THE MESSAGE OF THE RECTOR MAJOR

Don Ángel Fernández Artime

God gave Don Bosco a large heart without limits, like the shores of the sea. I feel the beating of that heart every day.

His name is Alberto. She’s a young mom whose name I don’t know. He lives in Peru; she in Hyderabad, India. What unites these two life stories is that I met each of them while carrying out my mission of service – in Peru for the one, and the following week in India for the other, the young mother. What they have in common is precious: they experienced God’s caress in the welcome that Don Bosco once gave each of them in one of his houses, changing their lives, and saving them from the situation of poverty – and perhaps death – to which they were doomed. I think I can say that the fruit of the Lord’s Passover is also communicated through human gestures that heal and save.

Here are the two stories.

I was in Huancayo, Peru, a few weeks ago. I was about to celebrate the Eucharist with more than 680 young people, members of the province’s Salesian Youth Movement, and several hundred people from that city high in the mountains of Peru (10,400 feet above sea level) when I was told that a former student wanted to greet me and that he had traveled almost five hours to get there – and would travel another five hours back home. I replied that I would gladly greet him and thank him for his beautiful gesture. 

The moment came before Mass when a young man approached me and told me how happy he was to greet me. He told me his name (Alberto), and added, “I’m here because I wanted to make this trip to thank Don Bosco in the person of the Rector Major because the Salesians saved my life.” I thanked him and asked why he was telling me this. As he continued with his testimony, each word reached deeper into my heart. He told me that he had been a difficult lad, giving a lot of trouble to the Salesians who had welcomed him into one of the homes for children-at-risk. He added that they would have had dozens of reasons to get rid of him because, saying, “I was a poor devil who thought I could only expect some more evil, but they had a lot of patience with me. Thus, I was able to continue on my path and kept studying. Despite my repeated rebellions they gave me new opportunities again and again. Today I am a father, I have a beautiful daughter, and I am a social educator. Had it not been for what the Salesians did for me, my life would be very different, if not already over.”

I was speechless and very moved. I told him that I thanked him very much for this gesture, his words and his journey, and that the example of his life said it everything. He even referred to a Salesian who was present at that time who had been one of his teachers. He spoke of others who had shown great patience with him. This Salesian, smiling – and I think with great joy in his heart – confirmed the young man’s story. Later, we sat down to a meal together before he returned home to his family.

Five days after having had this encounter, I was in the south of India, in the State of Hyderabad. One afternoon, in the midst of numerous greetings and activities, a young mother was awaiting me with her six-month-old daughter at the reception area of the Salesian house. She wanted to greet me. The baby girl was very beautiful. Since she showed no fear, I was able to hold her in my arms and bless her. We took some photos together, at the request of the young mom.

That was the sum total of this encounter: there were no other words spoken. Still, she has a difficult yet beautiful story: this young mother was a girl picked up from the street where she was living, alone. It’s easy to imagine what her fate could have been. In the Good Lord’s Providence, she was found one day by the Salesian who had begun the ministry to the street children in Hyderabad, bringing them into a Salesian house. She was one of the girls who was able to live in a house with other girls. Along with the other teachers present there, my Salesian confreres ensured attention to all their basic needs and their training. This is how this girl was able to forge a path for herself that would lead her to become what she is today – a wife and mother – and, something else that I believe is precious: a teacher in the Salesian school where we met. This is the key to how many lives can be transformed for the better.

How could I not see in these two stories the Hand of God reaching us through the good we’re able to do? All of us are the ones who, in whatever part of the world, in whatever situation of life and profession, believe in humanity and in the dignity of every person. We believe that we must continue to build a better world.

I write this because good news must be made known. Bad news spreads by itself or through people who have an interest in it. These two life stories, so real and in such proximity, confirm a thousand times over the value of the good we all try to do.

I wish you all a happy Easter from the Lord! To those who don’t share this faith certainty, I most cordially wish all good things.