3414 Stirring words!
austraLasia #3414

 

Stirring words!

  12 April 2014
--  Just a word about this material in particular - the translations of written material (the kind of thing you have links to above) have largely been done in bits and pieces as they came through. In some cases (the Chapter Document, for example), they went through many - and we many many - versions, revisions and the like, all based on the 'official' 'editio tipica' which under current custom is Italian. The Rector Major has introduced a new factor into all of this - for the moment, at least, he uses Spanish to ensure he gets his message through - from the heart and mind that is best expressed for him, as it is for all of us, in his native language. Good on yer mate! (Does that need translation? I doubt it!).

All of the above means that the documents (most of which have been translated under understandable pressure) are in English, are in good English by and large, but will need to be reviewed, 'harmonised' between one and the other, and so on and so on. That is a post-chapter event. Just bear that in mind. If you see something that hits you in the face immediately as 'odd' (I'm talking about translation of these documents, of course!) could you pass that on please? Of course, these then have to be checked back against the 'official' originals, but comments of the kind will be taken kindly and where possible, integrated.

The substance of the RM's final address
1.  A BRIEF LOOK AT THE DIFFERENT STAGES OF GC27
He looks at the seven weeks noting highlights. The visits to the DB Places is 'our birthplace', he says. The gestation period was the Becchi - we were born in Valdocco!
The study of the Report on the Congregation was crucial: "It certainly was a great help in getting to know this report better so we could be more aware of the reality of our Congregation with its lights and shadows, and with the certainty that we are all the Congregation and we all give it life and light or limit it by our shortcomings."
He is honest in reflecting on the reflections at this stage: "We felt a desire to fly higher through truth, authenticity, and by being radical, and felt that at times we do not even succeed in getting off the ground."
The Pope's words and especially the time he spent personally with each Chapter member was a definite highlight. "Moreover, we took away with us a message from Pope Francis that cannot be reduced to a simple anecdote amongst us. In fact it must form part of our Chapter conclusions, these final words of mine and also of the planning and decision-making that will be up to the Rector Major with his Council, and Chapter members in their provinces, once they have returned."

2.  KEYS FOR INTERPRETING THE REFLECTIONS OF GC27
Below are just the sub-headings, but each of these contains a challenge which usually starts with something like, "I dare to ask each Province to.....".  This is where the RM's final words of the Chapter are stirring and yes, challenging.
      2.1.  LIKE DON BOSCO, CAUGHT UP IN GOD’S STORYLINE
      2.2.  A FRATERNITY THAT IS ‘IRRESISTIBLY’ PROPHETIC
      2.3.  A VERY SALESIAN WAY OF BEING RADICAL: “WORK AND TEMPERANCE”
      2.4.  SERVANTS OF THE YOUNG, owning nothing and no one …

3.  WHERE TO DIRECT OUR FUTURE CHOICES FOLLOWING GC27
      3.1. KNOWLEDGE, STUDY AND ASSIMILATION OF GC27
      3.2. DEPTH OF INTERIOR LIFE: WITNESSES TO THE GOD OF LIFE
      3.3.  LOOKING AFTER OURSELVES, LOOKING AFTER OUR CONFRERES, LOOKING AFTER OUR COMMUNITIES
      3.4.  IT IS ENOUGH THAT YOU ARE YOUNG FOR ME TO LOVE YOU
      3.5.  AS IT WAS FOR DON BOSCO: OUR PRIOITY IS THE YOUNG WHO ARE POOREST, THE LEAST, THE MOST EXCLUDED
      3.6.  EVANGELISERS OF THE YOUNG, ‘COMPANIONS ON THE JOURNEY’, BOLDLY PUTTING CHALLENGES BEFORE THEM
  3.7.  WITH LAY PEOPLE IN THE URGENCY OF A SHARED MISSION
  3.8.  MISSION ‘AD GENTES’, PROJECT EUROPE AND THE BICENTENARY
                                       THANK YOU - FROM THE HEART