S TRENNA 2009

by Pascual Chávez Villanueva

A VAST MOVEMENT FOR

THE YOUNG

THE SEED THAT HAS BECOME A TREE

“In doing this we are entering upon a mighty undertaking … who knows, this departure, this humble beginning may be the seed that will grow into a mighty tree... that will grow little by little and accomplish great things (BM XI,359-360)

These are some of the words which Don Bosco addressed to the first missionaries leaving for Argentina on 11 November 1875. They were from among his boys who had been the most open and ready; those he had formed to be leaders and educators among their companions. They hadn’t had a long period of training, but they had lived at his side, absorbing a love for life, the joy of friendship with the Lord, the experience of simple but deep daily prayer, a willingness to give themselves constantly to poor and abandoned boys. They were the first seedlings springing up from the heart of Don Bosco, seeds capable of giving life to a great tree: the Salesian Family, a vast movement of persons guided by the same pastoral and apostolic dynamism: the mission to youth not only at Valdocco but also in far-off lands. Today the Salesians number about 16,000, present in 130 countries around the world. Don Bosco’s words have come true. “Who knows, this departure, this humble beginning may be the seed that will grow into a mighty tree... that will grow little by little and accomplish great things.” Indeed, the seed has been extraordinarily fruitful, the good work has grown and there has been a great expansion: the Salesian Family has grown like a great tree spreading its branches.

◙ Today the Salesians are engaged on behalf of the young, both educating them and encouraging their progress towards Christian and spiritual maturity. Oratories, youth centres, schools, vocational training centres, hostels for youngsters or street children, rehabilitation centres for young people who have been abused or are victims of negative experiences, missions, parishes, social communication centres, retreat centres… The apostolic imagination of Don Bosco found its full flowering in this variety of activities which taken together express very well the rich breadth of the Salesian mission and represent the incarnation of the Salesian service in any given context, in response to the needs of the young. Don Bosco took no step, he took up no task that was not in response to his fundamental vocation: seeking the good of the young. He had started out taking care only of boys, but soon the Lord helped him to realise that there was a need for him to provide something similar for the benefit of girls. He came to the decision to found an institute on their behalf following the urging of various people; from his own observations of the abandoned and poor state in which many girls were to be found; from his contacts with different female institutes; from his devotion to Mary; from the approval of Pius IX who encouraged him to take this path; from the repeated "dreams" and extraordinary experiences he himself described.

◙ Contemporaneously at Mornese, in the hills of Monferrato, the young Maria Domenica Mazzarello had begun leading a group of young women who were dedicated to the care of local girls, with the intention of teaching them a trade and guiding them in the Christian life. Separately some distance apart two signals on the same wave-length were sending out the same message: for girls too, there had to be the sort of educational environment created for boys at Valdocco. Don Bosco’s meeting with Maria Mazzarello and their mutual understanding regarding a common mission led to the first steps being taken to give life, form and development to the new institution. Thirteen years after the birth of the Salesians, 1872 saw that of another new branch of the charism: the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. Today there are about 14,500 FMA who are engaged with great commitment and dedication in educational and social work, in the promotion of women, in the mission of evangelisation.

◙ But this was not enough. Don Bosco’s dream was something great, and the good to be undertaken was great. Workers were required for both consecrated life and life lived in th3 midst of the world. Hence the idea of the Cooperators. Theirs would be the spirituality of every day life: Cooperators would carry out their apostolate through their ordinary responsibilities in the family, in their married life, their professional, socio-political, cultural lives as well as in the Church. With simplicity and to great effect this first lay branch developed: Don Bosco striving to bring together the greatest possible number of people. What he had at heart was that they should be real collaborators for the salvation of the young. Today there are about 30,000 Salesians-Cooperators. They share the same mission and spirituality as the SDB and the FMA, according to their condition as lay people. During Don Bosco’s own life-time the seed had become fruitful, producing the first branches of the great tree of his “family.” This development was accompanied, in his mind, by the constant assistance of Mary Help of Christians. “The Madonna has done everything,” he used to say. To keep attention focused on Her, Don Bosco decided to set up the ’Association of Mary Help of Christians, another group of the family which today is spread throughout the world. ◙

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