INTRODUCTION
In ‘Selected Works of Bernard of Clairvaux’, by Jean Leclercq, we read
the approach of St. Bernard to Christian’s succinct spirituality. In it, St.
Bernard tells us,
“Man’s end is to
recognize truth, which is God. To do this he must be aware that his
relationship with God is based on need. The obstacle to the relationship is
pride; the remedy is humility. Grace is the condition for meeting God in
Christ. The result is the esteem man places on his dignity, rediscovered in
God’s image. While self-ignorance and pride lessen man’s worth, humility, which
recognizes man’s need as well as his capacity for God, reveals man to himself.
In this way, he emerges from himself and ascends; he grows and reaches new
dimensions of love, both for God and for neighbor”.
In Article 3 of our Salesian
Constitutions, we read, “we live as disciples of the Lord by the grace of the
Father, who consecrates us through the gift of His Spirit and sends us out to
be apostles of the young”. At the basis of everything in the creation and that
which is fundamental to every human life is the fascinating mystery of the
Trinity.
Every Christian Spirituality is characteristically
a gift, of the grace, by which God on His own initiative enters into our
existence within the context of human history. This makes it substantially
different from all the rationalistic spiritualities which rely on personal
effort alone, no matter how laudable that effort may be.
In the following let us reflect on
‘Salesian Spirituality’ to which Don Bosco, our father and founder stands as
the source and inspiration, and which is a unique reflection of Christ, the
Good Shepherd.
THE ‘GOD-EXPERIENCE OF DON BOSCO’
[The source and inspiration for Salesian Consecrated life]
Before we unravel various facets of
Salesian Spirituality, it would serve us significant to reflect upon the
‘God-experience’ of Don Bosco. Our former Rector Major, Rev. Fr. Juan Vecchi in
‘Called to be Shepherds’ explicates
the God-experience of Don Bosco with three specific focal points to meditate on
his ‘consecrated’ dimension:
·
‘Our relationship with Don Bosco’: ‘the Lord has given us Don Bosco as father
and teacher’ and so our relationship with him as sons and disciples is
providential, decisive and source of inspiration for the whole of our spiritual
life; he traced out for us a spiritual experience, viz. the Salesian Charism;
he generates us as followers of Christ in the service of the young, and makes
the ‘Fatherhood’ of God felt by poor youngsters. Therefore, ‘we study and imitate him’.
·
“Don Bosco’s spiritual physiognomy”: His personality captivates us, he
possessed – a splendid blending of
nature and grace. Contemplating his spirituality, we realize how great
was his deep instinct for life and his openness to God; he was deeply human, rich in the qualities of his people, open to the
realities of this earth, and he was just as deeply the man of God, filled with
the gifts of the Spirit and living ‘as seeing Him who is invisible’.
·
‘His plan of life’: his God-experience can be
appropriated from ‘his unified plan of
life, his service for the young’. The efforts to realize his project of
life, the difficulties he overcame in devoting himself entirely to the young
and the full use he made of his physical, intellectual and spiritual energies…
and in such consecration of his resources, gifts and feelings to the service of
God and the young we find the secret of his original kind of spirituality and
holiness; “he took no step, he said no word, he took up no task that was not
directed to the saving of the young… truly the only concern of his heart was
for souls”.
THE INITIATIVE OF GOD
When we attempt to describe the
vitality and characteristic elements of the Salesian Spiritual journey, we
cannot ignore the fact that it originates from God, or more precisely, from the
active presence of the Holy Spirit, and that on his part the Salesian
recognizes and accepts this divine intervention and is willing to correspond
with it.
The Holy Spirit is present in three
settings:
·
In the Church:
The Vat. II document ‘Lumen
Gentium’[no. 4] tells us that the Spirit
guides the Church in the way of all truth, and unifies her in her communion and
ministry; he [Holy Spirit] instructs and directs her through His varied gifts,
both hierarchical and charismatic , and adorns her with His fruits. By the
power of the Gospel He enables the Church to keep the freshness of her youth.
Constantly He renews her and leads her to perfect unity with her Spouse”. It is
the Holy Spirit who gives life and has manifested Himself in history as an
unexpected and transforming energy, especially through the prophets, saints,
pastors and courageous and inspired guides. In our own times too, we have
secure indications of the Spirit animating the Church in the contemporary
world.
·
In the World:
The presence and action of the Spirit
fills the whole world. In the signs of the times the Church hears his voice; it
resounds in human consciences too; and it appears especially in the search for
God, in the praiseworthy and disinterested initiatives to promote humanity’s
spiritual growth, and in man’s moral sense. All these signs taken together tell
us that we are living at a privileged moment of the Spirit.
·
In our own lives:
The third setting of the presence and
action of the Spirit is our own life. In Article 22 of our Salesian
Constitutions we read, “Each one of us
is called by God to form part of the Salesian Society. Because of this
God gives him personal gifts, and by faithful correspondence he finds his way
to complete fulfillment in Christ”. We perceive God’s gift drawing us to
Himself, and we are attracted by Christ and induced to follow Him radically
through our Salesian consecration. Through our religious consecration in
Salesian way of life, we publicly declare that we are aware of the divine gift
we have received and want to respond to it, and that it harmonizes well with
the Salesian charism which we therefore assume as our specific project of life.
In Article 25, we read, “the action of the Spirit is for the professed member a
lasting source of grace and a support for his daily efforts to grow towards the
perfect love of God and men”.
Three Consequences of our Salesian
Consecration:
·
Life in the Spirit:
It simply means, ‘holiness’ which
forms the core of our project of life. Holiness is not only a choice for moral
uprightness or ascetic behaviour, but a way of life in which there shines forth
in a special way the mystery of God, an encounter with Christ, which
‘liberates’ us radically and makes us His own.
In Article 25, we are given profound clarity as regards our holiness, “…
holiness is the most precious gift we can offer to the young”, and certainly
the most powerful and appropriate means for fulfilling our mission.
·
A model in Don Bosco:
We pursue the holiness following the
model and the path which the Spirit has shown us in Don Bosco. It becomes
indispensable for us, therefore to refer constantly to the Spirit and to the
experience which matured in Don Bosco who followed him. In Article 21 we read,
“The Lord has given us Don Bosco as father and teacher’.
·
Treading the Path set out in the
Constitutions:
In order to educate ourselves to
holiness we choose the path set before us in the Salesian Constitutions, that
is, all the fundamental experiences of mission, evangelical counsels, community
and prayer, which are accepted and lived out as a code of life by a group of
persons, viz. the Salesian Congregation, with its spiritual tradition and in
its present-day reality. Article 196 tells us, “our living Rule is Jesus
Christ, the Saviour announced in the Gospel, who is alive today in the Church,
and whom we find present in Don Bosco who devoted his life to the young”. We know and accept that the Salesian
Constitutions as Don Bosco’s will and testament, our book of life, on which we
meditate in faith and which we commit ourselves to practice with spiritual
sentiments, because for us, the Lord’s disciples, they are a secure way which
leads us to love. [Cf. Article 196].
APOSTOLIC CONSECRATION
Our Apostolic Consecration is the
basis for defining our identity and renewing our Spirituality. The ‘Vita
Consecrata’ reminds us, “at the foundation of religious life lies consecration…
the Church thinks of you in the first place as consecrated persons”. Hence, a
deeper understanding of our Salesian Consecration is highly significant.
Therefore, in the first place, our
Salesian Consecration is not just one element of our life, the vows, but the
whole of our life and activity which is placed in a special relationship with
God, i.e. centred on Him. It is not just one moment, profession, but the whole
flow of life – from the initial call to our continuing response to God.
Secondly, our Consecration is not
primarily an effort of man to reach God and become totally his, but God’s
initiative and action in the depths of our being, taking us completely for
Himself, and inviting our response. It is ‘the meeting of two loves’, our
covenant of love with God through our profession, where in God calls, and we
respond by giving ourselves totally to Him. God consecrates, and we centre our
lives on Him.
As Salesians, our consecration takes
on a particular quality since it is God who takes the initiative in calling us
and consecrating us but for and within the Apostolic project He gave to Don
Bosco, a project in which the service to the young is the typical expression of
our belonging totally to God and is intrinsically bound up with our vows and life
of communion. Hence, there is no
separation between our consecration and our mission. We are at one and the same
time Salesian religious apostles, in every aspect of our lives, in everything
we do.
The awareness of our being Salesian
consecrated Apostles leads to the following practical consequences, viz.
·
We
acquire a correct understanding of our mission, seeing it not simply as
activity but as insertion in the Trinitarian mission and in the mission of the
Church. In Article 3 we read, “our mission sets the tenor of our whole life; it
specifies the task we have in the Church and our place among other religious
families”.
·
We
come to realize that our interior life or our being rooted in God is an
essential condition for an efficacious apostolate.
·
Because
of our God-given apostolic project of life, our work of education becomes the
place where we live out our consecration and achieve our holiness.
·
Since
our apostolic consecration encompasses our whole life, our sufferings too take
on a new meaning, when accepted in God or joined to the paschal mystery of
Christ, they become a means of salvation.
CHRIST, OUR FUNDAMENTAL OPTION
Through our Salesian consecration, we
have made a fundamental option for Christ, who gives meaning to all that we are
and all that we do. It is only when we begin from Christ that there is meaning
in our kind of life, in our belonging to the Church, in our mission among the
young and the working classes, in our educational enterprise, and in our work
and the distinctive way we carry it out. And the fundamental option we refer to
is the total mystery of Christ, but among its various descriptions, there are
some which hold particular appeal for us Salesians, viz.
·
Christ, the Good Shepherd – Christ is the living and
existential centre of our consecrated. All consecrated persons focus on Christ,
but our specific proclamation of Him has a pedagogical and pastoral
sensitivity, we are attracted to this aspect of Christ, the Good Shepherd. It
prompts us to be generous in spending ourselves for the young, to make
ourselves love, and to be gentle and kind.
·
Christ, the friend of the young – the Gospels describe Christ’s
predilection for the young, and Don Bosco drew inspiration from it, and so do
we. We have several references to this
in the Scriptures – Mk. 10:21; Lk. 9:46-48; Mt. 19:16-26; Jn. 4:46-54; Lk. 7:
11-15; Jn. 6:1-15 - - Don Bosco’s radical predilection for the young cannot be
explained without Jesus Christ. In fact, it has its source and vitality in his
following of Christ.
·
Christ, the New Man – Christ is God’s definitive
masterpiece, the summit of creation, the perfect Man. He is the image of the
invisible God. In solidarity with every man, he overcame sin through his death
and resurrection. Now, as the New Man,
He is the end or goal of our work of education: we help the young to grow in
and after His image. Every person needs Christ and tends towards Him.
·
Christ, the heart of the world and
the mystery at work in human history - Christ is the new and definitive reality already present
as the supreme goal of history through His Easter victory. This is the Good
News we are called to proclaim. Gaudium
et Spes [45] tells us, “Jesus Christ is the goal of human history, the focal
point of the desires of history and of civilization, the centre of mankind, the
joy of all hearts and the fulfillment of all their aspirations.”
PASTORAL
CHARITY
The starting point of
Salesian vocation, as we see it embodied in Don Bosco, is a deep love for God
directed to poor and abandoned youth. In other words, it is a love with two
inseparable poles – God and the Young.
This love or ‘charity’
refers to the love manifested in Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father and
Redeemer of mankind, and which the Holy Spirit pours into our hearts when we
are baptized. When that love or
‘charity’, drawing inspiration from Christ, the Good Shepherd, leads us to take
part in God’s or Christ’s work of salvation, which now continues in the mission
f the Church , we describe it as ‘pastoral’. Pastoral Charity is embodied in the
total giving of ourselves. And in this way we manifest Christ’s love for His
flock.
But, as Salesian, our
pastoral charity has a further distinguishing mark, viz. it is educative. We
concern ourselves with the salvation of the young in a special way, and we do
it particularly through our work of education. Don Bosco sets us the example of
striving for holiness by carrying out the work of education with zeal and an
apostolic heart, and we know he was a holy educator.
‘DA MIHI ANIMAS’
The expression that best
sums up the pastoral charity of the Salesians is ‘da mihi animas’. It was
central to Don Bosco’s project of life and mission. It was always found on the
lips of don Bosco and had a decisive influence on his spiritual life. “ I
understand that here that you do not do business in money but in souls”, was
the response of St. Dominic Savio. The central position given to ‘souls’ has
been reaffirmed by successive Rector Majors – Father Rua, Father Albera, and
Fr. Rinaldi all commented on it.
The spiritual
interpretation of this Biblical passage [da mihi animas] draws a distinction
between ‘persons’ and ‘possessions’ or things. As for Don Bosco, he interpreted
it against the religious and cultural background of his time, taking the ‘soul’
to refer to the spiritual dimension of the person. Love or Charity focuses on
the person, and it has an intuition of his value, especially in the light of
the love of God the Father, the redemptive work of Jesus, and the presence of
the Spirit. The ‘things’ come afterwards, they are of less worth and have less
importance in the process of education. A person is composed of both soul and
body and St. Augustine put it, “He is made for God, a thirst for him”. Both
these interpretations taken together suggest that we pay attention in the first
place to the value of the person, considered as a whole but with a priority
given to his spiritual dimension.
And in our daily life the
‘da mihi animas’ calls for a pastoral heart – a willingness,
enthusiasm an eagerness to work, a linking for pastoral undertakings,
availability, joyful self-donation, steadfastness and an ability to take risks
and difficulties in one’s strides; a pastoral sense – a spontaneous
movement to care for a person’s salvation; pastoral ability – it means that we
refine the skill of motivating,
teaching, animating and sanctifying; and pastoral creativity – it means a
mental and practical attitude which enables one to find original solutions to
new problems and situations, just like Don Bosco who thought up a plan for
street-boys while the parishes were continuing with the catechism classes. Fr.
Ceria considers this trait as characteristic of the Salesian spirit.
THE
PEDAGOGY OF KINDNESS
Inspired by Charity, Don
Bosco bestowed such loving-kindness on his boys that he provoked them to
reciprocate. Don Bosco’s continual phrase to his sons was , “see how to make
yourself loved”. We have expressions like ‘pedagogical love’, ‘kindness erected
into a system’, the gentleness of St. Francis de Sales, and the ‘pedagogy of the
heart’. All of them lead back to the Preventive System, and in particular to
the cluster of attitudes and practical suggestions which are linked with
loving-kindness. And at the bottom of it all is charity.
Salesian Pastoral charity
is molded in ‘contact with the young’. His kindness was more than just
friendliness. It was first and foremost a matter of an interior attitude, viz.
identifying with the kindness of the Father, contemplating the kindness of
Christ the Good Shepherd, imitating the motherly solicitude of Mary, and
therefore, having a positive and optimistic approach to every youngster. Every
youngster, in fact, has within him the imprint of God’s plan of salvation, the
promise of a full and happy life for each one. Don Bosco used to say, “there is
some point which, if the educator can discover and stimulate it, reacts with
generosity”.
But then, Pastoral
charity is also a matter of certain patterns of behaviour on the part of the
educator:
·
the readiness to take the first step in approaching the young and making
them welcome. It has been emphasized that the art of Don Bosco lay precisely
here – in making the first contact, removing barriers, and provoking a desire
for further encounters.
·
patient dedication in creating an
environment where they feel at home – it is rich in humanity, a family where one has a sense of
belonging and is helped, and where one has an opportunity for expressing
oneself while gradually and happily assimilating the values taught.
‘Assistance’ is the concrete expression of this.
·
Fatherliness – it is yet another unique
manifestation of the educative relationship born of kindness. It is more than
friendship. It has affectionate and authoritative responsibility, offering
vital guidance and teaching, requiring discipline and commitment.
thank you
paps
No comments:
Post a Comment