Belo Horizonte (Brazil). In July 2024, the Brazilian Mother Mazzarello Province (BMM) promoted the Salesian Youth Mission, which took place in the municipality of Linhares (ES) from 17 to 21 July, with the participation of 30 adolescents and young people, and in the municipality of Aparecida de Goiânia (GO) from 25 to 28 July, with the participation of 28 adolescents and young people, for a total of 78 participants, together with Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, lay people, Salesians of Don Bosco.
The Missions were attended by young people over 15 years old, from educative and socio-educative realities of the Province. The young volunteers played with children and visited the houses of the region, listened to families, and, for those who wanted it, said a prayer or recited a Psalm from the Bible. They also participated in formation sessions on topics related to Salesian spirituality, the Church, and the local reality.
Also in July, the missionary experience (Indigenous Mission) was held in the villages of Meruri and São Marcos, located in the state of Mato Grosso, with the presence of 11 participants, between Sisters and laypeople. In the Indigenous Mission, volunteers played with children and visited indigenous villages, learning about the realities of the peoples.
It is an experience of getting out of oneself, putting one’s own time at the service of being missionaries in the “field” that the Lord entrusts.
Pope Francis addresses the young people in Christus vivit: “Dear young people, please don’t look at life ‘from the balcony’, put yourself inside it. Jesus didn’t stay on the balcony, he put himself inside; don’t look at life “from the balcony”, enter into it as Jesus did. But above all, in one way or another, fight for the common good, be servants of the poor, be protagonists of the revolution of charity and service, capable of resisting the pathologies of consumerist and superficial individualism” (CV, 174).
The educative mission of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, together with the laity, is realized through an enculturated Youth Ministry that is inspired by the Preventive System, lived as a spirituality rooted in the charity of Christ, and in the maternal solicitude of Mary. The primary objective of this pastoral program is to lead people to the encounter with Jesus of Nazareth.
In a society strongly focused on having, the experience of giving freely and selfless service is a proposal rich in educational virtues. Adolescence and youth are phases of life favorable for developing the immense potential of good and creative possibilities typical of these phases of existence, to the service of courageous choices that answer questions about the meaning of life.
Don Bosco and Mother Mazzarello continue to intercede for these missionary experiences, so that all those who participate in them, especially the young people, may “make a difference” for a better world.
A experiência junto à Missão Indígena foi, mais uma vez, uma experiência salesiana muito marcante em minha vida!
Bendito seja Deus! Acredito muito na experiência da Missão Juvenil!