Hajja Salesjana July September 2018

33 This afternoon in Beirut found me visiting the shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon together with other Salesian confreres. The shrine is in a beautiful place in the mountains where a huge statue of the Virgin Mary holds her arms open wide to embrace the city of Beirut. We went to a small chapel to pray. There was a big variety of people there, praying. Many were young. This touched me profoundly. My gaze fell on a young mother and her 14-year-old son. The mom was praying with her eyes closed, in deep concentration and devotion. The son stood at his mother’s side. It seemed to me that he was already a little tired of standing there in silence, but he just kept looking at his mom –and I at them because the scene moved me. So much faith. Without a doubt, so many feelings flowed from the heart of that young mother to our other Mother, to Jesus’ Mother, the Mother of us all. I contemplated that scene, as well as many others like it, in my heart – in which the same thing always happens. The Blessed Virgin arouses great tenderness, affection, and love in her children throughout the entire world. In May this year we’ll celebrate 150 years since the consecration of the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin, built by Don Bosco in response to the wish of the Virgin Mary. It’s a sacred place, the one that gave concrete form to our Mother’s words: “ Hic domus mea, inde gloria mea ,” meaning, “This is my house; hence goes forth my glory.” And her glory does, indeed, continue to go forth today throughout the entire Salesian world, in 134 nations. The Salesian world is dotted with churches, chapels, Marian shrines, and basilicas where our Mother still calls to her children of all cultures and colors to come to her, to encounter her, so that she may hold them in her Mother’s heart and lead them always to her beloved Son. I’m convinced that that scene in Beirut, of the mother with her son at her side, is replicated thousands of times throughout the world every day. While our Mother watches over us, keeping us under her protection and care, we have nothing to fear. Looking with a Salesian gaze, we recognize and we continue to say today, just as Don Bosco did in his day, that “It’s she who has done everything” – and allow me to add that she will continue to do so! Blessed feast of Mary Help of Christians! On May 23 at Valdocco we solemnly inaugurated this 150th anniversary celebration. It was a priceless opportunity for us to unite ourselves to all the shrines, chapels, churches, and basilicas around the world where she, our holy Mother, continues to radiate her motherly tenderness, just as she did in Beirut. I’ve seen it!