Hajja Salesjana

This is hope for our day: the opportunity to grow and to learn together as a team, comprised of students, families, educators, and specialists. We must value what we have gained from this crisis: a healthier environment, slower mode of life, being together as a family, and the many creative and innovative initiatives—virtual ones, e.g.— on the part of so many educators so they could respond rapidly and efficaciously to the needs of their students. Things are different now, and so are we. Nothing is as it was before: life, relationships, space, and time. We do not wish to return to where we were but we want to change for the better, to renew, to create, and to believe in ourselves,our resources, and in education as a key factor in change. We need creativity in order to devise new paradigms and new responses—the boldness of a life which is the bearer of something truly new. We needa vision of a new life which will become reality because the task is arduous and will take a long time. We do not need things that are improvised on the spur-of- the-moment, but we need the security found in our witness and in the joy of our Hope—in that which makes us who we are. More than ever, our presence and our witness are necessary. And more than ever before the young cannot be left to their own devices. This was never so at any time, but it is not so now in an evermore imperative way, forthey await us with open arms so they may live their lives again with the strength of a love that is capable of overcoming everything. It is only love that conquers all. We need to dream anew the dream of the young. I hope that we have learned to be more aware of the connections among all humans, more determined to educate all our children and young peoplewell, fully aware of the power of human gentleness, and more focused on working with families and other organizations so we may educate to the future. In our Salesian Preventive System, this means: Total, cordial welcome . The conversations that Don Bosco had with the young reveal his capacity to give a complete and cordial welcome to them, something that is a fundamental element of our Salesian educational relationship. Through his informal, situational, and friendly model of communication, Don Bosco reached their hearts, overcoming all barriers of “social distancing. ”[“See to it that all with whom you come in contact become your friends” ( TheBiographical Memoirs of St. John Bosco. Volume X, p. 445.)] In this way, all will feel welcomed and loved (every boy felt that he was Don Bosco’s “favorite”). Where human development is concerned, what matters is that the individual be the actor in his/her life and history. Empathic harmony and openness. To his Salesians, Don Bosco always recommended being close to the young at all times, a closeness rich with attention and gentleness. photo by Alice Dietrich www.unsplash.com 33 Jannar-Marzu 2022 hajja