EAO Good Night Talk (72)                           

Valdocco

           1 March 2020

                                                                                                              

Growing with a grateful heart…

 

 

 

Dear confreres, friends and Salesian Family members!              

 

I am happy to be greeting you from Valdocco, amid the 28^th General Chapter working days. This is probably the last EAO good night talk I am sending you, since the elections of the new General Council members are held in a few week time (16-20 March). It’s a special feeling to live, walk, pray and share with the other 240 GC28 members in Don Bosco’s holy places!

Today, I would like to share my grateful heart with all Salesian confreres, Salesian Family members, lay mission partners and young people I have met over the past 18 years around the world and especially in the 23 countries of our EAO Region. There were hundreds of meetings, events, workshops, interactive talks, many group and personal talks – always a precious opportunity to listen, to share from heart to heart, to dream and reflect together. Thanks for your trust, for your support and so many beautiful moments of sharing our joyful or painful moments. Thanks for taking part in so many celebrations, prayers, community sharing with an open heart.

A Korean proverb says that after 10 years even the mountains and rivers are changed. What about hundreds of Salesians, SF members and youth around the EAO Region since 2002? Some former novices have already become novice directors, one former practical trainee already became a provincial. Such is a life where we walk together and enrich each other. Those who listened to hundreds of Good Morning Talks during their school time, may now share a Goodnight in their families with their children – the story goes on. I am grateful for being part of your life story for a while.

Where is your home? - This was one of the most frequently asked questions wherever I met you. My most frequent reply was – ‘My home, my permanent address is Don Bosco!’ Thanks for making me feel at home everywhere. It was a great gift I will treasure forever.

Writing from Don Bosco’s Valdocco Mother house, with this last Good Night Talk my wish is that each of our Salesian communities will treasure this humble but essential charismatic experience of the Goodnight in their everyday life. Yes, we grow by sharing through our simple Goodnights.

From Valdocco, with Don Bosco – ‘Good night!’

 

Fr Václav Klement, SDB

EAO Regional Councillor, 2014–2020