STRENNA 2023

AS THE YEAST IN TODAY’S HUMAN FAMILY.

The lay dimension of the Family of Don Bosco

On the occasion of the Salesian Family World Advisory Council meeting held in
May 2022 in Valdocco, Turin, I was asked to explore the theme of the lay dimension
of the Salesian Family through the Strenna for 2023: a family that seeks to be
always faithful to the Lord in Don Bosco’s “footsteps”. This comment is intended to
respond to this request.

First of all, I would like to remind you that the Strenna 2023 is aimed at two target
groups.

The first are teenagers and other young people in all the presences of Don Bosco’s
Family around the world – as the first “beneficiaries” of the Salesian mission. In
fact, from the outset they have been in Salesian houses and at the centre of the
attention of any group in our family and they must be able to know – as Christians
or even as believers of other religions – the strength of this message of the Lord:
“be salt of the earth and light of the world”, be the yeast in today’s human family.
It is a very beautiful commitment, a beautiful way of living one’s vocation; and, at
the same time it is a valuable challenge addressed to us educators who have the
task of accompanying young people on their journey of life, so that it may be lived
in the name of commitment and responsibility, in the search for fraternity and
justice for each and every one.

At the same time, the Strenna is addressed to all the groups of the Salesian Family,
invited to rediscover (or to discover) the lay dimension proper to our family and the
vocational complementarity that exists and that must always exist among us.

In the light of what most characterises our pedagogy and our spirituality, we intend
to help adolescents and other young people especially to discover that each of them
can be like the leaven that Jesus speaks of, like that good yeast that helps
the ”bread” of the human family to grow and become bigger and tastier. And each
of them can be a true pro-active agent, because, in their own way, they are “a
mission on this earth.”1

For Don Bosco’s Family, this is a message that strongly urges it to rediscover its
lay dimension. In fact, it is a family where the majority of the members are lay
people: men and women of many nations and distributed across all continents.
This variety that distinguishes us is already a gift in itself and is a responsibility
that we cannot shirk. Being so rich in cultures and so widely connected and present
in the world is the fruit of the history of the mission and charism in which we were

1
EG, 273; ChV, 25.

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generated and which are a gift of the Spirit. Being together as a people of God (laós
= people, hence the Italian word ‘laico’ and the English ‘lay’, that is, a member of
the people) for the good of young people from the East to the West of the globe,
from the South to the North, is in full harmony with what the Church has been
insistently demanding for a long time, and it is what our fragmented world needs
more and more.

As consecrated men and women in the Salesian Family, we are likewise invited
to be “leaven in the dough of the bread of humanity” and to live with one another,
allowing ourselves to be enriched by the evangelical secularity of so many brothers
and sisters. Indeed, we share most of our days with them. Therefore, secularity is
already in our DNA as consecrated Salesian men and women, because we were
generated in the family which Don Bosco gave life to in the first Oratory and which,
from its origins, was made up of consecrated and lay people. We were born with
this intense closeness and sharing between states of life and vocations. In short
and to put it succinctly: we are called as a Family to give of ourselves and to
complete each other.

1. The yeast of the Kingdom

And again [Jesus] said:

“To what should I compare the kingdom of God?
It is like yeast that a woman took
and mixed in with three measures of flour
until all of it was leavened” (Lk 13:20-21)

Yeast goes to work silently. Leavening takes place in silence, just like the work of
God’s kingdom; it works “from within”.

And indeed, who has been able to hear the yeast as it goes to work on the flour and
dough it has been mixed in with while it is leavening it all? This image makes it
possible to understand how God’s Kingdom acts. The Apostle Paul presents the
kingdom by recalling the essentials: “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink
but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17). This is the
inner and invisible action of the Spirit; it is yeast placed in the heart. And just like
yeast, whose activity takes place through contact, so does the Gospel.

The parable of the yeast, chosen as the theme of the Strenna 2023, is a parable of
great evangelical wisdom and pedagogical and educational relevance, expressing
the nature of the kingdom of God that Jesus lived and taught.

There are various possible interpretations and emphases. My choice of

interpretation for this year’s Strenna is precisely to present yeast as an image and
symbol of the fruitfulness and growth of the kingdom of God. It is a kingdom in the
hearts of people, which fertilises the richness of the gift of the call to life, the
vocation where God has planted us, directing the mission of the laity and of the
entire Family of Don Bosco throughout the world.

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“A little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough” (Gal 5: 9). It is surprising how a
small quantity of flour doubles or triples in size once a small amount of yeast is
added. The Lord tells us that the Kingdom of God is like the yeast with which flour
(dough) is leavened when making bread. Yeast, as Jesus emphasises, is not the
largest element in terms of quantity. To the contrary, very little of it is used. but
what distinguishes it is that it is the only living ingredient and because it is alive
it has the ability to influence, condition and transform the whole batch of dough.

We can say, therefore, that the Kingdom of God is

A humanly small and seemingly irrelevant reality. To become a part of it, one must
be poor of heart; not trusting in their own abilities, but in the power of the love of
God; not acting to be important in the eyes of the world, but precious in the eyes of
God who prefers the simple and the humble. Certainly God’s kingdom requires our
cooperation, but it is above all the initiative and gift of the Lord. Our weak effort,
seemingly small before the complexity of the problems of the world, when integrated
with God’s effort, fears no difficulty. The victory of the Lord is certain: his love will
make every seed of goodness present on the ground sprout and grow. This opens us
up to trust and hope, despite the tragedies, the injustices, the sufferings that we
encounter. The seed of goodness and peace sprouts and develops, because the
merciful love of God makes it ripen.2

2. The Kingdom of God continues to grow in our world, amidst

light and shadow

In the Gospel, the Kingdom comes with Jesus himself: it is his presence, his word
– he, the Word made flesh. It is his way of living with people, mingling with people
of all social backgrounds, among whom he prefers those whom others exclude.
There is a passage from the Gospel according to Matthew that opens a window on
the way of being the Kingdom of God as lived by Jesus.

But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.
When Jesus became aware of this, he departed.
Many crowds followed him, and he cured all of them, and he ordered them not to
make him known.
This was to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
“Here is my servant, whom I have chosen,
my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased.
I will put my spirit upon him,
and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
He will not wrangle or cry aloud,
nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.
He will not break a bruised reed
or quench a smouldering wick
until he brings justice to victory.
And in his name the Gentiles will hope” (Mt 12: 14-21).

Here, it is Jesus himself who works as leaven among the most ordinary people,
among the poor and the sick in need of healing.

2
FRANCIS, Angelus, Rome 14 June 2015.

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“And he cured all of them”: this is the ‘lay’ face of Jesus amid the laos, the people,
where no distinction is made between social class or origins. They all seem to be
united by poverty and the need for help – a vulnerability that is not foreign to him
as the first verses show where the open hostility of the Pharisees is spoken of: a
warning sign of the cross that is approaching and where his becoming poor to
enrich us will reach full completion (Cf. 2 Cor 8: 9).

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe
in the good news” (Mk 1: 15). This is found 122 times in the Gospel and 90 times
on Jesus’ lips. As the great theologian Karl Rahner has expressed so many times,
it is clear that the centre of Jesus’ preaching is the kingdom of God. Jesus lived
the Kingdom fully, demonstrating God’s unconditional love for the least by deeds,
and his lifestyle was adopted by the Twelve through osmosis and continued in the
early Church: “the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in
fact, will do greater works than these” (Jn 14: 12).

Even today we recognise that so much good is done and that it grows at all latitudes
in this Kingdom under construction. And we likewise recognise that there is so
much sorrow and pain: sorrow and pain that is the direct consequence of our way
of being and acting as a human family.

We are called to open our eyes and hearts to God’s way of acting that establishes
his Kingdom in his way. It is by attuning ourselves to his way of being and acting
that we collaborate with him, as workers in his vineyard. Otherwise it ceases to be
“of God” and becomes only our work.

The universal openness that characterises us as a Salesian Family is in full

harmony with the Gospel of the Kingdom. The proximity to so many and diverse
human communities in about 75% of the countries of the world is already in itself
a formidable potential for unity and mission. More than 99% of the Church is made
up of lay people. Let us imagine how the proportion increases if we consider and
embrace the entire human family: the laity are the dough as well as the yeast of the
Kingdom. As St John Paul II wrote more than 30 years ago, in this vast world “the
mission is only at the beginning.”3

Sometimes our human contribution or our little effort may seem insignificant, but
they are always precious before God. We must not and cannot measure the
effectiveness or results of our efforts by placing the value on how much we invest
in them, the effort required of us, because the ultimate reason and motive for
everything is God Let us not lose ourselves in excuses that paralyse the mission
and construction of the Kingdom. Even for Don Bosco the best could be the enemy
of the good: it is not necessary to wait for ideal circumstances to take the first step.
Being aware of our limitations, free from sterile triumphalism and self-reference,
and at the same time full of trust, confident that “even the most callous [boys]
have a soft spot” (BM V, 237): this is the style of the Kingdom lived according to the
Salesian charism.

Looking at reality with God’s “eyes” and “heart”, we will understand that smallness
and humility do not mean weakness and inertia. There is little we can do in the

3JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, Rome, 7 December 1990, no. 40.

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face of much that is required of us. However, it is never “not enough” or irrelevant,
because it is God who gives it growth. It is God’s strength that comes to our aid.
And it is God who ultimately accompanies our commitment, our efforts, our being
poor yeast in the dough. Provided we do all we can and always in his name.

3. The human family needs responsible sons and daughters

The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially
those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs
and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to
raise an echo in their hearts.4

Thus begins Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution of the Second Vatican
Council. In three years’ time we will remember the 60th anniversary of its
promulgation.5 It has marked and continues to mark the horizon within which the
Church is called to move: a panorama so familiar to those in the Church and in
the world who carry out a mission like that of Don Bosco, where youthful vitality
and compassion for those who are poor and suffering are always present.

It is an invitation to feel solidarity and enter without fear in this time that we are
given to live, with challenges that seem to grow more and more in intensity, that
are increasingly global and where the first to be touched, often tragically, are the
youngest cohorts of the population.

It is an encouragement to discover the meaning of our existence in the awareness that

my life is never isolated from everyone else’s. The “I” and the “we” can only exist
and live well together. The parable of the yeast and the proposal of this Strenna
help us to attune ourselves to the evolution, over time, of the processes that shape
human history. The yeast added to the dough needs its own time to ferment; and
we too have a responsibility and a commitment in building this human family so
that the world may be more liveable, more just, more fraternal.

We know how much good we are surrounded by, but also how much suffering,
injustice and pain still grips the world in which we live, as I have already said. Pope
Francis reminds us of this, when he says:

Each new generation must take up the struggles and attainments of past generations,
while setting its sights even higher. This is the path. Goodness, together with love,
justice and solidarity, are not achieved once and for all; they have to be realised each
day. t is not possible to settle for what was achieved in the past and complacently
enjoy it, as if we could somehow disregard the fact that many of our brothers and
sisters still endure situations that cry out for our attention.6

The cry of the poor is growing, the majority of whom are children, teenagers and
young adults: we face challenges that are as widespread as they are close to those
we find at the beginning of our mission. We are made for this time no less than

4GS, 1.
5The Constitution was promulgated on the occasion of the celebration of Vespers for the Solemnity
of the Immaculate Conception on 7 December 1965.
6FRANCIS, Meeting with the authorities, civil society and the Diplomatic Corps. Santiago de Chile (16
January 2018), quoted in Fratelli tutti, 11.

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Don Bosco was for his. We strongly feel the appeal that comes from the human
family of which we are a part as individuals and as a community; a family marked
and wounded by the pressing need for justice and dignity for the least and those
cast aside:7 in need of peace and fraternity:8 in need of care for our common home.9

No less strong and radical, in other words at the root of every other yearning, are
the need for truth10 and the need for God.11

Faced with this reality, we must be very conscious of the fact that we cannot
postpone until tomorrow the good we can and must do today. We are called to be
yeast that transforms the human family from within. It is a fundamental mandate
and coincides with our own life, with our being human: no one can escape it or
consider themselves excluded from it.

Therefore, as members of Don Bosco’s Family and inspired by the Gospel dynamic
of the yeast, we intend to deepen and recognise the richness of being part of this
human and Salesian Family where so many in this Family are laymen and
laywomen, and where as consecrated persons we must enrich ourselves with this
complementarity.12 Being lay is a state of life, a vocation that so overwhelmingly
characterises all the presences in the world that identify in various ways with, or
are attuned to, Don Bosco’s Family. Grateful for this, and as an authentic and
united family, we seek to make the most, in our various cultures and societies, of
the gift of their lives, the strength of their faith, the beauty of their family, their life
and work experience, and their talents in interpreting and living the charism and
mission of Don Bosco for the youth and the world of today.

4. The layperson: a Christian who “sanctifies the world from

within”

This is how things are: the lay person in the Church and in the Salesian Family is
and will increasingly be a committed Christian who “sanctifies the world from
within.”

A correct and attentive look at the ecclesiology proposed by the Second Vatican
Council allows us to declare that today, especially as Christians, we cannot accept
(much less encourage) a dualism between the sacred and the profane in the reality
of a world that was created by God. Surely this dualistic drift occurred at a time
when the legitimate autonomy of “secular things”, as opposed to “sacred” or
religious things, was not adequately understood.

Since the origins of Christianity and especially since the Second Vatican Council,
the Church has clearly recognised the relationship of Christians with the world in

7
Cf. FT, 15-17; 18-21; 29-31; 69-71; 80-83; 124-127;234.
8
Cf. FT, 88-111; 216-221; ChV 163-167.
9
See the entire Encyclical Laudato Si '.
10
Cf. LF, 23-25; FT 226-227.
11
Cf. LF, 1-7; 35; 50-51; 58-60.
12
Cf. J.E. VECCHI, The Salesian Family turns twenty-five, in M. BAY (EDITED BY), Passionate educators
experienced and consecrated for young people. Lettere circolari ai Salesiani di don Juan E. Vecchi,
LAS, Rome 2013, 137.

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which they live; even in a society where being a Christian was and is something
marginal.

A splendid description of the Christian in the world is offered in the “Letter to

Diognetus” (2nd century AD) – in my opinion a beautiful work of ancient Christian
literature:

For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor
language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their
own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by
any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any
speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim
themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines.
But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them
has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food,
and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and
confessedly striking method of life. hey dwell in their own countries, but simply as
sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things
as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land
of their birth as a land of strangers. [...]
To sum up all in one word — what the soul is in the body, Christians are in the world.
The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are
scattered through all the cities of the world [...]13

It is a magnificent and very useful text to understand the Christian secularism that
we intend to present and that we have indicated in the title of the Strenna with the
“lay dimension” of Christian life and of our Salesian Family.

Today, the Salesian Family of Don Bosco is called to live in the world as leaven, co-
operating, starting from its condition as believers, in the construction of a better
world wherever we are, regardless of nation, culture and religion. The Church has
given a name to this broad field of action: the secular nature of the vocation of the
laity.

What specifically characterises the laity is their secular nature […] The laity, by their
very vocation, seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by
ordering them according to the plan of God. They live in the world, that is, in each
and in all of the secular professions and occupations. They live in the ordinary
circumstances of family and social life, from which the very web of their existence is
woven. They are called there by God that by exercising their proper function and led
by the spirit of the Gospel they may work for the sanctification of the world from
within as a leaven. In this way they may make Christ known to others, especially by
the testimony of a life resplendent in faith, hope and charity. Therefore, since they
are tightly bound up in all types of temporal affairs it is their special task to order
and to throw light upon these affairs in such a way that they may come into being
and then continually increase according to Christ to the praise of the Creator and the
Redeemer.14

13
Letter to Diognetus (Chap. 5-6; Funk 1, 317-321).
14
LG, 31. The Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles laici (1988), sums up very well that it is the task
of all the baptised, albeit in different ways, to be yeast in the world: “The images taken from the
gospel of salt, light and leaven, although indiscriminately applicable to all Jesus' disciples, are
specifically applied to the lay faithful. They are particularly meaningful images because they speak
not only of the deep involvement and the full participation of the lay faithful in the affairs of the
earth, the world and the human community, but also and above all, they tell of the radical newness

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And it is no less true that the condition of the lay faithful is common to all, and
that we all share responsibility for the Kingdom.

Theologically, the secular nature of the whole Church is understood from the
meaning of the church-world relationship, and from the common priesthood,
prophecy and kingly dimension; every baptised person is a member of a Church that
must serve the world to make God's salvific will and his kingdom present, even if
each baptised person exercises or develops this secularity in a particular way, so that
there is a diversity of ministries and functions and, to a certain extent, of ‘presence
and situation’ in the world, history and society.15

It is important to understand what this “Christian style” consists of as a way of

being present in society, in line with the Second Vatican Council:16 the way forward
for evangelisation and the missionary activity of the Church in a society in which
religion can no longer be taken for granted as if it were something obvious and
always present.

Recognising the “autonomy of the profane” as a legitimate aspect of secularity,

theology is concerned with distinguishing between the autonomy of profane tasks
and the kingdom of the religious, with the legitimate right to the coexistence of both
realities. In other words, it highlights the legitimate aspect of secularity, which is
very different from “secularism” linked to a radical secularisation that is the enemy
of all that is religious. Religion in its various “creeds” has every right to exist and
to have a “citizenship card”. The Second Vatican Council is decisive in this regard:

Now many of our contemporaries seem to fear that a closer bond between human
activity and religion will work against the independence of men, of societies, or of the
sciences.
If by the autonomy of earthly affairs we mean that created things and societies
themselves enjoy their own laws and values which must be gradually deciphered, put
to use, and regulated by men, then it is entirely right to demand that autonomy. Such
is not merely required by modern man, but harmonizes also with the will of the
Creator (...)
Consequently, we cannot but deplore certain habits of mind, which are sometimes
found too among Christians, which do not sufficiently attend to the rightful
independence of science (...) But if the expression, the independence of temporal
affairs, is taken to mean that created things do not depend on God, and that man
can use them without any reference to their Creator, anyone who acknowledges God
will see how false such a meaning is. For without the Creator the creature would
disappear.17

Christian anthropology must seek today, as in the past, to translate the values and
the message of salvation transmitted by the Gospel into the language of the
different societies and cultures of the world. It is a question of harmonising the
legitimate autonomy of man with the validity, authenticity and coherence of the

and unique character of an involvement and participation which has as its purpose the spreading
of the Gospel that brings salvation.” (Cf. ChL 15).
15
R. BERZOSA, «¿Una teología y espiritualidad laical?», Revista Misión Abierta,
(mercaba.org/fichas/laico).
16
Cf. C. THEOBALD, La fede nell’attuale contesto europeo. Cristianesimo come stile, Queriniana,
Brescia 2021, 96-146.
17
GS, 36.

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Christian faith. This is the challenge for the believer, for the Christian faithful and
for us in our mission as the Family of Don Bosco: respect for everyone, but fear
and shame because of our condition as believers – never and with no one!

The Church, through the voice of the Second Vatican Council, reminds us that it
is a grave error to separate daily life from the life of faith.

They are mistaken who, knowing that we have here no abiding city but seek one
which is to come. For they are forgetting that by the faith itself they are more obliged
than ever to measure up to these duties, each according to his proper vocation.
Nor, on the contrary, are they any less wide of the mark who think that religion
consists in acts of worship alone and in the discharge of certain moral obligations,
and who imagine they can plunge themselves into earthly affairs in such a way as to
imply that these are altogether divorced from the religious life.
This split between the faith which many profess and their daily lives deserves to be
counted among the more serious errors of our age.18

It is about living as Christians in a world that will not be better without the little
leaven that Christianity brings to the world created by God. It is from humility, but
also from the conviction of the value of our faith, in dialogue with different societies
and cultures, that we can contribute to improving the lives of the people around
us, renouncing any logic of proselytism or imposition. To put it in the words of a
magnificent pastor, and a man of reflection capable of dialogue with culture,
Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini: “Wielding a belief, whether scientific, philosophical
or theological, to make ends meet by imposing a solution, is a painful premise for
an ideology and a source of violence.”19 But it is also not acceptable for the
Christian of all times – and especially today –to practise a comfortable kind of
irenics or “do-goodism" that reduces coherence, witness and personal and
community authenticity.

And, just as yeast in the dough goes almost completely unnoticed, so does our
collaboration in building the Church and a more human, more just society and one
that is more in accordance with the will of God, ask us to consider that it is more
important to do good than it is to have the good that is done attributed to us. The
most important thing will always be to contribute to the good of society and the
world, even “without copyright”, without confusing effective action with being at
the centre of attention, also recognising that the good done by others is at least as
good as ours. If we are not convinced, let us once more read the passage of the
Gospel in which the Lord corrects his disciples for having tried to stop the good
that others did, even if they were not from “their group”.

We must practise interpreting reality as believers who include others, promote

dialogue with others, with culture, the media, with intellectuals and with those who
think differently and also in opposition to us. These are the virtuous habits that
our way of being in the world requires, the “Christian and Salesian style” that we
can bring to an understanding of the world and things.

This style will allow us to weave relationships with other consecrated persons, other
ordained ministers, other lay faithful, other Christians and with other men and

18
GS, 43.
19
Cf. C. M. MARTINI, Los movimientos en la Iglesia, LEV, 1999, p. 156 (our translation in English).

9
women of other religions. It seems that this is a good way to “work for the
sanctification of the world from within as a leaven.”20 A way of doing things that
puts us in harmony with “the universal call to holiness in the Church.”21 And since
the Church is involved in the world in the twofold transcendent and immanent
dimension, every Christian must be a sign of the Kingdom of God already present
in human history. If piety and devotion, the life of prayer and the sacramental life
underline the transcendent profile of this holiness, the social commitment to justice
and human brotherhood underlines, for us, the immanent Christian dimension.
Like Don Bosco, we live with our feet on the ground and our eyes fixed on heaven.
In this regard, a qualified member of our Salesian Family offered us his own vital
reflection as a lay person in the world and in the Family of Don Bosco, defining lay
believers in the Church and in the Family of Don Bosco as those men and women
who have a threefold belonging: to Christ, to the Church and to the world.22

Pope Francis, in the beautiful meeting we had with him on the occasion of the
canonisation of Artemides Zatti, presenting him as “kinsman of all the poor”,
reminded us that it is part of our Salesian vocation to be educators of the heart,
preparing people, especially young people, for the world of today:

Thus a hospital became the ‘Father’s Inn’, a sign of a Church that seeks to be rich in
gifts of humanity and grace, home of the commandment of love of God and our
brothers and sisters, a place of health as a pledge of salvation. It is also true that this
is part of the Salesian vocation: the Salesians are the great educators of the heart, of
love, of affection, of social life; great educators of the heart.23

Bringing to the Church and the world the gift of the lay charism lived in the Salesian
Family is a vocational response that leads us to be present as signs and witnesses,
in dialogue, and by offering the humble service of who we are for the common good.

It is from and in lay life itself, which in many cases passes through the specific
vocation in the family and a professional role in the world, that the laity, and in
particular the Christian laity, the laity of the Family of Don Bosco, are called to
establish, promote and support the Gospel values in society and in history,
contributing to the consecratio mundi, the consecration of the world, to the
establishment of the Kingdom of God here and now.

Saint Francis de Sales, whose celebrations we have just finished on the occasion
of the fourth centenary of his death, is one of the most unique and fruitful prophets
in the history of the Church capable of shedding light on the greatness of each
one’s vocation. That is how it was for many lay people of every social background
whom he personally accompanied, helping them to flourish in the garden in which
they were placed by the Lord, to the point of being fully holy. Saint Francis de Sales
remains an ever new and irreplaceable source of inspiration for those who recognise
themselves as “Salesians”, whatever their state of life.

20Lumen Gentium, 31.

21Titleof Chapter V of Lumen Gentium.
22Cf. A. BOCCIA, Credenti Laici nella Chiesa e nella Famiglia di Don Bosco. Uomini e donne delle tre

appartenenze, Private edition.

23FRANCIS, Address at the audience with the Salesian Family for the canonisation of Blessed
Artemides Zatti, Paul VI Hall, Rome, 8 October 2022.

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In the recent Apostolic Letter that Pope Francis offered to all religious families who
refer to the charism of Saint Francis de Sales, the importance of the spirituality
that the Saint of Geneva proposed in his time and that today is extremely topical
in the theology of the laity is highlighted.

Almost everyone who has dealt with devotion has taken an interest in teaching people
separated from the world or, at least, has taught a type of devotion that leads to this
isolation. I intend to offer my teachings to those who live in cities, in the family, at
court, and who, by virtue of their status, are forced, by social conveniences, to live
among others.24

This is why those who think they are relegating devotion to some protected and
reserved sphere are very wrong. Rather does it belong to everyone and for everyone,
wherever we are, and everyone can practise it according to their own vocation. As
Saint Paul VI wrote on the fourth centenary of the birth of Francis de Sales:

Holiness is not the prerogative of one group or of another or of any one person, but
an invitation and a command addressed to all those who bear the name of Christian.
‘Friend, go up higher.’ All are bound to ascend the mountain of the Lord, although
not by one and the same path. “The practice of devotion must differ for the gentleman
and the artisan, the servant and the prince, for the widow, young girl or wife. further,
it must be accommodated to their particular strength, circumstances, and duties.25

Crossing the secular city, looking after our inner self, combining the desire for
perfection with every state of life, finding a centre that does not separate itself from
the world, but teaches how to inhabit it, appreciate it, also learning to take the
right distance from it: this was his intention and continues to be a valuable lesson
for every woman and man of our time.

This is the Council’s theme of the universal call to holiness:

“Fortified by so many and such powerful means of salvation, all the faithful, whatever
their condition or state, are called by the Lord, each in his own way, to that perfect
holiness whereby the Father Himself is perfect” (LG 11). “Each in his or her own
way”, the Council says “We should not grow discouraged before examples of
holiness that appear unattainable.”26

Mother Church offers them to us not so that we may try to copy them, but so that
they may spur us to walk on the unique and specific path the Lord has designed for
us. “What matters is that each believer discerns his own way and brings out the best
in himself, what is so personal God has placed in him (Cf. 1 Cor 12: 7).27

The Church is alive, “together with those who are called” according to the original
meaning of the term, thanks to the richness of every vocation that defines her.
Every call is at the service of all the others and only in giving oneself can one express
and regain one’s full identity. Gifts are not the private and exclusive property of a
24
St FRANCIS DE SALES, Introduction à la vie dévote, I, 1: ed. Ravier – Devos, Paris 1969, 23 (our
translation in English).
25
PAUL VI, Epist. Ap. Sabaudiae gemma, on the fourth centenary of the birth of St Francis de Sales,
Doctor of the Church (29 January 1967), in AAS 59 (1967), 119.
26
Gaudete et Exsultate, 10-11.
27
FRANCIS, Apostolic Letter Totum Amoris Est, on the Fourth Centenary of the Death of Saint Francis
de Sales, LEV, Vatican City 2022, 32-34.

11
group. As baptised individuals we all share in the priesthood of Christ, in the
prophecy and kingship of Him who came to serve and give life. Ordained ministry
is understood only as a service to the common priesthood of all the faithful.
Likewise, what is typical of the lay state is a gift for all who enter into the life and
call of every other member of the one body of Christ. The “secular dimension” is
therefore also shared by those who belong to consecrated life or to the ordained
ministry: the story of Don Bosco offers us splendid evidence of this. Don Bosco was
a priest of the diocese of Turin who founded two congregations of consecrated men
and women, and two other lay associations; and with all of them, and with many
others he knew how to involve people, he immersed himself very intensely in the
“world" in which he lived, in the life and problems of hundreds of thousands of
young people, fearlessly overcoming great difficulties and borders, with a
fruitfulness that inspires millions of people today – beyond national, cultural and
religious differences.

Being a Christian and being a lay person opens the way to make the most of the
intensity of secular, lay talent, committing it to the infinite wealth of possibilities
that are open to those who live in the world animated by faith, hope and charity.
The Second Vatican Council proclaimed this clearly:

The laity, by their very vocation, seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal
affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God. They live in the world, that
is, in each and in all of the secular professions and occupations. They live in the
ordinary circumstances of family and social life, from which the very web of their
existence is woven. They are called there by God that by exercising their proper28
function and led by the spirit of the Gospel they may work for the
sanctification of the world from within as a leaven. In this way they may make
Christ known to others, especially by the testimony of a life resplendent in faith, hope
and charity. Therefore, since they are tightly bound up in all types of temporal affairs
it is their special task to order and to throw light upon these affairs in such a way
that they may come into being and then continually increase according to Christ to
the praise of the Creator and the Redeemer.29

It is not the task of the commentary on the Strenna to define all the areas and
realities of life in which the presence of the laity is transforming and can become
that leaven of the Kingdom of God that no one else could “knead” as effectively and
extensively. In any case, in the Church the laity have a broad and complex
spectrum of potential and challenges, of situations to face that are at the same time
like many appeals for those who wish to be “salt of the earth and light of the world.”
It is a journey that this year’s Strenna invites and urges us to resume, intensify
and make our own courageously and generously, making the message of the
Church herself timely when she says:

The eyes of faith behold a wonderful scene: that of a countless number of lay people,
both women and men, busy at work in their daily life and activity, oftentimes far from
view and quite unacclaimed by the world, unknown to the world's great personages
but nonetheless looked upon in love by the Father, untiring labourers who work in

28
I point out that parts in italics and in bold are my choice, precisely to highlight the theme that
this commentary on Strenna 2023 intends to highlight in a specific way.
29
LG, 31.

12
 the Lord's vineyard. Confident and steadfast through the power of God's grace, these
are the humble yet great builders of the Kingdom of God in history.30

There is no doubt that for all the laity of the Salesian Family today – and for
consecrated men and women who live day by day enriched by their vocation and
complementarity – the world, society, economy and politics, social action at the
service of others, Christian life in daily life are and must always be a theological
place of encounter with God:

Their [the laity’s] own field of evangelising activity is the vast and complicated world
of politics, society and economics, but also the world of culture, of the sciences and
the arts, of international life, of the mass media. It also includes other realities which
are open to evangelisation, such as human love, the family, the education of children
and adolescents, professional work, suffering. The more Gospel-inspired lay people
there are engaged in these realities, clearly involved in them, competent to promote
them and conscious that they must exercise to the full their Christian powers which
are often buried and suffocated, the more these realities will be at the service of the
kingdom of God and therefore of salvation in Jesus Christ, without in any way losing
or sacrificing their human content but rather pointing to a transcendent dimension
which is often disregarded, will find themselves at the service of the building up of
the Kingdom of God, and therefore of salvation in Jesus Christ.31

5. Don Bosco‘s Family called to be yeast

Don Bosco was able to involve so many people, making them active and
enterprising agents of the same dream of salvation for young people. Fr Giulio
Barberis carefully noted what Don Bosco said addressing the young people of the
Oratory on the evening of the feast of St Joseph, 19 March 1876, just over five
months after the departure of the first missionaries for Patagonia. Referring to the
field and vineyard of the Gospel parables and the strength of his personal
experience of peasant life, he helps young people in Valdocco to understand how
everyone can play their part, always precious and important, in the growth of the
Kingdom of God. It is a secular, evangelical and ecclesial example of how we are
called to bring our talents to fruition together, each according to his or her life
story, ability and calling. Thus, Fr Barberis takes up Don Bosco’s words which will
undoubtedly seem of the utmost theological importance to us:

Our Divine Saviour, and you understand it well enough, meant by the field or
vineyards around him, to speak of the Church and everyone in the world; the harvest
is the salvation of souls, since all souls must be gathered up and brought to the
Lord’s granary; oh how abundant is this harvest; how many millions of people there
are on this earth! How much work there is to be done to see that everyone is saved;
but operarii autem pauci, the labourers are few.
By the labourers working in the vineyard of the Lord is meant all those who in some
way work for the salvation of souls. And note well that labourers here does not only
mean priests, preachers and confessors, as some believe, who certainly are put there
to work and are directly involved in gathering the harvest, but they are not alone,
they are not enough. The labourers are those who in some way work for the salvation
of souls; like those who work in the fields are not just the ones gathering the grain
but all the others as well.

30
ChL, 17.
31
EN, 70.

13
 Look around a field and see the variety of labourers. One is ploughing, another
turning over the soil; others are using a hoe; someone has a rake or is breaking open
the clods and flattening them; others are sowing seed, others still covering it over;
somebody is weeding, pulling out darnel, grass, vetches; one is hoeing, another
uprooting, another one cutting; others are watering just at the right moment and
pressing the seeds in; others instead are reaping, making bundles of sheaves, there
are others loading the cart and pulling it; one is spreading out the wheat while
another is beating it; one is separating wheat from chaff; others are cleaning, using
a sieve, putting it into sacks, carrying it to the mill to make flour; one is sifting, another
kneading, another baking.
So you can see, my friends, what a range of labourers are needed before the harvest
can fulfil its purpose of giving us bread from Heaven. As it is in the field, so it is with
the Church; all kinds of labourers are needed, all kinds. No one can say: “Although
my behaviour is irreproachable, I would be no good working for the greater glory of
God.” No, nobody can say that; everyone can do something.32

We were born charismatically as a community and as a communion of people of

different social backgrounds, states of life, professional profiles... all united by the
same mission and motivated by the same charismatic drive that Don Bosco knew
how to pass on33. This is the nature of the Oratory in the years of its foundation,
from 1841 to 1859: (18 years!), which still strongly reflects this synergy of the
People of God who in various ways cooperate to make young people more at risk
“good Christians and upright citizens.” It is undeniable that we were immediately
born as a group of God’s people: it is the nature of our charism and our mission.

I am well aware – and I try to pass on this awareness to the whole of our Salesian
Family – of a particularly obvious fact: only together, only by living in communion
can we do something meaningful today.

I launched a strong appeal to the entire Salesian Congregation regarding our

shared mission with the laity – an appeal that serves the whole Family of Don Bosco
– and not listening to it would lead, in the not too distant future, to a point of
dangerous non-return.

I said:

Our GC24 was certainly a charismatic response to Vatican II’s ecclesiology of

communion. We know well that Don Bosco, from the outset of his mission at
Valdocco, involved many lay people, friends and collaborators in such a way that they
could be part of his mission among young people. He immediately ‘fostered
participation and the sharing of responsibility by ecclesiastics and laity, men and
women’34. t is therefore, in spite of our resistance, a point of no return, because, in
addition to corresponding to Don Bosco's actions, the model of the mission shared
with the laity proposed by GC24 is in fact ‘the only practicable model in present
conditions’.35

Thus we have a point of no return for the good of those who decide and have
decided to enter into this style of mission, formation, shared life that opens new
horizons in the future for the charism of Don Bosco in full harmony with the path

32
ISS, Salesian Sources, 1. Don Bosco and his work, Kristu Jyoti, Bangalore 2014, 812-813.
33
J.E. VECCHI, The Salesian Family turns twenty-five, 140-142.
34
GC24, no. 71.
35
GC28, Action Programme 6, p. 59.

14
that the Church is taking with the guidance of Pope Francis, which is surely
prophetic and exemplary.

At the same time there is also another dangerous and risky non-return for those
who instead fail to or do not want to cross this threshold and remain locked into
forms of self-referential isolation: no longer in step with the times in the way of
living and interpreting the Salesian presence and destined to become irrelevant and
to become extinct as the years proceed.

The ultimate goal of Don Bosco’s mission is, together with the salvation of his young
people, the transformation of society. Don Bosco’s broad and courageous vision,
his tireless diligence, his resilience in the face of obstacles… are explained only
with this horizon of social transformation and evangelisation of young people on a
world scale.

Don Bosco does not engage in politics but can talk to all representatives of the
various levels of government because his commitment is transparently oriented
toward the good of young people. No one who cares about human society and
service to others – as public service is and should also be for the good of all – can
display a lack of interest in this.

Therefore, our common voice can find access and be given an ear far beyond
confessional boundaries if together today we embody the same zeal of predilection
for young people that was given to us as a charism and that we can only achieve
together as a Family of Don Bosco.

The complementarity of vocations in Don Bosco’s Family, being united as a

Salesian Family, and united with the great number of lay people involved in our
presences around the world, together in mission and formation, becomes an
unavoidable demand today and even more so in the future, if we do not want to
remain irrelevant.

And communion in the family spirit and within the vast Salesian movement is the
great gift we possess as a precious legacy.

6. In the shade of a large tree with beautiful fruit

In my letter at the end of the Second Seminar for the promotion of the Causes of
Beatification and Canonisation of the Salesian Family, I wrote:

From Don Bosco down to our own times we recognise a tradition of holiness to which
we need to pay attention, since the incarnation of the charism that had its origin in
him found its expression in a variety of states of life and in different forms, it is a
question of men and women, young people and adults, consecrated persons and lay
people, bishops and missionaries who in certain historical, cultural and social
contexts, different in time and place, made the special light of the Salesian charism

15
 shine out, representing a heritage that continues to play an effective role in the life
and in the communities of believers and of men and women of good will.36

With humility and a deep sense of gratitude, we recognise in the Salesian Family a
great tree with many fruits of holiness. These are men and women, young people
and adults who have filled their lives with the leaven of love, a love that is given to
the end, faithful to Jesus Christ and to his Gospel.

Ecclesiology shows, as we know, that the different vocations have a common

baptismal root and are destined to contribute to the growth of God’s people:

In Church Communion the states of life by being ordered one to the other are thus
bound together among themselves They all share in a deeply basic meaning: that of
being the manner of living out the commonly shared Christian dignity and the
universal call to holiness in the perfection of love. They are different yet
complementary, in the sense that each of them has a basic and unmistakable
character which sets each apart, while at the same time each of them is seen in
relation to the other and placed at each other's service.37

This perspective indicates that the Salesian charism is complete when vocation and
mission are lived in the reciprocity and complementarity of the different calls.
Precisely this should be the profound meaning of the Salesian Family: a vast
apostolic movement for the salvation of young people.

It is interesting to note that, among the 173 Saints, Blessed, Venerables, Servants
of God of our Family, 25 are lay people who have embodied the Salesian charism
in the family, in the Salesian house, in secular life, in their profession, a privileged
space of Christian witness, and in different social, historical and cultural contexts.
I think it is very appropriate to recall them as testimony within the commentary on
this Strenna:

- Saint Dominic Savio, a teenager and expression of youthful holiness, fruit of

preventive grace and leader of a long line of young saints.
- Blessed Laura Vicuňa, a teenager, testifies to the strength of love that gives life
and reminds us of the reality of the wounded family.
- Blessed Ceferino Namuncurá, a young Mapuche, recalls the value and respect
of indigenous cultures and the work of inculturation of faith and the charism.
- Blessed Francis Kęsy, Czesław Jóźwiak, Edward Kaźmierski, Edward
Klinik, Jarogniew Wojciechowski, martyrs of the oratory at Poznan, witnesses
of the faith to the point of martyrdom.
- Among the blessed martyrs of the Spanish persecution we meet: Alejandro
Planas Saurí and Juan de Mata Díez, lay collaborators; Tomàs Gil de la Cal,
Federico Cobo Sanz, Igino de Mata Díez, three aspirants to Salesian life;
Bartolomé Blanco Márquez, layman and engaged to be married; Teresa
Cejudo Redondo, wife and mother, Salesian Cooperators engaged in the
ecclesial, social and associative reality of their environment.
- Blessed Alexandrina Maria Da Costa, Salesian Cooperator, who recalls the
highest form of cooperation, that of union with the redemptive passion of Jesus.

36
A. FERNÁNDEZ ARTIME, Letter of the Rector Major at the conclusion of the 2nd Seminar for the
promotion of the Causes of Beatification and Canonisation of the Salesian Family, Rome 20 May 2018.
< https://archive.sdb.org/Documenti/Santita/Seminario_2018/Santi_2_Seminario_2018_RMlettera_en.pdf&gt;
37
ChL, 55.

16
- Blessed Albert Marvelli, a former student of the oratory at Rimini, engaged in
the social and political world.
- Venerable Mamma Margaret Occhiena, a motherly and female presence at the
origins of the charism.
- Venerable Dorotea Chopitea, wife and mother, who “welcomed” and gave
growth to the Salesian charism, manifesting the choice of a poor life and the
ability to be evangelised by the poor.
- Venerable Attilio Giordani, husband and father, who embodies Salesian joy in
the family, in work, in the oratory, in his mission land.
- Servant of God Simão, an Indian Bororo, who shared the Salesian mission with
Father Rodolfo Lunkenbein and recalls the need to recognise and welcome the
seeds of truth present in every culture and tradition.
- Servant of God Matilde Salem, wife and benefactor, who gave of her goods and
life for the fruitfulness of the charism in Syria, and testifies to the strength of
communion between Christians, and the capacity for coexistence with the
faithful of other religions.
- Servant of God Antonino Baglieri, Volunteer With Don Bosco, who in sickness
knew how to be the leaven of the Gospel.
- Servant of God Vera Grita, Salesian Cooperator and teacher, instrument of a
mystical work that commits every Christian to make the grace of the Eucharist
bear fruit.
- Servant of God Akash Bashir, a young former pupil from Pakistan who gave his
life for his brothers and sisters.

Among these numerous and varied figures of holiness I would like to point out ones
that offer us a significant and original witness of lay holiness and that, in my
opinion, show the multifaceted aspect, that is, rich in aspects, sides, shapes and
colours, of lay life lived in different contexts, in different centuries, with different
vocations, but full of simple holiness in everyday life. That “next door” secular
holiness that will always do us so much good to discover. Let’s pause to
contemplate them:

• Margaret Occhiena, “Mamma”

We know how at the beginning of the oratory, after thinking and rethinking how
to get out of difficulties, Don Bosco went to talk about it with his parish priest
in Castelnuovo, exposing his need and his fears. “You have your mother!” replied
the parish priest without a moment’s hesitation, “let her come with you to
Turin.” Mamma Margaret arrived in Valdocco on 3 November 1846, and for ten
years she was the mother of hundreds of boys. In 1846 only the oratory was
open, and the boys came there especially on Sundays. The Biographical
Memories speak of at least 800 who came. Throughout the week, every night,
after work in the city, young people came for evening classes. One can just
imagine the noise and shouting. The classes took up Don Bosco’s kitchen and
bedroom, the sacristy, the choir, the chapel. Voices, songs, comings and goings,
but it could not be done otherwise. Mamma Margaret was there with them.
Certainly priests and even lay people came to help Don Bosco and some women
came later to help. But only Mamma Margaret was there, full time, always. This
availability made her dear to everyone, and she was therefore venerated by those
who knew her. Right from the outset, when she came to Turin, as soon as she
became known by people in surrounding suburbs, she was called by no other

17
name than “Mamma”.
Here, for ten years, her life fused with her son’s life and with the beginnings of
the Salesian work: she was Don Bosco’s first and main Cooperator; her active
kindness was the maternal element of the preventive system. Illiterate – but full
of that wisdom that comes from above – she was also a help to many poor street
children, children of no one; she put God in first place, consuming herself for
him in a life of poverty, prayer and sacrifice.

• Bartolomé Blanco Márquez, a young all-round Christian

“I am a worker, I was born of parents who were also workers. I have lived and
do live in a narrow setting, one where the lowly class work. Running in my veins,
sometimes exacerbated by the fire of youthful enthusiasm, I sense a protest, an
energetic protest against those who believe that we are not like them because
we have had the misfortune – or perhaps the fate – of being born into poverty,
wearing worker’s gear and having rough and calloused hands. But let us clarify
our ideas: I am a worker and I am a Catholic.” The person speaking this way is
a young man of 19, by profession a chair manufacturer, a chairmaker, at the
People's Action rally on 5 November 1933 in Pozoblanco (Spain); an upright and
courageous young man with uncommon intelligence, of humble origins, a
worker, defender of the rights of the people and of the Church.
Born in Pozoblanco (Cordoba, Spain) on 25 December 1914, he lost his mother
in the so-called “Spanish” flu epidemic. Having lost his father at the age of
twelve, he had to leave school and start working as a chair maker. When the
Salesians arrived in Pozoblanco in September 1930, Bartolomé attended the
oratory and helped as a catechist and leader. He found in Fr Antonio do Muiño
a director who urged him to continue his intellectual, cultural and spiritual
formation by being involved in study groups. Until Bartolomé’s untimely death,
this Salesian would be his confessor and spiritual guide. Bartolomé was
appreciated by relatives, friends, companions for his ingenuity, apostolic
commitment, and his attitude as a leader. Later he entered Catholic Action, of
which he was secretary and where he gave of his best. He moved to Madrid to
specialise in the apostolate among the workers at the Istituto Sociale Operaio or
Social Workers Institute, and distinguished himself as an eloquent speaker and
scholar of social issues. Having obtained a scholarship, he learned about
Catholic workers’ organisations in France, Belgium and the Netherlands
through a trip organised by the Social Workers’ Institute. Appointed delegate of
Catholic trade unions in the province of Cordoba he founded eight groups.
When the revolution broke out on 30 June 1936, Bartolomé returned to
Pozoblanco and made himself available to the “Civil Guard” for the defence of
the city, which surrendered to the other warring faction after a month. Accused
of rebellion, he was sent to prison, where he continued to behave in exemplary
manner: “o deserve martyrdom, one must offer oneself to God as a martyr!” He
was tried and sentenced to death in Jaén on 29 September. After the sentence,
while remaining calm and defending himself with dignity, he said: “You believed
that you were hurting me while instead you are doing me good because you have
chiselled out a crown for me.”
The letters he wrote to his family and fiancée on the eve of his death are clear
proof of this: “Let this be my last will: forgiveness, forgiveness and forgiveness;
but indulgence, which I want to be accompanied by doing everything possible.

18
 So I ask you to avenge me with the revenge of the Christian: reciprocating those
who have tried to hurt me with good”, he wrote to his aunts and cousins.
And to his fiancée, Maruja: “When I have a few hours left for my final rest, I just
want to ask you one thing: that in memory of the love we had for each other
which grows at this moment, you take care of the salvation of your soul as the
main objective, so that we can meet in heaven for all eternity where no one will
separate us.”
His fellow prisoners kept the moving details of his departure for death: barefoot,
to resemble Christ more closely. When they put the cuffs on his wrists, he kissed
the hands of the militia member who put them on him. He did not accept, as
they proposed, to be shot in the back. “Those who die for Christ,” he said, “must
do so facing forward and with bared chest.” Long live Christ the King!” and he
fell with open arms in the shape of a cross, riddled with bullets next to an oak
tree. It was 2 October 1936. He was not yet 22. He was beatified in Rome on 28
October 2007.

• Attilio Giordani, a layman “in Don Bosco”

Born in Milan on 3 February 1913, he distinguished himself since his early

years for his great passion for the Salesian Oratory of Saint Augustine and,
already at the age of eighteen, for his dedication to the young people who went
there. For decades he was a diligent catechist and a constant and brilliant
leader, with so much simplicity and joy. He looked after the liturgy, formation,
games free time, theatre. He loved God with all his heart and found the
resources for the life of grace in sacramental life, prayer and spiritual direction.
During his military service, which began in 1934 and ended, in stages, in 1945,
he demonstrated an apostolic approach among his comrades in arms. He was
employed with the Pirelli Firm in Milan where he also spread joy and good
humour, and a profound sense of duty. On 6 May 1944, he married a catechist,
Noemi D’Avanzo. They would have three children: Piergiorgio, Mariagrazia,
Paola. In his family he was a husband and father, rich in great faith and
serenity, chosen austerity and evangelical poverty for the benefit of the most
needy. Without taking anything away from the family, he made the oratory his
second family, putting his wealth of inventiveness and extraordinary
educational skill at the youngsters’ service. In agreement with his wife Noemi,
he left for Mato Grosso (Brazil) to share his own children’s choice of missionary
commitment. On 18 December 1972, during a meeting, after speaking
enthusiastically and ardently of the duty to lay down one’s life for others, he
suddenly felt himself failing. He was just in time to tell his son, “Pier, you carry
on” and then died of a heart attack. He has been Venerable since 9 October
2013.
His life as an apostolically committed Christian took on such a determined and
personal orientation to discover (these are all his words): “The joy of serving
Christ”; “not being good just for those who are good”; “Living in the world
without being of the world”; “Go against the current”; “Not seeking but giving”;
“It is necessary to live what you want to make live.” This was something that
matured over the different stages of his life: as a teenager, as a young soldier
then as a soldier on the Greek-Albanian military front, as shown in his “War
Diary”. The choice of his fiancée Noemi Davanzo was also motivated by reasons
of faith, as she wrote in a letter: “When the Lord brought you to me, he placed
before me your love and spirit of dedication to those who are especially beloved

19
 of the Saviour. This was the main trigger that prompted me to ask you to be my
companion.”
Attilio’s faith was so great that it is truly a “sign” of God’s presence: in the family,
in the oratory, in the parish community and for those who meet him: a faith
that is more than proclaimed – it shines through his actions and his way of
being: “The extent of our belief is manifested in our being.”

• Vera Grita “The little teacher from Savona”

Born in Rome on 28 January 1923, she lived and studied in Savona where she
obtained her teacher’s certificate. At the age of 21, during a sudden air raid on
the city (1944), she was overwhelmed and trampled underfoot by the fleeing
crowd, with serious consequences for her physically, and from then on she
remained forever marked by suffering. She went unnoticed in her short earthly
life, teaching in the schools of the Ligurian hinterland, where she earned the
esteem and affection of everyone for her kind and meek character. She attended
Mass In Savona at the Salesian parish of Mary Help of Christians, and was
regular in her use of the Sacrament of Penance. A Salesian Cooperator since
1967, she carried out her call in the total gift of herself to the Lord, who in an
extraordinary way gave himself to her in the depths of her heart with the “Voice”,
the “Word” with which he communicated the Work of the Living Tabernacles to
her. Under the impulse of divine grace and accepting the mediation of her
spiritual guides, Vera Grita responded to the gift of God by witnessing in her
life, marked by the constant fatigue of illness, to the encounter with the Risen
One and dedicating herself with heroic generosity to the teaching and education
of her students, attending to the needs of her family and witnessing to a life of
evangelical poverty. She died on 22 December 1969, at the age of 46, in a room
the hospital in Pietra Ligure.
Vera Grita attests first of all to an all-embracing Eucharistic orientation, which
became explicit especially in her final years of life. She did not think in terms of
programmes, apostolic initiatives, projects: she accepted the fundamental
“project” that is Jesus himself, until he made her life his own. Today’s world
attests to a great need for the Eucharist.
Her journey through the strenuous labour of her days also offers a new lay
perspective on holiness: becoming an example of conversion, acceptance and
sanctification for the “poor”, the “frail” and the “sick” who can recognise
themselves and find hope in her.
As Salesian Cooperator, Vera Grita lived and worked, taught and encountered
people with her strong Salesian sensitivity: from the loving-kindness of her
discreet but effective presence, to her ability to be loved by children and families;
from the pedagogy of kindness that she carried out with her constant smile, to
her generous readiness with which, regardless of the inconvenience, she turned
in preference to the least, to the little ones, to the distant, the forgotten; from
her generous passion for God and His Glory to the way of the cross, letting
everything be taken from her in her illness.

• Akash Bashir, witness to fortitude and peace.

A Past Pupil of Don Bosco, he is the first Pakistani whose Cause of Beatification
and Canonisation is in process. On 15 March 2015, he sacrificed himself to
prevent a suicide bomber from causing a massacre in St John’s Church in

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 Youhannabad, a Christian neighbourhood in Lahore, Pakistan. Akash Bashir
was 20 years old, had studied at the Don Bosco Technical Institute in Lahore
and had become a security volunteer.
What is most striking is how this simple young man was so strong in dealing
with evil and fighting murderous violence. The words he said to the bomber
before he died – “I will die, but I will not let you enter the church” – express
strong faith and heroic courage in witnessing to love without measure. The
Gospel of that Fourth Sunday of Lent (15 March 2015) proclaimed Jesus’ words
to Nicodemus: “For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light,
so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to
the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God”
(Jn 3:20-21). Akash sealed these words with his young Christian blood. He
fought cheek by jowl with the power of death, hatred and violence and made
light and truth triumph. He washed his white garment with the blood of the
Lamb, making it resplendent (cf. Rev 7:14).
Contact with the world and the Salesian charism reinforced the goodness and
generosity in Akash that he had learned in his family and in the Christian
community. Akash Bashir is an example of holiness for every Christian, an
example for all the young Christians of the world. And he is undoubtedly a clear
charismatic sign of the Salesian educational system. Akash is the voice of so
many brave young people who manage to give their lives for faith despite
difficulties, poverty, religious extremism, indifference, social inequality,
discrimination. The life and martyrdom of this young Pakistani makes us
recognise the power of the Holy Spirit of God, alive, found in the least expected
places – in the humble, the persecuted, the young; in the little ones of God.

• And let us not forget Artemides Zatti in the year of his canonisation.

He was certainly a consecrated religious, but one cannot fail to be struck by the
lay dimension of his holiness spent in the daily exercise of charity in the
simplicity of a small hospital and a small village. He is an example and a model
of consecration to his people in sacrificial and patient work, having God as its
source, its motivation for faith and as the sole and ultimate goal of his life.
Their lives, the lives of all of them and their example are like “leaven in the
dough” that continues to grow, and the Kingdom within us and around us.

The lay faithful offer the humus for the growth of the faith38. This expression
of Benedict XVI reminds us that Christianity is rooted and develops in the world
thanks to the faith and commitment to evangelisation of so many lay people,
married people, families and Christian communities. By the grace of Baptism, faith
grows and spreads.

Similarly, the above-mentioned lay witnesses of Salesian holiness and many others
“next door” have also given and continue to offer the humus for the growth of the
Salesian charism. This company of saints reminds us that before works and roles,
the quality of human relationships is the privileged place for the proclamation of
the Gospel and the flourishing of the charism.

38
BENEDICT XVI, Catechesis 7 February 2007.

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These testimonies remind us of the universal call to holiness, so dear both to St
Francis de Sales – as we have already said – and to our Father of the Salesian
Family, Don Bosco, when he proposed the goal of holiness to the young people of
the oratory and to ordinary folk as a goal open to all, easy to follow and oriented
to endless happiness.

All this by having Mary Help of Christians, the one who welcomed Jesus into her
virginal womb and for this reason Mother, Teacher and Guide of the faith, especially
in the accompaniment of the young generations on their journey towards holiness.
The lives of all of them and their example are like “yeast for the bread.”

7. Our young people as YEAST in today’s world

I would like to conclude this year’s Strenna message with a final word that
addresses our young people and the path we want to take together, because they
too want to accompany us as we want to accompany them:

We want to tell you loudly, with all our heart. Being here for us was a dream come
true: in this special place that is Valdocco, where the Salesian mission began,
together with Salesians and young people for the Salesian mission, with our common
will to be saints together. You have our hearts in your hands. Take care of this
precious treasure of yours. Please never forget us and keep listening to us. Turin, 7
March 2020.39

In fact, young people prepare for life, we accompany them on this journey, and I
have no doubt that a very great service that we would render to them, to society
and to the Church is to help them become aware of the social role they must play
and for which they must prepare. That is why they are also the first to learn that
they are called to be yeast in in the human family.

In preparing to write this commentary, I decided to look for and read, precisely for
this final section of the Strenna, some of what the last three pontiffs – St John Paul
II, Benedict XVI and Francis – have told the young people, because I was sure that
their messages would be abundant and very powerful. And that is how they seem
to me: so current, so timely and, dare I say it, so “Salesian”. And at the same time
I want to strongly affirm how vast, extensive and demanding is the task that young
people have before them in the Church and in the world. If they accept the
challenge of being truly today’s young people, active in their Christian and social
commitment and true “yeast” in the human family.

Pope John Paul II, three years before his death, in one of his speeches proposed40
eight great challenges that are genuine proposals of Christian, social and political
life and commitment for young people who want to meet significant challenges. In
reality, these are eight challenges that some scholars reduce to just one that could
be expressed in this way: putting the human being at the centre of economics and
politics. The task is this: the defence of human life in all situations; the promotion
of the family and the eradication of poverty (through debt reduction, promoting

39
GC28, What kind of Salesians for the Youth of Today? Letter of the young people to Chapter
members, Annex 3, p. 146.
40
JOHN PAUL II, Address to Ambassadors of Countries Accredited to the Holy See, Rome, 10 January
2002.

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development and opening up fair international trade); the defence of human rights
and work to ensure disarmament (reduction of arms sales and consolidation of
peace after conflicts); the fight against major diseases and access for all to the most
necessary medicines; the protection of nature and prevention of natural disasters;
and finally, the strict application of international law and conventions.

In turn, in the Encyclical Letter on integral human development, Caritas in

Veritate41, Pope Benedict XVI lists the current challenges that are urgent and
essential for the life of the world and in which today’s young people can engage,
such as: the use of the earth’s resources, respect for ecology, the just distribution
of goods and the control of financial mechanisms, the fight against hunger in the
world, promotion of the dignity of work, human solidarity with the poorest
countries, service to the culture of life, inter-religious dialogue and the construction
of peace among peoples and nations.

Finally, Pope Francis proposes a series of demanding tasks that we have as

Christians and that await young people who want to take them on and engage in
them with their faith and commitment, since many other young people suffer from
such violence and extortion. Among his various writings (Encyclicals, Apostolic
Exhortations and Messages to young people),42 I would like to recall the following:
there are terrible and painful contexts of war (and I cannot fail to mention the
unjust war against the Ukrainian people, which we all know because it has lasted
for eleven months now); there are many people and young people who suffer from
violence that manifests itself in many different ways: kidnappings, extortion,
organised crime, trafficking of human beings, slavery and sexual exploitation, war
crimes, etc. Some children are forced to become soldiers, to be part of armed gangs
and criminals, to be involved in drug trafficking. Not a few children and teenagers
are enslaved in the sex trade and trafficking. And there is no shortage of people
and young people who are marginalised and even martyred because of their
ethnicity or their beliefs. The pain of migration (in inhuman situations) and the
scourge of xenophobia cannot be forgotten.43 The discarding of people around the
world, racism and the violation of universal human rights are other realities of a
world in which there is also so much pain.44

Are we aware that all this and much more affects this human family in which we
seek to be yeast, salt and light45? Could we say that this is a pessimistic view? No,
not at all. Pope Francis himself cites many advances that exist today, but that go
hand in hand with a “deterioration of ethics”:

With the Grand Imam Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, we do not ignore the positive advances made
in the areas of science, technology, medicine, industry and welfare, above all in
developed countries. Nonetheless, “we wish to emphasise that, together with these

41
Cf. BENEDICT XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, Rome, 29 June 2009.
42
Cf. ChV, 72-74; Cf. FT, 25.
43
FT, 38-40.
44
Ibid, 18-24.
45
I would like to emphasise in a very significant way what the Rector Major Fr Pascual Chávez wrote
about the commitment of the Salesian Family to the defence of life, in all its senses and in all its
dimensions. This is a very rich list of our current commitments (which also involves young people):
Cf. CHÁVEZ, P., You love everything that exists, and nothing that you have made disgusts you... Lord
Lover of Life. (Wis 11:24.12,1), in ID., Circular Letters to the Salesians (ACG 396 (2006) Letter 019),
LAS, Rome 2021, 604-605, 609-617.

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 historical advances, great and valued as they are, there exists a moral deterioration
that influences international action and a weakening of spiritual values and
responsibility. his contributes to a general feeling of frustration, isolation and
desperation […]. We see “outbreaks of tension and a build-up of arms and
ammunition in a global context dominated by uncertainty, disillusionment, fear of
the future, and controlled by narrow economic interests”. We can also point to “major
political crises, situations of injustice and the lack of an equitable distribution of
natural resources… […] In the face of such crises that result in the deaths of millions
of children – emaciated from poverty and hunger – there is an unacceptable silence
on the international level.46

This reality is an opportunity for all of us, but especially for young people, to feel
the Lord’s call to live their Christian and also Salesian life (within the family of Don
Bosco) as a great task.
This task and challenge had already been recalled by Pope Paul VI at the end of the
Second Vatican Council with a message addressed to young people in which he
said:

Lastly, it is to you, young men and women of the world, that the council wishes to
address its final message. For it is you who are to receive the torch from the hands
of your elders and to live in the world at the period of the most gigantic
transformations ever realized in its history. t is you who, receiving the best of the
example of the teaching of your parents and your teachers, are to form the society of
tomorrow. You will either save yourselves or you will perish with it.
[…] ...and build in enthusiasm a better world than your elders had!47

Today, with deep conviction, I address this request that comes to all of us to be
truly yeast in the human family to all of you, dear young people. These challenges
demand that you say yes or no to your commitment to building a more just and
fraternal world with your life, your formation, your studies, your work and your
vocation. These challenges place you at the crossroads of accepting or rejecting a
challenging and exciting life in which to put all your strength and energies
according to God’s dream for each of you.

And certainly you are not asked for any particular, extraordinary heroism, but only
– yet this is already a lot – to make your own gifts and God-given to each of you
fruitful, committing yourselves to grow in faith, in true Love, in fraternity and in
service to all, especially to the least, to those who are most affected by life, to those
who have least opportunity.

It seems to me to be a precious proposal for every young Christian and Salesian

who wants to be a missionary disciple of the Lord today, and also a challenge and
a proposal of such dignity and scope that, without any shame, it can be offered to
any young person who wants to live their human condition to the full, whether they
are Christians or professes other religious beliefs or seek to an essential and
authentic humanism. At the same time it leads you to live outside your “comfort
zones” which, like sirens with their songs, can lull you to sleep.

46
FT, 29 which also cites the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together,
Abu Dhabi (4 February 2019): L’Osservatore Romano 4-5 February 2019, p.6.
47
PAUL VI, Message to Youth, Rome, 8 December 1965.

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I just referred to humanism and I would like to conclude explicitly with a reference
to this “Salesian humanism” with which we can educate all the young people of all
nations of the world who are involved in Salesian presences because

For Don Bosco [it] meant giving due weight to all that is positive in the life of
individuals, in creation, in the events of history. This led him to accept the genuine
values present in the world, especially if pleasing to the young; to place himself in the
flow of culture and of human development in his own times, encouraging the good
and refusing to lament about the evil; wisely seeking the cooperation of many people,
convinced that each one has gifts that need to be discovered, recognised and put to
good use; believing in the power of education which provides support for the young
person’s development, and encouraging him to become an upright citizen and a good
Christian; and always and everywhere entrusting himself to the providence of God,
perceived and loved as a Father.48

I conclude by thanking the Lord for a beautiful and full life in our Salesian Family
at the service of the Gospel, asking the Lord for the whole Church and for us as
part of the same Church to accept the joyful task of evangelising, because “she was
sent by Christ to reveal and to communicate the love of God to all men and
nations.”49

May our Mother Help of Christians help all of us to be missionary disciples, little
stars that reflect her light. And let us pray that hearts may open to joyfully receive
the proclamation of salvation which is God himself in Jesus.

Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, S.D.B.

Rector Major

48
Fr. Chavez, Like Don Bosco the educator we offer young people the Gospel of joy through a pedagogy
of kindness. Strenna 2013 (ACG 415 (2013) Letter 038, op.cit., 1240-1241.
49
Ad Gentes, 10.

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