“‘So that my joy may be in you’ (John 15:11). Holiness for you, too!”
(ANS – Rome – July 13) – On July 13 Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime presented the 2019
Strenna for the Salesian Family. “This is a great opportunity to offer several
notes for the development of the theme. There is no other pastoral element that
the Rector Major offers, in the name of Don Bosco, to the whole Salesian world.”
The theme for the Salesian Family’s journey in 2019 is, “‘So that my joy may be
in you’ (John 15:11). Holiness for you, too.”
Although it is the Rector Major’s
task to prepare and present the text each year, Fr. Fernandez emphasizes that
this strenna “is the fruit of a dialog in the world council of the Salesian
Family which, fortunately and by grace, has much to do with this ecclesial
moment of the [youth] synod, and also with the last appeal that the synod document
launched on the theme of holiness.”
The document presented on the 13th to
the Salesian world consists of nine sections. In the seventh, the Rector Major
insists on an essential reality of holiness, and he does it through a question:
“What does ‘holiness for you too’ mean?” It is an exciting topic that this
question offers, and even more exciting is the answer proposed to each Salesian
Family member. “Holiness is not an optional ‘extra,’ and a goal only for some.
It is life to the full, according to God’s plan and gift. It is therefore a
path of humanization.”
Daily sanctity has become a reality
in the lives lived to the full through the Salesian charism. We are thus
invited not to forget that in the course of history Salesian holiness has
become visible, embodied with people’s proper names: Zeman, Stuchly, Lustosa,
Zatti, Srugi, Sandor, Lunkenbien and Simão Bororo, Comini, Anna Maria Lozano,
Laura Vicuña, Alexandrina Maria da Costa, among many others.
Fr. Fernandez goes on to say that the
presentation of Strenna 2019 “is a magnificent opportunity to be in harmony
with the summons that the Holy Father addresses in his apostolic exhortation Gaudete et exsultate, which has much to
do with our Salesian charism. Don Bosco was a great teacher in this sense, with
the ability to inspire and accompany his children on the paths of daily
holiness.”
“What is important is to be holy, not
to be declared as such,” emphasizes the Rector Major. “The canonized saints are
like the façade of a church; but the church contains many precious treasures
inside, which remain invisible, however.”
The full presentation of the Rector Major’s strenna for 2019
is available on the sdb.org website.
No comments:
Post a Comment