austraLasia #3382
GC27
on Retreat &
Seminarians in
celebration: "Sentire in ecclesia" by Bro. Luke Adrian A.
Maloloy-on, SDB - see further below
ROME: 27 February 2014 -- One Australian Salesian Brother likes to remind
us of a diocesan priest where he was working who owned a
yacht, which he named 'Retreat'. Whenever the Bishop rang for him (it was
invariably a Monday) the housekeeper would say "Father is on
Retreat". The bishop was mightily impressed with the
spiritual progress his good local pastor was making in the
course of a year!
Well, GC27 is now 'on Retreat', but far from water or yachts
unless the dingy (as distinct from dinghy) ditch that runs
through the Pisana could be graced with that name! We can
largely leave them in peace over these next few days, so
expect fewer missives. But you might like to follow the
retreat talks by way of private meditation, and this
can be done via SDL. Additional talks will be added as
they are translated.
As you can see from the
cover of the Italian edition published by Elledici above, the
Retreat theme follows the Chapter theme. However, Fr Juan
José Bartolomé does far more than simply parrot
the letters and explanations that have been published thus far
on the Chapter theme. He picks up on Fr Chávez's
'profile of the new Salesian' and explores the by now familiar
threefold mystic-prophet-servant in his peculiarly and
profound biblical way. And as he pointed out in his
introductory talk on the Wednesday evening, these also become
motifs for prayer. An example of how he proceeds (scheduled
for Thursday morning's presentation) follows:
Our prayer motif for today
is the first feature in the “profile of the new Salesian”:
being a mystic leads the Salesian to living his vocation in
total dedication and ongoing conversion under God's
unconditional supremacy. We will focus our attention, our
heart, on the person of Jesus, witness and model of
faithfulness to the God who had declared that he was his Son
and whose cause, the kingdom, he takes up as his exclusive
concern. One God alone, the Father, one cause alone, the
kingdom.
We intend to retrace Jesus'
passion for God and his concerns as the key to understanding
his person and work. His total identification with God and
his cause confirms him as the beloved Son and makes him his
best evangeliser. It is not a case of different tasks, but
Jesus needed to distinguish these tasks as he carried them
out: before dedicating himself to preaching God and his
kingdom, Jesus had to prove to himself that he was accepted
as God wanted him to be, as his son.
Spiritual Exercises
The Italian term for a Retreat is esercizi spirituali, drawing directly from
St Ignatius' term 'Spiritual Exercises'. When we use this
latter term in English we are almost always making reference
to a Jesuit-inspired retreat, which is why the simple word
'Retreat' (and not even 'spiritual retreat') is usually
preferred for general reference. This time, however, Spiritual
Exercises might well be the term to use. Fr Bartolomé
points out in his introduction that he is quite deliberately
following Ignatian inspiration and even method. Like St
Ignatius he makes no claim to 'preaching' - he is instead
giving them 'exercises'.
The exercises begin by taking them through Matthew's account
of Jesus' Baptism, demonstrating along the way that temptation
can be looked at as a spiritual experience to draw profit
from, if we handle it the way Jesus did!
Bartolomé's and Vicent's work has been published in
Italian (LDC) and Spanish (CCS), but it has not been
translated and therefore not published in English, The
summary guide sheets for which the link above has been given
in SDL are the only available material in English - but they
do contain the substance of the larger work so are a valuable
way of coming to grips with this substantial and biblically
and Salesian inspired set of reflections on the Chapter theme.
Reminder
of GC27 timetable
Thursday 27 February - Sunday 2
March - on Retreat.
Terminology
If there is any terminology used that you are unsure of, and
you don't have the app, look it up in the Salesians
A-Z
web page.
-------------
SENTIRE IN ECCLESIA
by Br Luke Adrian A.
Maloloy-on, SDB
LAGUNA: 27 Feb 2014 -- In the evening of the 21st of
February 2014, the St Peter College Seminary of the Diocese of
San Pablo, Laguna, Philippines hosted an evening affair
dubbed, Seminarians Night 2014. In attendance were mostly
diocesan formation houses and religious communities closely
collaborating with them. The Salesian Sacred Heart
Postnovitiate Seminary-Canlubang, Laguna community showed its
Sentire in Ecclesia,
being one with the Church, by participating. Fr. Charles
Manlangit, SDB, Rector, represented the community accompanied
by the first year brothers.
The celebration began with the Eucharist in Latin, followed by
the first vespers proper of the Chair of St. Peter. The
occasion was capped off with an entertaining dinner program.
With the different exchange of vocation stories and formation,
it was a moving sight to see such an encounter, where
consecrated men and women nurtured by various charisms follow
a single movement of love that stems from Jesus Christ.
This initiative was a first of its kind in the diocese wherein
formation communities, both in and out of the diocese, gather
together for fellowship and interaction regardless of whether
communities are secular or religious in nature. Apart from
being a vigil celebration of the titular patron of the host
seminary, this was as well an anticipation of two grand
upcoming events of the diocese: the host seminary celebrating
thirty (30) years of its presence and the enthusiastic Diocese
of San Pablo with its golden anniversary of its foundation.
It was a memorable encounter and radiated the beautiful unity
of the Church. From the positive feedbacks, there was a major
feeling that this should be celebrated annually, hoping to see
a more collaborative diocese that constantly gazes upon the
face of Christ.
-------------------------
Did you know
that Don Bosco's Rooms (the
'Camerette) are now on Facebook?
Amongst other things, they have loads of photos of the
Chapter members visiting the rooms. They also have some
delightful cartoon images of Don Bosco:
Candid Camera - KOR
