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| Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, |
STRENNA 2015LIKE DON BOSCO,WITH THE YOUNG, FOR THE YOUNG!Now that we have arrived at this month of
June at the end of the school year in one hemisphere, I have been asked, as has
happened on previous occasions, to provide a preview or
a draft of the Strenna for 2015. Naturally the subject will be expanded and
developed in a circular letter at the end of this current year.
Very willingly I am offering this preview in the hope that throughout the
Salesian Family it may serve, as it is intended to be: simply an anticipated
indication of what when the time comes will be given in the traditional way to
our sisters, the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and to all the Salesian
Family.
Here is the outline of this draft:1. A beautiful spiritual
inheritance.2. The Strenna as an
Expression of UNITY for the whole Salesian Family.3. Like Don Bosco: with his
pastoral heart and his option for
education caught up in
God’s Plan.
4. The Salesian charism at the
service of evangelising communion.5. With the young, for the
young! Especially the poorest ones.6. During the bicentenary of
the birth of Don Bosco.7. With Mary the most
distinguished collaborator of the Holy
Spirit.
1. A
BEAUTIFUL SPIRITUAL INHERITANCEI am calling a beautiful spiritual inheritance our family tradition of the Strenna, since it is
something that was always very close to Don Bosco’s heart. The first messages –
something similar to motto – as part of our tradition go back to the 50s. In
the “Biographical Memoirs” (BM III 433 434) we read that a practice used by Don
Bosco was that every so often he would write a little note to someone to whom
he wanted to give a piece of advice. Some of these have been preserved and they
are very personal invitations to
do something good or to avoid something that is not quite right. But besides
this, from the first years of the Oratory towards the end of the year, Don
Bosco had begun to give a strenna/motto to all his boys in general, and another
to each one individually. The first one, the general one, used to
consist in recommending certain forms of behaviour and some things for them to remember so
that the new year
that was starting would go well. Don Bosco continued to give these strennas almost
every year.
The last strenna was given in a
situation that was very special for Don Bosco and his boys. We find this too in
the Biographical Memoirs (BM XVIII 425-7). Feeling that his final
hour had come Don Bosco had Don Rua and Mons Cagiero called and
with the little strength that he still had gave them his final recommendations
for themselves and for all the Salesians. He blessed the houses in America and
many of the confreres living in them. He blessed all the Italian
Cooperators and their families, and finally he asked them to promise him that they would love each other as
brothers and sisters… and that they would recommend frequent communion and
devotion to Mary Help of Christians.Taking up these words of Don Bosco, Don
Rua in his third circular letter described that moment and those words, and
added that: “this
could serve as the Strenna for the new year and sent to all the Salesian
houses. He would like it to be for one’s whole life and gave his approval so
that it might really be the Strenna for the new year. (ibid)
2. THE
STRENNA AS A WORD OF UNITY FOR THE WHOLE SALESIAN FAMILYIt is a distinguishing feature of
our Salesian Family that it is in the first place a charismatic family (cf.
Salesian Family Charter art. 5)
in which the Primacy of God-Communion constitutes the heart of Salesian mysticism.
In this communion we recognise the diversity and at the same time the unity that has its origin in baptismal consecration, in sharing
the Spirit of Don Bosco and in participation in the Salesian mission at the
service of the young, especially the poorest (cf Salesian Family Charter art. 4)For this reason, in every Strenna we
emphasise this aspect of communion which takes the first place in our Family. To the
extent to which the same Strenna can help the pastoral planning of the
different branches and groups it is welcome, but this is not its purpose. The intention is not to make it a
pastoral plan for the year but rather for it to be a message that builds
up unity and communion for the whole Salesian Family in a common objective.
3. LIKE
DON BOSCO: WITH HIS PASTORAL HEART AND HIS OPTION FOR EDUCATION CAUGHT
UP IN GOD’S PLANThe heart of Jesus the Good Shepherd is
the hallmark of all our apostolic work and an essential point of reference for
us. At the same time we find in Don Bosco a practical approach “in Salesian fashion” shaped by the extraordinary spirit of Valdocco or the
similar one of Mornese or what is most typical of every group in our Salesian
Family. But we know that the first point of convergence which applies to all is
the charism of Don Bosco raised up by the Holy Spirit for the good of the
Church. This is what we call the Salesian charism which includes and finds a
place for everyone. In Don Bosco, the happy expression (which was his plan of
life) “That you are young is enough to make me love you very much” was the
watchword and even before that the fundamental educational option of the
Saint.” (Letter of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II for the centenary of the
death of Don Bosco. Juvenum
Patris n. 4) We know very well that for his boys
and for his youngsters “Don Bosco carried out a striking series of activities
by his words, writings, institutes, journeys, meetings with civil and religious
personalities; for them, above all else, he showed an attentive concern for
each one individually, so that in his fatherly love the boys might see a sign
of a higher love still.” (ibid, n. 4)
“Following the same criteria and with the
same spirit he tried to find a solution also to the problems of girls and young
women. The Lord raised up at his side a co-foundress: St. Mary Domenica
Mazzarello with a group of young women who had already dedicated themselves at
parish level to the Christian formation of girls. His pedagogical approach gave
rise to other collaborators, men and women, some of them consecrated by stable
vows, others "cooperators," associated with him through the sharing
of his pedagogical and apostolic ideals.” (ibid, n. 4) To all
of this is added the fact of his being the promoter of a special devotion to
Mary Help of Christians and Mother of the Church and the concern and
affection he always showed for his past pupils.At the centre of all that he did and the
vision he had, as the real driving force of his activity was “pastoral
charity”. For Don Bosco, precisely because he felt that he was involved in the plan of
God, this pastoral charity meant
loving young people whatever might be their condition or circumstances,
in order to lead them to the fullness of that human life that was found in the
Lord Jesus and which took practical form in the possibility of living as an
upright citizen and a child of God.
This is the key to our existence, our
living and putting into practice the Salesian charism. If each one of us can
come to feel in
our very being, in the depth of our being that
same fire, that passion for education that Don Bosco had, meeting each young
person on a deeply personal level, believing in each individual,
convinced that in each one there is always a seed of goodness and of the
Kingdom in order to help them to give the very best of themselves and to draw
them to a close encounter with the Lord Jesus, then we shall certainly embody
in our lives the best of the Salesian charism in our own way and according to
our possibilities.
4.
THE SALESIAN CHARISM “AT THE SERVICE OF EVANGELIZING COMMUNION” [EG, n
130]I have already said several times both in
family situations and on more public occasions that the Salesian
charism is not our personal property, neither as Salesians nor as the whole
Salesian Family.Pope Francis expresses very clearly this
deep conviction when he says in “Evangelii Gaudium” that the Holy Spirit
enriches the whole Church in her evangelising mission with various charisms.
“These gifts are meant to renew and build up the Church. They are not an
inheritance, safely secured and entrusted to a small group for safekeeping; rather
they are gifts of the Spirit integrated into the body of the Church… To the
extent that a charism is better directed to the heart of the Gospel, its
exercise will be more ecclesial. It is in communion, even when this proves
painful, that a charism is seen to be authentic and mysteriously fruitful.”
(EG, n. 130)I really believe that the Salesian charism is certainly one of those gifts with which the
Holy Spirit has enriched the Church so that with a gaze firmly fixed on the
heart of the gospel and first of all within that ecclesial communion, and then
afterwards within the communion of the Salesian Family it can be a precious
gift to the young.
For this reason, the Gospel, a pastoral heart for
the young and communion are
the guarantees of Identity and Fidelity for us as the Family of Don Bosco, the
Salesian Family.
5. WITH THE YOUNG, FOR THE YOUNG! … especially the poorest ones.5.1 And,
brothers and sisters of our Salesian Family, we are saying WITH THE YOUNG, because the starting point for our giving flesh and blood (INCARNATING) the Salesian charismis our being with the young, being with them and among
them, meeting with them in our daily lives, knowing their world and
loving it, encouraging them to take a leading role in their own lives ,
re-awakening in them a sense of God, inspiring them to set their sights high,
to live their lives as the Lord Jesus lived his.
5.2 And
dear brothers and sisters of our Salesian Family we are saying WITH THE YOUNG, because if what is filling our hearts as we respond
to the vocational call of the Lord Jesus is a special pastoral love for boys
and girls, for the young, this will show itself in us as it did in Don Bosco as
a very real “passion” in discovering what is best for them, devoting all our
strength, all our efforts to this.
5.3
FOR THE YOUNG! … ESPECIALLY THE POOREST. I have said on various occasions that when
Pope Francis talks about going to the peripheriesaddressing himself to the whole Church , we find
ourselves challenged in a very real and direct way because he is asking us to be present in the peripheries,
almost deprived of everything , excluded, as though without any opportunities.
At the same time I want to say that as the
Salesian Family these peripheries are something typically our own, because the periphery forms an
integral part of our Salesian DNA.
What was Don Bosco’s Valdocco if not the periphery of a large city? What was
Mornese if not a rural periphery ? We need to make sure our examination of
conscience as individuals and as the Salesian Family sees us facing up to the
strong demand from the Church, which in its turn is part of the essential nature of the
Gospel. It will be necessary to question ourselves
about being with and for the young, especially the least…. But it will
not be necessary to decide where we ought to be going,‘our pole star’ because it is among the least, the poorest,
those who have the most need of us that the most characteristic feature of our
DNA as the Salesian charism is to be found.
5.4
WHY THE YOUNG, ESPECIALLY THE POOREST ONES ARE FOR US A GIFT. It was the Rector Major Fr J.E. Vecchi who
wrote that “poor young people have been and still are a gift for
us” (AGC 359, p 24). And we certainly cannot think that Fr Vecchi
was defending poverty, since if we are with them and among them, it is they who first of all are
good for us, who evangelise us and help us to really live the Gospel in what is
the most typical feature of the Salesian charism.
As on a previous occasion, I make bold to
say that it
is the young, boys and girls and especially the poorest and those most in need
who will save us, helping us to emerge from our routine,
from our apathy and from our fears as often we are more concerned with
maintaining our own securities than opening our hearts, our ears and our minds
to what the Spirit may be asking of us.
6. IN THE BICENTENARY OF THE BIRTH OF DON BOSCOOn the occasion of an event such as the Bicentenary of the birth of Don
Bosco, which demands an acceleration in our
journey of fidelity to the same call that he felt, heard and translated into
life;
in a year in which the celebration of the gift that Don Bosco is for
the Church and for the Salesian Family will
not leave us closed in on ourselves, self-absorbed and self-satisfied but
rather launch us, if possible with greater energy towards the mission;
it is a question of a year of
celebration that we are being invited to experience and express as a truly Family celebration.
7. WITH MARY THE MOST DISTINGUISHED COLLABORATOR OF THE HOLY
SPIRITI will conclude giving special attention
to the words of Pope – now Saint – John Paul II at the end of the Letter
quoted above ‘Juvenum Patris’ in which he invites us always to have before us
Mary Most Holy ‘the most lofty collaborator of the Holy Spirit’.The Pope invites us to look at Mary and to
listen to her when she says; "Do what Jesus tells you" (Jn 2,5).
In a beautiful final passage addressed to
the SDB in those days but in a context that is most appropriate for all our
Salesian Family today, the Pope says: “To her I entrust you, and with you
the whole world of youth, that being attracted, animated and guided by her,
they may be able to attain through the mediation of your educative work, the
stature of new men for a new world: the world of Christ, Master and Lord.” (JP
n. 20)The strength of that desire and of these
words which the Pope of that time dedicates to us is such that I think we can
add nothing more than an ‘Amen’ entrusting all the members of our Salesian
Family to the Grace that comes from the Lord, the intercession of Mary
Help of Christians and the heart of the Good Shepherd.
May the Lord bless us all.
Rome 18 June 2014
Fr
Ángel Fernández Artime,
Rector
Major
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