WATCH OVER
OUR INSTITUTE AND THE ENTIRE SALESIAN FAMILY
These
are the first words of the Charter of the
Charismatic Identity of the Salesian Family of Don Bosco:
With
humble and joyful gratitude, we acknowledge that Don Bosco, by the initiative
of God and the maternal mediation of Mary, gave rise in the Church to a
singular experience of living the Gospel. The Spirit shaped in him a heart
filled with a great love for God and for his brothers and sisters, in
particular the little ones and the poor, and in this way made him Father and
Teacher of a multitude of young people as well as the Founder of a vast
spiritual and apostolic Family.[1]
At that moment, I saw a Lady of stately
appearance standing beside Him. Seeing… that I was more confused than ever, She
beckoned me to approach Her. She took me kindly by the hand and said,
"Look…" At that point, still
dreaming, I began crying. I begged the lady to speak so that I could understand
Her because I did not know what all this could mean. She then placed Her hand
on my head and said, "In good time you will understand everything."[2]
In
this dream Mary takes little John by the
hand and when he finds himself before such a great mission, he begins to
cry and, as Don Bosco recounts, in that moment of anguish and disillusionment
Mary places Her hand on his head. Don Bosco feels most vividly Mary’s presence
as his guide and the protector of the work which he will need to accomplish as
Father and Founder of a huge Family which is entirely dedicated to the young.
Having recognised that in the founding and
the development of his work “Mary has done everything”, even in extraordinary
ways, he dedicated the newly born Congregation to the Virgin under the title of
Help of Christians… Then receiving from Mary the inspiration to found the
Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, he wanted it to be a
«living monument» of his gratitude to the Help of Christians. To her also he
entrusted the Salesians-Cooperators, so that in their apostolate they might be
protected, and find inspiration in Her. He also set up the Association of the
Devotees of Mary Help of Christians, linked to the sanctuary in Turin, as a
sign of gratitude for the maternal presence of the Madonna in all his works...
This special reference to Mary has profoundly marked the charismatic and
spiritual identity of the various Groups of the Salesian Family which have come
into being during the XXth century... Mary is considered not only as Mother of
the Church and Help of Christians, but also as the Mother of all humanity, so
that co-workers, men and women, of various Groups of the Salesian Family also
belonging to other religions, cultivate a sincere devotion to her… With good
reason therefore, one can say that the Salesian Family is a Marian Family.[3]
Devotion to Mary (together with that to
Jesus in the Holy Eucharist and to the Pope) has been one of the three
devotions which marked the spiritual and apostolic life of Don Bosco. The whole
Salesian Family is and feels itself to be a Marian Family, which
came into being through the motherly care of the Immaculate Help of Christians.
All the Groups in fact express this conviction in their own Constitutions.[4]
We FMA belong to this Family:
“Our Institute is a living part of the Salesian Family... In this Family we
share the spiritual heritage of the Founder and, as in Mornese, we offer the
unique contribution of our vocation”[5]
and, therefore, we feel the need to entrust ourselves to Mary, not only as an
Institute, but as Family, and to entrust to Her all that we hold most dear.
Daily
entrustment to Mary therefore is a characteristic of our spirituality.
Entrustment has an upwards action: it is a giving of oneself in order to
respond generously to a mission to be accomplished; but there is also a
downwards motion: accepting with trust and gratitude the help of Her who guided
Don Bosco and continues to guide the spiritual Family which has its origin in
him.[6]
[1] Pascual Chavez, SDB. Charter
of the Charismatic Identity of the Salesian Family of Don Bosco (Salesian
Family Charter). Trans. (Rome: Tipografia Vaticana, 2012) 9. Print.
[2] San Giovanni Bosco. Memoirs
of the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales from 1815 to 1855: The Autobiography of
Saint John Bosco. trans. Daniel
Lyons. New Rochelle, NY: Don Bosco
Publications, 1989. 19. Print.
[4] Ibid., 53.
[5] Institute of the Daughters of
Mary Help of Christians. Constitutions and Regulations of the
Daughters of Mary Help of Christians.
trans. ETG. Rome: 2015.
33-34. Print.
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento