2. ELEMENTS OF THE SPIRITUALITY2.1 Preferential love for the young, especially the poorer ones [89] Meeting God in the young Sharing the Salesian spirit and mission means in the first place feeling oneself involved in the option for the young. "We believe that God is awaiting us in the young to offer us the grace of meeting with him and to dispose us to serve him in them, recognizing their dignity and educating them to the fullness of life".4 In this educative service, both Salesians and laity experience the contemplative dimension of their faith, and are able to discover the action of the Spirit in the heart of the young.5 Sharing in the heart of God, the disciple of Don Bosco has a better understanding of the importance and urgency of his own vocation to render present to the young Christ's love for them. Prompted by this love he dedicates himself totally to their integral education.6 Hence, work for the young, and especially for the poorest of them, is the identity card of the Salesian vocation, the most involving element of our charism, the starting-point for a process of greater and more profound sharing in the Salesian spirit and the preventive system. [90] Pastoral charity To realize this vocation, SDBs and laity open a cordial dialogue with all persons of good will who want to improve the situation of the young, and especially the poor ones, in today's world. Following the example of Don Bosco, they choose for themselves and propagate among others charity as the means and fundamental method of the mission. In this work they give added weight to the important values of Salesian spirituality, like generosity, solidarity, simplicity, gratitude, fidelity, joy and optimism even at dark moments, expressing in this way the paschal dimension of Christian life. 2.2 Spirituality of relationship: the family spirit [91] Don Bosco, man of relationships The first gift Don Bosco gives to his disciples is that of a serene and welcoming human relationship. His self-control allowed him to give himself to others with extraordinary efficacy, and to give gradually to relationships a pastoral and sacramental content. The quality of educative encounters was always foremost in his mind. "Let all you speak with become your friends", he used to say, and "to be a friend of Don Bosco meant everything at Valdocco: spiritual commitment, interior happiness, collaboration in education, family joy. He was convinces that the Salesian spirit "must animate and guide all we do and say". He is forthright about this in his letters to Don Cagliero and Don Costamagna in August 1885: "The preventive system must be our distinguishing characteristic. (...) Charity, patience, kindness (...) This holds for the Salesians among themselves, with the pupils and others, externs or boarders". "Study how you can make yourself loved", he murmured to Don Rua, leaving him what seemed a final message and indicating to him the secret of the art of the Good Shepherd. At the end of his life therefore, he handed on as a deep conviction and precious legacy, the intuition he had received in his dream at the age of 9 years, And in his predilection for the 'relational virtues' as the bearings for educative dialogue and practical collaboration, Don Bosco proved an excellent disciple of St. Francis de Sales. [92] A need of today's men and women Today people bewail a widespread absence of relationships, and loneliness gives rise to more fear than death itself, especially among the young and the aged. The human sciences describe man as a being of relationships. He is immersed in them from the time he leaves his mother's womb. A positive relationship builds him up and makes him happy; a negative one can depress and even destroy him. In any case rapport is at the heart of every educative approach, of every effort at collaboration, from family harmony to the efficacy of a pastoral and educative community. "We must be brothers to men at the same time that we want to be their pastors, fathers and teachers. The right atmosphere for dialogue is friendship, or rather service".7 [93] The Salesian response: loving kindness What we hear from the laity and from young people convinces us of the great desire there is for rapport; and that in the Congregation there are numerous experiences which provide grounds for hope that we can grow in this direction, giving full expression - together with lay people and primarily in their regard - to the rich values of Salesian loving kindness and the family spirit which stems from it. It can run the risk of being downgraded to the level of a purely technical instrument, latching on to another person, young or adult, and manipulating his personality. For this reason it must be so filled with charity that it becomes transformed into an expression of authentic relational spirituality. Its fruit and sign is the serene chastity, so dear to Don Bosco, which governs affective balance and oblative fidelity. Strengthened and purified in this way, educative rapport is expressed in the personal encounter, builds a formative and stimulating environment, encourages group processes, and accompanies vocational maturing. 2.3 Commitment in the Church for the world [94] The force of "da mihi animas" and the New Evangelization "Da mihi animas" just about fills the whole life of those who take their inspiration from Don Bosco, indicating rapport with God, relations with one's neighbour, and intervention in history with a personal contribution. It concerns contemplation not less than action, the will to do good, and the determination to find the necessary means. As Salesians, we express the significance of our existence by the ardour of our pastoral charity. At the present day one perceives a cultural crisis of notable proportions, the challenge of the New Evangelization. The heart of the response to it is the inculturation of the Gospel: this indeed has become a pressing obligation for the Church. Salesians and laity alike are called to become ever more aware of the setting in which they have to work: culture and education. [95] The challenge of contemporary culture Today we are witnessing an increased social, civil and political sensitivity. It obliges all who follow Don Bosco to give the same attention that he did to movements and cultural changes. In this way the politics of the Pater noster become the projection of a society renewed through work carried out conscientiously and with competence, cultural elevation and joyful faith, so as to make all men equally children of the same Father. In this task the renewed consciousness of the laity evokes the responsibility of all men of good will. Some things are urgently required: the family as the 'sanctuary of life', respect for the dignity of the person and his rights, the spreading of a culture of solidarity and peace, human advancement leading to more just living conditions, and the defence of ecological balance. The direct insertion of lay people into public life must be reasserted and sustained; it must be lived with a spirit of service, to give growth to justice and fraternity, directing attention to the poorest and most abandoned.8 [96] Together towards a new apostolic commitment The discernment of cultures as a human reality to be evangelized demands a new kind of collaboration among all responsible for the work of evangelization. Salesians and lay Christians are called upon to give effect to the force received in baptism: faith; to entrust themselves to him with an attitude of unwavering certainty: hope; and to give as a sign that they belong to him the availability towards all, which is charity. We are committed to seeing to it that the faith proclaimed, lived and celebrated to the full, becomes culture: authentic cultural values, assessed and assumed in the light of faith, are necessary for the incarnation of the same culture of the evangelical message. To fulfil this task the CEP becomes "an experience of communion and a place of grace, where the teaching programme contributes to uniting into a harmonious whole the human and the divine, the Gospel and culture, faith and life".9 In this new panorama, inspired by the Word of God and the social doctrine of the Church, one can continue with the evangelical innovation which gives central place to the salvation of the person, to service, and to orientation towards the Kingdom. For the Salesians it is an invitation to deepen the radical nature of their 'sequela Christi', and for the laity to progress in the synthesis between acceptance of the Gospel and practical activity. The programme of life condensed in the beatitudes which
present the values of the Kingdom and of the 'Our Father' can be
proposed also to those who belong to other religions. 2.4 Spirituality of daily life and of work [97] Daily life the place for meeting God Don Bosco proposed to his first collaborators, as he did also to the boys of the Oratory, a manner of living the Gospel in depth, without detaching themselves from life: living in the presence of God. Daily life constituted for Don Bosco the natural setting for the perfecting of all men, the place of response to the human and Christian vocation, and for us Salesians also the religious vocation. Intuition of the value of daily life leads us to exploit with the laity the whole of creation as a gift of God: life, nature, material things produced by man, interpersonal relationships. In solidarity with the world and its history,10 we share with the laity the joys and difficulties stemming from the social context in which we are inserted, seeking together to find in it the signs of God's will. [98] The gift of work and the professions Don Bosco taught his boys to use their time in tasks useful for personal or communal life in a healthy, educative and creative form. He himself was an example of a life totally dedicated to work, and he wanted his Salesians to be characterized by the spirit of enterprise and hard work. Looking back on this experience, we see in Valdocco a true school of work: it developed a pedagogy of duty which educated to this practical form of living the spirituality. Work, when perceived as an integral part of God's plan for all men, leads us to defend the dignity of all work and of man as its subject. This awareness exploits the combined and individual endeavours of Salesians and laity for the education of the young. From us, in line with the characteristics of our specific vocation, is demanded a professional approach, i.e. the greatest possible perfection in our own work. This implies the generous acceptance of the toil involved, the constant commitment and ongoing formation that goes with it. Discipline and sense of duty become for us our path of ascesis, the concrete measure of our spiritual maturity. 2.5 The preventive system: constant listening to God and to man [99] A pedagogical approach continually renewed We are convinced that the principal contribution to the changing of the world for the coming of the Kingdom is commitment to education. "There is no doubt", as Pope John Paul II affirmed, "that the first and fundamental cultural fact is the spiritually mature man, i.e. man fully educated, man able to educate himself and others".11 The main original contribution we can offer to the cause of education is the preventive system. Its permanent vitality is shown in the ability to respond to the most diverse challenges. In the multiple situations in which it operates, it needs continual reunderstanding. The urgent need for this was indicated by Fr Egidio Vigaṇ when he spoke of a new preventive system. The essential element of such newness is the sharing between SDBs, lay adults and young people in an educative and pastoral praxis always in dialogue with the discoveries of science and with the various contexts in which we are working. [100] Central elements of the preventive system To guarantee fidelity and success we need to reconsider the original intuitions of Don Bosco. He was convinced that "this system is based entirely on reason, religion and loving kindness".12 We are called upon to look in a new way at the three fundamental elements he indicated. a) Reason To Don Bosco's way of thinking reason is synonymous with fairness and persuasion, seen in opposition to repression and imposition. It helps to evaluate everything with a critical sense and to discern the authentic value of earthly realities, respecting their autonomy and secular dignity. It enables the great endeavours of mankind to be discovered and shared, in the continual and laborious process of personalization and socialization. More by deeds than by words Don Bosco has shown us that at the root of his system of education there is a solid humanism and a genuine appreciation of the reality of created things. This makes of the preventive system an open system, rich in human hope and able to come to grips with the different cultural situations. For this reason it implies a particular attention to contexts, a previous assessment of the youth situation and an effective arrangement of educative interventions through the elaboration of the PEPS. This enables a balanced educative process to be set up, avoiding the double risks of 'minimalism' (fear of suggesting anything new) or of going to the other extreme of rushing ahead too fast and imposing weights that cannot be borne. b) Religion Religion, understood as faith which has been accepted and given correspondence, represents the meeting point between the Mystery of God and the mystery of man, linked with the frailty of his history and culture, but also quickened by God's sure call. The awareness of such a reality invites us to imitate God's patience, meeting young people and laity "at their present stage of freedom".13 If on the one hand we must recognize that missionary territory now includes every part of the world, on the other we must be ready to find ways of education to the faith which are gradual and specifically aimed. In Christian contexts it is still possible to realize the preventive system with a certain completeness and help the lay faithful, adult and young, to discover the countenance of Jesus. Listening to the proclamation of the Word, the celebration of the sacraments and especially the Eucharist and Penance, commitment to charity and witness, the happiness of living beneath the gaze of a loving Father, are still possible educative objectives to be proposed without undue hesitation and within a serenely ecumenical approach.14 In secularized contexts, where culture seems mute and incapable of speaking of the Father of Jesus Christ, it will be necessary to educate the invocations of transcendence and the great demands arising from the sense of life and death, pain and love, without concealing the beam of light which comes to us from our faith.15 In the contexts of the great monotheistic and traditional religions, the first educative dialogue will be with the lay people who are nearest, to recognize with them the grace present in such religions, encourage their desire for prayer, and exploit the fragments of the Gospel and of educative wisdom present in the culture, life and experience of the young people.16 Often we find ourselves working with youngsters and lay people, with men and women of good will, who do not manifest any specific religious attachment. In such cases the preventive system aims at finding and welcoming the spark of truth deposited in every human heart, in fostering the "dialogue of life" - especially "in the concern for human life" and "in promoting the dignity of women" - "which prepares the way for more profound exchanges".17 c) Loving kindness This is expressed as unconditioned acceptance, constructive and positive rapport, sharing of joys and sorrows, and the ability to manifest educative love by signs. In addition to inviting each educator to be cordially and faithfully present among the young, it commits the community to the creation of an authentic family spirit. It also expresses the pastoral charity which promotes a new educative culture by "offering a specific contribution to the work of other educators".18 Together with those lay people who take their inspiration from Don Bosco, we have an explicit duty to seek the best ways and means for transplanting his geniality into public life, in the world of culture, of politics, of social life. This can then give life to the new education which opens the way to the new evangelization. It will be necessary to give special thought to strategies for
installing the preventive system in families, helping them to
shed light on modern problems and aspirations, and to create an
environment of joy, dialogue and solidarity, transforming them in
this way to authentic "domestic churches". 11 Address of John Paul II to UNESCO 1980 |