SYM FORUM in TIMOR LESTE

 

SYM FORUM in TIMOR LESTE

Lospalos- Every year, the young people  from the Salesian Youth Movement gather together to enjoy the presence of one another, to share, to reflect, to learn and to pray. This year they are about 500 participants, coming from the SDB and FMA houses, who gathered in Lospalos from 25 to 27  August.. The theme that is chosen for their reflection is the theme itself of the  Extraordinary Synod of Bishops in the year 2018: “ Young people, the faith and vocational discernment.

The first day opened with the Eucharistic Celebration followed by the evaluation on the implementation of the activities of the past year 2016

The second day of the Forum led the participants to reflect deeply on the theme “young people, the faith and vocational discernment, being presented and respond to the questionnaire from the Synod  Preparatory Document . The  presentation of the theme starts with the fundamental question, asked by the young man of the Gospel: “Good Teacher, what must I do to share in everlasting life?” (Mk 10:17-25 ), This young man represents  the young people. Then she made a very clear and deep explanation and reflection  about the “gift of discernment and accompaniment”.  Another important and enriching activity was the oratory workshop where the participants learned from one another about  the value and use of drama , catechesis, educative recreations, creative animations and others.

After the workshop, the participants prepared themselves  during  the Penitential Celebration to encounter Christ in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.. The day ended with the “cultural night”.

 

The last day of the Forum ended with the Holy Mass ,concelebrated by the Salesian priests together with the three young priests just ordained last August 15,2017. In the homily, the newly ordained priest,  Father Isaias Bonifacio invited the young people who participated in this Forum to become “bridge” and be Jesus Christ “mouth, hands and feet” to their companions, by making friends especially with those who distant themselves from the Church. To end his homily , he also mentioned Rector Major’s Strenna 2018 ; Rector Major  asks the young people to learn how to relate with others. In relating with other persons, it is necessary to take away all prejudices from our mind in order to establish true and lasting friendship.

 

Annunci

Pope Francis Speaks to Youth in Colombia

 

Continue to live the Spirit and experience of Confronto 2017

Pope Francis: The arts and nature express the beauty of creation and bring joy to the soul

World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Together with the head of the Orthodox Church, Pope Francis urged people to be respectful and responsible toward creation while being aware of how disrupted ecosystems impact the poor.

To mark the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation Sept. 1, the pope said he and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople “prepared a message together.”

Although the text was not published immediately, Pope Francis told people at his general audience Aug. 30 that the message would be an invitation to all people “to adopt a respectful and responsible approach toward creation.”

“Furthermore,” he said, “we appeal to those who hold an influential role to listen to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor, who suffer more because of ecological imbalances.”

Pope Francis instituted the world day of prayer for the Catholic Church in 2015, joining with the ecumenical patriarchate, who has observed the Sept. 1 day of prayer since 1989.

The annual World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, Pope Francis said when he instituted it, is to be a time for individuals and communities to “reaffirm their personal vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which he has entrusted to our care, and to implore his help for the protection of creation as well as his pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live.”

If Christians are to make their special contribution to safeguarding creation, they must rediscover the spiritual foundations of their approach to what exists on earth, beginning with an acknowledgment that “the life of the spirit is not dissociated from the body or from nature,” but lived in communion with all worldly realities, he had said.

 

 

 

Italy – Return of stolen Don Bosco relic to original site

Italy – Return of stolen Don Bosco relic to original site

 

 

 

17 August 2017

Castelnuovo Don Bosco, Italy – The relic of Saint John Bosco, stolen on June 2 and recovered on June 15, was returned to its original site in the Basilica of Colle Don Bosco on 16 August 2017 by the Rector Major of the Salesians, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime.

The relic of Don Bosco, stolen last 2 June and recovered after a few days by the Carabinieri, was returned to the Basilico of Colle  Don Bosco on 16 August. Here is how Fr. Fabio Attard, General Councilor for Youth Ministry, expresses his thanks to the Carabinieri and the sense of the Sanit’s “presence.”

By Giovanna Pasqualin Traversa

“First of all,” Fr. Attard begins, “I want to express my deepest gratitude to the Carabinieri for their work. Yesterday,  General Amato described the great effort made to find the relic after it was stolen last June 2, the first Friday of the month, a sad event that had great media resonance all over the world.”

“After the find,” continues the Salesian, “and at the conclusion of the necessary legal procedures, we thought of how to relocate it to its place. These days at Colle Don Bosco, 250 young people from 25 countries met, most being from Europe but also from the Middle East, for the SYM Confronto 2017 Meeting.” The meeting, which takes place every four years, always ends on August 16, “Father Don Bosco’s birthday, this year his 202nd”: a ‘providential’ coincidence and a ‘great opportunity’ to “place the relic within the context of a pastoral journey welcomed by the same young people so beloved by Don Bosco,” emphasizes the religious.

“His presence among us,” he continues, “is a ‘donated presence’, as the Rector Major pointed out, and the crowning achievement of the journey taken with our young people.”

But today what is the value of a relic, a piece of a saint’s body? “Society can remove the image of God from the public forum,” he replies, “but cannot eliminate the thirst for God from a person’s heart, and this transcendence is what young people are looking for. The relic of a saint is then that concrete thing that projects us and opens us to the sacred of which it is a visible part.”

“If they are offered a sense of belonging to a group, to proposals lofty and witnessed, to vision and project for the future, accompanied by adults who are authentic and significant, young people begin to see what they are looking for,” the Salesian concludes. “The relic is not spiritualism, but a projection of itself towards the sacred that everyone is carrying inside one’s self.”

 

 

 

 

 

2017 SYM Europe Confronto

 

Confronto 2017

Meeting of SYM Europe.

WHEN? This summer, from 11th until 16th of August
WHERE? in Italy (Colle don Bosco, Turin, Mornese)

THEME: Agents of Don Bosco’s VISION, PASSION & MISSION

We want to go back to the roots of our Movement, before setting sail for the places where our mission calls us. Don Bosco’s vision started with a dream sent by God. Let’s go back where all this started, where Don Bosco’s and Mother Mazzarello’s passion burned for the love of God and the young.
In doing this, we put ourselves on the same path along which the whole Church is walking  too. After two important Synods of the Bishops, Pope Francis recently gave the Church this great exhortation Amoris Laetitia, which is dedicated to love in the family. Rector Major’s Strenna 2017 to the Salesian Family is entitled “WE ARE A FAMILY! Every home, a school of Life and Love.”
The places where Confronto 2017 will take place introduce us to the story of Don Bosco’s family. They also talk us about why and how both Don Bosco and Madre Mazzarello recreated a family around many young people in need.
Within their own families, as well as in the service for the young and their families, SYM members can be agents of Don Bosco’s vision, passion and mission today.

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