Holiness & Community

Our constitutions affirms that: To live and work together is for us Salesians a fundamental requirement and a sure way of fulfilling our vocation… c49

Indeed community life is one of our richest dimensions which Don Bosco cherished so much and yet one of the most challenging aspects of our vocation to live out. Very often basic skills of interaction, together with a nourishment from our rich Christian and Salesian traditions  can be a source of transformation of our life together.

Here we offer some reflections and quotes on community life and prayer which hopefully will be helpful to trigger off a process of dialogue and reflection.

“Dear Salesians, …be saints!
As you well know, holiness is your principal task.” JP II

Holiness is the demanding way that together we want to follow in our communities; 

it is “the most precious gift we can offer to the young” (C 25);

 it is the highest goal that, with courage, we can set for all. 

Pascual Chaves

The community expresses in a visible manner
the mystery of the Church…  

In praying, the Salesian community responds to this call… 

making its own Don Bosco’s prayer:  

“Da mihi animas, cetera tolle”.   C85

Prayer as the Language of the Community

Prayer is the language of the Christian community. By prayer, community is created as well as expressed. Prayer is first of all the realization of God's presence in the midst of God's people and, therefore, the realization of the community itself. Most clear and most noticeable are the words, the gestures, and the silence through which the community is formed. When we listen to the word, we not only receive insight into God's saving work, but we also experience a new mutual bond. When we stand around the altar, eat bread and drink wine, kneel in meditation, or walk in procession, we not only remember God's work in human history, but we also become aware of God's creative presence here and now. When we sit together in silent prayer, we create a space where we sense that the One we are waiting for is already touching us, as that One touched Elijah standing in front of the cave (1 Kings 19:13).

Prayer as the language of the community is like our original tongue. Just as children learn to speak from their parents, broth­ers, sisters, and friends but still develop their own unique ways of expressing themselves, so also our individual prayer life develops by the care of the praying community. Sometimes it is hard to point to any specific organizational structure which we can call "our community". Our community is often a very intangible reality made up of people, living as well as dead, present as well as ab­sent, close as well as distant, old as well as young. But without some form of community individual prayer cannot be born or developed. Communal and individual prayer belong together as two folded hands. Without community, individual prayer easily degenerates into egocentric and eccentric behaviour, but without indi­vidual prayer, the prayer of the community quickly becomes a meaningless routine. Individual and community prayer cannot be separated without harm.

 Reaching Out- Henri Nouwen 

Community Life shows us that it is possible to live as brothers and Sisters, and to be united when coming from different ethnic and racial backgrounds. It can and must enable people to see and believe that today in Africa, those men and women who follow Christ Jesus find in him the secret of living happily together: mutual love and fraternal communion, strengthened daily by t the Eucharist and the liturgy of the hours. Africae Munus 117

Obedience as a Communal Vocation

We must recognize that obedience, as an attentive listening to God, is very much a communal vocation. It is precisely by constant prayer and meditation that the community remains alert and open to the needs of the world. Left to ourselves, we might easily begin to idolize our particular form or style of ministry and so turn our service into a personal hobby. But when we come together regu­larly to listen to the word of God and to celebrate God's presence in our midst, we stay alert to God's guiding voice and move away from the comfortable places to unknown territories. When we perceive obedience as primarily a characteristic of the community itself relationships between different members of a community can become much more gentle. We also realize then that together we want to discern God's will for us and make our service a re­sponse to God's compassionate presence in our midst.

The Model of the Christian Community

Elizabeth and Mary came together [in Luke 1:39-56] and enabled each other to wait. Mary's visit made Elizabeth aware of what she was waiting for…

That is what prayer is all about. It is coming together around the promise. That is what celebration is all about. It is lifting up what is already there. That is what Eucharist is about. It is saying Thanks" for the seed that has been planted. It is saying: "We are waiting for the Lord, who has already come."

The whole meaning of the Christian community lies in offering a space in which we wait for what we have already seen, Christian community is the place where we keep the flame alive among us and take it seriously, so that it can grow and become in us.

Questions for Personal  & Community Reflection 

The community is a reflection of the mystery of the Trinity:  there we find a response to the deep aspirations of the heart, and we become for the young signs of love and unity. C49

v  Do I feel that I am called by God and by the young to become holy·

v  Are we convinced that “the first educative service that the young need from us is the witness of a fraternal life”?

v Individually, and as a community, are we convinced that holiness “is the most valuable gift we can offer to the young” (C 25)?