LETTER OF THE RECTOR MAJOR

___________________________________________

«CHRIST LOVED THE CHURCH

AND GAVE HIMSELF UP FOR HER » (Eph. 5,25)

Commentary on the Strenna 2005

The reason. - Rejuvenating the Church: a gift and a task. - A testimony, a model, an image. - Church, the light of all nations, mystery and sacrament of salvation. - The Church, at one with the joys and hopes of humanity. - Union of the Church with the entire human family. - To whom is the Council addressed. - At the service of men. - Towards a youthful image of the Church. - A witnessing Church. - A liturgical Church. - An evangelizing Church. - A serving Church. - Ecclesial sense in Don Bosco and in Salesian tradition. - For a pedagogy of being Church and living with the Church. - Making the Church known. - Making the meaning of Church more widely known. - Gaining experience of Church. - Leading others to find vocation in the Church. - By way of conclusion: like the colours of the rainbow.

Rome, 1 January 2005

Solemnity of Mary Mother of God

My Dear Confreres,

I greet you with all the affection God the Father has for us, giving us his only begotten Son born of Mary through the power of the Spirit.

I do so at the beginning of 2005, in which we shall celebrate the 40th anniversary of the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council, which was a real Pentecost for the Church, called to continually renew itself so as to reflect more faithfully the face of her Lord.

This is the reason why I felt called to propose to the whole Salesian Family as the Strenna, that is, as a real spiritual and pastoral programme for this year, the task of rejuvenating the face of the Church. Someone might ask where this idea came from, what inspired it. Well my reply is twofold. On the one hand, because travelling around the Congregation throughout the world I become aware of the need there is to recover, where it has been lost and to stregthen where it is weak, affection for the Church, who is the Mother of our faith. On the other hand, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, speaking about the action of the Spirit the sanctifier in the life of the Church says that “by the power of the Gospel He makes the Church keep the freshness of youth. Constantly He renews it and leads it to perfect union with its Spouse.” (LG4).

I also took the decision, in agreement with the General Council, to present as my circular letter at the beginning of this year my commentary on the Strenna, so as not to multiply messages and to encourage the assimilation of those that are offered. If in some Provinces there is the danger if indigestion from so many documents that are read without leaving time for personal assimilation, in others there is the problem of trying to keep uptodate because of the difficulty in translating and presenting to the communities the documents that arrive, so that they struggle when they receive so many documents and consequently often fall behind, which can create a two or three speed Congregation. There is also another factor in favour of this idea, which I consider the most important one, and it is the attempt to offer an annual formation help for the whole Salesian Family to whom the Strenna is addressed, which then helps to strengthen in all the members a sense of belonging to the spiritual and apostolic family of Don Bosco. I am sure that my decision will be well undersood and readily accepted by all of you.

This time I don’t even provide information about the visits made to the Provinces in these months, although it would be worth doing so since it helps people to know the Congregation better and to appreciate the confreres and what they are doing in many very different contexts. This then throws light on attitudes, customs and behaviour both personal and communitarian that deserve consideration to encourage and launch forward all the Provinces with Don Bosco’s pastoral daring and imagination. I have noticed how in this regard the letters about the Regions are producing what I hoped for: an increase in knowledge of the Congregation and co-responsiblity in her progress. It is an effective way of fostering communion and participation.

Among the events in which I have taken part in this period, the most important without doubt was the World Congress on Consecrated Life which with the theme “Passion for God – passion for humanity”, wanted to face up with sincerity and humility to the current situation of a way of life that since the Vativan Council has been going through a process of renewal and which little by little is beginning to indicate the features of her new face. The Congress tried to be open to the newness of the Spirit, which contines to raise up seeds for new growth with forms of life that then become more meaningful intelligible and effective in the evangelisation of culture. The conclusions reached, while being illuminating and providing suggestions for the future, make an appeal to the will for conversion of each and every religious, so as to make clear the absolute primacy of God in our life, which is seen in an intense life of dialogue with God in which is nourished the desire for brotherhood and the passion for the salvation of men. I hope you have had the opportuntity and been interested enough to follow the event on the website “Vidimus Dominum” which provided a wonderful service for religious around the world. In any case I hope to be able to share with you on another occasion the reflections this Congress offered me and their consequences for Salesian life and mission.

A first opportunity for sharing some thoughts about the Congress I had in the “Good nights”that I gave to the community of the Generalate and to the UPS Vice Province, and in the Meeting with the Provincials of Europe held at the Salesianum between 1st and 5th December, to reflect on our Salesian presence in this continent which is going through a quite rapid process of profound changes which provide new opportunities for Salesian life and mission, and at the same time challenge it and oblige us to make decisions to modify the structures so as to repond more significantly and effectively to the needs of the young. I invite you to read among the documents in section 5 of these Acts the addresses I gave at the beginning and at the end of the meeting, where you will be able to find described both the aims we set ourselves and a summary of the more important conclusions reached. On Sunday 5 December, at the end of the meeting we had the gift and the joy of being able to offer a personal greeting to the Holy Father John Paul II in his house.

I won’t expand on the matter as I prefer now to leave the word to the commentary on the Strenna with best wishes for the New Year. May Mary take us by the hand and guide us throughout 2005. From her we shall learn to love the Church as Christ loved her and gave himself for her.

The reason

There was a man sent by God whose name was Angelo; or rather, whose name was John. Yes, John XXIII, the good Pope who one day was prompted by the Spirit to rise up and proclaim a new Spring for the Church. With an unexpected gesture he not only opened the windows but threw wide the doors as well so that the Spirit could enter. The Second Vatican Council which he convoked was like a cyclone entering unexpectedly into a closed and blocked up environment, “the rush of a mighty wind” (Acts 2,2) as in the Cenacle on the day of Pentecost.

On the occasion of the 40^th anniversary of the ending of the Second Vatican Council, and in the light of Lumen Gentium and Gaudium et Spes, which have enabled us to see the Church as a Mystery, the People of God, the Body of Christ, the Mother of believers and Servant of the world, we are conscious as members of the Salesian Family that “it is the Church’s task to reflect the light of Christ in every historical period, to make his face shine also before the generations of the new millennium” (NMI 16). And so, reliving that extraordinary event, we commit ourselves to

Rejuvenate the face of the Church,

the Mother of our faith.

We could not fail to commemorate with grateful hearts this anniversary of the conclusion of Vatican II, a great event of the Spirit that was a real Pentecost for the universal Church. Already my predecessor, Fr Egidio Viganò had declared that it would be our guiding compass for the third millennium. Today our task is to take up and bring to fruition the dynamism stemming from the Council, an authentic blast of fresh air which filled with the Holy Spirit the lungs of the Church, in whose continued renewal we commit ourselves to collaborate. The Council’s Constitutions Lumen Gentium and Gaudium et Spes, enriched by the recent reflection of Novo millennio ineunte, will be our point of reference.

Unlike the previous Strenna this new one will not be followed by a pastoral proposal. At the time I explained that such a proposal would be with us for several years; it was impractical to think that the commitments it suggested could be put into effect in a short time. And so for this year too it continues to be the objective and point of reference for the pastoral initiatives to be realised in the different places where the Congregation and the Salesian Family carry out their service to the Church and to the young. This is true to an even greater extent with regard to our commitment for youthful holiness, which finds in our pastoral plan its focus and in the present Strenna a great incentive.

Rejuvenating the Church is both an exciting gift and a demanding task; but what does rejuvenating mean? I will begin from the negative point of view of what it does not mean. It is not a matter of a face-lift or cosmetic surgery, such as would be well suited to today’s consumer culture of the ephemeral and the transitory, but hardly in harmony with the renewing power of the Spirit. Nor is it a question of making a few external changes or superficial adjustments, so as to make it seem that the Church has been updated to modern times in the manner of other social institutions. To make her beautiful and attractive we have to provide her with new vigour as does the Holy Spirit; we must do what Jesus does: love the Church and spend ourselves for her.

The theme of this year’s Strenna is best explained by the passage in the Letter to the Ephesians, which says: “Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her…. So that he might present her to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph 5,25-27). This beautiful text is both constructive and intriguing; it needs to be studied, contemplated, and lived out. The fundamental meaning is evident: Christ loves the Church, he purifies her, sanctifies her and nourishes her. He loves her out of his goodness and not for his own satisfaction. The Church spoken of here is not an ideal or something abstract but the concrete Church in history. Christ transforms her to make her beautiful, resplendent, true and holy. He takes the initiative in her regard, and spares himself nothing to remove from her every spot and wrinkle.

This is our task: to love the Church as Christ loved her, to the extent of giving ourselves completely for her. The beauty of the Church’s countenance must reflect the beauty of her Lord, the Crucified and Risen Christ. It is the beauty of the love revealed to us by Jesus in his passion, “the fairest of the sons of men” (Ps 45,3), “a man of sorrows, despised and rejected by men” (Is 53,3), “by whose stripes we are healed” (Is 53,5c). It is the beauty of the love that in the resurrection could roll back the stone that closed the tomb and sit upon it, with the cloths that were wrapped round the crucified one left on the ground and the veil covering the face folded and set aside, thus inaugurating the new creation (Mk 16,2; Jn 20,6-7). This is the beauty that will save the world and that we are called upon to make shine out in the Church. It is not vanity; it is the beauty of love.

Our task is also to bring it about that the Church resembles ever more the “new Jerusalem” (cf. Rev 21, 10-23), coming down from heaven and adorned like a bride for her husband; to ensure that she may be a community renewed by the breath of the Spirit which animates her and makes everything new; a community enriched by multiple charisms and ministries which keep it alive and dynamic; a community open and welcoming, especially to the poor, to whom it is sent and among whom it becomes credible and a beacon of light; a community that lives passionately for freedom, justice, peace and solidarity – values to which men and women of today are particularly sensitive; a community which is the leaven of hope for a society worthy of man and for a culture rich in ethical and spiritual values, to ensure that the Church becomes ever more a youthful Church, in which young people feel themselves at home as in a family.

The new Jerusalem “is an image that speaks of an eschatological reality, that is, one that touches on the last things, that goes beyond what man can do by his own efforts. This heavenly Jerusalem is a gift of God reserved for the end of time. But it is not a Utopia. It is a reality that can begin to exist here and now… Wherever there is an effort to speak and work for peace and reconciliation, even temporary, in every kind of human community life corresponding to the values of the Gospel, there is a break through which even now gives grounds for hope”.¹

Rejuvenating the Church means making her return to her original youthful state; like the Churches of the Acts of the Apostles, of the Letters of St Paul, of the Book of Revelation, she lives by the strength of Easter and the power of Pentecost, she realises the truth of Christ and freedom of the Spirit; she recalls the “first love” (cf. Hosea 2,9). A Church which returns to her apostolic roots is courageous in martyria, that is in bearing witness to Jesus and his Gospel even to the extent of giving up life itself. She is characterized by the euangelia, that is, the communication of the Gospel to all; evangelization is the reason for her existence, as is explicitly stated in Evangelii Nuntiandi, the most important document on evangelization, promulgated by Paul VI ten years after the ending of the Council. She is brought together by leitourgia, because salvation is not just a victory to be gained but a reality to be celebrated with gratitude and made present and effective in every time and place. She is committed in diakonia, the significance of which is clearly dealt with in Gaudium et Spes: the Church is not the mistress of the world, but its servant.

Rejuvenating the Church means making it a home for the young. The Church will be young when it includes young people, especially nowadays when – at least in some parts of the world – there is a growing disaffection because of the Church’s visible appearance. In consequence a mystagogic and pedagogical process must be devised to bring in young people and lead them to become Church. At this point the enlightening image of the disciples of Emmaus comes to mind once again: it helps us to understand the Church as mother and teacher, the travelling companion of all men and women who are looking for the meaning of life. She opens them to the revelation of God in Scripture, enlightens their minds and warms their hearts, offers the communion of the Body of Christ and so become community. It is a matter of making the Church the home of all who believe in the risen Christ and want to testify to their faith in him. The Strenna, therefore, is an invitation to make the Church young, and to make young people the Church.

John Paul II, in his message for the Fifth World Youth Day in 1990, wrote to all the world’s youth telling them amongst other things: “Take your place in the Church, which is not only for those to whom pastoral care is directed but especially for those who play an active part in her mission. The Church is yours and, indeed, you are the Church”. It is an invitation to the young in every place and time.