(ANS – Rome) – There are now only 30 days to go until the 44th edition of the Salesian Family Spirituality Days (SFSD), scheduled to take place from January 15 to 18, 2026, at the Salesian Mother House in Valdocco, Turin. There is great anticipation for what will be the first time with the new Rector Major, Fr. Fabio Attard, which will bring together hundreds of personalities and members of the 32 groups of the vast religious tree that grew out of Don Bosco to fraternally discuss the Rector Major’s Strenna for the new year, entitled: “Do whatever he tells you. Believers, free to serve.”

In this time of waiting for the event and, even more so, in Christian terms, of waiting for Christmas, while the SFSD coordination team carries out all the necessary organizational and logistical steps, Fr. Joan Lluís Playà, the Rector Major’s Delegate for the Salesian Family, who chairs the Secretariat for the Salesian Family, has prepared a short message in which he invites us to take care of the preparation of our hearts as well.

“From the Secretariat, we suggest that you begin your preparation for the Days by reading and contemplating the account of the Annunciation (…), which is the story of Mary’s vocation and the beginning of the work of Redemption; it is ultimately the tangible sign of the depth of Mary’s faith,” observes Fr. Playà. “This is the faith with which she will say to the servants at Cana: ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ This is the faith that Mary, as the first believer, communicates to us, with her simplicity as a young woman in love.”

“The liturgy of Advent and Christmas offers us the most appropriate context to enter with our hearts into the meaning and experience of ‘Looking’, ‘Listening’, ‘Choosing’ and ‘Acting’ to which the Strenna will lead us, verbs to be conjugated as passionate apostles among today’s young people and on which we have developed the program for the Days,” the Rector Major’s Delegate for the Salesian Family said.

Fr. Playà ends his message by quoting a prayer by St. John Henry Newman, recently proclaimed Doctor of the Church, in which the English cardinal concludes: “Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but by my example, by the catching force of the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to You.”

As is the case every year, the 2026 Salesian Family Spirituality Days will offer moments of spiritual deepening, lectio divina, dialogue, and sharing among the different groups of the Salesian Family. The program includes the presentation and deepening of the Strenna, testimonies of life and accompaniment of faith, celebrations, times of prayer, and opportunities for fraternity.

Special attention will be given to young people, lay people, and Salesian Cooperators, in the context of the 150th anniversary of their foundation. To encourage global participation, it will also be possible to follow the Days online in the various provinces around the world.

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