Salesian Cooperators – Rome 2 Official Commentary 2015 on the Project of Apostolic Life Association of Salesian Cooperators Dear Salesian Cooperators, We are living in a time of true Grace from our Lord for our Association and for the entire Salesian Family. Now that the Bicentenary Year of the birth of our Father and Founder Don Bosco has drawn to a close, we prepare ourselves to share, along with the Church Universal, the Holy Year of the Mercy of God that Pope Francis has proclaimed. It is in this atmosphere of reflection on the love of the Father, the salvation brought to us by the Son Redeemer, and the strength that the Holy Spirit pours out on each one of us and on all, that I present to you this “Commentary on the Project of Apostolic Life.” It is an actualization, a dynamic and faithful revision of the former Official Commentary of 1990, in the light of the Project of Apostolic Life ratified by the Salesian Cooperator Congress in 2012. Just like our Project of Apostolic Life, this Commentary is also a fruit of the commitment, hard work, study, and discernment of many Cooperators. A lively “thank you,” therefore, goes to the former World Council: Coordinator, Rosario Maiorano, and the Delegates, Don Stjepan Bolkovac and Sr. Maria Trigila, who initiated an immense task of commenting on each individual article of the Statutes. Afterwards, the members of the World Executive Secretary of the present Cooperator World Council collaborated with much dedication and care in drawing up this final version, thus bringing to completion the revision and organizing the comments in a schematic form, complete with clear references to the most recent Magisterium of the Church and to the documents of the Salesian Family. The Project of Apostolic Life is our “ID card”: it describes the spiritual riches of our vocation and traces our way to sanctity through daily service to the young, to families, to the emarginated, and to the excluded. This Commentary is its necessary complement because it analyzes, chapter by chapter, each individual article and captures each one’s spirit, bringing to the fore the great Gospel inspirations behind the Statutes and their operative and normative translations in the Regulations. This is, therefore, an opportune and fruitful key to understanding which will permit each one of us to interiorize our Project and to give it concrete expression in the life of our Association. Inviting you to give joyful witness to Don Bosco’s original notion of wanting us to be true Salesians in the world, I offer you this helpful aid which will contribute to guaranteeing that we remain living branches grafted on the Vine. With esteem and affection, Rome, January 24, 2016 Feast of St. Francis de Sales 3 Official Commentary 2015 on the Project of Apostolic Life Association of Salesian Cooperators 4 Official Commentary 2015 on the Project of Apostolic Life Association of Salesian Cooperators The intent of the new Project of Apostolic Life is to delineate the identity of the Salesian Cooperator. It not only presents a way to be, to live, to act, and to relate with others, but it is the way to understand one's lay vocation; i.e., one's own "personal plan of life" in Salesian style. The word “vocation” is one key to understand the new Project of Apostolic Life. We are not simply "collaborators" or "benefactors" but laity who feel that they are "called and sent on a concrete mission: to contribute to the salvation of youth, committing themselves to Don Bosco’s very mission to the young and to ordinary folk.” (Project of Apostolic Life, Art. 2). A vocation is a Call and a Grace; it is beyond our possibilities to be its source of inspiration or to create it. The initiative belongs to God. This is a constant of the vocations presented in the Bible and Jesus repeats it: "You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you." (Jn. 15:16) Therefore, we must accept and welcome it, give thanks for it, and pray and work; moreover, if we wish to look to the future of the Association, we must have a gaze and a heart which are attentive to the young. They are not only the privileged object of our apostolate – the young are also the protagonists of a new springtime and of a new face for the Salesian Cooperator. Vocation is a path closely tied to maturing in the Faith, in a dialogue with God that lasts for one's entire life. The fundamental condition necessary for it to rise up is to develop one's Christian life in every aspect: truth, apostolate, morals, and prayer. A strong personal faith and a life interiorly bound to Christ are indispensable so that vocations mature in accord with the Word of the Lord. All Salesian Cooperators must become consciously aware of this. Each Community and each Center represents Don Bosco in the area where their members live and work and are appointed to extend the charism and mission of the Salesian Family into the future. Having a Community and a place for the Association are indispensable points of reference. No one has a vocation to isolation; therefore, it is greatly encouraged that all Salesian works organize their educating community, rich in ministries or services for the mission, as a place for convergence. These ought to become places where all the Groups can experience the Salesian charism and mission. The criterion of "come and see" is followed so that the young will be able to welcome and to respond to God’s Call in a responsible way. In many cases an explicit invitation needs to be made. Today’s society no longer conceives of life as vocation and mission. The understanding of their relevance and social significance is scarce today. Points of reference for imagining how one's own life will be in the distant future are confusing, if not discouraging. In some parts of the Church, where it is regarded as an “Institution”, it is presented as an heir to a past of intellectual and moral subjugation. A young person can have a desire to get involved and dedicate him or herself to a task, but this involvement is often oriented towards “Movements” and the causes which are most popular today: peace, ecology, and the poor. The attraction of Christ and a love for Don Bosco will always determine a different direction for them to follow. The Disciples were fascinated by Jesus but understanding that they could follow Him meant they needed to listen to the invitation, "Follow Me!" Perhaps the ability to present, to rouse up enthusiasm for, to point out the steps to take and the conditions necessary, and to invite the young to spread "that energy of charity" to become God's and Don Bosco’s Cooperators needs to be strengthened in our Association. Therefore, we need Cooperators and Formators who know Don Bosco and his charism and who not only understand it but who can also make 5 Official Commentary 2015 on the Project of Apostolic Life Association of Salesian Cooperators proposals as experts in spiritual life. The Project of Apostolic Life clearly points out the privileged field of our apostolic work: the young. It is in this field that we develop and carry out an activity which is very apropos to our vocational proposal: education. Let us frequent those places which can offer interesting stimuli: educating communities. We need to extend the options for involvement in a Project of Apostolic Life which go beyond Salesian works. The Sacred Author states: “Your Word is the lamp unto my feet and the light unto my path.” (Ps. 118:105) God’s Word is a light capable of illuminating the steps along man’s path of life; it makes the way sure because it is a compass which can give direction in the midst of the fog of so many voices and attractions which confuse, disorient, and cause the heart of man to wander far from the right path. By following the Project of Apostolic Life, the Salesian Cooperators share the path traced out by the Gospel and “commit themselves in a responsible manner to this way which brings one to sanctity.” (Project of Apostolic Life Statutes Art. 41) 6 Official Commentary 2015 on the Project of Apostolic Life Association of Salesian Cooperators THE SALESIAN COOPERATOR IN THE SALESIAN FAMILY AND IN THE WORLD «You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and have appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain» (Jn. 15:16) The Holy Spirit raised up Don Bosco. Jesus chose His Disciples and appointed them to bear much fruit, a fruit that would last. As disciples of Jesus and Sons and Daughters of Don Bosco, the Salesian Cooperators are called to bear much fruit. What a great gift and stupendous mission have been entrusted to us! In order to understand the Project of Apostolic Life and to live it authentically, we must allow ourselves to be illuminated by this great Mystery. In a well-known page of the prophet Ezekiel, he describes the wood of the vine. What value does it have? None. The wood of the vine is the only wood from among the trees of the countryside with which one can do nothing; nothing, no useful object, can be made from it. The wood of the vine is good for only one thing: to allow the vital fluid to flow to the branches so they produce fruit; therefore, the wood of the vine is wood useless for anything except to bear fruit.