Salesian Strenna 2026

(Rosemead, California) – In early August, Fr. Fabio Attard, the Rector Major of the Salesians of Don Bosco, announced the theme of the Strenna (annual theme or message, good wishes) for the year 2026: “Fate quello che vi dira” (Do whatever he tells you, believers, free to serve.)

“The Strenna is an opportunity for the entire Salesian family to come together around a particular theme, so that, through prayer and reflection, listening and sharing, the call of each group can find food for its own spiritual, charismatic, and pastoral journey,” Fr. Fabio said.

The expression, “Do whatever he tells you,” draws on the biblical passage of the wedding at Cana (Jn 2: 1-11): “Mary’s words to the servants of Cana contain a pedagogy of listening as well as of responding, a pedagogy that counteracts every form of passive obedience. Mary does not simply say ‘obey,’ but invites personal, active, and pro-active listening, ‘whatever he tells you.’ It is an invitation to trust in the person of Christ, a trust that becomes a gesture of responsibility which in turn generates authentic freedom.”

While the subtitle, “Believers, free to serve” completes the picture by tracing an existential trajectory: freedom is born from faith; service arises from freedom, that is, a freedom that–lived– makes others free.

In presenting the 2026 theme, the Rector Major recognizes the 150th anniversary of the Salesian Cooperators (lay members of the order who commit to living out St. John Bosco’s spirit and apostolate in their daily lives, serving especially young people, the poor, and the marginalized), an anniversary which “is not just a memory of the past, but a relaunch towards the future.”

“Don Bosco imagined a great movement of people who, together with him and like him, could contribute for the good of youth,” Fr. Fabio said. “Well, this is Don Bosco’s dream that continues today. The 150th celebration of the Salesian Cooperators strengthens in all of us the determination to be servants of young people as they face today’s challenges. This determination testifies to our faithful and generous response to the words that Mary addresses to us today, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’”

Source: Taken, in part, from the Istituto Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice

Published in “The Gear,” Don Bosco Technical Institute’s September Newsletter