(ANS - Lviv) - Living Easter in a time of war is not easy. But those who have staked their whole lives on faith in the Resurrection of Jesus are called to bear witness to it even under the bombs and to be bearers of hope for those who are tried by mourning, by having to flee from their homes, abandon their past lives. That's why, on the occasion of the Orthodox Easter, celebrated last Sunday, April 24, 2022, the Salesian coordination for emergency response in Ukraine had a special thought for the people victimized by the war.

(ANS) – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ emotional speech during COP26 highlights the urgency of the climate situation. “Our addiction to fossil fuels is pushing humanity to the brink. We face a stark choice:  Either we stop it — or it stops us. It is time to say enough! Enough of brutalizing biodiversity. Enough of killing ourselves with carbon. Enough of treating nature as a toilet. Enough of burning, drilling and mining our way deeper. We are digging our own graves. Our planet is changing before our eyes — from the ocean depths to mountain tops… we are still careening towards climate catastrophe.” This plundering seems to be never-ending. The wound, a systematic assault on the Earth, breaks down the balance of the planet. The bleeding wounds on Mother Earth creates a sense of brokenness in us. Leave out the greedy, the humans, in general, feel a state of hopelessness and helplessness with regard to the deterioration of the health of the planet. The worship of mammon now seems to have engulfed the entire planet. The struggle for power and control has reached new heights in our time. We, humans, keep looking with hope for the reversal of what had happened to the natural world.   

(ANS - Seville) - The project of the musical "Getsemani" was born in 2019 at the Assembly of Salesian Cooperators (SSCC) of the Province of Mary Help of Christians: a group of members of the association, from various parts of Andalusia, prepared a small musical about the passion and death of Jesus as a moment of prayer, conceived as a simple stage play for those present. But the emotions aroused among those people gave the stimulus to repeat and perfect the project, involving, in the following year, a larger number of people. However, a few days after the first performance, the pandemic forced the show’s suspension. It was a setback, but the technical team and the cast of artists remained united as they waited for the conditions to arrive to stage the show.

(ANS - Rome) - The Easter greetings that the Rector Major Fr Ángel Fernández Artime usually sends, this year, in addition to the content wishing everyone Peace, Joy and Hope in the Risen Christ, are characterized by having been printed by the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato of Rome, the Italian State Mint and Polygraphic Institute. It is a collector's commemorative stamp, printed in a limited edition of one thousand copies, depicting the exterior of the Casa Don Bosco House Museum in Valdocco (Turin) in silk-screen printing and five cinderella stamps depicting "special" pieces from the same museum.

(ANS - Madrid) - An intense community experience of what is at the heart of Christian faith and life: the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of the Lord. This is what the Salesians want to offer to some 1,600 young people and families participating in the special Easter meetings prepared for this year. The improvement of the pandemic-related situation makes it possible to fulfill these celebrations with the usual canons.

(ANS - Rome) - At the beginning of Lent, a parish community asked if there was a Stations of the Cross with reflections taken from the texts of Saint Francis de Sales. Thanks to the collaboration of Fr Paolo Mojoli, from Cremisan, for the texts, and of Prof. Elena Cristino, for the graphics, both a Stations of the Cross and a Way of Light were created, with the biblical passages that mark the respective 14 stations and with ideas taken from the writings of Francesco de Sales. They are not direct comments on the Gospel episodes but are short extracts from his writings, designed to accompany the reflection and prayer of the journey of the cross and of the Easter icons that are contemplated in the Via Lucis.