12 June 2011
Solemnity of Pentecost

Dear Confreres, members of the Salesian Family
and Friends of the Salesian Missions,

I greet you on the Solemnity of Pentecost, on which we celebrate that most excellent of gifts, the most precious fruit of the Passover of the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit Who makes us sons of God, disciples of Christ and his apostles, in order to bear witness in our lives to the new human condition arising from the Resurrection of Jesus and to proclaim with our lips the marvels of the Lord, who wants all men to be saved and to reach the fullness of life in Christ. Pentecost is the beginning of the restoration of the unity of the human race, in the diversity of its languages and cultures, races and nations. If Babel led to dispersion and confusion, Pentecost rebuilds unity and communion.

As in every year, I am writing to you to present a theme which expresses the missionary dimension of our vocation, keeps alive our missionary commitment and implements God’s marvellous plan. This one in 2012 will be the 25th Salesian Mission Day: a day therefore particularly significant, since it is a Jubilee. In particular we will be focusing our attention on the continent of Asia, where Christianity is a real minority and where the Church is living its life as in a diaspora situation in an ocean of huge  populations, extremely ancient religions and cultures. Salesian Missions Day will have as its motto ‘Telling the story of Jesus’ to the young, a demanding and attractive task. Its basic inspiration are the words in n. 20 of the Post-Synodal Exhortation Ecclesia in Asia of John Paul II: «… the proclamation of Jesus Christ can most effectively be made by narrating his story, as the Gospels do.» These words were adopted as the theme of the first Missionary Congress  of Asia at Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2006.

The theme of the SMD presents a spiritual and pastoral programme with three elements:

1.    Evangelising the heart of the Salesian

The heart is at the centre of the apostolic prayer and of the plan of life of Don Bosco ‘Da mihi animas, cetera tolle’. Don Bosco invited his boys, his Salesians, the  Cooperators and benefactors to give their hearts to God. Only an individual or a community constantly being evangelised can become a credible evangeliser, a convinced and enthusiastic witness so as to want to share one’s faith with others including non-Christians. If our heart has not been won over by Jesus Christ we cannot be those who proclaim him. As pastors and educators of the young we are called to use all the means available to spread the Gospel of Jesus. None the less, the effectiveness of the communication,  ‘Telling the story of Jesus,’ does not depend  only on the means but above all on the  people and the  communities, who therefore, in the first place, need to be deeply touched by Jesus and by his Gospel. Salesian Missions Day 2012 therefore is an invitation to be disciples of Christ, evangelised, before becoming apostles, evangelisers.

2.    Returning to Don Bosco, a communicator of the experience of God

We have begun the preparations for the bi-centenary of the birth of Don Bosco, which will be celebrated in 2015. In the meantime the pilgrimage of the relics of Don Bosco to all the continents has highlighted the great attraction our beloved Founder and Father has. Obviously, for us Salesians of Don Bosco the three year period of preparation is a call to us to rediscover his great inspirations, his deepest motivations, his courageous choices. It is true that Don Bosco was an exceptional communicator, who enlightened the mind and warmed the heart. Nonetheless, his real greatness lay in his total dedication to the young, his life’s mission; his backing the value of education; his Preventive System built on the threefold foundations of  reason, loving kindness and religion; his ability to involve all kinds of people in his mission. All of this was the fruit of his profound experience of God which gave his whole life its unity. SMD 2012 is an invitation to continue to tell the story of the missionary presence in the Congregation.

3.    Being in harmony with the great lines of the Church in the different continents

Don Bosco lived his whole life at the service of the Church, since the Salesian mission finds its place at the heart of the mission of the Church. Don Bosco dreamed and worked to bring the Kingdom of God from Turin to the furthest ends of the world. As his disciples we are aware that “in the Apostolic Exhortations which followed the Continental Synods are challenges for  the entire Church …to find new ways for proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ while respecting and appreciating local cultures.” (GC26, 26). The valuable recommendations of the Pope and of the Bishops, taken up again more specifically by the continental or national Missionary Congresses, help us to be more effective evangelisers. The first Mission Congress of Asia in 2006 (Chiang Mai, Thailand) reminds us of other continental events (America – CELAM in Aparecida 2007, the continental Synods for Africa, Europe and Oceania). Salesian Mission Day 2012 therefore is an invitation to live more intensely in the heart of the Church which is really Catholic – universal.

My dear friends, while I invite you to accept the challenge of telling the story of Jesus to the young people of today and I thank you for your courageous response to his final command «Go and proclaim the Gospel!», I entrust this Salesian Mission Day 2012 to the guidance and the protection of Mary, the first disciple and missionary, Mother and Help of the Church.

Yours affectionately in Don Bosco,

Don Pascual Chávez Villanueva
Rector Major