Turin (Italy). From 16 to 19 January 2025, the 43rd edition of the Salesian Family Spirituality Days was held in Valdocco, Turin, with the participation of more than 350 people from various parts of the world belonging to 14 groups of the 32 groups that make up the Salesian Family – including the General Councilor for the Salesian Family of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Sister Leslie Sándigo Ortega, and her collaborators, Sister Lucrecia Uribe, ADMA World Animator and World Delegate ASSCC, and Sister Sangitha Rani, World Delegate for the Past Pupils – to deepen the Strenna of the Rector Major for the year 2025: “Anchored in hope, pilgrims with young people.”
The event began on the afternoon of January 16 with the opening session at the Teatro Grande in Valdocco, during which the young students of Don Bosco Middle School, dressed in the four colors of the jubilee year logo, created a scenario with a boat and an anchor, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first missionary expedition of the Salesians from Genoa to Patagonia. (Video)
Fr. Leonardo Mancini, Superior of the Special Circumscription of Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta (ICP), and Fr. Joan Lluis Playà, Delegate of the Rector Major for the Salesian Family, did the “house honors” welcoming the participants and sharing reflections on the Jubilee themes of hope and pilgrimage, also indicating Valdocco as a significant stage to be accomplished together as Salesian Family.
The Vicar of the Rector Major, Fr. Stefano Martoglio, bringing greetings from Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, then presented Strenna 2025 through the video made by IME Communications, followed by the resumption of some points, linking the Strenna with the Jubilee Year and answering questions from participants.
The day ended with the Eucharistic Celebration in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians presided by the Vicar. In his homily, Juan Carlos Pérez Godoy, SDB, General Councilor for the Mediterranean Region, helped the assembly to enter into the spirit of the Days, that of creating relationships of mutual friendship, considered by Don Bosco as a shared spiritual experience. He also emphasized the three virtues necessary on this journey – hope, faith, and charity – illuminated by the light of the Word of God, in communion and trust in God, manifesting the visible sign of joy.
On the second day, the participants entered into the thick of the work with a deeper look at the theme “Anchored in hope” through the intervention of Dr. Cristiana Freni, Professor at the Pontifical Salesian University of Rome, who gave the anthropological and existential interpretation of the statement, “Hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5). Referring to its etymology in ancient languages, she explained the meaning of hope and gave it a broader vision, explaining the difference between hope and optimism. The former is not simply based on positive thinking, but on transcendence. She stressed that hope is a revival of life in the face of the ultimate challenge of death.
In concluding, she declined the reflection according to the spirituality of Don Bosco, the “man of hope”. “Don Bosco hoped with young people and for young people under the mantle of Mary Help of Christians.” In the midst of disapproval, betrayal, and abandonment, Don Bosco remained faithful to his project and walked with love and courage. In the last part of the morning, the report of Dr. Freni was examined in the sharing within the various language groups. (Video)
The morning session “took shape” with the pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Turin, where the Shroud and the remains of Blessed Piergiorgio Frassati are kept. They went in different thematic groups with guided visits to various historical Salesian places: Oratory in Motion, Justice and Mercy, Carlo Gastini Path, Daughters of Mary Help of Christians Path, Prayer, Pastoral Care and Prisons, Social Works of Hope, Holy Social Works of Hope, and Don Bosco Yesterday and the FMA Today – converging all together at the goal, in the Eucharistic celebration presided by Mons. Alessandro Giraudo, Auxiliary Bishop of Turin.
This was followed by the testimony of a young woman, Federica Baradello, on the life of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who will be proclaimed Saint on Sunday, 3 August 2025, at the end of the Jubilee of the Young. Federica highlighted the link between Pier Giorgio and Don Bosco, also in relation to his own experience of faith and that of many other young people from Turin.
The 2nd day ended with an evening of prayer and touching and engaging music, offered by the youth musical group “Sal.es” of the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, directed by Maestro Fr. Maurizio Palazzo, SDB.
Pilgrims with young people” is the theme of the 3rd day, on 18 January, which began with the Eucharistic celebration in the Basilica presided by Cardinal Cristóbal López, SDB, Archbishop of Rabat.
The morning session was dedicated to listening and dialogue with the young participants at the Synod of the Young of the Salesian Youth Movement, held from 11 to 16 August 2024, in Valdocco and at Colle Don Bosco. Five of them – Diletta Ferri (Italy), Maria Meccariello (Italy), Teaghan Dolan (Australia), Juan Sebastian Moya Sandoval (Colombia), and Pablo Osorio Delgado (Spain) hosted a panel discussion on their experience at the Synod, on the difficulties and challenges they faced, the encouragement and inspiration received, the dreams shared by the young people in those days. The young people, accompanied by an SDB or an FMA, then divided themselves into workshops: Faith and Relationship with Christ; Salesian Spirituality and Holiness; Listening to Youth; Youth Protagonism; and the Church and the Salesian Family as Credible Guides.
The afternoon began with a conference on “Missionary expeditions of yesterday, apostles in mission today” by Msgr. Cristóbal López. He spoke of seven major errors to avoid in relation to the mission: confusing the mission with missionary or apostolic activities, since the mission is to love; loving for a reward, a return or reciprocity, because the love of God is not reciprocal, but transitive; believing that being missionaries is a matter for specialists and extraordinary people, when all are missionaries; connecting mission to geography, while all the baptized are missionaries everywhere; believing that being a missionary elsewhere is meaningless, since everyone lives the mission according to the call of the Lord and the circumstances of life; believing that the mission consists in implanting the Church, while the mission is to proclaim and witness the Kingdom of God; believing that you are the first missionaries, while the Holy Spirit is the first missionary. (Video)
The participants were then involved in the workshops, and they entered into contact with some missionary experiences in different contexts dreamed of by Don Bosco: Patagonia, the first SDB expedition; the first FMA expedition in Uruguay; the mission in Japan, North-East India, Brazil; Project Africa; the testimony of Maria Troncatti, missionary in Ecuador; and lay people on mission. The day ended with a traditional fraternal evening animated by the Salesian novices and participated in with joy by the various groups of the Salesian Family.
The days were animated by young musicians from Rome, visits to various places in Valdocco linked to Salesian spirituality, and the presentation of the video of the previous day.
The last day of the GSFS 2025, opened with the Sunday Eucharistic Celebration presided by Fr. Stefano Martoglio. In the entrance procession, together with the concelebrants, five representatives of different continents entered with a ribbon in their hands, each of which was attached to the Cross of Christ, representing the life of each one anchored on Him. During the homily on the passage of the Cana Wedding, the Vicar invited participants to welcome the presence of Mary, who comes to meet us with her maternal presence, brings is on the way of Christ “our Hope” and leads everyone to do “whatever He tells you.” A presence that Don Bosco experienced in a particular way during his life. She is the one who notices the lack of joy in everyone and intercedes for the miracle, which is experienced every day in the Eucharist. “Our Hope, the presence of God, asks us to be signs of hope for one another. Anchored in Christ, pilgrims with the young, with the world, together with all humanity.”
After the Mass, each group of the Salesian Family met to share and summarize what they had heard. The concluding assembly in the hall followed, with mutual thanks for the beautiful experience. All were offered a “virtual pilgrimage kit” consisting of sandals representing living and dynamic hope, a staff of faith in Christ, a pocket Bible that leads to a living hope, a bottle of baptismal water for purification, a bread that represents the Eucharist, and the rosary that symbolizes the company of Mary. (Video)
The event was, as always, a moment of recharging and renewed enthusiasm in finding themselves as a vast family, composed of people of different ages, nationalities, cultures, and languages, united, as “pilgrims of hope”, from the same Charism and from the same vision of Don Bosco.
Photos: Flickr FMA
