MESSAGE OF THE RECTOR MAJOR

FR. ANGEL FERNANDEZ ARTIME, SDB

LIKE MARY,

COLLABORATORS WITH THE SPIRIT

In a time when in so many parts of the world the horizon and the future seem to be falling into darkness, we can be like that young woman, who was capable of changing the world and who once, collaborating with the Spirit, helped the disciples, too, to become collaborators with God’s Spirit, like Don Bosco.

I am writing this message to you from the cradle of the Salesian Movement, the place where all of us were born to Salesian life: Valdocco—and on a very special day. Today is May 24, solemnity of Pentecost and feast of Mary Help of Christians.

Here, in this physical, historical, and theological place, everything speaks to us of Don Bosco and Mary Help of Christians. In these very courtyards, surely under the porphyry blocks that cover them today, played and walked not only Don Bosco, but also Mama Margaret, Dominic Savio, Michael Rua, Bishop Cagliero, and an endless list of boys, then Salesians, who believed in this dream and were “collaborators” and interpreters of it.

I use the word “collaborator” (complice, lit. “accomplice, accessory”) because it’s a factor for this day and this feast, because when we find ourselves together around Mary we’re like the first disciples after the Lord’s Passover, and we also find the Spirit.

Celebrating the Eucharist in this beautiful basilica, which Don Bosco has given to us as the heritage of his faith and his charism, I feel as if this church is transformed into a cenacle where Mary’s in our midst, guaranteeing the presence of the Spirit, praying together with us and encouraging us a be open to his gift. She’s the best guarantee that we shall encounter the Spirit of God!

Mary is the young virgin of the Annunciation and the virgin-mother who was present among the apostles at Pentecost. She was a protagonist in these two unpublished moments in the story of humanity and of all creation. The Annunciation and Pentecost are two exceptional, most solemn moments, where the true principal protagonist is the Spirit of God in person, and with him the fullness of God, One and Three; two moments that place into evidence the unique closeness between the Holy Spirit and Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Don Bosco knew this very well and lived it with profound conviction, so absolutely certain of it that he could even affirm, “She has done everything.”

This is the fascinating reality of our condition as believers and of our Marian devotion: Mary, a young woman, a girl, allowed herself not only to be guided by the Spirit but also to be the Spirit’s dwelling; and she radically changed the history of the world. She became a collaborator with the Spirit and lived her life accordingly.

Let’s contemplate how powerful a “Yes” can be, a “Let it be done,” and let’s not be afraid of saying “Yes” to the Lord of Life and become collaborators—us too—of the Spirit of the Lord, and we’ll see that our life, though not exempt from difficulties, will become a life that’s worth the trouble of being lived.

“Wherever Christians gather in prayer with Mary, the Lord gives them his Spirit”

(Pope Benedict XVI)

The other event in which Mary is present in a significant way is Pentecost. In this case, Scripture doesn’t present us with Mary’s words, but yes, she’s there in the disciples’ company, encouraging their prayer. She’s there with the apostles, still desperate, miserable, and discouraged, scared and shut in again because of fear, to give them strength the way a mother does alongside a suffering child. And she prays. But what the apostles still don’t know is that with her the Spirit is assured, because she’s his “collaborator” and his guarantee.

In one of his Regina Coeli addresses, Pope Benedict XVI stated with great conviction: “Wherever Christians gather in prayer with Mary, the Lord gives them his Spirit.”

My dear friends, we’re living in a time when in so many parts of the world the horizon and the future seem to falling into darkness, and in so many families and communities everything seems black and lacking smiles, the pleasure of life lived together with tenderness and love.

In this time, which is not much different from other times in the past, we can be like that young woman, that girl, who was capable of changing the world and who, once collaborating with the Spirit, helped the disciples themselves to become other collaborators, too.

Therefore she’s Mother and Teacher.

Don Bosco understood very well how the Madonna helps us be open to the Spirit who transforms us into courageous missionary disciples of Jesus the Lord.