Card. Reina Leads Generalate Community's Recollection

Cardinal Reina Leads Generalate Community’s Recollection
Theme: “Take up your cross and carry it to Jesus”

(ANS – Rome – July 16, 2026) - On the afternoon of July 15, the Salesians at the Sacred Heart Community – the Generalate – took part in their monthly recollection, led by Cardinal Baldassare Reina, vicar general for the diocese of Rome and archpriest of the papal basilica of St. John Lateran.

Attendance

The recollection was attended by Fr. Fabio Attard, the members of the general council, and the other SDBs at headquarters.

The theme of the meditation

Card. Reina based his reflection on the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman recounted in the Gospel of John, ch. 4, proposing human needs as the key to understanding it. He invited his listeners to “come down from their pedestals” to look truthfully and without judgment at their own wounded humanity, recalling that Jesus himself takes the initiative in his dialog with the woman, making her need his own even before it’s expressed.

From human need to the longing for God

In the 2d part of his meditation, the cardinal explained how Jesus never disregards human needs, but elevates them to a higher level, transforming material water into “living water.” He urged the priests not to separate the emotional dimension from the spiritual one, emphasizing that within the need for love and recognition there is already “a seed of divinity.” Card. Reina recalled that the priestly life is called to be generative and fruitful at all times, not only in liturgical acts, citing the example of priests who, tho not remembered in the history books, have edified others with a glance or an authentic word.

The demand for truth

The 3d point of the homily concerned the need to live the truth in one’s own life, beginning with the Gospel passage in which Jesus asks the Samaritan woman about her marital status. The cardinal offered an original interpretation of the invitation to “take up one’s cross,” identifying it not with external difficulties, but with that part of oneself which one struggles to accept and of which one is ashamed. He invited the Salesians to ask themselves who their “5 husbands” might be – that is, the parts of their lives not yet reconciled – reminding them that only by bringing this truth before God can one experience authentic worship “in spirit and truth.”

The missionary dimension

In his concluding remarks, the cardinal emphasized how the Samaritan woman, freed from shame, became a credible witness among her fellow citizens, precisely because her words sprang from lived experience and not from theoretical discourse. Card. Reina extended this reflection to the priestly ministry, inviting the SDBs not to fear acknowledging themselves as sinners before others, since an authentic proclamation always springs from a life truly touched by grace.

He also highlighted the common difficulty among priests in sharing their own frailties within the community, as they are often more inclined to judge others than to confide their struggles in prayer and fraternal life.