“Happy Feast to All” (153º)
Dear ADMA friends,
We have reached the month of April, full of spring, joy, colours... but above all celebration. For us Christians, the most important feast of the year is the Lord’s EASTER, the passage of Our Lord Jesus Christ from death to life. By loosening the bonds of slavery and sin, he has given the definitive victory of human existence through his love. This is why we are celebrating with such joy this event that is so important in filling and giving deep meaning to our lives. Our experience of this joy is so deep that we cannot keep quiet and we want to transmit it and share it with everyone else. These are the days of sacramental celebrations, of exchanging our joy wishing each other a happy Easter and of deepening our faith in the Risen Lord.
It is very meaningful to contemplate Mary, the mother of Jesus who always accompanied the faith of the disciples. She, who has always been close to people's suffering, comes close in these days and consoles, comforts, listens, welcomes... with her sincere and persevering prayer, she hopes and waits with trust when so many doubt. Mary, in the Word of God, presents herself as a model for the disciples; she believes in the Father's love, opens her heart to receive the great gift of the Holy Spirit and allows herself to be transformed by the power of the Resurrection.
For us, Mary's children, there is another event to celebrate, an important feast for all ADMA members: the feast of our birth, the day of our foundation. The 18th of April every year is an occasion to remember our origins, how we were born, to go back to the source which is Don Bosco's passionate heart towards Mary Help of Christians. This date is an opportunity to renew our loving remembrance of all the people who have transmitted the devotion to Mary in different places, thanking them for giving us this beautiful gift. It is an invitation to remember our Marian and Salesian identity. It is a date that is celebrated in the Easter season, which is why we are invited to take a moment and place ourselves at the feet of Our Lady of Don Bosco and ask the Lord to enlighten us with the light of his Easter, his mercy and his forgiveness, so that we may have a heart that is pleasing to him, to remember and renew our desire to love and serve.
For us, this feast is an Ecclesial event, because it was the Archbishop of Turin, Msgr. Riccardi di Netro, who approved the regulations presented by Don Bosco. In this way, the Association of Devotees of Mary Help of Christians is not only Salesian but has been recognized by the Church and thus presents itself to the world as a public association of lay faithful. Thus, it is an invitation to strengthen our communion with Pope Francis, lived it through our communion with the presbyters and the people of God. In our present time of divisions, living united as a large Christian family is a big challenge for all. At the same time, it is also an invitation to remember those who are most in need, in poverty, in war, in sickness etc. May this feast help us to revive the ecclesial sense of our Salesian and Marian identity.
Dear friends, we invite you all, present in different parts of the world, to experience this feast with joy, united in prayer before Mary, in communion with all the local groups, in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, and to celebrate together as Mary's beloved children.
Renato Valera, President of ADMA Valdocco.
Alejandro Guevara, Spiritual Animator ADMA Valdocco.
