Dear young people,
; greet you and trust you my immense joy sending this message. These are words and feelings that I get before the Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd. To ask her merciful heart to enlighten your mind, warm your heart and fill your life meaning and dynamism.
Every day you in my heart and pray unceasingly for you, yes, I pray for you, so to remain united to Christ and give myself totally to you is the orientation of the depths of my life. In this sense, I always pray for you and when, visiting the Salesian houses around the world, see your faces, I rejoice, and bless the Lord. In your eyes I read a very bright and cheerful desire to live and a hidden desire to make your life something beautiful. Of course you may be asking the question: what and how? It strikes me as most of you are still uncertain and confused, and I know that you do not expect anything from certain theories and programs. To answer your question, then, I can not do is speak from the heart of our father, Don Bosco. It is he who now speaks through me, it is he who takes care of your present life and the next, because he wants you happy on this earth and forever.
I would like to introduce you, dear young people, what made me realize, in a deeper every day, the sense of mia vita. Questo, per me, è scaturito ed ha trovato sviluppo attraverso l’incontro con una persona “viva”.
Questa è stata per me, anzitutto, mia mamma Margherita. Quando contemplavamo insieme un bel campo di grano maturo, ella mi diceva: «Ringraziamo il Signore, Giovannino. Egli è stato buono con noi. Ci ha dato il pane quotidiano». Dopo aver raccontato a lei il sogno che avrebbe segnato la mia vita, con l’intuizione che solo il cuore di una madre può percepire, esclamò: «Chissà che non abbia a diventare prete». Parole semplici, che mi facevano capire che Dio mi aveva sognato, che Dio aveva per me un sogno da realizzare, un disegno, a wonderful project, a love story that was weaving mysteriously and silently to myself, give my life to young people, for them and with them. All this made me dream big.
The religious sense of life my mother taught me not only in words but also with its examples, as when, awakened by neighbors in the middle of the night to rescue a seriously ill, he got up and hurriedly ran to bring her help. The same readiness and showed the same love when the beggar who knocked on the door, did not deny ever a piece of bread or a hot soup. I learned that it is not enough to dream, but you have to pay a price because the dreams come reality. From her I learned the simple gestures of piety, the habit of prayer, the fulfillment of duty and sacrifice. His loving presence reminded me that life is the most precious gift that God has given us and we ridargliela rich in fruits and good works.
Along my life, especially when I had to make important decisions, I met other people, enlightened by the Spirit, which helped me to understand that life is a vocation and commitment to donation, and have guided me listening to the call of the Lord and receiving the mission that He has entrusted me. This personal experience, I strongly convinced of the importance to young people, to find a place where you live and breathe the great human and Christian values, as well as the importance of meeting significant adults, capable of the spiritual leaders who claim to embody the values, appearing as witnesses credible and life patterns. Valdocco oratory of the family atmosphere that I had created was not that of a hothouse, a nest, where the shy and shivering could feel at ease, without getting rid of their narrow view of life. No! Valdocco had elaborated a laboratory culture of vocations. I was driving my kids to their actual maturity as men and Christians in the spirit of freedom of the gospel, doing so they became "people-to-others." The vigorous personality Valdocco grown to prove it: from Dominic Savio to the pioneer missionaries Michael Magone: Cagliero, Lasagna, Costamagna, Fagnano, and then Rua, Tree and Rinaldi, my first successors, and many other figures in high relief, Salesian priests and brothers, religious and lay people involved in society and the Church. There was an atmosphere of vocation, a desire to make your life a great gift to the Church and society. After me and many others lay Salesian Salesian Family made the same experience in their homes.
You too, young people can meet persone di riferimento in famiglia o nell’ambiente che vi circonda. Ci sono persone stupende, ricche umanamente e capaci di vivere e testimoniare una profonda spiritualità. Ad esse voi potete guardare come modelli concreti per la vostra vita. Sono sacerdoti, persone consacrate, laici e laiche che vivono con gioia la pienezza del battesimo. Guidati dallo Spirito e in ascolto della Parola di Dio, sono stati capaci di sviluppare la loro vita cristiana fino a fare delle scelte di vita coraggiose ed impegnative. Sono diventati così testimoni autentici di Cristo nella Chiesa e nella società.
Queste persone sono, per voi, un po’ come Giovanni Battista, testimoni e mediatori dell’incontro con The Baptist pointed to Jesus because Jesus of Nazareth to his disciples as one who could satisfy the deepest longings of their hearts, the One who could fill with meaning and joy of their life, the one that was truly "the Way, the Truth and life ". The witnesses today, we meet on our way, are "our John the Baptist." Those who, once again, show us the Lord of Life!
It so happens that not only the path of the believers, but the life of every man crosses a given time in the face and the eyes of Jesus and this meeting could be decisive. The encounter with Jesus in those early disciples to ad oggi, l’invito ha “catturato” molti giovani, uomini e donne. «Abbiamo trovato il Messia» testimonierà Andrea a suo fratello Simone. «Abbiamo trovato Colui del quale hanno scritto Mosè e i profeti, Gesù di Nazareth», confesserà Filippo a Natanaele. «Da chi andremo? Solo Tu hai parole di vita eterna» gli dirà Pietro. Per tutti è stato, è e sarà un incontro che segna tutta la vita. Uno dei discepoli di Giovanni ricorda addirittura l’istante preciso dell’incontro con Gesù: «Erano circa le quattro del pomeriggio».
A voi, come a loro, Gesù rivolge la domanda di end: "What do you want?", or even better "Who do you want?". It remains bound by this question, penetrating the heart, goes to plumb the depths of our existence: one can not escape or be indifferent. The mystery of grace, then, moves our attitudes by making beggars response: "Teacher, where are you staying?". "Come and see," is the answer of Jesus And they came, they saw where he lived and stayed with him that day. A meeting, a personal relationship of friendship that fills our hearts and transforms lives, now as then. All those who meet him, his followers are strongly affected by the depth and fullness of his life. A life that is was and remains the model of a vocation lived with absolute fidelity to God and to men.
When you ask, dear young people, "what to do to give full meaning to life?", Look to the man who loved us even to give himself totally for us. He is the model for every project of life and the full and faithful response to every call, because he is a man intensely unified around a focal point. In him everything - all physical energy, mental, intellectual, emotional, strong-willed - is concentrated around a core that attracts and harmonizes everything he has and all that He is. It is not un “uomo farfalla” che si muove costantemente da un fiore all’altro nella ricerca di una bellezza effimera, ma è un “uomo roccia”, solidamente ancorato a un punto centrale di radicamento che unifica e armonizza la sua vita con la volontà del Padre, che orienta ogni suo gesto e ogni sua parola, che riempie la sua azione e la sua preghiera. Questo punto unificante attorno al quale si concentra tutta la sua persona è il suo grande sogno, un progetto di vasto respiro, la sua vocazione.
Una delle parabole da lui raccontate, quella dell’uomo che, mentre sta arando un campo, trova un tesoro e vende tutto ciò che ha per potersene impadronire, descrive molto well his personal condition: the dream that has really captured her heart because, as he himself says, "Where your treasure is there your heart."
Jesus lives with genuine passion for his dedication to the dream in his heart: the preaching and building the Kingdom of his Father, who wants all men to be saved and to reach the fullness of life. Its not a life lived in indifference or indolence. Instead, a life lived with intensity irrepressible. It is a life full of enthusiasm and dynamism. His words leave no doubt: "I came to bring fire on earth, and would that it were already acceso!». L’immagine del fuoco è molto espressiva, e dice dell’ardore con cui Egli persegue la causa che ha abbracciato.
Questo fuoco è lo Spirito Santo che ci fa nuovi, prima di tutto nella preghiera. Il frutto dello Spirito Santo è l’amore che si manifesta nella pace dentro di noi, nella gioia del nostro ambiente e nel dinamismo della nostra vita. Rinnovati dallo Spirito, diventiamo persone realizzate: pazienti, fedeli, impegnate.
Questo stesso fuoco, cari giovani, deve riscaldare il vostro cuore, oggi.
Non potete rassegnarvi a vivere la vostra life as if it were a simple life cycle (birth, grow, reproduce and die), you can not set your existence as a life devoid of energy, anemic, without passion towards God and neighbor. You can not waste your life by reducing the role of consumers and viewers. You are called to become actors in society and the Church: "You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, Jesus would say
The decision to follow Jesus in a radical way to play all the bets to be able to fall in love with God and spending for the man, especially the most poor and abandoned.
Sì, cari giovani! “Oggi” Dio ha bisogno di voi per “rifare” il mondo. Ogni uomo, ogni donna ha un sogno per cui vivere e di cui parlare. Io, mosso dallo Spirito di Gesù, ho sempre coltivato ed ancor oggi coltivo il mio sogno: un vasto movimento di adulti e giovani che sia profezia di questo nuovo mondo. Un mondo in cui ogni uomo possa ottenere giustizia. Un mondo in cui al centro ci siano i “piccoli”, gli ultimi. Un mondo in cui le persone siano, fra loro, fratelli e sorelle. Questo nuovo mondo può prendere forma, farsi reale, se seguite Gesù, se prendete a cuore le sue parole e realizzate così il sogno di Dio.
Tutti insieme possiamo give life to a great Salesian Movement, intended to help young people, especially the poorest and most in need, designing the present and the future, aiming for important for the renewal of ourselves and others, contributing significantly to change the world and history. The Salesian Family wants to take this commitment as a vocation and a special mission. And you, dear young people, this family must feel at home, knowing that you are the joy and the ripest fruit of our work.
Salesian Family in the Church and there are many vocations, but always the work of education and evangelization, to which we called, has its roots in the depth and tenderness of the love of God comes to us through the love of Christ and dedication to humanity through total dedication to other men and women. The vocation is never an escape from a hostile reality, perceived as difficult or frustrating, and even a choice that has as its primary objective the apostolic effectiveness, but rather a journey of love that leads to love. And the fundamental experience of love which has as its sole and exclusive, comes a new way to see and face reality. The heart purified by devotion to God and the Holy Spirit, becomes able to read the internal bellezza di ogni creatura e di amarla disinteressatamente. È la misericordia stessa di Dio che si impadronisce del cuore umano e si prende cura di ogni dolore, di ogni debolezza.
Io prego per voi, Cari Giovani, perché ancora oggi molti di voi si lascino sedurre, affascinare da Dio a tal punto da donarsi totalmente a Lui. Se vi mettete a servizio dell’Amore non vi mancheranno gioie profonde. Sono le gioie della fecondità che viene dalla intimità con Dio e dalla fatica dell’operaio che vive solo per la causa del Regno.
Prego anche per i miei figli diletti, i Salesiani, perché possano vivere con gioia e fedeltà the great adventure of spiritual fatherhood. May be your guides in the search for meaning and competent in the development of your project to life, sincere brothers who make your traveling companions and you break the word of God that gives life, light, comfort in the arduous journey. The Word which opens to prayer and secret that rekindles the fire in his heart. Without this capacity contemplative our spiritual and apostolic life does not hold. Be, Dear Salesians, enlightened guides for those seeking spiritual direction and engaged in ecclesial and sacramental life, teachers and scholars for patients who engages in the pursuit of their vocation.
Please, in particular, because the Holy Spirit will inspire workers zealous, creative, able to meet all those young people who today do not come knocking on more doors of the Church. These are young people who, on their way to the star, the Magi would like to meet rather than the scribes of Jerusalem, young people who do not ask us again what you have to believe, but rather what it means to believe. For this you need a real change of pastoral perspective.
Dear Young Salesians and beloved, say under the maternal gaze of Mary as a vocation in our lives and our educational mission. Mary was the one who has made a disciple of the Lord, listening constantly, in the heart and life, the Word of God was the one who answered the call of God with the total gift, brave and free, of itself, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord" . From her, the new woman, a teacher of faith and wonder, the Salesian Family learns to be a disciple of the Lord, "Mother," which, in love, create, and educates young people for their generous donation of life to reach the fullness.
Turin, January 31, 2011
Sac. John Bosco
