austraLasia #3022
Ecce
homo! Ecce Don Bosco! 1st Korea Salesian Youth Day
DAEJEON --
300 young people gathered at the Salesian Youth Centre in
Daejeon,
their eyes brighter than the stars in the cold, dark sky, with
the
desire to encounter Don Bosco and Jesus.
The majority of these youngsters belong to the Salesian Youth
Movement
run by the local communities, and have been known as
‘Bosconians’ since
2008. Korea Salesian Youth Day with the title ‘Ecce Homo Ecce
Don
Bosco!’ is the result of cooperation between SDBs and FMAs,
especially
those who are involved directly in the youth ministry field.
Young people from all over the country came together with
Salesians to
listen to the story of Don Bosco, experiencing his love for
the young,
and had the time to explore God's plan for each of them.
In
particular, listening to the some of the Salesians' vocation
story,
they leaned something of what God’s call might mean for them -
that
each of us has his or her own call that needs to be realised
by the
following the Lord.
"Being young, in other words, means having dreams. Like Don
Bosco, each
one of you has your dream and needs to put in the effort to
realise it.
We Salesians are going to always accompany you on your journey
to make
it come true”, the Provincial, Fr Stephen Nam told them during
his
homily at the closing Mass. He encouraged young people to
strengthen the
SYM and be more active in a society in these uncertain times,
so they
can help many other young people who can often be found
without any
dream of their own.
One young person at the event said "I would like to offer this
fantastic experience to my friends around me. Over the three
days and
two nights of SYD, I was certainly
able
to discover the extent of Don Bosco’s love, a love that
continues until
today through the Salesians. I have decided to take up an
apostle’s
role amongst my friends, as Don Bosco asked young people to do
in his
own time.”
The SDBs and FMAs who have been closely involved with running
the KSYD
are now planning to celebrate it every year: this was the
request of
the young people who attended this year.