TEACHER AND FRIEND

by Pascual Chávez Villanueva

T

OF DON BOSCO

HARD TIMES

FOR THE FAITH

Don Bosco lived at a time when the faith was under attack from “a liberal revolution on the march” (Braido), and the Church, caught between “perverse and subversive doctrines”, was called upon to mount a strenuous defence of her doctrinal integrity and her independence from the political powers.

IThas been said that the expression as seeing Him who is Invisible is “the most apt description of faith to be found in the whole of the NT” (J. Moffatt). Faith, described in this way, consists in holding on to what is real even though it is not yet grasped; the believer who lives as seeing Him who is Invisible, does not need to see in order to believe, as did doubting Thomas (Jn 20,29); it is enough for him to believe in order to see, like Moses, what by definition is invisible, God in person (Ex 33,23).

■ The author of this definition wanted to overcome the disillusionment of a community living through a difficult situation: scattered in a world hostile to it, it did not know how to find grounds for its hope; faithfulness was becoming a heavy burden, because its members were not prepared to face the new challenges; it was comprised of old believers who could not, however, count on the support of those they had educated in the faith, because they had almost all disappeared. So these “Jewish” Christians were living, tired of waiting for the fulfilment of the great promises of their faith, and discouraged because they had found in it nothing but difficulties and persecutions. It is to them that, for the first time, the faith is presented as if it were a vision of the Invisible.

■ We don’t need much imagination to see ourselves reflected in those Christians. In “postChristian” Europe there is at present the sense of a tiredness about the faith, of a spiritual diaspora which gives the impression, above all in a way that is intangible but profound, of being uprooted and in exile. It would seem as though the faith makes us foreigners in a world which is becoming ever less familiar, in which we are considered out of place, almost as outcasts. Sometimes indifference, the result of a faith and a presence that is weak, can even take on the appearance of hostility; this tempts the believer to go and hide in the sacristy, to make the faith a private matter, without giving it any public expression and without any social commitment, almost as though, in this era dominated by science and technology, believing in God were something to be ashamed of. Given this background, it is inevitable that the life of faith becomes a burden to us because it sets us against the current. And so..…it is necessary to learn from the salmon to swim against the current to arrive at the source. Even more, in these circumstances it is necessary to learn how to make the obstacles themselves a launching pad to reach even higher, with greater determination and energy. Only in this way will we be able to overcome the danger of conforming to the values and the fashions of the moment, only in this way will we be able to strengthen our resolve to live our life differently, to take on before the world the responsibilities of our faith. In times of disenchantment we are called upon to re-enforce out fidelity to the ideals of our faith, to bear witness, with joy, to the God in whom we believe.

■ We need to remember Don Bosco. He too passed through “the experience of times which seemed to be so sad on account of the remorseless phenomenon of the loss of faith and of the dismantling of Christianity” (P. Stella). And yet in spite of that, he was able to see God there, even though He might be invisible. We must not forget that we are the sons of such a father, that we are heirs to his ways. We will be worthy sons and disciples if we too succeed in recognising God’s presence in our world, which appears to be without Him, among our young people who seem to be indifferent to His presence and impervious to His action.

■ As members of the Salesian Family we already have a long history of living with God which we need to recover, since it is our most important and valuable heritage. Don Bosco’s faith is legendary; this too is our heritage, part of our patrimony which will be preserved if we accept it; and those gifts for which we have to take responsibility, if we are to hand them on to others: the oratory as a special kind of presence; poor and abandoned youngsters as the ones for who we live and work; education as our field of work; evangelisation as our aim; the preventive system as our method and our spirituality. These are the best reassurances that we have to face the present, and drive away fear of the future. We already have more than a hundred years history behind us; we shall have “a future of centuries” (E. Viganò) if we succeed in living as did Don Bosco, as seeing the Invisible. ■