Psalm 25<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. The Rector Major\u2019s words<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mary, the mother of the word in the ear, teaches us the most difficult and most necessary art in accompanying young people: making the other person feel truly welcomed and sincerely loved. Don Bosco gave us a precious guideline: \u2018Strive to be loved before you are feared.\u2019 It is a matter of committing oneself to winning trust by showing humanity, closeness and authenticity. Mary is a master at this: her discreet yet powerful presence breaks down defences, because she enters people\u2019s lives with respect and tenderness, like a mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u2018word in the ear\u2019 is the word that arises from a genuine gaze. Before speaking, in fact, Mary looks. She looks at Elizabeth and senses her joy and her weariness; she looks at the bride and groom at Cana and realises that the wine has run out even before anyone says so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hers is a gaze that listens, that reads between the lines. It is the same with young people: Mary is able to make herself loved because she is wholly devoted to others. In Nazareth, at Cana, in the Upper Room, she is a presence that supports, encourages, and prays with the disciples and for the disciples. Christian tradition invokes her as the Mother of Mercy and the Mother of Tenderness, recognising in her a closeness that does not humiliate but lifts up, that does not accuse but accompanies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At her side, every young person can feel safe: welcomed with their story, listened to in their questions, gently yet firmly challenged to become what they are called to be. And those who educate, looking to Mary, learn that the first proclamation is conveyed through one\u2019s manner: a kind presence, an embrace in one\u2019s gaze, a word whispered in the ear that springs from the heart and therefore reaches the heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Watch the full video below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
only when they feel looked at in this way can they sense that the word whispered to them is for their own good. Then the advice, the reminder, the guidance does not weigh on them like an order, but is received as a gesture of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n