Questo articolo esamina il ruolo e l’attenzione dedicata ai giovani e agli anziani all’interno della congregazione dei salesiani.
Jacques Schepens – “Obiettivi e motivazioni della direzione spirituale. Relazione” in “La direzione spirituale”
Questo testo analizza la direzione spirituale con particolare attenzione agli aspetti teologici e psicologici, esaminando le sfide e le ambiguità che essa affronta nell’attuale contesto culturale.
Luciano Cian – “Le critiche mosse alla direzione spirituale salesiana dalla psicologia contemporanea. Contestazioni e orientamenti. Relazione” in “La direzione spirituale”
L’articolo tratta della crescita spirituale e delle dimensioni che compongono una personalità solida ed armonica: fisica, psichica, affettiva e spirituale
Albert Druart – “La direzione spirituale nei documenti ufficiali salesiani del ventesimo secolo. Comunicazione” in “La direzione spirituale”
L’estratto illustra l’evoluzione della pratica della direzione spirituale all’interno della tradizione salesiana nel periodo che va dal XIX al XX secolo, con particolare enfasi sul concetto di “rendiconto” come sinonimo di direzione spirituale.
Giovanni Bosco – Fonti Salesiane 1. Don Bosco e la sua opera. Raccolta ontologica
La pubblicazione commemora il 125º anniversario della morte di San Giovanni Bosco (1815-1888), riconosciuto e apprezzato in tutto il mondo per il suo ruolo di educatore cristiano, sacerdote santo, fondatore e organizzatore geniale. Questo lavoro è stato richiesto dal Capitolo Generale XXVII della Società Salesiana al Rettore Maggiore don Pascual Chávez Villanueva, per mettere a disposizione delle persone interessate le principali fonti per comprendere meglio la figura del Santo. Continue reading “Giovanni Bosco – Fonti Salesiane 1. Don Bosco e la sua opera. Raccolta ontologica”
Giovanni Bosco – “Spiritual advice for friends, cooperators and benefactors” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works”
Don Bosco’s correspondence with the Cooperators and friends, lay and clerical, always contains detailed and substantial spiritual suggestions aimed at proposing a way of interior life along with devotion and spiritual fervour, the practice of virtue, charity, loving and faithful fulfilment of the duties of one’s state in life.
Giovanni Bosco – “Spiritual resources of the christian” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works”
All the means of salvation are to be found in the Church, where holiness and charity flourish. Don Bosco constantly invites adults and young people to cooperate with the action of grace, hope and charity, generously offering themselves through constant prayer, and by frequenting the sacraments but especially by imitating Jesus Christ in a virtuous life of charitable works.
Giovanni Bosco – “Cooperators in the salesian mission” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works”
The first text (no. 272) included here is an extract from a long conference which Don Bosco gave at the opening of the Patronage de St Pierre in Nice, on 12 March 1877. After summing up the events which led to the founding of the first Salesian House in France, thanks to the involvement of a group of lay people belonging to the St Vincent de Paul Society, supported by Bishop Pietro Sola, the saint said that the work was only set up because of the fruitful cooperation between the Salesians and the Cooperators. Then, pointing out the principal purpose of the Institution (“the good of humanity and the salvation of souls”), he concluded with the reflection that we offer here, focused entirely on practical charity, works of mercy, essential features of true Christian discipleship and on the eternal reward that comes from it (cf. Mt 25:34-35).
Giovanni Bosco – “Section six. Spiritual Testament” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works”
The sixth part contains most of what, in Salesian tradition, is known as the “Spiritual Testament”. It is a handwritten notebook entitled Memories from 1841 to 1884-5-6 by Fr John Bosco to his Salesian sons, where the saint, on different occasions, especially in the final years of his life, wrote exhortations and reminders for his disciples, friends, benefactors and Cooperators.
Giovanni Bosco – “Section four. The marian dimension of salesian spirituality” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works”
Don Bosco, a tireless apostle of Marian devotion, emphasised the role of the Blessed Virgin for salvation of the individual in the Companion of Youth: she is the mediatrix of graces, defence against the assaults of evil, support in living a Christian life and on the way to holiness. These are things he draws from St Alphonsus Liguori: true devotion expressed through a life of virtue above all guarantees the most powerful patronage one could have in life and in death.
Giovanni Bosco – “Formation of the Salesians through conferences and dream accounts” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works”
The years of foundation and consolidation of the Salesian Society and the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians are ones where Don Bosco’s horizons expanded in an impressive manner. The priest of Valdocco, ever more aware of having received a divine mission, feels that he has been transported into a huge field of activity, given a charism that makes him father and founder of a movement of apostles, consecrated men and women who are destined to spread over space and time. His spiritual magisterium deepens, his proposals become more radical, all-embracing.
Giovanni Bosco – “Personal letters to Salesians and Daughters of Mary Help of christians” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works”
These brief items of correspondence, written in familiar tone, contain simple advice on spiritual life. Don Bosco knew those he wrote to, their character, defects, the circumstances in which they worked. In a practical way he invited them to focus on concrete attitudes essential for nurturing their attachment to their Salesian vocation, constantly keeping their hearts leaning to God and charity.
Giovanni Bosco – “Don Bosco’s ‘theology’ of religious life” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works”
As an introduction to the first Italian edition of the Salesian Constitutions, published in 1875, Don Bosco wrote a wide-ranging letter To the Salesians, to guide them in interpreting the rules and to infuse in them a correct idea of religious life. He later refined and extended it with the help of the master of novices, Fr Barberis, for the third Italian edition of the Constitutions (1885). It is a relevant document from a spiritual point of view. “One can think of it as a brief summary, the most complete one, of what could be called Don Bosco’s theology of religious life. Ideas flow together in it which had matured in him little by little, beginning from when he wrote the history of the Church and the Popes, then as he drew up the Constitutions and documents written to gain approval, further enriched by local and general conferences, instructions given at retreats in the late 1860s and early 1870s, and expressed in individual letters and circulars and in private advice.”
Giovanni Bosco – “Sodalities and spiritual friendships” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works”
Christian education of youth in popular works with a markedly missionary character like the Oratories on the outskirts of Turin, frequented by boys who were mostly abandoned and uneducated, required processes that were gradual and geared to each one’s possibilities. The Companion of Youth offered a complete but essential proposal adapted to everyone. Starting with this, Don Bosco used the sacrament of penance, personal chats, suggestions of optional and practical devotions and offered books to read and meditate on. He set up personalised processes which were more adapted to youngsters who were more capable of greater moral and ascetic effort. Continue reading “Giovanni Bosco – “Sodalities and spiritual friendships” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works””
Giovanni Bosco – “Spiritual counsel in Don Bosco’s letters to boys and older youth” in “Salesian Sources 1. Don Bosco and his work. Collected works”
St John Bosco’s correspondence mirrors his manifold activities as a promoter of educational and welfare type work, publishing and missionary enterprises. Also documented is the broad network of relationships he had built up. His letters are those of a man of action, the tireless organiser, avid communicator, religious founder and a passionate animator of Catholic initiatives. Little space is given to spiritual aspects which he prefers to deal with in preaching, personal talks or in the context of the Sacrament of Penance.