AGC354-Vecchi_Salesian_spirituality-en


AGC354-Vecchi_Salesian_spirituality-en

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1. THE VICAR OF THE RECTOR MAJOR
_________________________________
INDICATIONS FOR A PROCESS OF GROWTH IN SALESIAN SPIRITUALITY
Some key points in the teaching of Fr Egidio Viganò
Introduction
1. The initiative of God
2. Apostolic consecration
3. The Christ whom we follow and contemplate
4. Pastoral charity
5. "Da mihi animas"
6. "Study how to make yourself loved"
7. The ecstasy of action
8. The grace of unity
9. Educating by evangelizing, evangelizing by educating
10. The Immaculate Help of Christians
Rome,
24
September 1995
Dear confreres,
In the month of September you were sent the obituary
letter of Fr Egidio Vigan•. In it, in addition to some
biographical details, we recalled in a synthetic manner
appropriate to such letters the areas of his commitment as
Rector Major, his style of animation, and his traits of
personality.
There is at present in process of preparation at the
Generalate a collected edition of his sixty-four circular
letters with a corresponding thematic index. The volume will
form part of the series of the collected letters of his
predecessors in office: Don Rua, Don Albera, Don Rinaldi,
and Don Ricaldone. At the same time in another volume will
be published the letters of Fr Luigi Ricceri, to whom fell
the task of guiding the preparation and first period of
renewal which followed Vatican II. Together with the Acts of
the GC20, 21, 22, and 23, these volumes will provide a
testimony and documentation available to everyone, of the
reflections, challenges, guidelines and efforts at renewal
which have characterized the period between the end of
Vatican II and the coming GC24.

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I thought it would be fitting as a sequel to the obituary
letter to offer a rereading of some points which pervade the
teaching of Fr Egidio Viganò. They are evidently not
exhaustive, nor do they include all that could be considered
the principal ones. Space precludes such a possibility. I
have chosen only those which concern more closely and
directly the aspect of the spirituality of the Salesian
which occur, even if only in a brief reference, in the
treatment of various themes and which were presented by him
in an original way. But they are solidly linked together
and, indeed, provide the elements of a physiognomy.
We shall not attempt to make a complete synthesis of
each point - an impossible task - but only a provide a
reminder of the substantial content.
The present period has been marked for us by the event of
the Synod on the Consecrated Life, of which we are awaiting
the concluding document but are already aware of its main
concerns through the Working Paper and the discussions in
the assembly. It prompts us to reflect on the expectations
of the world and of the Church in respect of Religious and
reminds us of Don Bosco’s originality in bearing witness to
the Gospel.
But the period through which we are living is marked
also by the proximate organizational and spiritual
preparation for the GC24. At this very moment the
Precapitular Commission, appointed by the Rector Major, is
at work at the Generalate: it has to draw up "the reports or
schemata to be sent in good time to those taking part in the
General Chapter" (R 113).
It is precisely in the light of this event that I
invite you to review some key points of our spirituality as
they have been put to us by Fr Viganò.
1. The initiative of God
(ASC 303, AGC 312, 334, 337, 342, 352)
"It is necessary to keep constantly in mind that at the
basis of everything lies the fascinating mystery of the
Trinity; in the words of the renewed Constitutions: We live
as disciples of the Lord by the grace of the Father, who
consecrates us through the gift of his Spirit and send us
out to be apostles of the young" (1).

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Characteristic of every Christian spirituality is the
awareness of the gift, of the grace, by which God on his own
initiative enters into our existence in the context of
history. This constitutes a substantial difference with
respect to all the rationalistic spiritualities which rely
on personal effort alone, noble though it may be.
If one wishes to trace out realistically the spiritual
journey of the Salesians in its vitality and characteristic
elements, one cannot ignore this origin which is precisely
the active presence of the Holy Spirit. And on their part
its recognition and eager acceptance, and the will to
correspond with it.
This presence can be perceived in three settings: In
the first place in the Church: "Guiding the Church in the
way of all truth", says Lumen Gentium, "and unifying her in
communion and in the works of ministry, the Spirit bestows
upon her varied hierarchic and charismatic gifts, and in
this way directs her; and he adorns her with his fruits. By
the power of the Gospel he permits the Church to keep the
freshness of youth. Constantly he renews her and leads her
to perfect unity with her Spouse" (2). It is the Spirit who
gives life and manifests himself in history as unforeseen
and transforming energy, especially through the prophets,
saints, pastors, and courageous and inspired guides. Of this
animation of the Church by the Spirit we have unequivocal
signs even in our own times. There is the whole movement of
reflection, of pastoral adaptation, of the spirituality
provoked by the Council, which is still producing new and
original manifestations even in our own day.
The presence and action of the Spirit extend beyond the
confines of the visible Church. They fill all the earth. In
the signs of the times the Church hearkens to his voice
which re-echoes in human consciences and which appears
especially in religious research, in noble and disinterested
initiatives for man’s spiritual growth, and in the moral
sense (3). Taken as a whole the signs tell us that we are
living at a privileged moment of the Spirit (4). One of the
works realized by the Spirit in the course of history, by
means of a thousand and one inspirations, is the consecrated
life which, in the following of Christ, concentrates on the
mystery of God and lovingly dedicates itself to the service
of men. "Institutes did not begin with theories and systems
worked out by a thinker: they began with particular events
and experiences lived out in docility to the Holy Spirit"
(5).

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This must be said, in particular, of our charism and
its realization by Don Bosco and by those who have succeeded
him in the course of time as disciples attentive to the
signs of the Spirit. And this is the second setting for
observance and faith for the Salesians. "Our Father knew he
was called by God to undertake a vast mission on behalf of
the young; to achieve this he saw clearly that he was called
to be a founder not simply of a religious institute but of a
mighty spiritual and apostolic movement" (6). Spirituality
and mission, in the service of the Church and the world,
move in the direction of the Spirit, i.e. of man’s opening
up to recognition of God and communion with him.
The third setting in which we are called to welcome and
accept the action of the Spirit is our own life. In it we
perceive the gift of God who draws us to himself; we are
attracted by Christ and induced to follow him in a radical
manner. Almost spontaneously we experience the same feeling
that Don Bosco had, and are led towards the mission for the
young. This is the personal vocation of which art.22 of the
Constitutions says: "Each one of us is called by God to form
part of the Salesian Society. Because of this God gives him
personal gifts, and by faithful correspondence he finds his
way to complete fulfilment in Christ".
The awareness of the gift, our will to respond, the
harmony with the salesian charism, the specific life project
which we assume in consequence, are expressed publicly in
the act of profession, and in particular of that of
perpetual profession because of its definitive nature. It is
"a sign of a loving encounter between the Lord who calls and
the disciple who responds by giving himself totally to God
and to his brothers and sisters" (C 23). It involves
conscience and life and not only external membership. And it
is again offered by God on his own initiative and not only
an act of the person concerned. For this reason "the action
of the Spirit is for the professed member a lasting source
of grace and a support for his daily efforts to grow towards
the perfect love of God and men" (C 25).
And so baptism, vocation, and profession mark the
phases of our placement with ever greater attention and
availability in the orbit of the Spirit who communicates the
love of God to the world and moves it towards him.
Three consequences follow from this. The first is that
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nucleus of our plan of existence (7). Holiness here is to be
understood not only as moral rectitude or as an ascetic
effort, but as a style and way of life in which shines forth
in a special way the mystery of God, which is liberating and
close to us. Without this there is no consecrated life, even
if all the institutional elements are present. The
replanning of holiness is therefore a decisive point of our
renewal. It is the most valuable gift we can give to young
people, and the most powerful and suitable means for
fulfilling our mission. We hold too that it is the specific
contribution that religious can make to culture and human
advancement. Spirituality or holiness has, in fact, a
temporal and secular value, not only because of works of
charity for the benefit of the poor but also because of the
sense, the message and the values it offers to human
existence.
But there is a second consequence. We pursue this
holiness following the modeland path which the Spirit has
manifested in Don Bosco. Constant reference to him,
therefore, and to the experience which matured in following
him, is indispensable both for the reproduction of traits in
him that are already well known and for the discernment of
new forms of such realization in the context of the present
day. "The Lord has given us Don Bosco as father and teacher"
(C 21).
These two consequences lead to a third: we choose as
our pedagogical road to holiness the one we find in the
Constitutions with its fundamental experiences (mission,
evangelical counsels, community, prayer) lived in a human
group which makes of them its code of life: the Salesian
Congregation, with its spiritual tradition and in its
present-day reality.
If it be true that "our living Rule is Jesus Christ,
the Saviour announced in the Gospel, who is alive today in
the Church, and whom we find present in Don Bosco who
devoted his life to the young" (C 196), it is also true that
we accept the Constitutions as Don Bosco’s will and
testament, as our book of life, on which we meditate in
faith and which we commit ourselves to practise in a
spiritual sense, because for us disciples of the Lord they
are a secure way which leads to love (cf. ibid).
The desire and will for holiness, Don Bosco as Father
and Teacher, the Rule and salesian communion are the
coordinates for the process of spiritual growth of a
consecrated Salesian as his response to the call of the

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Spirit. Without these it will be difficult for him to get
very far.
2. Apostolic consecration
(AGC 312, 337, 342, 346, 352)
When Fr Viganò, after the GC22, presented the "renewed
text of our Rule of Life" (8), he indicated apostolic
consecration (cf.C 3) as the general theme and the first
among the principles giving inspiration to renewal.
The various elements, in fact, which characterize our
spirituality as religious apostles find their raison d'ˆtre
in consecration, and specifically in that original form of
it that we call apostolic consecration.
This is one of the important new points in the process of
the redefinition of our identity in the wake of the deeper
studies that took place in the Church after Vatican II, and
which have been re-echoed in insistent declarations in
recent times.(9) "At the foundation of religious life lies
the consecration". "The Church thinks of you in the first
place as consecrated persons" (10).
A deeper understanding of consecration, in its biblical
roots, in its theological and ecclesial dimensions, but also
in the light of the practical experience of the Founder, is
therefore a substantial element for the rediscovery and
updating of the charism, so as to have a unified vision of
the project of salesian life and consequently for the living
and authentic expression of our spirituality.
Now it is precisely this effort at understanding which
has led us to emphasize certain aspects. The first is the
overall or total sense of the consecration. This indeed is
not a particular element of salesian life to be expressed or
one amongst others, but one that embraces everything. It
includes not only the vows but the whole being and activity
of the person, seen in a most singular relationship with God
which marks our deepest pastoral experience and our work of
education. A life which feels attracted towards God and is
centered in him, whether he be sought in prayer, in silence
and solitude, or whether the intention is to serve him in
others through a service of charity even requiring a strong
commitment.
It is clear therefore that when we speak of
consecration we are not thinking only of a particular moment
as, for example, that of the profession. We are referring to

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the 'continuum' of the whole of life of which profession is
the significant and almost sacramental moment. We are
thinking of a personal and interior experience which begins
before profession, when the Lord is gradually becoming the
centre of our thoughts and the preferred object of our
affections. Accepting this grace of the Spirit we declare it
publicly before God and the Church in the act of profession.
It is thereby given special recognition and incorporated in
the life and mission of the People of God. It will then
continue until death, becoming ever deeper and more total as
an action of God, and as our response as its reality
gradually penetrates into our being. It is evident that life
becomes truly consecrated not only in virtue of the
institutional, organizational or ritual elements that
manifest it externally, but because of the vital
relationship it establishes with God. In fact in every
consecration the consecrating force is his presence. This
existential and personal sense of consecration is
particularly felt at the present day and is decisive.
From this arises another fundamental element of
understanding, shown by the use of the verb in the passive
voice: 'consecratur'. The consecration of a religious, on
the basis of that of baptism, highlights the absolutely free
and gratuitous initiative of God. This, as Fr Viganò puts
it, is the " spark before the fire of love, the first
dazzling indication of everything that is to follow, where
passionate friendship explodes and the covenant is ratified
between God who calls and man who responds" (11).
Consecration is not primarily an effort on the part of man
to reach God and be totally his. It is a visit, a gift, an
invasion of our existence by his grace. It indicates
primarily the action of God who, through the mediation of
the Church, takes us completely for himself, committing
himself to protect us and guide us.
But it is also true that this divine action is not
extraneous to our deepest movements. That is where it is
felt and receives our response, so that it becomes the
"meeting of two loves": the Father draws us and we offer
ourselves totally to him. "The initiative and even the very
possibility of a covenant comes from God, but is confirmed
by our own response: he it is who has called us and helped
us to respond, but it is we who give ourselves; he it is who
consecrates us and envelops us with his Spirit, who captures
us for himself and makes us become entirely his, but it is
we who centre ourselves on him, listen to him and keep our
eyes on him.(12)

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The rediscovery of the full sense of consecration as a covenant of love,
continually challenges us, give to our vocation its dynamic quality and its de
But our Rule of life rightly emphasizes the peculiar
character of the consecration which distinguishes us as
Salesians. It is grounded, in fact, on the project inspired
by God in Don Bosco the Founder, which is an apostolic
project in which the mission at the service of the young is
the aspect which characterizes our being wholly for God,
linked intrinsically with the testimony of the gospel values
and of fraternal communion.
There is neither separation nor lack of harmony between
consecration and mission, but a "mutual and indivisible
compenetration which makes us simultaneously and in a
salesian sense apostles who are religious and religious who
are apostles. Our consecration involves our entire life, and
the mission qualifies all the witness we give".(13) Hence
the mission, understood in its biblical significance which
links it with that of Christ consecrated by the Father and
sent to the world, appears as a constitutive aspect of our
consecration itself. On the other hand our consecrated life
is defined and made precise by the mission and must be
projected and realized in it. This is what the Constitutions
mean when they declare: "Our mission sets the tenor of our
whole life; it specifies the task we have in the Church and
our place among other religious families" (C 3).
All this goes to the very root of our identity as
Salesians and becomes a concrete orientation for our life
and spirituality, with consequences for our manner of
working, praying and living together.
In the first place the awareness of being consecrated
apostles gives its proper meaning to the mission, which is
not simply external action or activity but is a gift of God.
It inserts us in the Trinitarian mystery of the sending of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit by the Father, and in the
mission of the Church itself and of its specific task in
history.
From this stems the special emphasis placed on the
inner self as an essential condition for efficacious
apostolic and missionary activity. Zest in the mission
derives in fact from the mystery of God:(14) only if
constantly united to this mystery can the Church and the
Congregation confront the challenges of the new
evangelization.

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In this aspect we recognize an element typical of our
spirituality as consecrated apostles: consecrated, and hence
firmly rooted in Christ and in his Spirit, in an attitude of
filial obedience to the Father who has called us - and at
the same time "missionaries of the young", sent to
communicate to them the Love that has no limits: this is our
basic spiritual dynamism which situates us in the
spirituality of active life.(15)
If we live it to the full, this is the road to our
sanctification. Apostolic activity, and for us in practice
this means the educative option, within the project of
consecrated life, becomes the privileged place for meeting
with God and hence the road to holiness, so that it can be
said that the Salesian is called to sanctify himself by
educating.(16) It is a matter of "making of the educational
commitment the 'spiritual area' and the 'pastoral centre' of
life, prayer, professional activity and daily living".(17)
Finally, it is interesting to recall that the very
sufferings of the Salesian are exploited by his apostolic
consecration. "Our active asceticism does not teach us to
bypass or eliminate affliction; it accepts it and turns it
to good account by transforming it into a means of
salvation. Suffering accepted as a participation in the
paschal mystery of Christ has an important apostolic value".
(18)
3. The Christ whom we follow and contemplate (ASC 290, 296,
AGC 324, 334, 337)
We are speaking of something that is taken for granted.
"We belong to those followers of Christ who have by their
religious profession made a bid for freedom that is truly
unique: we have made the Risen Christ our permanent and
radical choice. Christ is our fundamental option, and this
conditions and orients all our other choices. The Salesians
can only traverse the paths of history when they are first
enlightened by the Paschal Mystery. Only in this spirit does
our kind of life make sense. Christ is the reason we belong
to the Church and take on work among the young and the
working classes; he is the one who inspires our educational
project, our activities and the distinctive way we carry
them out.
Especially in these days it is important for us to be

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well aware of this fundamental choice we have made; it must
claim our total loyalty and be the inspiring force in all
our convictions, all our living and all our dedicated
labour".(19)
It is a matter of the total mystery of Christ and of
his manifestation which is still in progress: Christ, Son of
God and true Man, born of Mary, dead and risen again;
consecrated and sent; Founder and Head of the Church,
Prophet, Priest and King. We have access to him through
listening to and meditating on the Word and especially the
Gospel, through the celebration of the eucharistic mystery,
through the task of conversion and the effort to configure
ourselves to him; through participation in the life of the
Church, and paying heed to the cries for salvation which
rise up from the world and especially from the young.
But there are certain representations of Christ which
attract our attention as Salesians in a particular way. We
present them in the original words of Fr Egidio Viganò.
Christ the Good Shepherd
"He is the living and existential centre of our consecrated
life. All consecrated persons are centred on Christ, but our
specific witness is characterized by the pedagogical and
pastoral standpoint from which we see Christ as the 'Good
Shepherd', who created man and loves his attributes, who
redeemed him and pardons his sins, and who makes him a new
creature through his Spirit. This central position of
Christ, the Good Shepherd, must shine like the sun in our
environments through a new eucharistic enthusiasm and a host
of initiatives expressing a daily manner of living and
educating which 'permeates our approach to God, our personal
relationships, and our manner of living in community through
the exercise of a charity that knows how to make itself
loved' (C 20). The emphasis on Christ as the Good Shepherd
certainly implies dedication to the young even to the cross,
but also points to the attitude that conquers by gentleness
and self-giving, by kindness...".(20)
Christ, friend of the young
"The Gospel manifests the love of Jesus Christ for the
young in various ways: He loves them (Mk 10,21: Jesus looked
at him and loved him); he wants them near him (Mt 19,14-15;
Mk 10,13-16; Lk 18,15-17: Let the children come to me; Lk
9,46-48: Whoever receives this child in my name receives

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me); he invites them to follow him (Mt 19,16-26: the rich
young man); he heals them (Jn 4,46-54: Go, your son will
live; he raises them to life (Lk 7,11-15: Young man, I say
to you arise; Mk 5,21-23; Lk 8,40-45: the daughter of
Jairus; he frees them from diabolical possession (Mk 17,14-
18; Lk 9,37-43: the boy was cured instantly; Mt 15,21-28; Mk
7,24-30 (the Canaanite woman’s daughter; he pardoned them
(Lk 15,11-32: parable of the prodigal son); he used them in
working miracles (Jn 6,1-15): the boy with five loaves and
two fishes). Don Bosco’s radical predilection for the young
cannot be explained without Jesus Christ; in the following
of Christ is found the surging source of its origin and
vitality".(21)
"The heart of the Salesian must be so overflowing with
Christ as to love youngsters as he loved them. We look to
Christ, friend of the poor and insignificant; through Christ
our earnest efforts for the young and the working classes
become more intense, more persevering, more genuine, more
fruitful.
In an era of identity-seeking, personal and collective,
the first and foremost task is to be absolutely sure of the
exact significance of our religious profession which
incorporates us in a community that has made the fundamental
choice of Christ, our Saviour and Shepherd and friend of the
young".(22)
Christ, the new Man
"We discover without too much difficulty that God’s real
masterpiece is Man, made in his own image, the living
synthesis of cosmic wonders, free and enterprising, who
thinks, who makes judgements, who creates, who loves, and who
is therefore destined to be the minister of all created
things, the voice of praise, the mediator of glory in joyful
dialogue with the Creator himself.
And it is precisely in our own history that when the
fullness of time had come God raised up the New Man, his
definitive masterpiece.
He is the culmination of the whole work of creation. In
him, says the Council, "the mystery of man truly becomes
clear... He is the image of the invisible God, of the
perfect man... who in a certain way has united himself with
each and every man... the firstborn of many brothers. In his
life on earth he felt himself solid with every man of every
century, from the first Adam (his progenitor) to the last of

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his brothers born at the end of time. Solid with them in
good and evil, he has overcome sin by the power of his great
love, to which he bore witness by giving his own life in the
supreme event of his death and resurrection".(23)
"The end or goal to which educational work tends is
Christ, the 'New Man'; every young person is called to
mature in him and in his image...
It is not a case of entering into polemics, but of
being convinced that the Christ-event is not simply the
expression of a 'religious' formulation, but an objective
fact in human history which has a concrete reference to
every member of the species and gives a definitive sense to
history itself. Every person needs Christ and tends towards
him, even if he is unaware of the fact. Everyone has the
existential right to be able to reach him, and to put
obstacles in the way is in fact to trample upon a human
right. The tendency towards Christ, be it conscious or
unconscious, clear or confused, is intrinsic to human
nature, created objectively in the supernatural order in
which the project-man has been conceived in view of the
mystery of Christ, and not vice-versa".(24). Christ, the
heart of the world and the mystery working in history.
"When we qualify culture as new we are simply referring
to what is emerging with the passing of time, even though it
may call for a careful and renewed form of pastoral
approach; but when referred to the mystery of Christ on the
other hand, 'new'indicates the fullness of the true and
definitive novelty. It is new not because we never heard of
it before, or because it is being challenged by problems
that previously we did not know to exist, but because it is
the wonderful vertex of all human affairs; it proclaims in
fact the supreme goal of history and the source of all hope
in every century...
To 'evangelize' means in the first place to be able to
proclaim the happy and pleasing news of Christ’s Easter
victory, which upsets and disperses the fleeting attraction
of evolving novelties which soon become transformed into
that boring monotony which usually characterizes the dreary
existence of a civilization that is merely horizontal".(25).
"Rightly therefore does the Council declare that Jesus
Christ 'is the goal of human history, the focal point of the
desires of history and civilization, the centre of mankind,
the joy of all hearts and the fulfilment of all
aspirations...' (GS 45).

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I think it important, dear confreres, to come back
continually on this synthesis of faith... so as to convince
ourselves that it is not possible to prescind from Christ in
the promotion of man and in the development of a true
salesian pedagogy".(26)
4. Pastoral charity
(ASC 304, AGC 312, 326, 332, 334, 335, 337, 338)
The article of the Constitutions which introduces the
salesian spirit says that "it is summed up and centred in
pastoral charity, characterized by that youthful dynamism
which was revealed so strongly in our Founder and at the
beginnings of our Society" (C 10).
This is a serious statement. It is not indeed a matter
of one more element to be put alongside others, but of the
very source of our spiritual and pastoral identity. From it
flows that unifying energy which imprints on us a particular
physiognomy, prompts us to self-donation, and unites us in
communion.
We need therefore to return to it frequently to clarify
its nature, deepen our knowledge of its content and specify
the practical consequences which follow from it, without
being satisfied with generic perspectives or the spontaneous
reaction which such perspectives produce in us. The
privileged starting point, as for all aspects of the
charism, is the experience of the Founder and the life of
the group of his first disciples in the very early days.
"The Salesian Family came into being because Don Bosco loved
the young. His was a love of predilection that permeated his
every inclination and talent; but basically it was a special
gift from God, a 'salvation-strategy' for modern times. It
welled up in him because of his utter enthusiasm and total
allegiance to Christ".(27)
The first spark of the salesian vocation is the intense
love of God, well defined and directed towards poor and
abandoned youth. In Don Bosco it gradually became a plan of
life. He became aware that this was a singular grace. "The
Lord has sent me for young people, and so I need to leave
other things aside and preserve my health for them". He
realized this project in the radical following of Christ,
contemplated in his anxiety to give dignity and salvation to
persons, especially the lowly and those most in need.
The source, the launching and the energy of development

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of the salesian charism therefore are found in a love with
two inseparable poles, God and the young; in total self-
donation to God in the mission to youth, and in a
corresponding total self-donation to the young in a movement
towards God. It was along this line that the holiness of Don
Bosco matured. To follow up this ideal he called together
those young people whom he found to be suitable and willing.
This it was that gave its original image to the newly born
Congregation.
Charity is the foundation and energy of all spiritual
life, the first and most radical of allcommandments and the
highest of them as regards the objective to be attained, the
substance and best of charisms, the distinctive mark of
every Christian state or vocation. So it was for Jesus, for
St Paul (cf. 1 Cor 13-14), for our Patron St Francis de
Sales who sang its praises even from a human standpoint. So
it was also for Don Bosco who extolled every form of charity
as a sublime characteristic of the Christian heart. In the
dream of the ten diamonds the one place on the front of the
garment and precisely over the heart was charity. It is that
love which had its greatest manifestation in Jesus Christ,
Son of the Father and Redeemer of mankind, and which the
Holy Spirit pours into our heart at the moment in which
through faith and baptism we become inserted into Christ.
It is precisely through the richness of Christ, through
the creativity of the Spirit, and through the expressive
possibilities of the human person that there exist
innumerable "kinds" or historical actualizations of charity.
What lies at the centre of the salesian spirit is
qualified as 'pastoral'. The word immediately brings to mind
the image of God as Shepherd, who brings his people out of
slavery, guides them in the desert, leads them into green
pastures, reveals to them his plan, and makes a covenant
with them. It recalls also and principally the figure of
Christ the Good Shepherd who walks the highways, meets the
people, heals the sick, reveals the Kingdom, dies on the
cross, and rises again to life so that men may have life in
abundance.
"Pastoral" applies to life, food, dignity, orientation,
from the most elementary to the highest level. Pastoral
charity is sparked off in the contemplation of the mystery
of God who intervenes in history to bring salvation. It is
manifested in the desire to take part in his work of
salvation, to place oneself at his disposal so as to act in

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union with him.
Its content is total self-giving, in intention and in
fact. "It is not just what we do but our gift of self which
manifests Christ’s love for his flock. Pastoral charity
determines our way of thinking and acting, our way of
relating to people".(28)
The gift of self in pastoral charity is directed
towards the Church, and through the Church towards humanity.
It is marked by a will to serve that has no limits, "marked
as it is by the same apostolic and missionary zeal of
Christ" (ibid.). The Council and subsequent documents refer
to it at length in connection with priests and pastors who
are charged with the care of the people of God.
Pastoral, therefore, is the kind of love which is
inserted in the mission of the Church and builds there an
ever broader and deeper communion. Pastoral is that love
which contemplates the total salvation of persons in Christ
and everything else in function of this. Pastoral is that
love which puts its trust in the saving energies established
by Christ the Pastor: the word, faith, grace, ecclesial
communion.
Salesian pastoral charity has had from the outset a
further distinguishing mark. It has been shaped as educative
charity. Moved by apostolic zeal Don Bosco chose as his
particular field of work youngsters who did not know to what
parish they belonged. He took on the task of being for them
not only priest and pastor but also father and guide in
life: shaping their human growth, accompanying them in the
field of work, inculcating culture and animating their free
time. Against this background he translated into daily
activity the love which sought so intensely the salvation of
his youngsters. It all gave rise to a physiognomy and a
praxis: the preventive system.
This was the line of approach chosen by John Paul II,
when he said of Don Bosco that he realized his own personal
holiness through an educative commitment lived with zeal and
an apostolic heart; and that it is precisely in the
interchange between education and holiness that are to be
found the characteristic aspects of his figure. He was a
holy educator.(30)
"This", says Fr Viganò, "was Don Bosco’s 'first
charism'. There is no question of natural inclinations or
preferences: Don Bosco’s choice was most certainly dictated

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from a higher level. We are beyond the frontiers of what we
are pleased to call 'the normal'; it is more than existence
in as much as existence itself possesses something greater
still... like the Damascus Road incident in the soul of Paul
(Tillard). Predilection for the young holds pride of place
in Don Bosco’s vocation, and hence in his artistic intuition
as an educator and in his spiritual originality as a saint".
(31)
5. "Da mihi animas"
(AGC 332, 334, 336, 353)
Fr Viganò writes: "I am convinced that there is no
synthetic expression which better qualifies the salesian
spirit than this one, chosen by Don Bosco himself: Da mihi
animas".
The great Institutes and currents of spirituality have
expressed the quintessence of their particular charism in a
brief summarizing phrase. We may recall the "peace and good"
of the Franciscans, or the "prayer and work" of the
Benedictines, or the "ad maiorem Dei gloriam" of the
Jesuits.
Witnesses of the early times and subsequent reflection
in the Congregation have led to the conviction that the
expression which best expresses the pastoral charity of the
Salesians of Don Bosco is precisely "da mihi animas". It was
found frequently on the lips of Don Bosco and had a decisive
influence on his spiritual physiognomy. It was the slogan
that struck Dominic Savio in Don Bosco’s office when the
latter was still a young priest (34 years), and prompted him
to make the comment that has become well known: "I
understand; here you do not deal in money, but in souls".
(32) He immediately grasped the point that Don Bosco was
offering him not only food, a home and schooling, but above
all an opportunity to know Jesus and grow spiritually. The
central position given to "souls" has been reaffirmed by
successive Rector Majors. Don Rua, Don Albera, and Don
Rinaldi all commented on it, and it has also been absorbed
into the liturgy: "Inspire us with that same apostolic
charity, to seek the salvation of our neighbour and so serve
you, the one and only good". We need therefore to go more
deeply into the significance of this expression.
The spiritual interpretation of the Bible provides a
basis for the extraction of a valid nucleus of content: the
distinction between persons and things. The presence of

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Melchisedech and the blessing he pronounced on Abraham
confer on the passage concerned a particular religious and
messianic sense, traditionally accepted. But it would be
misleading to want to preserve or abolish Don Bosco’s slogan
and programme only on the basis of a correct interpretation
of the Bible. The word of God, in fact, is heavy with
meaning in history, and especially in the history of
sanctity. And this is not the only example.
What is important is Don Bosco’s personal
interpretation, against the religious and cultural
background of his time, and the fact that on it he had
modelled his life and experience of God. In this vision
'soul' indicates man’s spiritual dimension, the centre of
his freedom and root of his dignity, the privileged area of
his opening to God, where the spirit makes his presence
felt.
The interweaving of the two meanings, the biblical one and the one develo
culture, suggests some very concrete options of life and
action.
In the first place, love or pastoral charity considers
primarily the person, and to the person is primarily
addressed: it has an intuition of his value, especially in
the light of the love of God the Father, of the redemptive
work of Jesus, and of the presence of the Spirit. The
'things' come afterwards; they are of less value and have
less importance in the educative process.
And so the salvation which pastoral charity seeks and
offers is one that is full and definitive. Everything else
is ordered to it: beneficence is ordered to education; the
latter to religious and Christian initiation; religious
initiation to the life of grace and communion with God.
In other words, we may say that in the existence of the
person we give the primacy to the religious dimension. The
same is true in education and advancement, not for motives
of proselytizing but because we are convinced that it
constitutes the deepest source of growth and happiness. We
foster its depth and its correct development and expression.
In a period of secularism and confused religious beliefs and
practices, this line of approach is not without its
significance but neither is it easy of realization.
The slogan contains also an indication of a method for
action: in the formation or regeneration of the individual

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one must build on his spiritual resources: his moral
conscience, his openness to God, the thought of his eternal
destiny. The pedagogy of Don Bosco is a pedagogy of the
soul, of grace, of the supernatural. Once this energy has
been activated, the more profitable work of education
begins. The remainder, though valid in itself, is
preliminary and contributory to this which transcends it.
From this follows a priority in life and pastoral
activity for anyone who takes up the "da mihi animas", which
has an ascetic consequence: "Leave the rest". One must
renounce a great deal so as to be able to dedicate all one’s
strength to what has been chosen by preference, whatever in
fact is purely personal inclination, and even lawful fields
of activity which would take away time and resources. Many
activities can be entrusted to others and even be left aside
altogether so as to have the time and availability for
opening young people to God.
"Anyone going through the life of Don Bosco, following
his mental schemes and exploring the lines of his thought,
finds a matrix: salvation in the Catholic Church, the sole
depositary of the means of salvation. There arises the
instinctive feeling that the challenge of abandoned
youngsters, poor and homeless, awakened in him the urgent
educative need to promote the insertion of these youngsters
in the world and in the Church through methods of gentleness
and charity; but with a tension stemming from the desire of
the eternal salvation of the young".(33).
We may wonder what "da mihi animas" implies in daily
life. It indicates in the first place a pastoral 'heart':
the willingness, the impulse, the desire to work, a taste
for pastoral enterprises, availability, joyful self-
donation, a feeling of attraction to those in greatest need,
the feeling that all the work is well worth while, the
ability to overcome easily little setbacks and hold on, to
take risks and difficulties in one’s stride. Its contrary is
indifference and the facing of pastoral tasks as though they
were an obligation to be fulfilled as rapidly as possible.
But in addition to the 'heart' aspect,"da mihi animas"
presupposes a pastoral sense. The pastoral sense, like an
artistic sense or business sense, is almost a flair, a
spontaneous movement, a manner of rapidly sizing up a
situation from the perspective and side of the one we are
concernedabout.

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It consists in being able to guide matters from the
standpoint of the salvation of the person concerned, in
taking a pastoral view of events, of using criteria, key
facts and points of reference that are valid for thinking
out or setting up an activity, in such a way that those
involved grow from a human aspect and succeed in becoming
aware of the presence of God the Father in their existence.
And then there is pastoral ability: this is a specific
professional preparation required by "da mihi animas",
through which we have learned to motivate, instruct, animate
and sanctify. We make ourselves capable of understanding a
context, drawing up a plan to meet its needs, and to carry
it out, keeping in mind also the invisible and imponderable
elements that are always present in work for souls.
Finally we must also include in the list pastoral
creativity, i.e. the mental and practical attitude which
leads to the finding of original solutions to new problems
and situations. Don Bosco thought up a plan for street-boys
while the parishes were continuing with the regular
catechism classes. Shortly afterwards, when he saw that the
youngsters were neither prepared for work nor protected in
it, he thought out a simple and homely solution which later
grew considerably: work contracts, workshops, trade schools.
And similarly for other needs relating to the house,
instruction, etc.
Don Ceria considers this trait as characteristic of the
salesian spirit: "The first feature which strikes everyone
is a prodigious activity, both individual and collective".
(34)
6. "Study how to make yourself loved": The pedagogy of
kindness (ASC 290, 310; AGC 326, 332)
When there was a question of choosing a charismatic expression
to attach to the cross of the Good Shepherd, the
symbol of profession, i.e. of the project of salesian life, Fr
Viganò chose Don Bosco’s phrase: "Study how to make yourself loved".
In our literature there are countless expressions like
pedagogical love, kindness erected into a system, the
gentleness of St Francis de Sales, the pedagogy of the
heart. All of them lead back to the preventive system, and
in particular to the ensemble of attitudes and practical
indications which are linked with loving kindness. At the
root there is always the charity which seeks the salvation

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of the young person, manifested through a recognizable
affection tempered by common sense.
Salesian pastoral charity is moulded "in contact with
the young", in the effort to help them to use life to
advantage by involving them in responsibility for their own
personal growth. It must therefore set up an educative
relationship not only of respect and reasonable discipline,
but of friendship and filial trust and confidence. This is
true especially in the case of youngsters who have been
sorely tried, in difficult situations, where such a
relationship must be set up again from scratch and rendered
credible once again. In this way loving kindness became the
substantial form of the charity of Don Bosco. It consists in
provoking a correspondence which reacts on the educative
process itself and on the dynamism of growth in the
youngster. In this way, in fact, the educative process
becomes something trustworthy and dependable and the
youngsters are led to voluntarily give of their best.
Don Bosco’s recommendation "study how to make yourself
loved" has therefore a strategic value in pedagogy but is
also a characteristic element of the salesian spirit. It
gives an original physiognomy to the whole Congregation
which appears enriched by its ability to approach the young,
to talk to them on their own wavelength, to involve them
willingly in their human growth, and draw them towards God
and the Church.
If we look more deeply into this sort of kindness we
find that it goes beyond gestures of sympathy. It presents
an extremely robust system of convictions, attitudes and
practices which call for the commitment of the whole
personality.
In the order of deep attitudes it implies an
identification with the kindness of the Father "who provides
in advance for all his creatures" (C 20). It is nourished by
the contemplation of Christ the Good Shepherd who wins over
hearts by his meekness and comes close to the humble and the
needy, inclining to their immediate needs and accepting
their imperfect requests to open them to riches of a higher
order. We observe the motherly attitude of Mary, eager to
sustain and foster the growth of the humanity of Christ so
that divinity may have an adequate mediation in history.
All this means that the general view of man and of his
possibilities and realizations is a good one. It leads to

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the discovery in culture and history of the seeds of good
elements and to their cultivation with confidence. It is a
view which applies specifically to the resources of every
youngster. No one is definitively lost. Whatever the
prevailing circumstances he has within him energies which,
if suitably awakened and nourished, can prompt the will to
build himself as a person. Every youngster, in fact, has
within him the mark of the design of salvation in which
there is the promise of a full and happy life for each one.
"In every boy, and even in the most wretched of them", Don
Bosco used to say, "there is some point which, if the
educator can discover and stimulate it, reacts with
generosity".
But in addition to attitudes concerning realities and
persons, kindness suggests behaviour in the practice of
education which long experience has shown to generate
correspondence. This was developed at length in the letter
of 1884, from which we may recall three points.
In the first place there is the ability to make the
first opening, the ready welcome and familiar approach. The
contrary would be remaining aloof, keeping at a distance,
lack of communication, keeping away altogether. It has been
emphasized that herein lay the art of Don Bosco: making the
first contact, eliminating the barriers, provoking the
desire for further encounters.
\\This kind of practice of educative charity brings to mind
two phenomena of the present day: the physical distance of
so many young people, and the psychological distance of
others who, although geographically close, are separated
from us by themes of interest, language, tastes and
associations. And it gives us the idea that there is
something mystical and ascetical involved in getting into
dialogue with them.
The second manifestation of kindness is patient
dedication to the building of an environment which is rich
in humanity, a family where one feels at home and is helped,
and where there is space for self-expression while one
gradually and happily assimilates the values put forward.
The Salesians, like Don Bosco, learn to approach youngsters
in widely differing situations; but they also spend time and
energy in animating a youth community, characterized by
certain traits, able to welcome any who want to join in and
to offer them a positive experience of living with each
other, of responsibility and commitment. It is an

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environment in which kindness becomes a system because it
gives rise to organization, atmosphere, rules and roles.
From the welcoming and familiar approach is born a
friendship between educators and youngsters. This in turn
engenders trust and confidence, and creates an enduring
personal and educative relationship which is what really
helps growth. This is a stimulus to us to reflect on our
present practice and to submit it to close scrutiny to see
to what extent we are reaching the individual.
deep
The concrete expression used is assistance. It is
understood in the sense of a desire to be with the young and
to share their life. At the same time it implies physical
presence wherever the youngsters are to be found and
exchange ideas and plans, and a moral influence able to
animate, stimulate and revive interest. It includes the
double aspect of prevention: it protects from untimely
negative experiences and at the same time develops the
potentialities of the individual by means of positive
suggestions. It stimulates with motives inspired by reason
(an upright life, an attractive sense of existence) and by
faith, while strengthening in the youngsters the ability to
make an autonomous response to the appeal of values.
This assistance and friendship leads automatically to
another unique manifestation of the educative relationship
that is born of kindness: fatherliness. This is more than
friendship. It is an affectionate and authoritative
responsibility which offers guidance and vital teaching and
demands discipline and commitment. It is both love and
authority.
It is manifested above all in the ability to speak to the
heart, in a personal and personalizing way, so as to reach
those questions which really fill the life and mind of the
youngsters; the ability to speak to them in appropriate
language so as to touch their conscience and form in them
the wisdom they need to face up to present and future
problems. In a word, fatherliness is revealed in teaching
the art of living in a Christian sense.
7. The ecstasy of action (AGC 332, 338)
This is the interior aspect of da mihi animas. It leads us
to understand more deeply its intensely prayerful element.
(35) It defines the setting and style of salesian
contemplation, the culminating moment of our union with God.

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The expression goes back to St Francis de Sales. He
understood ecstasy as the goal which mental prayer should
reach: to lead us out of ourselves, quite peacefully, but in
such a way that God attracts us and raises us to himself. He
calls it ecstasy because by this means we are raised above
ourselves, as it were. He lists three kinds of ecstasy: "one
concerns the intellect; a second the affective faculty; a
third action", "the ecstasy of life and action" is the crown
of the other two which, without it, would remain incomplete.
"There has never been a saint who has not experienced the
ecstasy or the rapture of life and action, overcoming
himself and his natural inclinations".(36)
To this kind of contemplation, which is at the foundation of prayer and a
through the fulfilment of God’s will, Don Bosco and his
successors have frequently made reference with various other
expressions: union with God, the constant sense of his
presence, interior life, activity sanctified by prayer.
But it fell to Don Rinaldi to retrieve and highlight
the expression of St Francis de Sales. In the Strenna for
the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians of the year 1931,
on the interior life of Don Bosco, he exhorted them to
realize in themselves a vital synthesis between the activity
of Martha and the contemplation of Mary. It was a case, he
said, of a "simple, evangelical, practical and laborious
life". "Don Bosco", he explained, "united in the most
perfect degree his tireless and absorbing external activity,
so far flung and laden with responsibility, with an interior
life which began with the sense of the presence of God...
which gradually became actual, living and persistent, so as
to be a perfect union with God. In this way he realized in
himself the most perfect state, operative contemplation, the
ecstasy of action, in which he was consumed to the very end,
with ecstatic tranquility, for the salvation of souls".(37)
This would be the salesian interpretation of
"contemplative in action", a phrase of Jesuit origin, quoted
in art.12 of the Constitutions.
But having explained the origin and sense of the
expression we may ask what is its practical importance. It
covers four aspects: a journey of prayer, a form of
activity, a force unifying both of these, and a typical
moment ofcontemplation.

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Union with God is the true objective of prayer. The
latter, as well as being a periodic dialogue, tends to give
root in us to the love which gives us a feeling and desire
for God. Union with God has many degrees; at the beginning
it is fragile and inadequate but it grows little by little,
like the light gradually increasing with the dawn of the
day.(38) It is a goal to be achieved, certainly not by human
effort alone but one which requires the ever more lucid and
conscious response of a gift.
Because it is a goal, it presupposes a journey.
Generosity in activity does not by itself either produce it
or substitute for it. Hence the conviction that salesian
prayer, like every other form, "demands its own elbow-room,
distinct from that of ordinary working activity and
dedicated entirely to direct conversation with God",(39) in
ways appropriate to our life as indicated in the
Constitutions. It is a simple prayer, but one that is
persevering and intense: its expressions are taken from the
liturgy and popular devotion. It has no spectacular nor
strongly emotive traits - which may disappoint some people;
it concentrates on identification with the saving will of
God. All its expressions converge into a single fundamental
attitude: hearkening to the word of God who is Jesus Christ,
seen by us as the Good Shepherd. His light, his heart, his
mystery meet in us the invocations of the world, the trials
of the young, the demands of salvation. The culminating
point of this meeting is the "memorial" of Jesus which
recalls and makes actual his love for the Father and his
dedication for the world: the Eucharist. While its
consequence is the desire for conversion so as to be
configured to Christ who gives his life for men.
Action, on the other hand, is not just any kind of
activity supported by generosity alone or also by good
intentions. Like contemplation, into which it is grafted, it
does not consist in a sequence of subjective thoughts of a
religious kind, but of grasping the action of God in the
world and in life, helped by historical meditation. It is
along this line that evangelical prayer leads, and
especially the Magnificat. For the Salesian therefore it is
a matter of action of an educative and pastoral nature,
certainly belonging to the domain of charity with an
infinite multiplicity of forms and people addressed.
But that is not sufficient. Action involves our whole
person; it is not something external to it. Hence there is a
quality of action which is rooted in the very heart of the

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one who acts; it is being and feeling ourselves to be in
Christ like branches in the vine. He is aware that his
activity is a participation and collaboration in the
mysterious activity of the Father under the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit. It takes on therefore the practical
criteria of Christ as regards method, objective and
priority.
Between the style of prayer and the kind of action
there is a mutual compenetration, though each maintains its
specific times and forms. Prayer pervades all the activity.
The latter comes into prayer as gratitude, intercession,
desire of salvation, suffering. This is how it appears in
the priestly prayer of Christ. It is this mutual
compenetration which is referred to in art.95 of the
Constitutions: "Immersed in the world and in the cares of
the pastoral life, the salesian learns to meet God through
those to whom he is sent. Discovering the fruits of the
Spirit in the lives of men, especially the young, he gives
thanks for everything; as he shares their problems and
sufferings, he invokes upon them the light and strength of
God’s presence".
And the unifying point of both is specifically the
intensity of a love which spends itself for the salvation of
others following the path indicated by the Father for the
following of Christ.
All this brings it about that the typical moment of
contemplation, of the ecstasy in which God draws us to
himself with greater force, is when we act in collaboration
with him.
The GC23 expresses it like this: "For the salesian, educating youth to th
He is aware that by committing himself to the salvation of the young he is exp
God 'who provides in advance for all his creatures, is ever present at their s
them'. Don Bosco has taught us to recognize God’s operative presence in our wo
light and love"... "We believe that God is awaiting us in the young to offer u
dispose us to serve him in them, recognizing their dignity and educating them
our work of education becomes the preeminent context in which to meet him".(40
We rejoice with the youngster who overcomes himself, we
give thanks when we meet with generous resolutions, we are
astonished at the progress grace has brought about in
others, we suffer with those who are sorely tried. Every
situation touches us as it touched Jesus: He had
compassion..., he looked at him and said..., he stretched
out his hand.

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In the very activity, therefore, we break out into
invocations - not always formal ones - like Jesus did: "In
that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I
thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast
hidden these things from the wise and understanding and
revealed them to babes" (Lk 10,21).
8. The grace of unity (AGC 312, 330, 332, 334, 337, 342,
346, 352)
The 'grace of unity' was a theme frequently chosen by
Fr Viganò as a synthesis when preaching retreats.(41). It
remains one of the decisive key points for the complete and
harmonious interpretation and realization of the physiognomy
of salesian spirituality and life. The expression comes from
the SGC20 where it was used to resolve the polarity between
the demands of communal religious life and those of the
mission expressed in open and creative pastoral action. "The
Holy Spirit calls the Salesian to an option of Christian
existence which is at the same time apostolic and religious.
Thus he gives him the grace of unity to live the dynamism of
apostolic action and the fullness of religious life in a
single movement of charity towards God and his neighbour".
(42)
Other tensions can be met with in the life of the
Salesian which are natural to his project of evangelical
existence: work and contemplation, professional educational
practice and pastoral mentality, correct lay behaviour in
environments in which he is working and effort at
evangelization, insertion in the world and ascesis,
individual creativity and communal planning, closeness to
the young and bearing witness to values, collaboration in
the Church and membership ofa charismatic community.
The mirror in which such tensions can be seen
reflected, with also the ways to harmonize them without
undue mortifications, is Don Bosco. The Constitutions (cf. C
21) describe him as deeply human and at the same time deeply
a man of God, open to the realities of this earth and filled
with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, capable of moving amidst
the vicissitudes of this world and living "as seeing him who
is invisible". And they present to us, with growing
emphasis, the accord between nature and grace, the harmony
which is progressively created between the two healthy
tensions and finally the fusion of it all in a strongly
unified project of life.

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Unity is a grace included in the call to the salesian
life which implies, as does every form of life, a unified
development. The Holy Spirit infuses the desire, the taste
and the energy to live the salesian vocation in its totality
as a manner of expressing our divine filiation and that of
our young people.
But unity is also the response of the Salesian, of the
communities, and of the Congregation itself. It calls for
attention, discernment, a radical approach, revision and
conversion. It is a matter of making everything converge on
the project: intelligence, relationships, plans of action,
time, qualifications, affections, and the holding in check
of any tendency to dispersion. Unity, in fact, is not
something prefabricated but a human and spiritual reality in
conscious and ongoing construction for the giving of greater
richness to the individual, the community, and to the
apostolic project.
Let us look back over the various circumstances in
which we have already experienced this grace, and we shall
see the continual need for it because new challenges are
always arising.
The grace of unity gives orientation to the renewal of
our Congregation through the return to the charismatic
sources as well as to the material historical events of the
origins. The Spirit who made himself present yesterday in
Don Bosco is the same Spirit who speaks to docile and
attentive Salesians at the present day. Whoever is called to
take part in discernment processes must adopt this criterion
for the understanding of what the Spirit is saying today in
every religious Institute.
In the Church and in religious Institutes the grace of
unity precedes the blending of the institutional with the
prophetic element. It acts as a bridge between these two
aspects which cannot be opposed to each other either in the
life of the Church or of the Congregation, or in the
existence of the individual Salesian. It is in fact the same
Spirit who inspires the essential structures for the life of
the Church and who exposes them, so to speak, to the impact
of prophecy so as to maintain their ability to be open to
what is new and to restructure itself from within like a
living body.
Cleavages, lacerations, destructive opposing positions,

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are all evidence that a gift of God which should be
continually exploited has in fact not been accepted.
In the Spirit too and with the grace of unity are settled
the tensions that can arise between charism and authority, and
between obedience and communion in the Church and in the
religious community. This grace, in fact, nourishes in us a
sincere concern for ecclesial unity; it leads us to feel
that our charismatic and pastoral originality is a gift for
the Church, to foster communion with the bishops and with
Peter’s successor, to hearken to the guidelines and life of
the Church, to be opened by human values to an encounter
with every well inspired religious experience, and to try
every means to attain truth in charity also at the level of
human experience.
Finally, in the life of individual Salesians and
communities the grace of unity leads to the positive
overcoming, in advance and from above, of the tensions to
which their existence is a prey. As John Paul II said in the
course of the GC23 "it ensures the vital inseparability
between union with God and dedication to one’s neighbour,
between depth of interior evangelical meditation and
apostolic activity, between a praying heart and busy hands".
(43)
And so there is no authentic love of God which does not
become translated through intimate loving necessity into
generous love for man. Nor is there any true love for man
which does not prompt the lifting of one’s gaze towards God
to appeal to his strength for the fulfilment of all
communion and every desire.
Hence action includes the contemplative dimension and
the latter unites in a harmonious manner prayer, pastoral
commitment and apostolic suffering. "Prayer, action and
affliction", wrote Fr Viganò, "are together referred in
vital fashion to two poles: never God without man; never man
without God".(44)
Where such grace is not operative, the desire of prayer
can lead to intimism, separation from community or from
pastoral service; apostolic thrust leads to actions that are
individualistic and disorganized; evangelization is limited
to selected groups and rigidly religious content;
professional educational expertise leads to the faith
lacking expression.
Don Bosco, noted Fr Vigan•, "looked always at God as

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being the one most in love with man. And the grace of unity
emphasizes the profound unity deriving to the heart and
action of the apostle from the contemplation of God in love
with man".(45)
9. Educating by evangelizing, evangelizing by educating
(ASC 290, 296, AGC337, 343)
The grace of unity remedies the risk of a break between
the heart and life of the Salesian, of which dichotomies of
various kinds are a sign. But it also serves to respond to
another danger impending at the present time: that of a
separation between evangelization and education. The theme
is an important one. The education of the young, in fact, is
not only not linked with evangelization but in some people’s
opinion should be positively separated from it, because they
consider it a cultural sector with autonomous development.
In consequence there are also those who look for results in
evangelization but tend to reduce the latter to the
catechetical sector and addressed only to reduced groups.
What is necessary on the other hand is to promote by
educating, to educate by evangelizing, to sanctify by
educating.
That salesian activity includes two aspects, education
and evangelization, which contemplate both humanist and
supernatural horizons; that it is a synthesis of processes
of human advancement and at the same time of a deeper
knowledge of Christian life, had been repeatedly asserted by
the GC21.(46) Of these two dimensions it had pursued
reciprocal internal leavening to the point of constituting a
single project with different objectives and methods
applicable to individuals. To describe such unity the same
Chapter coined such expressions as "Christian integral
development", "integral salesian humanism", "Christian
liberating education".(47) Or, taking up once again Don
Bosco’s simple formulas, it proposed to form the good
Christian and upright citizen through growth in health,
wisdom and holiness. The GC23 followed the same line,
integrating into a single process the human experiences of
the youngster and the evangelical sense, making of them a
typical style of youthful holiness.
To succeed in making this intention operative in every
initiative and context, there is needed not only a
professional approach and technology, but spirituality as
well. "In fact in the mind of Don Bosco and in the salesian
tradition, the preventive system tends to identify itself

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increasingly with the salesian spirit: it is at the same
time pedagogy, apostolate, spirituality which brings
together in a single dynamic experience both educators (as
individuals and community) and pupils, contents and methods,
with clearly characterized attitudes and behaviour".(48)
The distinction, interrelation, and existential fusion of
the two dimensions present demands at various levels.
A first level is that of the mentality of the
educators. At the root of their educational outlook there
must be several convictions at work: the exemplary figure of
Christ who assumes the human into the divine person and
transforms it, the vocation of every man harmoniously and
undividedly a son of God and a son of man, the need of grace
for the full realization of one’s own humanity; revelation
as the unveiling of the sense of human existence because it
throws light on man’s origin and destiny and supports him on
his pilgrimage. And on the other hand the value of human
experience, the appeal hidden in the questions of the young
and in the events of history, the theological importance of
educative processes through which normally passes the grace of
redemption which generates the new man.
If on the one hand we give explicit recognition to the
substantial contribution made by grace to the growth of man,
on the other we must be alert to the situation of those for
whom we are working, to find the ways of daily patience, and
of the gradual approach which realizes it must move at the
pace of the youngster.
Then there is a second level, that of the personal
experience of the educator. There takes place in his mind
first of all a synthesis between culture and Gospel, when he
puts before himself existential facts and cultural currents
and evaluates them in line with evangelical criteria,
accepting what is positive, challenging what is ambiguous,
and correcting what is negative. In his own existence is
taking place an integration between faith and life with the
exploitation of all that is human, good and noble, and at
the same time with openness to unusual perspectives of
Christ.
A third level is that of educative and pastoral praxis,
where the processes of education and evangelization are
neither juxtaposed nor does either of them dominate as
successive processes which are mutually exclusive. They are
not
delegated
as
distinct
and
incommunicable

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responsibilities. One simply educates, but as a believer.
One evangelizes, but as an educator according to the
situation of the youngsters. The two things take place
individually and in common, because it is a matter of
communication of life rather than of roles and didactic
tasks. The two dimensions come together in free and variable
ways because they involve the witness of the educator, the
promptings of the environment, what has been learned from
listening to the youngsters' questions, and availability for
dialogue. Similarly in the other case, that of
evangelization, there are put forward without any rigid
order the proclamation of the Gospel, the suggestion of
faith, the catechetical process, the life of grace,
commitment and spirituality.
Finally there is the level of organization which, along
the same lines, must also aim at ensuring the Christian
identity and educative character of structure and projects.
It does not matter if this identity cannot yet be put
forward in complete and explicit form (as in countries where
the majority of the youngsters are of different religions),
or is expressed only in the simplest of elements (as in many
forms of rescue and salvaging). What is important is that it
not be only formal or institutional but becomes practical
and able to reach the heart of the individuals, throwing
light on questions of life and culture. Only in this way, in
fact, does the Gospel become prophecy and a source of joy
and energy.
In his letter on the Educative and Pastoral Project, Fr
Egidio Viganò, in order to preserve the evangelizing
identity of educative initiatives, recommended that the
ultimate objective of education in Don Bosco’s style be kept
very clear. Every intermediate objective in the mind of the
Salesian is ordered to the achievement of the youngster’s
calling, which is the knowledge of God and communion with
him. For this reason the whole educative process must be
positively oriented to Christ, searching in the significance
of human experiences and shedding on them the light of the
Gospel. It helps therefore to generate a critical conscience
with regard to values and current lines of thought, at a
time of pluralism like the present. At the same time, to
ensure the educative style needed in our work of
evangelization, he said there must be positive concern for
cultural areas, initiatives and institutions. These, while
offering us at the present day a possibility of
evangelization different from the past, place us on fertile
human ground hich is naturally open to the word of God. The

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Gospel will have to be deeply linked with culture and, we
may add, the faith with life’s problems and vice versa. And
it is precisely this which demands a realistic sense of the
gradual and practical nature of the educative mediations
like the community, the plan of activities, and the word and
witness of the educators.
10. The Immaculate Help of Christians (ASC 289, 309, AGC
322)
Every time a charism is born, as in all initiatives of
the Holy Spirit, the motherhood of Mary is involved. But our
own experience shows this to be true in a a particular way,
to such an extent that the formation of our pastoral praxis
is inconceivable without the presence of Mary, nor could our
spirituality mature without the contemplation of her figure.
The devotion to the Help of Christians is an integral factor
of the salesian phenomenon; it form a vital part of its
totality so that it would be absurd to isolate one from the
other. There is a strict and vital interchange, an intimate
linkage, a deep relationship with both the salesian mission
and the spirit of our charism.(49) If by grace she is at the
beginning of Don Bosco’s pilgrimage, she is also the arrival
point of his process of growth, the maturing of his whole
vast apostolic project, the concrete synthesis of the
various components of its spirituality and the life-giving
source of its dynamism and fruitfulness.(50)
All this has its ultimate basis in the event of Christ
and in our membership through faith of his community, the
Church. In fact it is from the height of the paschal mystery
and the perspective of the resurrection that we look at our
relationship with the Virgin Mary, Mother of God. From the
moment of the Annunciation there was created between Mary
and Jesus a relationship of mother and son which endures for
ever, but was transfigured at the moment when he took up his
mission and suffered death. In this way the motherhood of
Mary acquires new meanings at the redemptive moment par
excellence, in the life of the Church and in her assumption
into heaven. "Belief in the resurrection and the affirmation
that Christ has ascended and Mary has been assumed into
heaven, does not mean that they now live on some distant
planet and are within reach of the earth only by some kind
of extraordinary astronomic flight; it means rather that
they are very much alive for us, present and active in our
world through the new paschal reality of the Resurrection".
(51)

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The revelation of this mystery is mediated for us by
the spiritual experience of Don Bosco and by the events
which are at the origin of our salesian charism. In them
Mary appears as an emerging presence perceived and hearkened
to, like a constant maternal mediation, even to becoming
indicated as the "Mistress" of our educative praxis and of
our spiritual life.
His vocation was revealed to Don Bosco through the
intervention and word of Mary. She showed him the field of
his mission, its objective and its method. His work for the
young began on the feast of the Immaculate Conception and
its growth was marked by coincidences and events of Marian
significance which took place within the Oratory and in the
greater space of the Church outside. The oratory experience
blossomed into the Salesian Congregation, Valdocco had its
culmination in the Sanctuary: reference to Mary Immaculate
was enriched by that to the Help of Christians. Don Bosco,
who saw it all at first hand, discerned the connecting link
between the various phases: "Mary has done it all". And he
was certain also that for the future: "The Holy Virgin will
continue to protect our Congregation and our salesian works,
if we confirm our faith in her and continue to promote
devotion to her".(52)
Don Bosco’s experience led him to fix his gaze on the
living person of Mary by means of two representations or
titles in which we see reflected particulars which are
significant. Mary Immaculate speaks of the fertilizing
presence of the Spirit, of availability for God’s design, of
the breakage with sin and with all the forces that sustain
it, of the totality of consecration. At the Oratory it
inspired openness to the supernatural, the pedagogy of
grace, delicacy of conscience, and the motherly aspects of
educational accompaniment. It left its mark in the feast and
Sosality of the Immaculate Conception - a kind of trial
ground for the Salesian Congregation, in the kind of
holiness of Dominic Savio, which appears today as the
forerunner of salesian youthful spirituality.
Another ensemble of meanings is centered around Mary
Help of Christians. It recalls the motherhood of Mary with
respect to Christ and the Church, the support of Mary for
the people of God in the vicissitudes of history, her
collaboration in the work of salvation and, in consequence,
her function in the incarnation of the Gospel among the
peoples ("Star of evangelization")(53), and her mediation of
grace for every Christian and community.

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She imbues us with the sense of the Church, enthusiasm
for the mission, apostolic courage which was manifested in
the building of the Sanctuary and in the missionary
expeditions, the ability to gather together forces for the
Kingdom, as evidenced by the springing up of the Salesian
Family.
Both these images, that of Mary Immaculate and that of the Help of Christ
stimulating us to pastoral charity and to interior apostolic
conviction. Mary’s mission, in fact, begins with an openness
to the Spirit, moves by faith and is nourished, as appears
in the Magnificat, by the contemplation of the events of
salvation. It is then expressed and developed in an
unconditioned service to the growth of Christ, of the
Christian community, and of the world. For us therefore it
is a reminder and stimulus to develop the two dimensions in
strict unity and mutual communication.
She, in fact, united virginity with maternity; in her
womb the divine joined the human; becoming the mother of
Jesus as man, she became also the Mother of God. Educating
Jesus meant creating the necessary human conditions for the
Word to have full temporal expression and be rooted in
humanity. In her therefore contemplation and action were not
only parallel but consciously fused together. Her 'yes' to
the Father is always a 'yes' for the salvation of the world.
"The grace of unity in us has an indispensable Marian
aspect, which enlightens our apostolic interior and
accompanies its growth. We should be lacking in objectivity
were we to reflect on our religious consecration without
fixing our attention on the interior fullness and motherhood
of Mary".(54)
The facts of salvation and charismatic happenings,
therefore, place each Salesian in a setting where Mary is
already present as Mother. How do we express our awareness
of this, and our acceptance of the fact?
We do so in the first place by cultivating a personal
relationship with her, founded on meditation on the events
of salvation and their significance: the Annunciation, Cana,
Calvary, the Resurrection, the Cenacle; it is nourished by
attention to ecclesial life, where her presence is felt; it
is expressed in the filial attitude which inspires the
various Marian practices. As our Constitutions say in this
connection: "We develop a strong filial devotion to her" (C
92)

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But the personal relationship reflects back on the
educative commitment and gives to it its salesian tone. From
the standpoint of the educative plan it directs attention to
the life of faith and grace, to which Mary generates every
youngster; it prompts the initiation of the young to filial
relationships with God manifested in the prompt response to
his inspirations and in the sense of sin; it induces trust
in the mercy of the Father and in the redeeming strength of
Christ.
From the standpoint of method, Mary suggests the full
assistance of understanding, the support of a life in
process of growth, the ability to cultivate initial
movements and hope. The fusion of both constitutes the
preventive system, which was born and grows at the spiritual
school of Mary: "Under the guidance of Mary his teacher, Don
Bosco lived with the boys of the first Oratory a spiritual
and educational experience which he called the preventive
system" (C 20).
Finally there is the field of pastoral work among the
ordinary people. It involves attention to religious
experience, the care of Marian piety, and listening to the
appeals of the people of God, understood in a wide sense. In
the first place we must be able to perceive their hopes and
anxieties, to arouse and then sustain their faith through
expressions inborn in their culture. In the context of the
poorer classes the Salesians educate youth, commit
themselves to evangelization, support their advancement and
collaborate in their culture. They therefore promote
devotion to Mary, with four perspectives in mind: exploiting
the patrimony of popular devotion, and the human and
Christian values which they contain; they take up today’s
cultural turnabout which prompts enlightenment on the new
questions affecting the individual, on the role of women, on
the foundation and functions of faith, and on similar
problems; they draw inspiration from the guidelines of
Vatican II, which proclaims in the context of the present
day the evangelical message on Mary; and they launch
mediations of a catechetical, cultural and celebrational
kind to get the sense of the presence of Mary rooted in the
people.
There are three symbolizations of the synthesis we have
set out. The first is a fact of history, the building of the
Basilica; the second is a pictorial representation, the
picture of Mary Help of Christians above the high altar, of
which the details were suggested by Don Bosco himself; the

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third is the prayer of entrustment which we recite every
day: Mary Immaculate Help of Christians, Mother of the
Church.
***
The spirituality which results from these interacting
forces, is concentrated by Fr Viganò in the expression
"oratorian heart". It is attributed to Don Bosco, who
dedicated himself to the education of the young "with
firmness and constancy, in the midst of difficulties and
fatigue: he took no step, he said no word, he took up no
task that was not directed to the saving of the young".(55)
It recalls his original pastoral experience, essential to
the charism, not so much in its material aspect as in its
spirit. It recalls the praxis to which it gave origin and
what it implies in the person of the educators.
The same expression is applicable also to the
individual Salesian of every age, in reflecting predilection
of the young as his field of work; he feels himself sent to
them by God; he is able to make himself loved through
kindness, he puts persons at the centre of his projects, and
is creative in responding to the needs and demands of the
young.(56)
The oratorian heartis manifested in the burning desire to reveal Jesus as
thirst and enjoyment of his grace, to open people to vocations of commitment,
It also includes an interior enthusiasm for Christ the Shepherd, an internal r
unite oneself with God and to see him in the young.
In a word, the oratorian heart assumes the traits of the generous response to
of an interior pastoral approach, of the da mihi animas, of the study how to m
unity', of the love of Mary Help of Christians, Mother of the young. It repres
the Salesian in action, in his typical environment, in his tensions and fundam
also in its moving vivacity. "It is the salesian sine qua non from first profe
In our language heart, rather than indicating only a
physical part of the body, takes on the total sense it has
in the Bible. The heart of man is the source of his
conscious personality, intelligent and free, where have
their origin - often in a mysterious way - and mature his
decisive options, where lurks his goodness or malice (cf. Lk
6,45), where resounds the unwritten law and the action of
God is felt; where Mary preserved the Word and meditated on
it (Lk 1,19; 2,51). And so it is said that man sees the
appearances, but God knows what is hidden in the heart; that
man needs a new heart to listen to God and follow him, and
God promises to change a heart of stone into a heart of
flesh.

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The adjective oratorian covers the charism, the
personal vocation and the historical salesian experience
lived out with dynamic fidelity.
To this nucleus of our spirituality we are brought back
by the practical commitments we have assumed and by those we
are about to develop in the near future. We are reminded of
this by the "Instrumentum laboris" of the Synod: "It is
hoped that there will be a revival of spirituality,
especially in the active apostolic life, not only to make
the mission more incisive, but also to make possible
consecrated life itself in a world which seems to be
becoming impervious to the work of evangelization and which
has need of solid spiritual personalities to evangelize with
the fervour of saints" (58)
That too is the message of Fr Viganò. I entrust it to
you once again with confidence, and greet you in the Lord,
asking for a prayer for the coming GC24.
Fr Juan E. Vecchi.