O Come Emmanuel

11.  Christ of the Gospel
the source of our spirit

The Salesian spirit finds its model and source in the very heart of Christ, apostle of the Father.

Reading the Gospel we become more aware of certain aspects of the figure of the lord:  gratitude to the Father for the gift of a divine vocation offered to all men; predilection for the little ones and the poor; zeal in preaching, healing and saving because of the urgency of the coming of the Kingdom; the preoccupation of the Good Shepherd who wins hearts by gentleness and self-giving; the desire to gather his disciples into the unity of brotherly communion.

This article is extremely rich in its content and this short reflection will not do it the justice it deserves since it will not be able to explore fully all the dimensions that it touches on. However, the article is making an overall important point, not to be lost sight of. Namely that  our Salesian Charism, with  its rich different aspects, has only one ‘source’  and that is nobody else but Christ himself, ‘the apostle of the Father’. Don Bosco himself acknowledges this when in his spiritual testament he affirms that our superior is Jesus himself. “He will always be our Master, our Guide, our Model.”

Our particular way of life as outlined in our Constitutions has its roots in nothing else but the Gospel. If in this time for renewal a lot of emphasis is being place on the person of Don Bosco, it is because he himself was rooted in Christ. Don Bosco could equally say with St Paul, ‘ It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me’ [Gal 2:20]

In these days as we are preparing ourselves to renew the commitment we made on the day of our Religious profession, we will also be starting the Christmas Novena. The novena helps us to keep our focus on Jesus, especially with its beautiful ‘O’ Antiphons that take prominence in advent as we come close to Christmas. The first of these antiphons speaks of Christ as the Wisdom that comes from God.

 O Wisdom, you come from the mouth of the Most High. You fill the universe and hold all things together in a strong yet gentle manner. O come to teach us the way of truth.

It is significant that the entrance antiphon  for the Mass of Don Bosco also speaks about wisdom:

God gave him wisdom and great understanding and a heart as vast as the sand on  the Seashore.

Indeed the wisdom of Don Bosco is Christ himself  and his vastness of heart  has its ‘source in the very heart of Christ.’ Don Bosco can only be fully understood in the light of the Gospel, in the different dimensions that are outlined in the article – gratitude to the Father, predilection for the little ones, zeal for the coming of the Kingdom, gentleness inspired by the Good Shepherd, unity of brotherly communion.

Our Religious profession is rooted in our baptism: “ God my Father, you have consecrated me to yourself on the day of my baptism” C24 . Therefore the renewal our commitment on the 18^th of December, the day of the 150^th Anniversary, is done in the light of our baptismal consecration. In baptism we renounce sin and evil, committing ourselves to a new life in Jesus; in Religious Profession we offer back to God the good that he has given us so as to be more available for his service. “We were indeed buried with him through Baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.” Rm6:4

This time of Advent is a time of expectancy, a time of waiting on the Lord to enter into our lives and be born anew. As we await eagerly for the Joy of the World to enter into our lives and that of the young, pray that He will be the same wisdom that guided don Bosco in his life.

Oh, come, our Wisdom from on high,
Who ordered all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
and teach us in her ways to go.