CHAPTER 3.

CHARACTERISTIC TRAITS OF THE SALESIAN COUNTENANCE

A. Some particularly significant sayings of Don Bosco

ART. 11. Da mihi animas

The life of Don Bosco found its origin, form and expression in a phrase which runs like a golden thread through his experiences: da mihi animas coetera tolle.

These words enclose the inexhaustible energy of Don Bosco: the secret of his heart, the strength and ardour of his charity, the apostolate in its thousand and one forms and realizations. He chose it because it characterized for all groups and members of the Family the spirit which must animate them.

For us at the present day it indicates a complex of interior attitudes which guide the steps of the Salesian in the practical events of daily life. It calls, in fact, for dedication to spiritual depth and interior apostolic commitment; it points to the mystery of God's loving presence by giving rise to a thirst for souls, as Fr Philip Rinaldi expresses it; it stimulates the vivacity and creativity of pastoral charity.

It is the distinguishing badge of the family!

It links us with St Francis de Sales and with his new way of attaining evangelical perfection; and with Don Bosco, shepherd of souls after the example of the Lord Jesus.

To be called children of Don Bosco we must remodel ourselves on the lines of this first charism of ours. To all his followers Don Bosco repeats: "The most divine of all divine things is to cooperate with God for the salvation of souls; this is a sure path to the heights of holiness".

ART. 12. To gain souls for God I push ahead even to the point of rashness.

The expressions arising from the priestly heart of Don Bosco are not easily placed in the framework of common behaviour. The rashness of which our Founder speaks can be interpreted in various ways: apostolic ardour, tireless zeal, limitless activity, incessant pastoral work, a genial creativity in relevant interventions, an oratorian heart.

Work is a typical salesian manifestation of pastoral charity when it is understood as work for souls. It is a mystique which builds God's kingdom and brings about happiness in the young person.

And so, like Don Bosco, the Salesian develops in himself all the virtues of a man of action and commits his own abilities and talents to the personal advancement, social progress and evangelical salvation of the young, particularly those in need.

He makes a gift of his whole life, as did Don Bosco who took no step, said no word and took up no task that was not directed to the saving of the young. Truly the only concern of his heart was for souls.

ART. 13 If we are one in heart we can do ten times as much.

In all his activity as an educator, pastor and founder, Don Bosco showed a great ability for dialogue and for sharing responsibility with even the youngest of his collaborators; for harmonizing in apostolic and missionary work the talents of the most widely differing persons for the good of the whole enterprise; for finding for each individual a work suited to his character, his skills and his formation, in such a way that each one felt happy in what he was doing.

He was aware of the need for cooperative charity in educational and pastoral service, and knew that the Holy Spirit raises up charisms for the benefit of the whole Church and for the common good and usage. The talents of each one are there for the good of all, and the ability to find collaborators renders the work more efficacious.

In the Regulations for the Salesian Cooperators Don Bosco wrote: "At all times it has been considered that union between good people was necessary in order to help one another to do good and to keep far away from evil. If a piece of string is taken by itself it is easily broken, but when three pieces are plaited together they are more difficult to break. When weak forces are united they become strong: Vis unita fortior, funiculus triplex difficile rumpitur.

ART. 14. No effort should be spared when the Church and the Papacy are at stake.

Don Bosco's personal story, like his public, civil and religious history, reveals a typical trait of his spirit: love of the Church, the centre of unity and communion of all the forces working for the Kingdom. In the context of the Church of his time Don Bosco appears as an expert in communion and collaboration.

He cultivated the awareness and sense of Church in his spirituality and in his work with the young and people in general, facing innumerable risks and hardships in the process.

He offered continual collaboration with the Bishops and the Pope, both at an external organizational as well as at a spiritual and apostolic level.

Don Bosco expressed his ecclesiality through incessant prayer, docility to the magisterium, availability for economic aid, shared responsibility in the service of the People of God, defence in word and writing of the person of the Pope and of the apostolic college, fidelity to the Church's options, convinced acceptance of doctrinal observations and guidelines, and unconditional dedication: "No effort should be spared when the Church and the Papacy are at stake".

ART. 15. That you are young is enough to make me love you very much

"It is my desire that the fruits of this commemorative year may long endure, both in this Salesian Family and in the universal Church which has recognized and continues to recognize in Don Bosco an outstanding model of an apostle for the young.

"And so I declare and proclaim Saint John Bosco Father and Teacher of Youth, and establish that he shall be invoked under this title, especially by those who are acknowledged as his spiritual children". Thus wrote John Paul II.

In this way Don Bosco's place in history is specified: he is the teacher of the young; and rightly too is expressed the manner of his task: father of youth.

The principal values of Don Bosco's experience find in the young their point of convergence and coherence: his kind of holiness, the choice of his field of apostolic work, his strategy of intervention, his practical plan of action, the secret of his success. With and after Christ, young people represent the other pole of Don Bosco's life and work.

The love for the young, typical of a father, teacher and friend, sustained Don Bosco in all his labours.

Youngsters represent a daily injection of youthfulness and optimism for the reinterpretation of society, a special vocation for Don Bosco. "For you I study, for you I work, for you I live, for you I am ready even to give my life".

ART. 16. Our method is founded entirely on reason, religion and loving kindness

The particular trait of Don Bosco's brilliance is linked with the educational method which he himself called the preventive system. The preventive system represents to some extent the quintessence of his pedagogical wisdom and constitutes the prophetic message he has left to his followers and to the whole Church.

It is a spiritual and educational experience. It is a love that gives itself freely in the practice of a charity which is able to kindle love in return. It is the choice of kindness erected into a system of which the content is the family spirit, capacity for friendship and dialogue, simplicity in associating with those most in need, joyful and optimistic amiability.

It is founded entirely on reason, religion and loving kindness.

Reason emphasizes the authentic vision of Christian humanism, in which joy, piety, wisdom, work, study and the sense of what is human are harmoniously blended.

Religion makes space for saving grace, for the desire for God, for Christ the Lord and New Man, who gives sense and response to the search for happiness.

Loving kindness is the substance of a psychological intuition: young people must not only be loved, but they must know that they are loved. It is the well-balanced composure of the educator who accompanies the youngster as a mature and responsible friend. It is the kind and patient evangelical charity which suffers all things and puts up with any annoyance. It is the ability to love at the youngster's level, in signs he can understand.

The preventive system is inseparable from the person of Don Bosco; it is in fact his experience of the Holy Spirit.

ART. 17. My one support has always been recourse to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and to Mary Help of Christians

The Christ who dominated the existence of Don Bosco was prevalently Jesus living and present in the Eucharist, the master of the house as he used to call him, the centre point towards which everything converged, the bread of life, the Son of Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the Church. Don Bosco lived by this presence and in it.

The Eucharist as sacrifice and sacrament, the Eucharist eaten and adored, was in Don Bosco's life strength and consolation, the source of peace and the fire of activity. For both him and his boys holiness was unthinkable without the Eucharist.

The Eucharist is the master-key for the radical conversion of the heart to the love of God.

In the salesian spirit, the centrality of Christ is lived with an extraordinary sensitivity of contemplation and of friendship towards the Eucharist.

For Don Bosco the use of the phrase "Help of Christians" does not merely emphasize a particular and original title previously unknown. Rather it is a reminder of the universal motherhood of Mary, who intervenes in the work of foundation of his Family, so that the task is carried out by both of them together. This was a profound and unchangeable conviction of Don Bosco: "She has done everything".

We can trust Mary; and so to her we have entrusted ourselves. Moreover Don Bosco has permanently bound his Marian devotion to the sense of Church, to the ministry of Peter, to the simple faith of the People of God, and to the urgent needs of youth.