This year’s Strenna focuses on the laity and their role in the Salesian Family, as builders of the Kingdom of God in the service of the Other, their neighbors - whoever they may be in the great human family. It is a theme, moreover, in perfect harmony with the ecclesial season that the Church is living, of rediscovery of its synodal dimension, of a people walking together. And it is no coincidence, says the Rector Major in the opening of his message, "Being together as the people of God (laós = people, from which lay or laity means 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 asking for some time now, and it is what our fragmented world needs more and more."
In the video, filmed in Valdocco's Teatro Grande, the Rector Major interacts with laity and youth and reiterates the need for collaboration between laity and religious to build the Kingdom of God, a reality that, like yeast, is seemingly small, but in God's hands can do so much in the real, everyday life of so many people.
Through the flow of images it becomes clear how the ultimate goal of Don Bosco's action - the salvation of children and the transformation of society – is today in the Salesian Family already happening in many cases thanks to the work of so many lay people: such as Mexican rapper Eric Ponce, who sings for the education of street children in Ciudad Juárez; or Giovanna Bruno, Salesian Cooperator and Mayor of Andria, who has chosen as her motto for political commitment "people at center court."
A need for the gaze or eyes of the laity, the Rector Major recalls in the video, to sanctify the world from within; and he then cites many examples of lay holiness: Attilio Giordani, Dorothea Chopitea, the martyrs of Poznan, Mamma Margaret, and of course Artemide Zatti, a Salesian brother canonized last year precisely for his lay commitment among the suffering. Accepting and transforming the present reality; being human bearers of humanity; and finally living sanctity: following the three lines of the video, this is what everyone is invited to.
Produced this year by "IME COMMUNICATION," the Strenna video is designed for the animation of Salesian Family communities and groups around the world, and is currently available online on ANSChannel in 33 languages. Such a variety of languages has only been possible thanks to the professional and qualified work of many people in different nations across the globe, who, under the coordination of the ANS, have made such pervasiveness of the Rector Major's voice and thoughts possible with their commitment. The heartfelt thanks of the Salesian Family go to all of them.
Thus, you can watch the video of the Strenna for 2023:
– In the originals in Italian e Spanish
Dubbed, in:
- English
- French
- Polish
- Korean
- Tamil
- Arabic
- Malagasy
- Slovak
- Tetun
- Khmer
- Burmese
- Telugu
- Pidgin
- And soon to be in Thai.
And subtitled in:
– Czech
– Dutch
– German
– Samoano
– Tagalog
– Japanese
– Croatian
– Romanian.
Finally, please note that it is always possible - indeed, recommended - to read the full commentary of the Strenna, which is available in Italian, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Polish always on ANS.
