Hajja Salesjana - September October 2016

26 My dear Salesian Family, my friends, spread throughout the world, I carry five dreams in my heart. They are dreams which I believe are among the most beautiful fruits of the Bicentenary of Don Bosco’s birth. One of these dreams, the fourth, is the one about a Salesian Family which lives the joy of the Gospel because it is convinced that it must be one composed of evangelizers and educators to our Faith – in every corner of the world where the Family is found. I wish to remind you of the words with which Pope Francis begins his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium : “The joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. With Christ joy is constantly born anew.” The Holy Father is inviting every Christian to renew his or her personal encounter with Jesus or to allow himself to “be encountered” by Him, to oppose the risk of feeling lonely, or of keeping a rhythm of life which only ends up in an oppressive whirlwind, leaving no room for others or for true interpersonal relationships. This is an enormously real and great challenge for us, Salesian Family, who must bring into the Church that gift which is uniquely ours: the powerful and irresistible charism which we have inherited from Don Bosco. Why this dream? Because I truly would not wish to see Don Vecchi’s words, which he spoke in reference to the primacy of evangelization, become prophetic: “It can happen that under the pressure of a multitude of activities, concerned about structures and busy about organization, we run the risk of losing sight of the horizon of our activity and appearing like so many activists or grass-roots theorists, managers of works or structures, admirable benefactors but poor as explicit witnesses to Christ, mediators of his saving work, formers of souls, and guides in the life of grace.” (AGC, no. 373) It is part of our DNA, of our most authentic essence, inherited from Don Bosco, to be evangelizers of the young, especially of the poorest of them. This is so, moreover, because we truly believe that God is awaiting us in the young to offer us the grace of an encounter with Him. He expects us to be true servants of the young to serve Him in them by recognizing their dignity and by educating them to the fullness of life. Those persons who live this reality profoundly taste the true joy of the Gospel. MESSAGE OF THE RECTOR MAJOR DON ÁNGEL FERNÁNDEZ ARTIME I DREAM OF A SALESIAN FAMILY WHICH LIVES THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL Let us know how to live in such a way as to show that we are, as educators and evangelizers, on fire for the good of the young and collaborators in God’s Plans.