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5428(I)_Revised Salesian Prayer Manual ed. 2020

July 23, 2020

RMG, Rome, 23 July 2020 -- In the presentation to the 'Salesian Prayer Manual' (220 pages, ed. 2020), the 10th successor of Don Bosco, Fr. Angel F. Artime explains the background and goals of this revised Salesian Prayer Book:

"My dear confreres, General Chapter 27 (2014) requested an updating of the manual In dialogue with the Lord and other resources of prayer as an expression of our commitment to grow in the Salesian consecrated identity. In the revision of the text, I asked the redaction group to keep in mind three elements:

1. the multicultural context of the Congregation;

2. the new digital world;

3. prayer with the young and with our lay mission partners.

Perhaps the group has succeeded in paying greater attention to the possibilities offered today by the digital world than to the other two elements. For this reason, apart from a text that could be printed by Provinces or regions, they have prepared a digital edition with several alternatives, available on the Congregation’s website (www.sdb.org). A very handy app for Salesian prayer has also been designed (Salesians@prayer), which includes, among other things, the Salesian Proper, which of its nature calls for frequent updating to include every new beatification or canonization. The digital format best serves this need.

I hope that you will find these instruments useful for personal and community prayer and for moments shared with your young people and lay mission partners. May Mary, mother and teacher, help us to grow in our dialogue with the Lord."

The new app "Salesians@prayer" was released already last August, and is by now available in 9 language versions - French, UK English, US English, Italian, Polish, Portuguese of Brazil and of Portugal, Spanish, and Latin American Spanish. The app is a tool that puts all the prayers that the Salesians pray throughout the day at special weekly, monthly and during liturgical times at the disposal of communities and confreres.

We give thanks to the Fr Ivo Coelho, General Councillor for Formation, and his team who have spent an enormous amount of time and energy on this important tool of prayer, communion over the past four years - and that can now be in our hands on a daily basis.

For the language diversity of the EAO region, this is good news, however the hard and patient work of many translators is necessary in order to bring the essential prayers to the main 7-10 languages used in the daily Salesian prayer around the large region.