5314(I)_Rejoice in the Lord! (Phil 4,4)
2020 Salesian Mission Day
February 11, 2020
Rome, 11 February 2020 -- With a slight delay, all animation materials of the Salesian Mission Day (SMD) 2020 are being published over these days. During the past six years the SMD has focused on the theme of the First Proclamation, each year on a different continent: Oceania (2016), America (2017), Asia (2018) and Africa (2019). In this 2020, at the end of the six-year term, the reference area is Europe, and the specific focus is on the Oratories and Youth Centers in the context of Project Europe.
The Regulations of the Salesian Society are clear: "The Oratory is an educational environment with a strong missionary slant, and open to all boys and young people." The educational and evangelizing power of this typical Salesian presence continues to be, today as it did yesterday, a lively and current missionary proposal for European youth. It is an outgoing Oratorian church, that opens up to the local youth world, loving what young people love, so that young people can love the one whom the Salesians love above all else, the Lord Jesus.
This 2020 Salesian Mission Day seeks to stimulate the Salesians in all five continents to take this original presence of Don Bosco to heart, as a fundamental way of meeting children, adolescents and young people in the gratuitousness, freedom and sense of family of a creative ministry. So the Oratory may become a wonderful missionary opportunity everywhere.
The General Councilor for the Missions, Fr Guillermo Basañes prays: "May the Lord grant the Salesians and lay people of the Salesian Family an oratorian and missionary heart for today's young people!"
On the 11th of this month we can begin our involvement in SMD 2020 with the following simple prayer from the recently distributed SMD 2020 Prayer Card. Although in some provinces of the EAO Region the 2019 SMD is still in force, the initial proclamation of Jesus in any environment is open every day to all of us!
Prayer of the SMD 2020
Saint John Bosco,
father, teacher and friend of the young,
you said and you testified with your life,
that 'He who loves, educates.'
Help us to be passionate educators
educators to a life with the abundance promised by the Gospel,
educators to justice and peace,
educators to solidarity with the weak.
Following your example, help us
to love intensely the Lord of life,
to love without reserve the young we meet,
to offer them the Oratory,
a home that welcomes
a parish that evangelizes
a school that prepares them to life and
a playground where friends could meet and enjoy themselves.
Guide us on the path of holiness
so that we may taste the joy of heaven now and in eternity.
Amen.
