In his message to the readers of the May 2023 Salesian Bulletin, after recounting his beautiful experience in Peru, particularly in Piura, and the Marian devotion of the locals there, Fr Á.F. Artime presents what he calls a “necessary self-criticism”.
“Our heavenly Mother, our Mother the Help of Christians, has not been been made known in the same way, with the same intensity, with the same apostolic passion everywhere around the world. There are places where we have developed schools, where we have gone ahead and certainly served the good of the people, but we have not been able to make Her known and loved ”, he says.
“Yet, ” adds the Rector Major, “this Mother, and devotion to the Help of Christians as Mother of the Lord and our mother, is not optional in the Salesian charism, just as it was not optional for Don Bosco. It is simply essential.”
That is why, during this Salesian May, ANS is resolute in once more taking up the spiritual proposal of a Worldwide Novena which the Rector Major began promoting several years back in preparation for 24 May. ANS will continue, over coming days, to offer thought-provoking and in-depth articles on Mary Help of Christians, the supreme Patroness of the Salesian Congregation and the author – as Don Bosco himself admitted – of every successful project in Don Bosco’s life.
The videos of the Worldwide Novena to Mary Help of Christians are available in Italian, English, Spanish, French and Portuguese on the various ANSChannel language channels, and on TELEGRAM SDB.ORG.
The booklets with an introduction to the daily theme, an introduction by the Rector Major, an evocative story prepared by Fr Bruno Ferrero, Editor of the Italian Salesian Bulletin, and the final prayer of invocation to Mary, instead, are already fully available in Italian, English, Spanish, French and Portuguese on the institutional website of the Congregation: www.sdb.org.
