Rome (Italy). On 15 January 2020, the Salesian Family Spirituality Days 2021 open online, on the theme of the Strenna of the Rector Major of the Salesians of Don Bosco, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime: “Moved by Hope: “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21:5) .
The first day begins with the greetings of the presenters – Sister Emilia Di Massimo, Daughter of Mary Help of Christians and Mr. Antonio Boccia, World Coordinator of the Salesian Cooperators – and with the prayer animated by the Salesian Novices from Colle Don Bosco in Castelnuovo Don Bosco ( Asti).
Fr. Joan Lluís Playà, SDB, World Delegate for the Salesian Family, welcomes the participants and introduces the event: “We are united by the message of hope that Don Bosco today, in the person of the Rector Major, addresses to all of us with the Strenna of this year. We want to thank and celebrate the vitality of our Family and study together the Christian virtue of hope lived in a Salesian style… because young people, the Church, the world ask us to be generators of hope and because God wants to make all things new.”
A first moment is dedicated to the presentation of Strenna 2021 on the part of the Rector Major, who invited us to face today’s world reality as the Salesian Family, walking with young people and families in hope.
The word was then passed to Msgr. Derio Olivero, Bishop of the Diocese of Pinerolo (Turin), who reinterpreted the culture of this time in the light of hope, an intrinsic element in the structure of the human being: “one cannot live without hope, we are made to hope.” Msgr. Olivero mentioned his experience of hospitalization in intensive care for Covid-19, where he experienced firsthand the power of Christian hope, which does not disappoint (Rm 5: 5): “Hope can only exist if we can find a reason for trust on which to rest, then we can generate hope. The great challenge is to rediscover the Christian faith as trust in action.” The Bishop suggested concrete pastoral actions that speak to life, with the style of amazement, of gift, of gratuitousness, of joy, to be generators of hope.
Following, the various activities coordinated by the linguistic and regional centers, with the virtual tour of the ‘Don Bosco House Museum’ in Valdocco (Turin) and, for the program in Italian, with the intervention of Sister Alessandra Smerilli, Daughter of Mary Help of Christians and Lecturer in Economics at the Pontifical Faculty of Education ‘Auxilium’ in Rome. Solicited by the questions of two young people from the Salesian Youth Movement, Sister Alessandra told about her participation in ‘The Economy of Francesco’ – held from 19 to 21 November 2020 – which she defined as “young, fresh, lively, and therefore an experience of hope, in which the young were the leaven of the whole process. ”
The Day, followed in streaming by more than 5,000 people from all over the world on the page Facebook of ANS and on ANS Channel, ended with a time of work in small groups on a virtual platform and the final prayer.
