By Viet SocCom
K'Long (Vietnam) 18 February 2024 -- On 16 February 2024, participants of the "Team Visit 2024" meeting in the EAO region entered the third meeting day. As usual, the meeting day began with Holy Mass and Morning Prayer presided over by Father Rector Major and preached by Father García Morcuende Miguel Ángel (General Councilor for Youth Ministry). In the homily, Father Miguel mentioned the characteristics of Lent to the participants, through which he invited the participants to examine themselves and put the focus of their lives on loving God and living for young people.
At 8:00 a.m., the meeting began with a mini-game prepared by the Indonesian Province of St. Luigi Versiglia, making the atmosphere joyful.
Father Coelho Ivo (General Formation Councillor) shared the topic "Salesian formation in today's dynamic world". He shared three basic points:
- Salesian identity, inviting members to clearly live their Salesian identity (priests and lay brothers).
- Training for formators: He emphasized: "The formator must have a heart of the good shepherd; it is that love that will make the atmosphere of the person being formed good. On the contrary, it would be something very bad to spread and affect the person being trained.”
- the formative style of the Salesians.
After finishing the sharing, the participants were divided into groups to delve deeper into the topic through questions. At 10:30, everyone returned to the hall to listen to the groups' conclusions together. With rich statements and opinions, the groups made the topic more meaningful and more widely understood through many aspects and characteristics of each Province. After the groups concluded, Father IVO responded to the brothers' reflections on identity and training. Father Ivo said: “The Formator's heart is necessary; when the Formator's heart is strong, everything leads to happiness.”
Father Gildásio Mendes commented on the living perspectives of today. Formation needs to enter the new digital world of the era. He cited many important documents that the Church and Congregation have researched and published. He invited everyone to learn and discover the new styles of the times so that our formation becomes increasingly sharper in the new world.
At 3 p.m., the meeting program continued with a sharing by Brother Jean Paul Muller with the topic: "Living with transformation: responsibility, solidarity and support". He shared that: our world is in a new era full of change and constant change. Today we no longer live with clearly defined projects but have learned that we live with constant transitions. It is something that helps Salesians in matters of economic life. That's why we need to reflect and do something to walk in today's world. He invited the provinces to continue reflecting on three specific questions related to each individual province; plan, the steps that need to be taken to make a big step forward and the protection of the green atmosphere (Laudato Si') related to the economy and life of each community. The groups were divided and discussed the above topics.
At the end of the afternoon meeting, the participants were free to prepare for their journey to visit Da Lat City in the evening.
