Word made . . . digital

World Day of Social Communication

In his message for the Catholic Church's 2010 World Day for Social Communications, Pope Benedict XVI called on the ministry to use the latest technologies, such as Web sites and blogs, to preach the gospel and encourage a dialogue with their practitioners.

Scheduled for May 16, the theme of the World Day will be "The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the Word." In his message for the world day of social communications, Pope Benedict told people that church communities have traditionally relied on modern media to open the lines of communication. And as the culture changes, the church needs to use the latest technologies, especially if it wants to reach younger people.

The Church itself has taken initiative to bring its message to the web; checkout these sites:

 www.youtube.com/vatican

 www.pope2you.net

 www.catholicscomehome.com

 www.rcdow.org.uk/evangelisation

Benedict entrusts world's priests to Mary

"May the Church be renewed by holy priests, transfigured by the grace of He who makes all things new."


FATIMA, Portugal — Pope Benedict XVI prayed at the site of Mary's apparitions at Fatima and as part of the “Year for Priests,” entrusted the world's priests to her, saying the church needs "holy priests, transfigured by grace."

The pope prayed that Mary keep priests from the temptations of evil and "restore calm after the tempest."

While he did not explicitly refer to the priestly sex abuse crisis, the pope's remarks in some ways echoed what he said on his flight to Portugal the previous day, when he called the scandal a "terrifying" example of sins committed by the church's own ministers and urged a process of penance and purification in the church.

Priesthood

  

Prayers for Priests

You came from among us
to be, for us, one who serves.
We thank you for ministering Christ to us
and helping us minister Christ to each other.

We are grateful for the many gifts you bring to our community:
for drawing us together in worship,
for visiting us in our homes,
for comforting us in sickness,
for showing us compassion,
for blessing our marriage,
for baptising our children,
for confirming us in our calling,
for supporting us in bereavement,
for helping us to grow in faith,
for encouraging us to take the initiative,
for helping the whole community realise God's presence among us.

For our part, we pray that we may always be attentive to your needs
and never take you for granted.
You, like us, need friendship and love,
welcome and a sense of belonging,
kind words and acts of thoughtfulness.

We pray, also, for the priests who have wounded priesthood.
May we be willing to forgive
and may they be open to healing.
Let us support one another during times of crisis.

God our Father, we ask you to bless our priests
and confirm them in their calling.
Give them the gifts they need
to respond with generosity and a joyful heart.

We offer this prayer for our priest,
Who is our brother and friend,

Amen

Young and Alive

 21. DON BOSCO OUR MODEL

The Salesian spirit finds The Lord has given us Don Bosco as father and teacher.

We study and imitate him, admiring in him a splendid blending of nature and grace.  He was deeply human, rich in the qualities of his people, open to the realities of this earth; and he was just as deeply the man of God, filled with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and living "as seeing him who is invisible".
  

These two aspects combined to create a closely-knit life project, the service of the young.  He realized his aim with firmness, constancy and the sensitivity of a generous heart, in the midst of difficulties and fatigue.  "He took no step, he said no word, he took up no task that was not directed to the saving of the young... Truly the only concern of his heart was for souls."

10. Pastoral charity the centre of our spirit

Under the inspiration of God, Don Bosco lived and handed on to us an original style of life and action: the Salesian spirit.

It is summed up and centred in pastoral charity, characterized by that youthful dynamism which was revealed so strongly in our Founder and at the beginnings of our Society.  It is an apostolic impetus that makes us seek souls and serve God alone.

* Our Salesian call When we think of our call to the Salesian life, how many of us can say: “I decided to be a Salesian after going through a deep study of the Preventive System and the Salesian Spirituality”?  How many of us can rather say: “If I am a Salesian it is because of father or brother so and so … My vocational journey

Since this second alternative has been my experience I tend to think that the majority of the Salesians could say the same.

Models play an important role in the life of a person, especially at the early stages. 

A Spontaneous Expression

C 20: The Preventive System and Salesian spirit

Under the guidance of Mary his teacher, Don Bosco lived with the boys of the first Oratory a spiritual and educational experi­ence which he called the "Preventive Sys­tem".  For him this was a spontaneous ex­pression of love inspired by the love of a God who provides in advance for all his creatures, is ever present at their side, and freely gives his life to save them.

Don Bosco passes this on to us as a way of living and of handing on the gospel message, and of working with and through the young for their salvation. it permeates our ap­proach to God, our personal relationships and our manner of living in community through the exercise of a charity that knows how to make itself loved.

Many of us are familiar with the famous paint of Rembrandt reproducing the encounter of the Prodigal Son with his merciful father. Many of us did read the comment made by Henry Nouwen   in his best seller some years ago. In the introduction to the text he described how he discovered in that picture so many meaningful details just “contemplating” it day after day.

The same happened during these days. Several times I have read, studied and reflected on our Constitutions in personal meditation or in community meetings. Nevertheless in these days, while “contemplating” some articles, I found out a kind of newness, freshness and richness that filled my heart with gratitude and joy.

We are rich, we are very rich. We are children of a great rich spiritual family. And like children of rich families, we run the risk of not appreciating enough our richness, the precious heritage that was laid down for us. We do not explore it any more, we are satisfied for what we have learnt, and we think we have reached the saturation proverbial for a conceited lecturer.

The title of Art 20 “The Preventive System and Salesian Spirit” matches together two fundamental topics that usually are developed in separated books. Here they become two parts of a same book interweaving each other.

I can trace back the time in which the Preventive System was presented to us - young Salesians - as a “method of education”. Following the short outlines laid down by Don Bosco - “The Preventive System in the education of the young” - we learned about the difference between repressive and preventive system, “in what the preventive system consists”, its application and advantages. It was an approach that helped us to revisit the previous periods of our education in Salesian environments and find out many good examples of its application in the style of life of our educators. By expanding a little into psychological and pedagogical areas of studies we presumed to be fully equipped for the task of our practical training in the communities. Wonderful juvenile enthusiasm!

Along the years the Congregation elaborated a new inside of the Preventive System to become gradually not only a “method of education” but “a spirituality”, “the” Salesian spirituality. Therefore the GC 25 (N 57) invited the communities to give greater emphasis to the “understanding and appreciation of the preventive system as the way to Salesian holiness”.

In the art. 20, the first Oratory of Don Bosco is seen as a “spiritual and educational experience”. The preventive system is referred to as “a spontaneous expression of love inspired by the love of God”. And so “it permeates our approach to God, our personal relationships and our manner of living in community”.