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MASS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
26 February 2002
The Vicar of the Rector Major
Luc Van Looy, SDB
"We shall come to him and make our abode with him".
As we begin our Chapter pilgrimage, we want to ensure that this part of Salesian history will not be guided and directed by ourselves. In line with Don Bosco's lifelong principle, we want to put the tiller into the hands of God's Holy Spirit and of Mary Help of Christians. In this church or in the other chapels where we shall be celebrating we want to link ourselves with God's plan. Here we shall come in silence to listen, to give life to what lies deep in us, to purify and clarify our ideas before we give expression to them in the Assembly, to make sure that it is not ourselves speaking, and still less that we are speaking of ourselves, but that we are passing on what the Spirit teaches us and to "speak of God".
"No one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor 12, 3).
Don Bosco was moved by the Holy Spirit in leading young people to Jesus. We say in our Constitutions that he was raised up by the Holy Spirit through the motherly intervention of Mary (C 1), and this action of the Spirit still continues today. Our charism is alive in the Church; Don Bosco's spirit is the inspiration of many and ever growing numbers of people, precisely because it has its foundation in the teaching of the Holy Spirit. We want our General Chapter to give further proof of this by trusting in him, our only sure guide.
Let us look for a moment at some of the elements of our life in the Spirit:
1. At the foundation of everything is the Word of God, to which we listen and which we pass on to others.
God's Spirit is made known through a patient internal searching for what he wants to tell us in various circumstances by considering them with the community in the light of reality and theology so as to understand what we must do at the present day. It is an attitude of faith which makes us face up to reality, complex though it may be and sometimes disconcerting, with the certainty that Christ is alive and that the Church is always present in the course of history.
Through the experience of faith, nourished each day by the Word, we come to know God's plan; it gives us light in making our choices - it gives us the strength to choose what is right and to draw good from every kind of evil or disorder.
The Word makes us fellow-pilgrims with Christ, and gives us strength to tell the world what can lead it to salvation, and to dialogue with people of different opinions.
In this way the Spirit gives us the ability for vision and discernment, to see things clearly as they are, and to look at the whole of reality with eyes of hope, because everything is concentrated in that single objective which moved Christ to come among us. He is our salvation, despite its enormous cost that he paid for with his life.
2. The Spirit belongs to those who sincerely want to serve him.
The gift of a charism means being present in a specific manner in society, at the service of people and of the Kingdom. Only servants can be zealous for the Lord. It is from the Spirit that we draw the strength for fidelity and for maintaining our hope. From the Spirit we draw the strength to continue to remain with the young, instead of withdrawing into our own little self-centred world. From the Spirit comes the grace that keeps the community united, that prompts us to listen to each other and share with each other our inmost feelings. From the Spirit we draw the energy to follow up our confreres and youngsters on the road to holiness. When we proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord, he sends us the consoler who will teach us all things, and first and foremost the tenacity to remain in his service. With Paul we feel ourselves "moved by the Spirit" to go to those most in need, to challenge tendencies opposed to the Gospel, to defend the rights of the poor and the weak, to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. Only the pagans, says St Paul, allow themselves to be led astray by dumb idols (cf. 1 Cor 12, 2).
The Christian, the man of the spirit, who lives out a charism, can confess the faith and be both witness and prophet. I serve but "I serve through love" as an Italian hymn expresses it. I serve, because I am his friend; in other words I serve through a conviction and fidelity that makes me collaborate fully and freely with God's plan.
3. The Spirit who communicates
Our vocation, a gift of the Spirit, is given to the community and is therefore shared with others. It has to be communicated, expressed and reflected by a group, enriched by the experience of others, lived as in a single body with many members. In the expression of the vocation we are shepherds of each other because of our baptism, after the manner of the one and only Lord. As Salesians we take our inspiration particularly from certain traits of Christ which are well expressed in Article 11 of the Constitutions: gratitude for the gift of a vocation offered to all, predilection for the little ones and the poor, zeal in preaching, healing and saving, the winning of hearts by gentleness and self-giving like the Good Shepherd, and the unity of brotherly communion.
These are aspects that render visible our life in the Spirit, so that all may observe, and our young people and collaborators can understand the deep motivations that unite us. If these aspects are not properly communicated we place our credibility at risk. Through our actions, Christ must be made visible and recognizable, even personally, but especially through the way we live and act as a community. The Spirit communicates himself through our common ability to make Christ present among the young and the poor.
4. Quality of life in the Spirit
Many young people are looking for a high level of spirituality; and in their search they come to us, they want to know what is our inspiration in life. It is possible that because of all the many things we always have to do, we do not make it clear what it is that forms our deep motivation. And so it is quite possible that the young do not detect the source of our apostolic life. They may not be aware that our day begins with moments of deep prayer and with the Eucharist lived as a community.
The effectiveness of our witness lies in the ability to remain with the young as the preventive system requires, and to give priority among them to those who are most abandoned, in our ability to discover and bring together kindly persons to collaborate with Don Bosco and attract vocations, in our constant dedication to bringing youngsters to Christ through a process of holy joy. Life in the Spirit communicates life, vitality, vigour and certainty about the Risen Christ.
The way we communicate, personally or as a community, to individuals or to people in general, will therefore be the expression of a deep personal rapport we have with God, with a friend who inspires us and sends us forth, who
"washes what is soiled,
bedews our dryness,
heals our wounds,
bends the stubborn will,
melts the frozen,
warms the chill,
guides the steps that go astray."
Our practical activity therefore, and our realism must be balanced by the depth of our adherence to Christ's project for the salvation of all, allowing ourselves to be guided by the Spirit who makes us docile to the project begun by Don Bosco, attentive to the urgent needs we meet and happy to serve with the gift of ourselves to our dying breath. |
