To renew a devotion does not mean to simply change or intensify certain religious practices. We certainly have to update our Marian piety, but to do this we must first look to the basic values of our faith, the doctrinal presuppositions and the personal and community attitudes that flow from them. Faith and devotion should move together. If it is true that faith lives in piety ("lex orandi lex credendi"), it is also true, especially in a renewal process, that doctrinal aspects must guide piety ("lex credendi, legem statuat orandi").’37 It has been rightly remarked: "The recognition of the role of the Virgin Mary in the history of salvation and in the life of the Church brings with it a piety which is in harmony with this role."38 Now if in devotion to the Help of Christians there are characteristic doctrinal aspects, deepened and renewed by Vatican II, then we must come to know them well and recognize how we can also find from them a special quality for the renewal of our own Marian piety. This will directly affect our efforts for renewal in the various sectors of our practical initiatives, and here I cannot go into details. These things must be studied and programmed at local level. I will merely indicate some major lines of action that may serve to guide and inspire the various programs. 1. Doctrinal formation immediately appears as the first element which needs our attention. We have to be able to take a fresh look at and bring up to date our mentality and our knowledge in two complementary areas:
This is a vast field for research, popularization and both initial and ongoing formation. Our founder remains the model and master in this field. We recall in particular his own publications on the Help of Christians.39 2. Marian cult and piety constitute the life of a genuine devotion. For this renewal we have already have the important apostolic exhortation "Marialis Cultus" of Paul VI. We must value this rich document. We should remember that in this field the Church has made considerable progress, both as regards liturgical cult (cf. the first part of MC, nos. 1-23) and as regards those activities which are more properly called Marian piety (cf. second part of MC, nos. 24-39). To be able to express our Marian devotion through an active and participation in the liturgical cycle is the most significant and formative goal of our efforts to renew our devotion. In this renewal of Marian piety the Pope suggests four precious guidelines "to be kept in mind in the revision or creation of religious exercises and biblical (MC, 30), liturgical (MC, 31), ecumenical (MC 32-33) and anthropological (MC 34-37) dimensions. The deeper understanding and application of each of these dimensions demand a profound revision of the way in which we practice our devotion. As regards the practices of piety (MC 40-55), as well as the Rosary I would like to add and emphasize for us both the "Blessing of Mary Help of Christians" composed by Don Bosco himself and approved exactly 100 years ago by Leo XIII,40 and the celebrations in honor of Mary Help of Christians during May and on the 24th of each month. In addition we must greatly enhance the significance and the spiritual contribution of the Sanctuary of Mary Help of Christians at Valdocco. 3. The wide horizons of our ecclesial commitment, seen realistically in the diverse local circumstances and in the light of present-day needs, upon which our future depends so much. must be the horizons within which our courage to evangelize and our pastoral inventiveness operate. Here is a vast and practical area in which there is always need for a profound apostolic involvement, with our minds kept continually in touch with the pastoral problems of the Church and with the urgent cultural needs of our time, especially in matters which concern the young and the masses. It was precisely here that Don Bosco found the field in which he could best spend himself in inexhaustible dedication. Devotion to the Help of Christians should help us to become a catalyst in the construction of a new society through the young and the poorer classes. 4. Finally, the care for vocations was one of the most efficacious expressions of Don Bosco’s Marian devotion. The institution of the O.M.A. (" Work of Mary Help of Christians") for vocations, a movement which was very dear to him, is for us a clear indication of his attitude and also a fillip. We must dedicate ourselves with Mary to a profound renewal of all our vocation work. This will mean that we must give new life to the great values of the preventive system, and it will teach us to measure the depth of our spirituality and the authenticity of our apostolic activity by the yardstick of the vocations which result from it. If we are able to animate the Salesian family in these four great areas of renewal and if, together with the component groups of the family, we are able to work out some kind of modestly successful but enduring program, then we will see our charism in the Church take on a new youth and grow with Mary’s help. And the Help of Christians will become the source of a more profound union between the various branches: she will appear more explicitly as the "Mother of the Salesian family". Don Bosco "was not content with just loving the Help of Christians; he did a great deal also to make her loved by others! A kind of pact exists between Mary Help of Christians and the Salesian family. Mary helps this family and looks after the development of its enterprises. In their turn the branches of the family, each in its own way, spread the cult of the Help of Christians among both the young and the old. It is one aspect of the Salesian service to the Church. This is the significance of the inscription which Don Bosco saw on the great church of his dreams and which in fact he caused to be carved into the pediment of the basilica in Turin: "Haec est domus mea, inde gloria mea": "This is my house; from here my glory will go forth". We are the living basilica."41 |