(ANS – Turin) -On the Feast Day of Don Bosco, the Rector Major and 10th Successor of Don Bosco at the head of the Salesian Congregation, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, delivers his message to young people.

My dear young people,
May my greeting reach each one of you with true affection and with all my heart from Valdocco, where we are celebrating the feast of our beloved Don Bosco, “Father and teacher of youth” - as St John Paul II declared.
I am writing this letter to you having just returned from praying for you in the Basilica before the Lord, before our Mother the Help of Christians, before Don Bosco, Mother Mazzarello and St Dominic Savio, the adolescent saint of the early years of the oratory here in Valdocco.

Salesian Spirituality is strong and stands the test of time because it is firmly united to two unique historical figures in the providential history of the Church: St. Francis de Sales and St. John Bosco.

Receive my affectionate greeting, friends and readers. Today I would like to share with you the message found in the title, whose author, I must admit, I am not. It was Pope Francis who chose “the smile” as the guiding theme of his Christmas greetings last year to the employees in Vatican City and their families. He chose this theme precisely in a time when a smile is too often missing because humane and respectful behavior is often missing.