 2026 presents the Salesian Family with a programme that is
both challenging and fascinating. At a time when young people are often
described only in terms of problems or fragility, the Salesian proposal looks at
them through the eyes of faith: when they encounter credible proposals and
authoritative witnesses, young people show themselves to be sincere bearers of
specific gifts, truly capable of authentic listening, ready to make generous
choices.
Like Mary at Cana, we educators in the faith are called to bear witness to
Christ to young people, not as an ‘object’ but as a liberating relationship, to
propose Christian life not as rules to follow, but as the fullness of life freely
offered. ‘Do whatever he tells you’ is not an invitation to blind obedience, but to
responsible freedom communicated by those who have already encountered
and experienced Love, and wants to share it because true life is within them.
I conclude with a reflection by Romano Guardini.17 He states that our
faith is a ‘“contested faith” which must continually ascertain its foundation,
and perhaps discard the varied and beautiful in order to adhere only to the
essential.’ This means that when doubt or discouragement arise, which
often attack us in our mission, we realise that true faith is that which
‘always rises again against doubt. […] That characteristic form of faith that
17 R. Guardini, Sorge um dem Menschen, Bd. I, Werkbund, Würzburg 1962, tr. it.
by Albino Babolin, Ansia per l’uomo, vol. I, Morcelliana, Brescia 1970, p. 130.
(English translation by the translator of this letter)
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(St John Henry) Newman described so well when he said that “to believe”
means “to be able to endure doubt”.’
Let us bring the new wine of the wedding at Cana, which symbolises the
newness promoted by those who believe, with joy and hope, even and
especially in the midst of challenges and difficulties, doubts and uncertainties.
Both in the Church and in society, the young people we accompany are
bearers of a thirst for authentic, genuine life. They seek to meet believers, who
communicate a credible Christian proposal and are therefore believed by them.
This is the challenge that STRENNA 2026 entrusts to all of us in the Salesian
Family who care about the new generations.
Don Bosco’s dream continues every time a young person discovers not a
limitation on their freedom but the way to become fully themselves in the
educators and pastors they encounter, believers who live their faith in the
service of their brothers and sisters. This is the ‘good news’ that the Salesian
mission is called to proclaim: the boldness of faith and the joy of sharing.
This is the STRENNA that I offer you with joy and emotion, and which I,
first of all, commit myself to live by.
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