Logistical and spiritual preparations

So, while preparations are in full swing in Valdocco – as well as in many Salesian communities around the world where many people are now getting ready to leave for the event – the Rector Major’s Central Delegate for the Salesian Family, Fr Joan Lluís Playà, invites us first and foremost to: “Prepare your heart! We are certainly making many preparations for the journey, but the most important is spiritual preparation.”

“These are days of family and communion, of deepening our understanding of the Strenna and sharing, of prayer and openness to encounter, listening, and discernment with a view to making good choices, as Mary did at Cana, where she brought the power of her faith into play,” Fr Playà urged again in a message sent to those registered for SFSD 2026.

Exhibitions, visits, testimonies, and resources

Along with moments of shared spirituality in common celebrations and liturgies, and in addition to the times of reflection and listening together provided for in the programme, SFSD 2026 also includes freely chosen options which will enrich the individual experience of participants in Turin. There are four different options, scheduled for the early afternoon of Friday, 16 January, which participants can choose from according to their respective sensibilities and interests.

They can:

Visit the “Le ali di Maria Troncatti” Display (The Wings of Maria Troncatti), on the most recent saint of the Salesian Family; Visit the Piergiorgio Frassat Display. He is a model of youthful holiness who grew up in Turin in the 20th century; Visit the Don Bosco House Museum in Turin, for an immersion in the roots of the Salesian charism; Or listen to a testimony on Akash Bashir, a young Salesian past pupil whose Cause of Martyrdom is currently underway.

In addition, among the resources announced to accompany the 44 SFSD is the eagerly awaited new hymn, composed, as is now customary, by Salesian Fr Maurizio Palazzo, Master of the Choir of the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin, entitled “Do whatever he tells you.” The message to keep in mind in view of the SFSD.

In his Strenna, the Rector Major exhorts us to “Do whatever he tells you,” like Mary: therefore, to believe, free from the obstacles that hinder us, in order to serve young people in particular, who desire to live the joy of faith. This is, therefore, the first and most important element that the Rector Major’s Central Delegate for the Salesian Family ultimately delivers in order to arrive well prepared for the event.

For further information, visit the website: www.famigliasalesiana.org