Hajja Salesjana October - December 2018

32 I will begin by recounting two life events that seem to be significant on account of the age of the persons involved and, therefore, deserving of attention. Following the precious feast of Mary Help of Christians in Valdocco (Turin), I began my travels this May with a visit to the Salesian presences in Croatia. The solid faith of those Croatian Christian communities and of those young people hit me directly in my heart. The hundreds of young people whom I met – who are the youths of today, so modern, so up-to- date, so much in the digital world, just like all the young people around the world who have access to that world –still are solid in living their Christian faith. This made a great impact on me, so I took advantage of this message to tell you about that now before diving into the focus of this writing. We arrived at one of our Salesian presences at 10:00 p.m. On entering the patio of the Salesian house, we heard the music of typical Croatian folk dances and saw a group of about 150 little children, teenagers, young adults, and some parents awaiting us there and, of course, the Salesian community. Great was my astonishment and emotion at seeing among them one of our Salesian confreres (I will omit his name lest he feel embarrassed at knowing he was mentioned by name) who, at 92 years of age, dressed in his old cassock – it seemed to be from Don Bosco’s times – and with a smile and a most peaceful face was dancing with the young while waiting to welcome us. On the following day, at distinct moments of the different celebrations, this nonagenarian confrere of ours was acclaimed by the young, who clapped for and called out to him, and he smiled and gave in to the many things that the young said and did. I thought to myself: Here is a Salesian who has had and still has a full life. He did not have an easy life (including having THE MESSAGE OF THE RECTOR MAJOR DON ÁNGEL FERNÁNDEZ ARTIME FULL LIVES I believe that this is what we have most at heart, dear readers – to feel that we are living a life that is full. It seems that this is a very human aspiration. It is with this thought that I must tell you that I have come to know in my life many persons who live and have lived full lives. I propose to follow this path myself.