Commentary on the Strenna 2018
LORD, GIVE ME THIS WATER.
LET US CULTIVATE THE ART OF LISTENING AND ACCOMPANIMENT.
Video text (English template - captions)
Commentary of the Rector Major
ENGLISH: STRENNA 2018 - Comment ENG.docx
ITALIANO: STRENNA 2018 - Commento ITA+.docx
PORTUGHESE: STRENNA 2018 - Commento POR.docx
SPANISH: STRENNA 2018 - Commento ESP.doc
JAPANESE:
JAPANESE: STRENNA 2018 (Intro, July 2017) ストレンナ2018要点180111.docx
Dear brothers and sisters of the whole Salesian Family in the world,
"As per tradition, at the end of the year I present the Strenna to our sisters, the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, and from that day it becomes a gift for our whole Salesian Family, in every part of the world.
The purpose of the Strenna and of its commentary is to help us have the same heart and look in the many initiatives in all our works and in the mission each one is called to carry out according to the specific charismatic vocation of the groups of our Salesian Family.
I can testify to you that, in the hundreds of meetings I have had in these four years with young people from the five continents, I have gained the certainty that in the houses and works led by the groups of the Salesian Family there are thousands and thousands of good young people, open to life, eager to be formed, to learn; young people in search. Many of them have a great and generous heart, and wish to serve others, to do something for others, to help, to donate themselves.
They are young people who request our help to continue to grow and mature in their faith. And there are others who do not ask explicitly, but who feel a great need for a personal encounter and for being listened to. There are many who would be willing to take a personal and communal path of discernment and accompaniment.
So I ask myself: What are we waiting for? Why do we not decide to be much more available to accompany all our young people in what is most important to their lives? What is holding us back? Why "being busy" or "spending time" in other things when this is a real priority for education and evangelization?
We will take many more significant steps, my dear brothers and sisters, on the day when we will truly convince ourselves that more important than the things and activities we offer to the young people and their families, is our presence, our listening and our openness to dialogue."
This is the initial strong motivation in the 20 page long official Commentary to the Strenna for 2018 published today by the Rector Major.
The video commentary is available on the Youtube ANS Chanell from today and the full text in the main Salesian languages is available on the Boscolink as well.
The Poster of the Strenna in different languages and the respective translations to the EAO languages are available on the provincial websites.
...................
Poster
ANS - Rome) – Many and important are the messages the Rector Major, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, intends to convey with Strenna 2018 on the theme: "'LORD, GIVE ME THIS WATER. LET US CULTIVATE THE ART OF LISTENING AND ACCOMPANIMENT." While waiting for the complete comment to be presented, as per tradition, the poster is already available towards the end of the year. Here, then, ten points to best appreciate this next year's theme:
Many thirst, and many are the glasses and lives that are empty and tired that ask to be replenished with meaning.There is much good soil with good seed waiting to be "awakened" from the inexhaustible source of Life that springs from Jesus.
Don Bosco is full of the living water of Jesus, a well that provides water to everyone, especially young people, water that gives Life, commitment, and hope.
The Samaritan woman: a foreigner, refused, confused, tormented ... She meets with Jesus and everything changes.
Jesus, the Source of Living Water.
Mary Help of Christians, always careful, who maternally reminds us: "Do what Jesus says."
The water of inexhaustible love flows from the ribs and heart of Jesus. The encounter with the Samaritan was in the sixth hour, the same that Jesus died on the Cross when blood and water came out of his broken heart.
The task of adults is to collaborate, accompany, cultivate.
Water quenches thirst, irrigates, washes, allows seeds to sprout, vivifies, changes the desert into a garden.
The Spirit of God works and donates willpower to man.
Different ages, different experiences, different races, languages and cultures, but the same humanity, the same thirst, the same intense joy in receiving Jesus as Living Water.
The poster, available in 6 languages, will soon be made available and send to all the Salesian circumscriptions worldwide. In the coming days, it will also be made available in high definition on sdb.org and ANSFickr
The poster is designed by a well-known Spanish artist, Patxi Velasco Fano, who signs his work simply as "Fano", his mother's surname, who when called by her first name is called: "Fe", which in Spanish means 'Faith'. "So I can say that I'm definitely the son of Faith." Married, father of three children, Fano teaches at the elementary school "María de la O" in Malaga, in a context of marginalization and poverty, but full of life, joy and hope.
The designer Mauro Borgatello and the Communication Team of the South Italy Province (IME Communication) also participated in the global design of the poster.
RM - SYM Message 2018
RM - Missionary Appeal 2017 December
0 Sir, give me
this water
0 Let us CULTIVATE
0 the art of LISTENING
0 and of ACCOMPANIMENT
1 A young man participating
in a boat race got lost
2 and in the middle of
that vast ocean,
3 he no longer
could find his way back.
4 However, he picked up his oars
and bravely began to row his boat.
5 After a few hours
of uncertain wandering,
6 struck by the hot Sun
and being thirsty for water,
7 his strength
began to fail him.
8 The young man
lost his enthusiasm
9 and he fell
to the bottom of his boat.
10 Large container ships
and gigantic cruise ships
11 were also sailing
that part of the ocean
12 at great speeds.
13 “Water!” the young man cried out,
his voice too feeble to be heard.
14 A cruise ship carrying a group of famous
doctors and scientists passed that way.
15 Filled with
empathy and humanity
16 they explained to the young man
the miraculous qualities of H20,
17 and that his body was in need
of at least two litres of water a day.
18 From aboard a military ship,
a fervent chaplain
19 preached a sermon to the young sailor
and said that his desire was legitimate
20 and that the water
he so earnestly desired
21 ought to make him think of
something higher and more important.
22 From a yacht, a cheerful dandy
brandished a bottle of liquor,
23 with the assurance that
it was definitely better than water.
24 After all, they were surrounded
by so much water.
25 Everyone sailed past
on their ships,
26 on their high-speed
motorboats and yachts.
27 The young man remained at
the bottom of his boat lost in the ocean,
28 crying out with
an increasingly faint voice:
29 “Water!”
30 My dear
Salesian Family members,
31 as is customary every year,
A STRENNA 2018
B Rector Major
C Fr Ángel Fernández Artime
32 I have the opportunity
to address you all
33 with the strenna.
34 This year, the theme has been
suggested to me by Pope Francis,
35 who for the
Synod of Bishops,
36 wanted the title:
37 “Youth, Faith and
Vocational Discernment”.
38 In my many journeys
this year,
39 I met thousands and thousands
of young people,
40 from all over the world
and from different cultures.
41 In them I was able
to feel their desire to live,
42 to grow and to be ready
to give the best they have.
43 At the same time, I have seen
young people who feel insecure,
44 and who
really need us.
45 They need adults who are capable
46 of walking with them.
47 They need adults
who are responsible,
48 who feel responsible for their
journey with the young,
49 who from that moment are convinced
of their duty to be credible,
50 and able
to give authentic witness.
51 This is what
this particular strenna is about.
52 In the life of us all,
as in each person,
53 there are encounters that touch our being and existence profoundly.
54 The same thing happened
to the Samaritan woman,
55 who finds herself by chance with Jesus,
56 with the Lord.
57 That encounter transforms her life.
58 In fact, the Samaritan woman
could be an authentic icon,
59 a model of how
we can meet and walk together,
60 along the path of life.
61 Every meeting begins
with listening and understanding.
62 Jesus is a person who seeks
the good of the other person,
63 creates a personal relationship
with the one he meets,
64 and does not make
a moral judgment,
65 of disapproval or reproach
to the Samaritan woman.
66 Instead of accusing her, he speaks to her
and makes certain proposals.
67 His language and his words go straight
to the heart of the person.
68 In his dialogue
with the Samaritan woman,
69 Jesus proceeds calmly,
without hurry,
70 awakening in her little by little
that interest in gaining access,
71 to a source of water for a special,
different and better life.
72 In the dialogue
with Jesus,
73 this interest keeps growing
until she says:
E “Sir,
give me this water!”
74 Thus, the Lord who is an expert in humanity,
75 accompanies the journey of peoples,
76 knows their interiority, understands
their rhythms and inner processes.
77 The same thing happens
with the young peole of our time.
78 As Pope Francis says:
79 “The Lord reawakens a wonderful
charm in many young people.”
80 And this has to do with two elements:
81 with faith,
and with the call that God gives
82 to each one, to each boy or girl,
83 a call that is an invitation
to live the joy of their vocation in love.
84 But we know well
that it is not always the case,
85 and our young people do not always
have the opportunity and the chance
86 to be accompanied in this way.
87 This reality challenges us
and tells us what we can do,
88 as educators and evangelizers.
89 There are many proposals that
have emerged. I list only a few of them.
90 We must continue to walk with
young people, with families,
91 with those who need
to be accompanied.
92 Because the moment
is favourable.
93 Because there are many
young people who want to do,
94 something beautiful
with their lives.
95 They want to grow,
they want to dream.
96 They want to give the best
of what they have.
97 We must be able
to accompany them,
98 to allow God himself
to work in them,
99 to make them grow
in the depths of their hearts,
100 knowing that we are close to them,
not to interfere,
101 but ready to offer them our witness,
as I have already said,
102 a witness that is credible,
an authentic testimony of faith,
103 of great human,
ethical and moral quality.
104 As educators,
105 dear members of the Salesian Family
throughout the world,
106 we cannot allow
the story to end.
107 We must respond
in different ways.
108 It is something
that comes naturally to us,
109 born of the essence
of the Salesian charism,
110 which we have received
from Don Bosco.
111 Don Bosco had some
exceptional travelling companions.
112 The great companion of his
human and spiritual journey,
113 was his own beloved mother,
Mamma Margaret.
114 We also know,
and he himself tells us,
115 of the significance
of Father Calosso,
116 and his friend Louis Comollo,
117 and Father Cafasso,
118 who accompanied him
and prepared him for pastoral life.
119 It was all this that later
allowed Don Bosco,
120 to have a great wealth to share
with his children.
121 This is why Don Bosco
is a pastor and educator,
122 who is concerned about creating an
educational environent that is attractive,
123 full of formative proposals
and beautiful human relationships.
124 Don Bosco is a great
spiritual companion for us.
125 Don Bosco always tries
to ensure that,
126 the climate be
one of mutual knowledge, trust,
127 friendship and
spiritual fatherhood,
128 which is the consequence and the mature
fruit of educational fatherhood.
129
We must be capable of
accompanying and giving answers,
130 to those who have this thirst
and ask for that water,
131 in such a way that we are able,
as with the Samaritan woman,
132 to bring them to a
closer encounter with Jesus.
133 It seemed to be
a slow and inexorable agony.
134 But an old boat
drew near.
135 In it there were
other young people.
136 They quenched his thirst,
137 listened to him,
138 healed his wounds
139 and finally reached
a safe harbour together.
140
And I end
this year’s strenna
141 asking myself what
the Samaritan woman would say,
142 if she took us
by the hand
143 and accompanied us
to an encounter with Jesus,
144 after the experience
that she has had.
145
I think she would invite us
to be always open
146 to the gift
that comes from God.
147 She would say:
148 “You must accomapny each other,”
149 just as she was able
to learn from Jesus,
150 to be more human.
151 She would undboubtedly invite us
to continue to grow,
152 in this experience of humanity.
153
My dear
Salesian Family,
154 my brothers, sisters
and friends,
155 this simple presentation
of this year’s strenna ends here.
156 Let all this lead us
to say again,
157 from the depths
of ourselves:
158 “Sir,
give me this water.”
159 See you soon!