LETTER OF RECTOR MAJOR - Fr. EGIDIO VIGANO'
THE MARIAN YEAR
Rome, 7 June 1987
Solemnity of Pentecost
Introduction - Why a Marian Year - Dynamic ecclesial perspectives - The
mother and son relationship in Christ's testament at Golgotha - Our Act
of Entrustment to Mary - The three elements in the prayer of entrustment
- The Marian aspect of our Profession - Special commitment of the Salesian
Family - Conclusion.
My dear confreres,
I am writing
this letter on the feast of Pentecost.
May the Holy
Spirit dwell in your hearts and give you interior growth!
This day, the Solemnity
of Pentecost, sees the beginning of the special Marian Year declared by the
Holy Father in his encyclical letterRedemptoris Mater (RM). The jubilee
will continue until the Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady into heaven
of the year 1988.
[1] It is the Pope's wish that thefullness
of grace of herthe one who has believed should enlighten and guide the
Church's faith as she passes through these last years of the twentieth century.
The Holy Spirit
dwelt in Mary from the first moment of her conception, and the Blessed Virgin
was intimately aware of his presence. She, the Mother of Jesus by the power
of the Spirit, lived the experience of Pentecost with the Apostles and saw
her motherhood extend to the whole of the Church. With the Spirit and in the
Spirit she brings us to Christ, and with Christ and in Christ she leads us
to the Father.
This Marian
Year will serve to deepen and increase our faith.
For a period
of no less than seven months it coincides with our Don Bosco centenary celebrations.
In this way it will enable us to emphasize and live more intensely some characteristic
and important aspects of Mary's initiatives and presence in the vocation and
mission of the Salesian Family.
To this end
I now invite you to reflect on the significance this Marian Year can have
for us, by recalling and considering some reflections I would like to make
on the Act of Entrustment of the whole Congregation to Mary Help of Christians
which we made in solemn form on 14 January 1984.
Why a Marian Year
We may wonder
in the first place why the Pope has proclaimed this extraordinary jubilee
in Mary's honor.
In the encyclical
Redemptoris Mater, of 25 March last, he himself gives us the explanation.
As well as recalling two historical and ecclesial events of particular significance,
he gives as the fundamental reason the saving fact that even at the present
day Mary continues to go before the People of God as a figure or model
[2] in its pilgrimage.
The two historical and ecclesial events are:
the twelfth
centenary of the Second Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (787). Putting an
end to the well-known controversy about the cult of sacred images, the Council
defined that, according to the teaching of the holy Fathers and the universal
tradition of the Church, there could be exposed for the veneration of the
faithful, together with the Cross, also images of the Mother of God, and of
the saints;
[3] andthe Millennium
of the Baptism of St Vladimir, Grand Duke of Kiev (988). This
marked the beginning of Christianity in the territories of what was then called
Rus, and subsequently in other territories of Eastern Europe ... as far as
the northern territories of the Asian continent.
[4]
This recalls with an ecumenical sensitivity of some importance two facts which
will move us to intensify our prayer for a growth of faith and christian unity
in the Soviet Union.
But the main
reason for the proclamation of the Marian Year is the
mystery of thefullness
of time. The expression
fullness of time (says the encyclical in a note) ... means not only the
conclusion of a chronological process but also and especially the coming to
maturity or completion of a particularly important period, one directed towards
the fulfillment of an expectation, ,a coming to completion which thus takes
on an eschatological dimension. According to Gal 4, 4 and its context, it
is the coming of the Son of God that reveals that time has, so to speak, reached
its limit. That is to say, the period marked by the promise made to Abraham
and by the Law mediated by Moses has now reached its climax, in the sense
that Christ fulfils the divine promise and supersedes the old law.
[5] We may also
add that from the time of thatfullness onwards time has been enriched by
a new dimension, which gives it a permanent capacity for rejuvenation; in
fact, into its irresistible horizontal forward movement (as measured by clock
and calendar) Christ has inserted the vertical dynamism of the resurrection
(or in other words of eternity), which enriches it with eschatological energy.
And so in thetime of the Church the People of God will make their earthly
pilgrimage passing from one beginning to another (as the Fathers say) until
the final beginning, i.e. through a series of periods of renewed youth until
they eventually reach the definitive youth of the final resurrection. In this
waythe Church journeys through time towards the consummation of the ages
and goes to meet the Lord who comes.
[6] The circumstance
which moved the Pope to draw attention to this subjectis the prospect of
the year 2000, now drawing near, in which the Bimillennial Jubilee of the
birth of Jesus Christ at the same time directs our gaze towards his Mother.
Mary appeared on the horizon of salvation history before Christ. The fact
that shepreceded the coming of Christ is reflected every year in the liturgy
of Advent. Therefore, if to that ancient historical expectation of the Savior
we compare those years which are bringing us closer to the end of the second
Millennium after Christ and to the beginning of the third, it becomes fully
comprehensible that in this present period we wish to turn in a special way
to her, the one who in thenight of the Advent expectation began to shine
like a trueMorning Star, For just as this star, together with thedawn;
precedes the rising of the sun, so Mary from the time of her Immaculate Conception
pre. ceded the coming of the Savior, the rising of theSun of Justice in
the history of the human race.
[7] And so the main
reason for the proclamation of this Marian Year is that the Holy Father feels
the prophetic needto emphasize the unique presence of the Mother of Christ
in history, especially during these last years leading up to the year 2000.
[8] It is a vista
of memory and prophecy, of thanksgiving and hope, While in fact we are preparing
to commemorate with immense gratitude the bimillennial anniversary of the
birth of Christ, we look upon the beginning of the Third Millennium as a time
of rejuvenation of the Church's life, one of those new beginnings which exploit
the energy of the resurrection definitively inserted in time by Christ. The
prediction, stimulus and source of this new beginning is the visit made to
the Church by the Holy Spirit in the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council.
In the Congregation,
following on the labors of the General Chapters which have taken place in
the postconciliar period, we are now experiencing the auspicious results of
the Council. Our sincere efforts at renewal provide the salesian contribution
to the rejuvenation of the pilgrim Church.
Dynamic ecclesial perspectives
The Pope tells
us in the encyclical thatthe Church is called not only to remember ... but
also, on her own part, to prepare for the future: for the end of the Second
Christian Millennium opens up as a new prospect.
[9] The appeal to
look towards the year 2000 is not, as some journalists have implied, an apocalyptic
obsession, as though what was in mind was some kind of catastrophe in line
with the medievala thousand years and the world will come to an end. It
is rather aneschatological view opening onto new times and how the Church
must be rejuvenated so as to evangelize them.
As at the start,
so in every new beginning there is the indispensablematernal cooperation
of the Mother of God,
[10]
This is an element willed by God in salvation history. It is an
objective reality, a way leading to a better future,
It is the Pope's
wish that this jubilee year shall extend from Pentecost to the Assumption,
to indicate the space of time during which Mary accompanied the newborn Church;
it was the period during which Our Lady was constantly in prayer with the
apostles and disciples, and lived the consummation of her faith asmother,
as the new Eve, following upon the last will and testament of Jesus on the
Cross:Woman, behold your son.
[11]
The Popes encyclical
is a biblical and theological meditation on Marys role in salvation history
in the light of Chapter 8 ofLumen gentium.
He has chosen
as the key to the understanding of this role Elizabeths prophetic declaration:
Blessed is she who believed.
[12]
The path to
be followed on the journey towards God finds its most sublime expression in
Mary's pilgrimage of faith. It is not a static kind of faith, as though it
had achieved its entire objective on the day of the Annunciation, but a faith
in continual growth between obscurity and new lights, open to the discovery
of an ever deeper collaboration; not the simple possession of a satisfied
mind, but the ardent seeking of a thirsty heart. The starting point is the
greatYes of the Incarnation, but how many new situations had to be examined
and what a long night had to pass until Pentecost and the Assumption! The
veil which covered her Son did not become completely transparent until she
saw him in heaven. Like the faith of Abraham, that of Mary grew continuously
as she hoped against all hope.
At the Annunciation
Mary entrusted herself to God completely, with thefull submission of intellect
and will, manifestingthe obedience of faith to him who spoke to her through
his messenger. She responded, therefore, with all her human and feminineI,
and this response of faith included both perfect cooperation withthe grace
of God that precedes and assists and perfect openness to the action of the
Holy Spirit, whoconstantly brings faith to completion by his gifts.
[13] Her method of
cooperation with Gods grace gradually became concentrated into collaboration
with Christ's work of redemption. Already at the marriage feast at Cana Mary
collaborated as aWoman (it was by this name that Jesus addressed her on
that occasion), as though to indicate in her the second Eve, interceding and
helping. At the foot of the Cross, with the New Covenant just beginning, she
experienced the indescribable paradox of the obedience of faith:this is
perhaps the deepestkenosis of faith in human history,
[14] She is the second Eve whobecomes
in a certain sense the counterpoise to the disobedience and disbelief embodied
in the sin of our first parents. Thus teach the Fathers of the Church and
especially St Irenaeus, quoted by the ConstitutionLumen Gentium:The knot
of Eves disobedience was untied by Marys obedience; what the virgin Eve
bound through her unbelief, Mary loosened by her faith.
[15] And it is precisely
in this obscure fullness of faith that Mary attains the summit ofmother
of the living. Christs testament on the Cross reveals the mystery ofMary's
new motherhood, generated by faith through her most intimate and painful
sharing in the redemptive love of her Son.
The words uttered
by Jesus from the Cross (says the encyclical) signify that the motherhood
of her who bore Christ finds anew continuation in the Church and through
the Church, symbolized and represented by John. Thus she remains in the mystery
of Christ as thewoman spoken of by the Book of Genesis (3,15) at the beginning,
and by the Apocalypse (Rev 12,1) at the end of the history of salvation. In
accordance with the eternal plan of Providence, Marys divine motherhood is
to be poured out upon the Church... as a reflection and extension of her motherhood
of the Son of God.
[16]
The mother and son relationship In Christs testament at Golgotha
John Paul II
states in the encyclical thatmotherhood in the order of grace preserves
the analogy of the mutual relationships between mother and son and applies
the principle to Christs testament on the Cross expressed in the singular
to the apostle John as representative:Behold your son!.
The Pope considers
as an essential element of motherhood the fact that a personal relationship
is established with every child, a relationship which is mutual, unique and
unrepeatable.Even when the same woman is the mother of many children (he
says), her personal relationship with each one of them is of the very essence
of motherhood. For each child is generated in a unique and unrepeatable way.
and this is true both for the mother and for the child. Each child is surrounded
in the same way by that maternal love on which are based the childs development
and coming to maturity as a human being.
[17] And so the spiritual
motherhood of Mary. while appearing as a gift which Christ offers personally
to every human being in raising Mary to the status of theSecond Eve, is
presented as a christian element of the New Covenant which links the disciples
pilgrimage of faith with the motherly care of theOne who believed, and
who has become the co-redemptrix through a cooperation of love sustained by
the greatest human faith. In this way the Virgin Mother shares objectively,
in a special but subordinated manner, in the universal mediation of the Redeemer,
the one and only true Mediator.Taken up to heaven, says the Constitution
Lumen Gentium,she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold
intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. By her
maternal charity, she cares for the brethren of her Son, who still journey
on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their
blessed home. Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under
the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress and Mediatrix.
[18] And this motherly
solicitude continues through the centuries untilall things come together
under Christ as head.
[19] John Paul II
sees in Christs testament on the Cross the solemn and public investiture
of the motherly mediation of Mary, which in consequence implies a related
response of Marian filiation in the life of Christs disciples. And so their
entrustment to Mary as their Mother is a christian fact which had its beginning
at Golgotha.
At the foot
of the Cross, says the Pope,
there begins that special entrusting of
humanity to the Mother of Christ, which in the history of the Church has
been practiced and expressed in different ways... The Marian dimension of
the life of a disciple of Christ is expressed ill a social way precisely through
this filial entrusting to the Mother of Christ.
Entrusting himself
to Mary ina filial manner, the Christian, like the Apostle John, welcomes
the Mother of Christinto his own home and brings her into everything that
makes up his inner life, that is to say into his human and ChristianI;
hetook her to his own home. Thus he seeks to enter the sphere of action
of hermaternal charity.
[20] Among the different
ways of expressing and practicing the entrustment of Christ's disciples to
Mary, we recall with particular joy and satisfaction the
Act of Filiation
promoted and recommended by Don Bosco in one of his little booklets published
in 1869 in the Catholic Readings series, for the clients of Mar) Help
of Christians. The formula he drew up for making the Act situates the client
concerned precisely at the foot of the Cross alongside the apostle John.
In the circular
I wrote to you concerning the Entrustment to Mary in preparation for the GC22,
I added thatthe date and content of this Marian text composed by Don Bosco
suggest a natural connection between the act of filiation and the distinctive
name he gave tohis Sisters, the
Daughters of Mary Help of Christians,
whom he wished to show an exemplary filial trust in her.
[21] Almost on the eve of the Marian
Year they celebrated (9 May 1987) the I50th anniversary of the birth of St
Mary Domenica Mazzarello, an auspicious anniversary for the whole Salesian
Family.
We know that
our Father and Founder had an extraordinary Marian sensitivity, which matured
through that strong ecclesial sense which led him to look on Our Lady as the
Help of Christian People andMother of the Church.
Our relationships
of filiation towards Mary are deeply ecclesial and dynamic in outlook for
an apostolic activity of a youthful and popular kind. We are convinced of
Mary's solicitous presence among us,
[22] of her continual intercession,
[23] of
her wise guidance as our teacher;
[24]
we look upon her always as the supreme model of the believer;
[25] she is for us thestar of evangelization:
[26]
we walk side by side with the young so as to lead them to the
risen Lord. The Virgin Mary is present in this process as a mother. We make
her known and loved as the one who believed, who helps and who infuses hope.
[27] Our Act of Entrustment
to Mary
On Saturday
14 January 1984, before the beginning of the GC22 which had to complete the
great post-conciliar work of the rewriting of our Rule of Life, all the communities
of the Congregation joined in spirit with the Chapter members, and the latter
in the name of the provincial communities and as representatives of all the
confreres made at Rome in the Generalate Chapel the Act of Entrustment to
Mary.
This was done
in the awareness that we were on the threshold of the year 2000,
[28] or in other words at the dawn of
a new period in the life of the Congregation in the Churchs long pilgrimage.
On the occasion
of this Marian Year that has been proclaimed by the Pope, it is very fitting
that we should call to mind and consider more deeply the significance of that
historic gesture we made.
The new text
of the Constitutions has codified its contents:The Virgin Mary showed Don
Bosco his field of labor among the young and was the constant guide and support
of his work, especially in the foundation of our Society. We believe that
Mary is present among us and continues hermission as Mother of the Church
and Help of Christians.
We entrust ourselves to her, the humble servant
in whom the Lord has done great things, that we may become witnesses to the
young of her Sons boundless love.
[29]
Though we did this three years before the announcement of the present Marian
jubilee, we feel ourselves to be in joyful harmony with the fundamental reason
for its proclamation, with the content of the encyclical which illustrates
it and with the dynamic outlook in which we are invited to prepare for the
beginning of the Third Christian Millennium.
I think that
the famousfair copy of which our Father spoke as he looked into the future
development and maturing of the Congregation lies precisely in the post-conciliar
adaptation of his charismalived, preserved, deepened and constantly developed
in harmony with the Body of Christ continually in a process of growth.
[30] We must cultivate
our faith awareness concerning the powerful and ceaseless intervention of
the Lord's Spirit in the story of the life of Don Bosco and in these hundred
years of development and apostolic work of his Family.
The Second Vatican
Council was certainly an extraordinary visit of the Holy Spirit; we see him
in the life of the Church, and we feel his presence ourselves in the renewal
of the Congregation, even if it is only at its early stages. We are indeed
witnessing the inception of a prophetic new beginning.
Our faith awareness
invites us to become conscious of the special responsibility that devolves
on us at this point in history, as though we found our selves invested with
a real but unsought role of refounding the Congregation, called to dogreat
things. Let us recall what Don Albera wrote to the confreres at Easter 1918,
quoting our great patron St Francis de Sales: ..
Entrust yourself to
Mary's protection,
Let us not be afraid to undertake great enterprises:
if we have a burning love for her, she will obtain for us all we desire.
[31] All thegreat
things we have to do to translate into practice our whole plan of renewal
we expressed to Our Lady when in January 1984 we entrusted ourselves to her
as individuals and as a Congregation. To bring them back clearly to your mind,
I invite you to read with me once again the Act of Entrustment.
The three elements In the Prayer of Entrustment to Mary Help of Christians
The prayer expressing
our solemn Act of Entrustment to Mary (reproduced as an appendix to this letter)
is made up of three complementary elements: the first is one of adoration
and praise of the Trinity, the second one of supplication and recalling of
the memory of Christ, and the third an expression of filial trust and dedication
to Mary Help of Christians.
I think it will
be useful if we concentrate our prayerful attention on the formula of this
Act of Entrustment. It provides rich matter for meditation: it manifests the
very essence of the salesian spirit and is an invitation to follow confidently
the path of renewal.
First element:
God as seen in salesian contemplation. Praise and adoration
of the infinite Love of the Trinity is expressed in sentiments of the heart
of Don Bosco himself: a heart burning with apostolic zeal which finds in the
contemplation of God its secret foundation and the stimulus that animates
all its holiness, the
da mihi animas. No one will ever understand
Don Bosco unless he is first immersed in the mystery of the Trinity, to marvel
at the infinite love of the Father who creates the world, gives everything
to man and pardons him; the infinite love of the Son who becomes man in order
to be like one of us, solid with us in everything (even suffering and death)
and thus setting sinful man free, beginning with the poor and the humble;
and finally the infinite love of the Holy Spirit who enters history, knocking
on the heart of every individual and guiding the Church for the transformation
of man, of society and of the world, and so offering to the Father a Kingdom
of justice, peace and joy.
The Father is
the God of mercy, the Son the God of liberation, the Holy Spirit the God of
sanctification: one only God who is Love, a love wholly addressed to Man.
The contemplation
of God seen in this fashion prompts the person who prays to collaborate fully
and generously in the saving mission of Christ and of the Church; it gives
rise to saints like Don Bosco who live oblivious to themselves in the ecstasy
of apostolic activity.
We
Salesians,
proclaimed the members of the GC22,
gathered together in the unity
of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, adore and give thanks with the
heart of Don Bosco to the Father of infinite Love who so loved the world that
he gave his only Son and sent the Holy Spirit for the redemption and sanctification
of mankind. Glory to you,
merciful Father, redeeming Son and Sanctifying Spirit, the one and threefold
saving Love!And in this
sublime apostolic vision of praise and adoration the Salesian next turns his
gaze to Mary and contemplates her person and role, to admire in her the masterpiece
of a Mother and Helper linked with the infinite Love of God inserted in human
history.
We praise
you, divine Trinity, the prayer continues,or having given Mary a part in
your saving work of redemption, raising her up to be the Mother of God and
our Mother too. This firsttrinitarian
element is the fundamental attitude constantly present in a salesian heart,
which gives dynamic energy to its efforts by repeating with Don Bosco in every
enterprise:da mihi animas.
Second element:
Christs feelings in the salesian heart The plea in
the second element of our Prayer of Entrustment, which at the same time brings
Christ to mind, takes us to Calvary to pronounce that deepAct of Filiation
which was proposed, as we have seen, by Don Bosco.
[32] We appeal directly to Jesus on the
Cross to renew his legacy in favor of each one of us, when (as the Pope writes)
the Redeemer entrusts his mother to the disciple, and at the same time he
gives her to him as his mother. Or in other wordsthe role of a son was attributed
to the disciple in response to the love of the Mother.
[33] The power of
the Holy Spirit, sent to us by the risen Christ, can renew us too and inculcate
in us the same sentiments of Christ.
Jesus is the
new Man, the first fruit of the new world, who made his Mother the new Woman,
the second Eve, who opens up with him the destinies of the new Humanity. We
ask him to help us to be daily aware of this Marian filiation as a new pledge
of hope and commitment:
And you,
Lord Jesus, Son of Mary and first fruit of the new creation, give us your
Spirit so
that he may enkindle in our hearts a share of your love.
We beg you to renew for us your wondrous testament uttered on the Cross, when
in title and endowment you made the Apostle John the son of your own Mother
Mary. Repeat also for each of us those words:Woman, behold your son so
that we may always live with Mary in our home!In the encyclical
the Holy Father notes thatthe expressiontook her to his own home goes
beyond the mere acceptance of Mary by the disciple in the sense of material
lodging and hospitality in his house; it indicates rather a
communion of
life established between the two as a result of the words of the dying
Christ.
[34] For this reason he
goes on to say thatentrusting himself to Mary in a filial manner, the christian,
like the apostle John,welcomes the Mother of Christ
into his own home
and brings her into everything that makes up his inner life, that is to
say his human and christianI: hetook her to his own home. Thus the christian
seeks to be taken into thatmaternal charity with which the Redeemers Mother
cares for the brethren of her Son.
[35] Now for the Salesian, thethings
of his own home, the great values of his spiritual heritage, are what is
contained in the apostolic consecration by which he is dedicated to pastoral
work among the young and the poor, with a sense of Church and with kindness
of method, which must now be renewed and intensified in preparation for the
great jubilee of the year 2000.
This is why
we add in our prayer to Christ:
May she
(Mary) remain with us as our mother; may she take us by the hand and be our
inspiration as we bring the gospel message to thepoor and the little ones.
May she help us to be living stones in the spiritual house of the Church and
order our lives and activities in union with the Pope and the Bishops. May
she help us to be attentive to Gods word, zealous in the apostolate, and
true prophets of hope in the coming third millennium of our christian faith.
May she teach us creativity in our pastoral concerns, and help us achieve
that persuasive kindness and mortification that will make us skilled promoters
of dialogue and friendship, especially among the young who are most in need.
And so this
second element of supplication to Christ will obtain for us, through Mary,
the ability to be more authentically salesian in this pregnant period in our
history.
Third element
:
Salesian riches entrusted to Mary This third element
of the prayer manifests an attitude of filial trust and confidence, and the
entrustment to Mary of our principal salesian riches means that. we give them
to her in the joyful certainty that they will thus be given sure protection
and will be developed by her solicitous and motherly intercession.
For this reason
with Don Bosco we proclaim her ourTeacher and Guide.
Among our own
cherished possessions which we entrust to her, the principal ones are:
our own persons
in the first place, both individually and as communities;
then our renewed
Rule of Life to which we intend to bear witness in the different forms of
communion in unity;
commitment
to sanctification in the daily liturgy of life;
the flourishing
of vocations and responsibility as regards formation;
missionary
generosity;
the ability
to give animation to the Salesian Family;
and finally,
as a practical synthesis and summit of everything, a burning pastoral love
for the young.
The adoration
of the Trinity at the beginning and the burning supplication to Christ, Son
of Mary, have led our heart, in harmony with the Father's plan and Christ's
testament, to respond to their initiative of love with the total and filial
entrustment of ourselves and all we have to the Mother and Helper of the Church,
We shall have
to return frequently on what is included in this gesture, and consider each
of these principalpossessions of ours which we have placed in Marys hands
so as to live and foster them in communion of life with her.
This is the
meaning we give to our prayer:
O Help of Christians and Mother of the
Church, we Salesians of Don Bosco entrust ourselves today to your kindly intercession
on our behalf as individuals and as communities. We place in your care the
priceless riches of our Constitutions, our pledge to be faithful and united
in our Congregation, the sanctification of all our members, the work by which
we worship in intention and in act, the increase of vocations, the heavy responsibility
of formation, the courageous and generous labors of our missionaries, the
animation of the Salesian Family, and especially our assiduous ministry of
predilection for the young. With joy we
proclaim youTeacher and Guide of our Congregation
.
Don Bosco has
assured us that the Blessed Virgin is thefoundress of our Congregation
and that she will be itssupport,
[36] that
only in heaven will we come to know with amazement what she has done for US,
[37] that she will certainly continue
to protect our Congregation if we maintain our trust in her
[38] and that we will never
go astray while she is truly ourGuide.
[39] We do well too
to recall here that the famous dream of theaugust personage wearing a mantle
with ten diamonds which presents the model of the true Salesian,
[40] was considered by Don Bosco as a
precious gift from Our Lady because it took place at San Benigno Canavese
on the feast of the Holy Name of Mary; he chose to relate it on the feast
of the Presentation of Our Lady in the Temple,
[41] so as to indicate that on Mary's
feasts he always expected special lights from heaven.
[42] Entrustment
to Mary, therefore, is a genuine expression of the heart, of a lived experience,
and hence of intimate feelings dear to our holy Founder. Let us try to frequently
renew our awareness of this fact; it will be an excellent way of moving with
the Church towards the Third Millennium.
With Mary we
shall not go astray: we shall travel the true path of Christ for the building
of the Kingdom.
Our prayer began
in a descending manner from the Trinity through Christ to Mary, and it is
fitting that it should end with the invocations of pilgrims who are moving
upwards in the Spirit along the paths of history from Mary to Christ and with
Christ to the Father.
In the prayer's
conclusion we address ourselves to the Virgin Mother and ask for her help
in our upward climb:
Accept,
we beg you, this filial Act of Entrustment and help us to participate ever
more zealously in the final wish of your Son on Calvary: through him, with
him and in him we resolve to live and labor untiringly to establish the Kingdom
of our Father in the hearts of all men. Mary Help of
Christians, pray for us! Amen. These reflections on the three complementary
elements in our Prayer of Entrustment will prompt us to have greater trust
and boldness in undertaking thegreat things which the Church, with the
poor and the little ones, is expecting from us.
The Marian aspect of our profession
Amongour own
special things which we have entrusted to Mary our salesian Profession stands
out as a fundamental reality.
In a certain
sense it is the synthesis of all we are and all we have: it sums up the way
in which we live as disciples of Christ; it traces out for us the way that
leads to Love; it sets the evangelical dimension of our vocation and outlines
the ecclesial project of our mission.
Our act of entrustment
is meant to signify that we carry out our profession in communion of life
with Mary.
The consecration
of the Father, who seals usthrough the gift of his Spirit,
[43] brings it about also that Mary too
is present among us
[44] and guides us,
[45] helping uswith her
intercession
[46] to
love as Don Bosco did,
[47] to
welcome and ponder the Word of God as she did so that it will bear fruit,
[48] to growto the fullness of our offering,
to havecourage for the service of our brethren, and to imitateher faith,
her concern for the needy, her fidelity at the hour of the cross and her joy
at the wonders wrought by the Father;
[49] and so with her as
Mother and Teacher we gradually become day by day true pastors and educators
of the young
[50] in
accordance with what we have professed.
In the month
of May 1988 (which occurs in both the Marian Year and the centenary year of
Don Bosco) there will be a significant date that we want to solemnize with
extraordinary spiritual intensity throughout the Congregation: it is that
of Saturday, the 14th!
As, has been
already announced,
[51] that
will be theDay of the Salesian Profession.
While we commemorate
the religious profession of Don Bosco and the first 22 young confreres, which
they made in 1862, we shall all renew our Profession.
Preparations
are in hand in every province. The study and deeper analysis of the new text
of the Rule of Life is the first obligation of every community in the urgent
vocational task of responding to the challenges of the times. Ongoing formation
is indispensable in every era, but it is especially so in this age of rapid
changes if we want to ensure our vocational identity in the face of the questions
which are continually emerging. The renewed text of the Rule of Life is the
identity card of the Salesian of the new times, and for this it is very important
to absorb its contents so that the intention to put it into practice may prove
to be genuine and efficacious.
Next May 14
we want to relaunch our vocation and mission by renewing, all of us together,
our religious Professionaccording to the way of the Gospel set out in the
salesian Constitutions.
[52]
May Mary Help of Christians assist us and may St Mary Domenica Mazzarello,
whose holy death we shall commemorate on that day, intercede for us so
that we may be able to repeat with Don Bosco: I offer myselfin sacrifice
to the Lord, ready to bear anything for his greater glory and the welfare
of souls, particularly the souls of the young.
[53]
Special commitment of the Salesian Family
Among the members of the Central Committee for the Marian Year, appointed
by the Holy Father on 11 February last, was Mother Marinella Castagno,
Superior General of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. This is
a gesture which gives honor to our Family and imposes a duty on us.
The FMA represent
in living and enduring form Don Bosco's great love for Our Lady. It was his
desire that the FMA should be aliving monument of his gratitude to the
Help of Christians, and he asked them to be histhank you throughout all
time.
[54] The Sisters know that in our Family
they have in a special way the task of deepening and developing the Marian
dimension of all the members.
Wecollaborate
with them in deepening our understanding of Don Boscos spirituality and pedagogy,
and particularly in keeping alive the Marian dimension of the salesian charism.
[55]
It will be a
good thing, therefore, if during the Marian Year we join the FMA in promoting
initiatives prompted by what the Pope offers us in his Encyclical, and brings
to the young and to people in general the characteristics of Don Boscos special
Marian devotion.
With Mary, the
Salesian Family will grow very much in mutual communion, in apostolic industry
and in evangelizing impact.
Our Provincials
will try to come to suitable arrangements with their FMA counterparts for
studying together this matter with a view to common and opportune initiatives.
Article 74 of
the Regulations speaks of our Marian devotion as an element to be taken into
consideration also in the Provincial Directory, and adds:The members, both
individually and as a community, should feel the obligation of zealously spreading
devotion to Mary Help of Christians, The same article recommends among other
things that importance be given in our houses to the recitation of the Rosary:
let us all keep it in mind!
The proclamation
of this Marian Year to foster the Churchs commitment for a new beginning,
is therefore something particularly opportune and beneficial for the life
of our Congregation and of the whole Salesian Family.
Conclusion
My dear confreres,
I would like to bring these Marian reflections to a close by recalling the
centenary of the Consecration of the temple of the Sacred Heart, which took
place in Rome on 15 May 1887. On Monday 16th, the day following the solemn
consecration of the church, the by then old and ailing Don Bosco went down
into the church to celebrate the Eucharist
at the altar of Mary Help of
Christians. No fewer than
fifteen times during the holy sacrifice, note the Biographical Memoirs,he
stopped, overcome by emotion and shedding tears. Don Viglietti who was assisting
him had to recall his attention periodically so that he could continue. (When
he was asked afterwards) what had upset him so much, Don Bosco replied: I
saw very vividly before my eyes once again the scene I first saw about the
age of ten when I dreamed of the Congregation. I saw again my mother and my
brothers asking me questions about that dream...
It was then
that Our Lady had said to him:in due time you will understand everything,
Since that time he had lived through sixty-two years of fatigue, sacrifice
and struggle, and then a sudden light had revealed to him in the erection
of the Church of the Sacred Heart in Rome the crowning of his mission, so
mysteriously foreshadowed in the early years of his life.
[56]
Not by chance was his biographer Don Giovanni Battista Lemoyne,
who knew him intimately, in an effort to understand why our Father was so
magnanimous in his initiatives, why he was so daring in his enterprises for
the Church and came up against so many problems and grave financial difficulties,
led to declare:Between the Madonna and Don Bosco there must have been an
agreement; and we can believe that she frequently appeared to him and showed
him what he should do and how to do it.
[57] We are convinced
that not only the temple of the Sacred Heart in Rome and every stone in the
Basilica at Valdocco proclaim a grace from Our Lady,
[58] but all the Works of Don Bosco, and
in particular our Congregation, the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help
of Christians and the Association of Salesian Cooperators, owe their inspiration
to Mary, the Teacher and Guide who led Don Bosco to found the Salesian Family
in the Church.
Mgr Costamagna
recalls a phrase of our Father which is a magnificent synthesis of his conviction
in this respect:Mary has done everything!.
[59] In his mission
as Founder our Father showed very clearly that he was not closed in on himself,
nor confined to his own environment, time and culture (even though he was
naturally incarnated in them), but he felt that he had permanent values to
pass on to others, a patrimony and evangelical spirit to diffuse, pedagogical
and pastoral criteria that were valid also for the future. He had in fact
to convince himself that he was called personally to be aFounder, to project
himself beyond his own times.
A charism is
a living experience and it is as something alive that it must be passed on;
in other words it is something fluid and capable of further development, always
needing a creative intelligence for new incarnations in other times and other
cultures, a spiritual legacy from the leader of a new school, enriched with
further uninterrupted personal charisms organically incorporated into his
own, according to the always consistent plan and call of the Holy Spirit.
A pliant and
submissive approach of this kind links his mission as a Founder with the risen
Christ and Mary who inject into time the energy of the resurrection, influencing
events through the centuries and thus giving to history a texture of salvation
and the innovative human and flexible physiognomy of Christ's Passover.
Such eschatological
vitality is perceivable especially at the time of new ecclesial beginnings
as is this tail end of the second millennium.
At Rome in May
1887 Don Bosco understood all that Mary had given him as his Teacher and Guide,
and through that overall panorama of his seventy-two years of life he had
a prophetic intuition (as he had had at other times) of the future of the
Charisma he had been given. Like him, let us too put our trust in Mary for
the fulfillment of the responsibilities laid upon us at this so significant
moment in the history of the Church and the life of the Salesian Family.
At the end of
this letter I would like to recall once again the 150th anniversary of the
birth of St Mary Domenica Mazzarello, which was commemorated on 9 May last;
the date not only recalls the designs of God in the preparation of the holy
Cofoundress of the FMA, but reminds us in a living and permanent form of the
Marian dimension in the whole Salesian Family, entrusted to the Help of Christians,
Mother of the Church.
Let us ask this
dear Saint to join Don Bosco, whom she always looked upon as her guiding star,
in interceding for us that we may be given greater sensitivity in considering
the Madonna as constantly present among us, and to help us to renew and live
in a more ecclesial manner our apostolic consecration.
My hearty greetings
to all of you in communion of commitment and prayer. May the Holy Spirit abound
in our hearts and our communities
Affectionately
in Don Bosco,
Don Egidio Vigan
Prayer for the
Solemn Act trustment of the Salesian Congregation to Mary Help of Christians
(14 January
1984)
(Adoration and
praise of the Trinity)We Salesians,
gathered together in the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
adore and give thanks with the heart of Don Bosco to the Father of infinite
Love who so loved the world that he gave his only Son and sent the Holy Spirit
for the redemption and sanctification of mankind.
Glory to you,
merciful Father, redeeming Son and sanctifying Spirit, the one and threefold
saving Love!
We praise you,
divine Trinity, for having given Mary a part in your saving work of redemption,
raising her up to be the Mother of God and our Mother too.
(Invocation
of Christ and the recalling of his memory) And you, Lord
Jesus, Son of Mary and first fruit of the new creation, give us your Spirit
so that he may enkindle in our hearts a share of your love. We beg you to
renew for us your wondrous testament uttered on the cross, when in title and
endowment you made the Apostle John the son of your own Mother Mary.
Repeat also
for each of us those wordsWoman, son, so that we may always live with Mary
in our home!
May she remain
with us as our mother; may she take us by hand and be our inspiration as we
bring the gospel message to the poor and the little ones. May she help us
to be living stones in the spiritual house of the Church and order our lives
and activities in union with the Pope and the bishops. May she help us to
be attentive to God's word, zealous in the apostolate, and true prophets of
hope in the coming third millennium of our christian faith. May she teach
us creativity in our pastoral concern, and help us achieve that persuasive
kindness and mortification that will make us skilled promoters of dialogue
and friendship, especially among the young who are most in need.
(Confidence
in Mary and Entrustment to her) O Help of Christians
and Mother of the Church, we
Salesians of Don Bosco ENTRUST OURSEL
VES today to your kindly intercession on our behalf as individuals and
as communities. We place in your care the priceless riches of our Constitutions,
our pledge to be faithful and united in our Congregation, the sanctification
of all our members, the work by which we worship in intention and in act,
the increase of vocation, the heavy responsibility of formation, the courageous
and generous labor of our missionaries, the animation of the Salesian especially
our assiduous ministry of predilection for the young.
With joy we
proclaim youTeacher and Guide of our Congregation .
Accept, we beg you, this filial Act of Entrustment: participate ever more
zealously in the final wish of Calvary: through him, with him and in him
we resolve to live and labor untiringly to establish the Kingdom of our
Father in the hearts of all men.
Mary Help of Christians, pray for us. Amen.
[1] RM 49-50
[2] RM 5
[3] RM 33
[4] RM 50
[5] RM 1, note 2
[6] RM 2
[7] RM 3
[8] RM 3
[9] RM 49
[10]
RM 49
[11]
Jn 19, 26
[12]
Lk 1, 45; RM 12
[13]
RM 13
[14]
RM 18
[15]
RM 19
[16]
RM 24
[17]
RM 45
[18]
LG 62; RM 38-41
[19]
Eph 1, 10
[20]
RM 45
[21]
AGC 309, p. 10-12
[22]
C8
[23]
C84
[24]
C20
[25]
C92
[26]
EN 82
[27]
C34
[28]
AGC 309, p. 8-9
[29]
C 8
[30]
MR 11
[31]
Circular Letters, 1965, p.286
[32]
AGC 309, p. 11-12
[33]
RM 45
[34]
RM 45, note 130
[35]
RM 45
[36]
BM 7, 197
[37]
BM 10, 585
[38]
MB 17, 261
[39]
MB 18, 439
[40]
AGC 300, April-June 1981
[41]
MB 15, 183
[42]
MB 18, 247
[43]
C 3
[44]
C 8
[45]
C 20
[46]
C 24
[47]
C 84
[48]
C 87
[49]
C 92
[50]
C 98
[51]
AGC 321, p. 42-44
[52]
C 24
[53]
BM 7, 102
[54]
FMA C 4
[55]
R 37
[56]
MB 18, 341
[57]
BM 10, 72
[58]
BM 7, 280; BM 18, 338
[59]
E. Valentini,Scritti di vita e di spiritualita salesiana LAS 1979,
p. 144
