Faith

2022 STRENNA “DO ALL THROUGH LOVE, NOTHING THROUGH CONSTRAINT”

– SAINT FRANCIS DE SALES)

“Strenna” is an Italian word meaning gift, a small and cherished token, a nugget of truth often used by Don Bosco to direct and teach those in his original oratory. In keeping with that tradition, the worldwide

Salesian community annually establishes an international thematic tone for each new year.

“Do all through love, nothing through constraint,” the 2022 strenna is taken from the words of St. Francis de Sales, an inspirational example to Don Bosco who followed the saint’s simple spirituality and philosophy of kindness

In his introduction of 2022’s strenna, Salesian Rector Major Father Ángel Fernández Artime, referenced the applicability of St. Francis’ words to today’s unique challenges that youth are facing and our loving response, as Salesians.

…Don Bosco has handed on to us his Preventive System as a means for carrying out our educational and pastoral service. This system is based entirely on reason, religion and loving kindness: instead of constraint, it appeals to the resources of intelligence, love and the desire for God, which everyone has in the depths of his being. It brings together educators and youngsters in a family experience of trust and dialogue.

Imitating God's patience, we encounter the young at their present stage of freedom. We then accompany them, so that they may develop solid convictions and gradually assume the responsibility for the delicate process of their growth as human beings and as men of faith...

… In short, going out to meet young people, wherever they may be and in whatever situation, continues to be our most distinctive feature, confirming Don Bosco’s desire to love what young people love so that they will love what we love, spreading the

Salesian spirit, our “valdocco option,” wherever the desire to be with young people takes us, living a true “Salesian sacrament of presence,” and the commitment to carry out “small charity works.”

This is how we were born and this is how we want to follow Don Bosco, who found in Francis de Sales a model and a kindred spirit, a sort of soul mate.

“St. Francis de Sales said, ‘You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working, and just so, you learn to love by loving.’ In carrying out his timeless words, we must live lives that reflect that love, and in so doing, inspire young people.”

– FATHER THIEN NGUYEN, SDB, BOSCO TECH’S SALESIAN DIRECTOR