Italy – Msgr Nosiglia to young people: "Don Bosco helps you to believe in yourselves and to aim high"

01 February 2022
Photo: Mihai Bursuc

(ANS - Turin) - As per tradition, yesterday, 31 January, for the Feast Day of Don Bosco, the archbishop of Turin, Msgr. Cesare Nosiglia, paid homage to the Salesian presence in the city by going to Valdocco and celebrating a Eucharist in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians. “Today we celebrate the liturgical feast of St. John Bosco and we welcome his example and his educational action as a strong appeal to esteem young people capable of great things and to encourage them never to give up in the face of difficulties,” began the pastor at the helm of the Turin church.

In his homily, Msgr. Nosiglia commented on the Gospel page of the rich young man, and the existential question he poses: What must I do to have eternal life? “A question that is no longer usual today, but that inhabits the heart if we translate it into the tension towards happiness that every young person feels strong and overbearing within himself,” observed the prelate.

He then pointed out how the words of Jesus do not promise easy shortcuts, neither for eternal life, nor for happiness, but indicate the way “of the gift of oneself, which becomes a source of joy ... because, as Jesus testifies, ‘there is more joy in giving than receiving.’”

The archbishop of Turin encouraged the entire ecclesial community to go out to meet young people “questioning themselves and renewing their lifestyle, languages, ​​and ways to foster open and free dialogue and confrontation with young people, without prejudice,” because, he asserted, “young people need the Church and this needs young people. Mutual estrangement and indifference do not benefit anyone and leave enormous voids in the hearts of young people, which no other human, social or religious reality can fill.”

Msgr. Nosiglia also urged young people by saying: “Have the courage to tell your peers about the Christian experience you are having with joy and enthusiasm, inviting them to experience friendship in an alternative group to the many they attend; a group ... where one also learns to pray together, to approach the Bible, to celebrate the Eucharist, to serve the little ones, the poor and the suffering with love and solidarity; a group where it is possible to experience an encounter with Jesus in its community even today.”

“Don Bosco help you to believe in yourselves and to aim high in your life, towards the unexplored goals of the heights of faith and love,” the prelate concluded.

Finally, during the whole day of January 31, the participation of the city and ecclesial community in the feast day of Don Bosco deserves to be mentioned. Among the celebrants of the Eucharist for the Feast Day of Don Bosco - in addition to many Salesians, starting with the Rector Major, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, there were in fact, also Fr Carmine Arice, Father General of Cottolengo; Msgr. Giacomo Maria Martinacci, Rector of the Consolata Shrine; and Msgr. Derio Olivero, Bishop of Pinerolo.

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