A reflection based on the life of Dominic Savio For secondary school leaders. (By; Mark Murphy, St Joseph, Ferntree Gully) |
Coming to Know Dominic Savio
Formation
This year as celebrate the 50th anniversary of the canonisation of Dominic Savio we have great opportunity to learn more about this great young saint. We can read much about how he lived his life as a servant of God and what a tremendous inspiration he was for those he came in contact with. But how can we learn from this? How can we be changed? How can someone who lived such a long time ago influence us in our everyday lives?
In his Strenna for 2004 Fr Pascual Chavez asks us to….
TAKE UP THE CHALLENGE
TO ANSWER THE CALL TO HOLINESS IN OUR EVERYDAY CHRISTIAN LIVES
Fr Chavez tells us that young people have the ability to make courageous life choices. Don Bosco taught people to see life as an invitation to “Look up and act with courage” Chavez believes that everyone has a vocation and a mission, “a dream to be fulfilled, a cause to pursue.
He talks of a need to help young people develop an understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit. For young people this can be best achieved by looking at real life examples of the Holy Spirit at work. There is not one way to holiness but many. Chavez uses the example of Dominic Savio and Michael Magone - two young men called to holiness, each with a different point of departure.
It is in our ordinary daily lives that God is met and where love is proved genuine.
Fr Chavez talks of this call to holiness in terms of love for enemies and prayer for those who persecute us.
Fr. Chavez proposes three ways in which we can engage young people of the 3rd Millennium in this challenging call to holiness:
Accept life as a gift, develop its best aspects with gratitude and live with joy:
What gifts do young people have which they can pass on/use to help others discover Jesus in their lives?
Experience of God, friendship with Jesus and a way of life that becomes ever more in harmony with all that:
Where do I discover God in my life?
How can I develop friendship with Jesus?
Greater knowledge of the gospels
Prayer
Receiving the Sacraments – especially Reconciliation and Eucharist
Being open to society, to service, to solidarity and to taking on a plan of life:
Mission among companions
Peer support, Amnesty International etc.
Vocational choice
Youth leadership in schools and in the community
In this first series of materials for formation you are asked to focus on the first of these ways proposed by fr Chavez. Through discussion and reflection it is hoped that you can discern the acceptance of life as a gift lived with gratitude and joy.
Formation Activities
Prayer:
Lord I often feel that we live in a joyless world
I read the papers; war, death, hatred, greed is what I read
I watch the T.V.; fear, oppression, injustice, inhumanity is what I see
Your son Gave us his life so that we might have life and have it to the full
You Gave us Dominic Savio, a young person who saw only the good in people and in his world.
I had the good fortune of having him as my instructor in secular subjects.
In the first place, he never began an activity without starting with a prayer of thanksgiving. For the whole time I had him as a teacher I could see that he willingly did all in his power to help me learn. For my part, I did occasionally say or do things that offended him, but he never talked back to me. (Classmate Anthony Duina)
Help us to change our own lives and the lives of those of those around us by living lives filled with joy.
Help us to use our gifts as Dominic did to give hope to others
Help us to take up the challenge to live lives of holiness and joy.
We ask this prayer through Christ our Lord
AMEN
Activity:
Brainstorm the names of people who have used their gifts to bring joy to lives of those who live in a joyless world (They don’t have to be famous people
What gifts do they possess that enable them to do this?
One example of this can be found in the work of Fr Hans Dopheide SDB who in 2001 went to Lahore Pakistan with the sole purpose of starting a school which would assist some of the poorest and most disadvantaged boys in the country to gain education and skills that would help them toward a better life for them and their families.
Here is part of his story.
We started with nothing except an old shed and a few poor rooms. Ten young people were recommended to us by the parish priest. We started to work with them. Together we made chairs, cupboards, tables. They learned reading, measuring, arithmetic, English, welding, painting and motor mechanics. These were the first boys, who left our centre some 5 months ago, and now all have jobs!
From 10 students we have grown to 60 boys in the boarding section. These lads help with the milking of the buffaloes. They plant and harvest wheat and rice. I cannot imagine a more cheerful lot of boys.
We also have 40 day students from the streets including 3 Muslim boys among them. The reason for taking them is to teach the Catholic boys that the Muslins are a very fine people and should be excepted as normal friends. In this country there is friction in many places. This is a step forward we think. It is working well! Christ said: “Let there be peace. Peace to people of good will.” Just today one of the Muslim lads came to give us a large cake in honour of the end of Eed. (their Lent period.) This boy travels every day 3 hours to be here. He loves it here, and is a great friend of all.
Regarding our safety? There is a wonderful saying my father often used in Holland: “Hans, net doen of je neus blood.” In English it simply means: “take no notice the show must go on!” Knowing Christ is with us who needs to fear? Don Bosco had his “adventures”, can we as Salesians, expect other things in life? Your prayers will help keeping us safe! (Extract from a letter from Fr Hans Dec. 2003)
Father Hans is a living example of someone who saw a need to bring joy to the lives of those who have little to smile about. He is using his gifts and talents to support, in a very real and practical way, those in need.
How can we apply our special gifts and talents in our everyday lives to bring joy to bring joy to others?
Read some of the following extracts from the life of Dominic Savio, and others you can think of, that illustrate how he brought joy to the lives of others
Here are some examples
Dominic always earned first place in his class. He won other school awards as he earned top grades in almost every subject. Such results were due not solely to his gifts but also to his great love of study and to his virtue.
His extraordinary diligence in the performance of the least of his duties was a source of admiration. This was especially true of his admirable consistency of attendance at school. Continuously plagued by ill health, he would nonetheless walk 4km four times a day to and from school. Through it all he maintained perfect peace of mind and an unruffled disposition even during the winter season when he had to brave bad weather, rain and snow. As his teacher I could not fail to appreciate such an admirable example of such rare, heroic commitment. (Fr Allora, one of Dominic’s first teachers)
Don Bosco writes:
He would sweep the infirmary, clean shoes, brush shirts and perform lowly tasks for the sick. Boys who had to stay in bed through illness often asked that Dominic look after them. Dominic, when thanked, would often answer by saying that these sick boys were doing him the favour by allowing him to serve them.”
Giovanni Roda-Ambre, an apprentice who entered the oratory in 1854 testified as to the care and concern Dominic showed in his role as a mentor to younger students
I knew Dominic in the year 1854, when I was accepted at the Oratory. The Venerable Don Bosco entrusted me to Dominic Savio so that he would guide me during the first days and would instruct me in what I was to do. He spent the first few days entirely at my side, and I remained ever after the subject of his attention and concern.
After hearing these inspiring stories and testimonies the question for us must then be…
How can I Accept life as a gift, develop its best aspects with gratitude and live with joy?
Discuss aspects of your on personal story where you have lived life in this way
Write a prayer/reflection which you could share with other members of the group around the idea of accepting life as a gift to be lived with joy.
