LETTER OF THE RECTOR MAJOR DON ÁNGEL FERNÁNDEZ ARTIME
The Salesian charism in the animation of the family returns to its origins, and the family in living the spirit of Don Bosco gains in dynamism and evangelical joy. The family today lives a very delicate time and needs extraordinary help for its formation, its development and the responsible exercise of its educational task. In this context, the importance of having a family pastoral ministry and a youth pastoral ministry that are open to each other and walk together is revived.
In the Charter of Charismatic Identity of the Salesian Family, 16, we read: “Particular attention is given to the family, the primary place of humanization, destined to prepare young people for love and the acceptance of life, the first school of solidarity between persons and peoples. Everyone is committed to guaranteeing it dignity and solidity so that it may become, in an ever more evident way, a small domestic church.”
The Association of Mary Help of Christians has also been renewed in this perspective and increasingly sees the presence of families and young couples who, under Mary’s guidance, share a life journey, made up of training, sharing and prayer. Mary is Mother and Teacher, educating them to become spouses and parents. The ADMA helps them be faithful to the vocation of spouses, a great help in the education of children. The Association’s project looks at families according to a vision that involves the whole family. It is the thread that weaves in an embroidery the path of the parents and that of the children. In fact, by watching the parents pray and share their faith, the children learn to live as a family in the presence of Jesus and Mary. Parents, watching their children, become more and more convinced that the witness of faith is the most beautiful gift they can offer, the richest legacy they can leave them.
Nowadays, no family can remain alone. It is necessary to walk together to be a ‘Family of Families’, sharing joys and bearing burdens and labouring together, with certain focus:
- put Marriage at the centre and Jesus at the centre of Marriage;
- ensuring the primacy of Grace;
- experiencing how prayer becomes charity.
Fundamental is the spiritual accompaniment of individuals and couples, with the presence of priests, consecrated persons and the spouses themselves, who have made a beautiful journey of conjugal, Christian and Salesian family life, who become precious guides in the journey of faith, sharing the experience of God that lies at the heart of their vocation and mission.
Andrea and Maria Adele Damiani
