Hajja Salesjana

novice master, don Enrico Ponte, and sustained by the example of the other Salesians, we attempted to nurture, explore and discern the Lord’s calling and will by focusing especially on the Salesian charism, as lived out by Don Bosco and as set out in the Salesian Constitutions. The centre to a typical day within the novitiate is the celebration of the Eucharist. The life of our religious community revolves around this Sacrament: as novices we participated also in the Liturgy of Hours, the prayer of the Rosary, the bi-weekly adoration, the silent retreats and the Spiritual Exercises. As the spiritual nourishment goes hand in hand with intellectual formation the novitiate programme provided lectures, conferences and sessions on the life of Don Bosco, the first Salesians, the Rector Majors, the Salesian charism; psychological input on the lines of human-emotional-spiritual development; spiritual retreats and spiritual exercises, the study of the Rule and the lives of the Saints. The Salesians believe in formation in the mission: to this end we had the opportunity to host several groups of young people within the novitiate throughout the year, to attend and help out in the local Oratories and parishes, and to be present every Friday throughout the scholastic year at the Agnelli Institute (Turin) to assist within the schools and the Oratory run by the Salesians. Sundays were spent in the neighbouring parishes: I was assigned to the parish of Castelnuovo don Bosco where I was given the opportunity to hold catechism classes to primary-aged students, and give a hand in the animation of the Holy Mass. Whilst the wintry months were typically dominated by lectures, lessons and spiritual input, the summer months saw the novitiate community organizing CollEstate: a Fun Day experience to visiting Oratories that bring their young people over to Colle Don Bosco on an outing as part of their summer school activities. The community life resembles closely that of a typical family: we novices cooked, performed house chores on a daily basis, washed and ironed our clothes, and worked in the house garden sowing, watering - taking care of our home-grown vegetables. We also had the opportunity to travel on pilgrimages to mark special occasions related to feasts of saints of the Salesian family or Marian feasts. The beauty of experiencing the novitiate at Colle Don Bosco is obviously the physical vicinity to all the major landmarks and places related to the life of Don Bosco, Mamma Margherita, Domenico Savio and the first Salesians – it was a special feeling and a privilege to be able to visit at any time of the day, on foot, some of the most important places related to the birth of the Salesian Congregation. The 8th of September 2022 marked my first profession as a Salesian of Don Bosco, in the hands of the Vicar of the Rector Major, don Stefano Martoglio, in the Upper Basilica of St John Bosco, Colle Don Bosco, Castelnuovo Don Bosco. There were six others with me; young men from Italy, Germany and Slovenia, that responded to the Lord’s loving calling in front of the whole Church: Salesians, lay people, Salesian Cooperators, parents, siblings, benefactors, and of course, the young people. Let us continue to pray for more vocations within the Salesian family: through the intercession of Mary Help of Christians, let us also pray that those who are called to give their life to the young, in doing so, become holy. I professed my first temporary vows during the Holy Mass that had as its motto: “…So that your joy may be complete.” (John 15, 11). Allow me to augur to you too exactly this: may His joy be in you! Antoine with his family and novice-master Antoine with visiting Maltese Salesians 21 Jannar - Marzu 2023 hajja