Feet on the ground and Heart in Heaven

Rome (Italy). “Feet on the ground and Heart in Heaven” is the title of the musical piece born from the desire to accompany the International Conference “Contribution of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians to Education (1872-2022). Paths Challenges Prospects”, held in Rome, in the Generalate, from 25 to 30 September 2022, promoted by the FMA Institute on the occasion of the 150^th anniversary of Foundation, and organized by the Pontifical Faculty of Educational Sciences “Auxilium”.

The conference talks about education and the song represents an eloquent aspect of the Salesian educational system, summed up in a phrase of St. John Bosco, educator and father of young people: “Walk with your feet on the ground and live with your heart in Heaven”.

The lyrics and the music are by Anna Benedetti and Gianluca Anselmi, musicians from Verona (Italy) and the production is by Sunlight Records. However, it is a choral product: the students of the Faculty collaborated on the text, the recording of the voices, and the performance of the choreography.

The video opens with a group of young people and FMA who climb the mountain and point towards the goal. We then move to Rome, the heart of the Church and Christianity, home of the FMA Institute, and ends at the sea, where a large setting sun fills the whole scene and makes the sky bright.

The young women and the FMA protagonists of the video ideally live a day made up of moments of joy, spontaneity, fatigue, solidarity, reflection, confidence. The song underlines these moments, recalling that everything makes sense if, in the concreteness of life, you walk together, with your feet firmly rooted in reality and your heart pointing to heaven.

The musical piece is thus a sign of the educational commitment of the FMA, which is prolonged in history and will continue to bear fruits of holiness, if it is faithful to a charism that embraces earth and heaven at the same time.