Signs of Benevolence and Protection
Mary in the Salesian Constitutions and Regulations
The Virgin Mary showed Don Bosco his field of labour among the young and was the constant guide and support of his work,1 especially in the foundation of our Society.
We believe that Mary is present among us and continues her “mission as Mother of the Church and Help of Christians.”2
We entrust ourselves to her, the humble servant in whom the Lord has done great things,3 that we may become witnesses to the young of her Son’s boundless love.
1MB VII, 334; XVII, 439; BM VII, 197
2DON BOSCO, Maraviglie della Madre di Dio, Turin 1858, p.45 (OE XX, 237)
3cf. Lk 1, 48-49
Good evening brothers as we celebrate the solemnity of the birth of St John the Baptist and commemorate our Lady, the Help of Christians I greet you with the words of the 8th Article of the Salesian Constitutions, The Presence of Mary in our Society. Before we left the novitiate, our Constitutions professor, Fr Noel Sebetero, tasked us for our finals to select an article in the Constitutions which we are to discuss thoroughly and relate with the other articles in the Constitutions and Regulations. After much thought, I have chosen Article 8 to be my primary article for the oral examinations. Fortunately or unfortunately, Fr Noel was nominated as Rector of Don Bosco Dumangas and because of this he was not able to administer the oral exams.
After much research on the Constitutions and Regulations, I have found interesting and inspiring notes and comments on Mary and her role in the Salesian Society. I thought I would never be able to share these things but when Providence asked me to give the first sermonette in honor of Mary for this formation year, I thought this would be a good venue to share some of my discoveries.
Mary is strictly linked with both the foundation of the Society and the Salesian vocation. A study and understanding of the life and history of the Salesian Society would not be complete without looking at it in its Marian dimension. In Don Bosco’s own words, “Mary is the Mother and Support of our Society.”
In Don Bosco’s dream at 9, Mary pointed out to him the field of activity and the pastoral method he is to use. She was Don Bosco’s “constant guide and support”. She inspired and guided Don Bosco to found our Society through the many visible signs of her benevolence and protection. She is the mother and teacher who taught Don Bosco how to win the hearts and souls of the young through thoughtful kindness and valid educational plan for the formation of the young: the preventive system indicated in Article 20 of the Constitutions. She strengthened and consoled Don Bosco and the young Congregation through the very powerful dream of the pergola of roses in 1867. GC21 reminds us that the Congregation was born and developed through the intervention of Mary, and it will be renewed only to the extent that Mary returns to occupy the place that belongs to her in our charism.
Mary’s presence is not only for Don Bosco but for all of us. She is actively present in every Salesian vocation, in our own vocation, though we may realize it or not. It has always been in our tradition to believe in faith that any one who entered a Salesian setting is brought there by Mary. Pope Paul VI officially proclaimed Mary as Mother of the Church after the end of the third session of the Vatican II Council. Mary is a gift and property of the whole Church. Lumen Gentium and Marialis Cultus describes her prophetic role and function in the Church. By our attentive reflection on the way she serves God, her brethren and the community we learn how to live our vocation. She is not only Mother of the Church but also its image. If we want to get back to the truth about Jesus, about the Church and about man, we must turn to Mary. As educators, we look at Mary’s role in the education of Christians. She is the perfect model of the disciple of the Lord and as such a helper in the formation of Christians.
Because of our participation in the renewal and the development of the Church and our responsibility to youth, we entrust all our apostolic enterprise to Mary. Father Paul Albera in one of his circular letters wrote, “Entrusted as we are to her protection, we shall be able to embark in great undertakings.” This entrustment was solemnly renewed by the Congregation on 14 January 1984 at the beginning of GC22 and is repeated daily on one’s account. Our entrustment to Mary is a filial gesture which reveals sure trust, unmixed love and complete belonging proposed by Don Bosco in 1869. Our entrustment is the beginning of affective relationship of self-donation, of availability, of belonging, of depending in the patronage of Mary, Christ’s co-worker. The Constitutions states that we entrust ourselves to Mary so as to be bearers of youth spirituality, to construct a pedagogy of living witness to youthful sanctity and ultimately to become witnesses to the young of her Son’s boundless love, mission indicated in the second article of the Constitutions. We have the responsibility of preserving and promoting devotion to Mary among the ordinary working class people and of fostering among the young a deeper knowledge of her, the Mother and Helper, which will lead to love and imitation.
Including Article 8, do you have any guess how many articles of the Constitutions include Mary in its text? The answer is 10.
C1 God’s action in the foundation and life of our Society
Through the motherly intervention of Mary, the Holy Spirit raised up St John Bosco to contribute to the salvation of youth.
C8 Mary’s Presence in Our Society
C9 Patrons and Protectors of Our Society
Mary, whom he made its principal patroness
C20 The Preventive System and the 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.
C24 The Formula of Profession
Father, may your grace, the intercession of Mary Help of Christians... keep me faithful day by day.
C34 Evangelization and Catechesis
The Virgin Mary is present in this process as a Mother. We make her known and loved as the one who believed, who helps and who infuses hope.
C84 Attitudes and means for growing Chastity
Turns with filial trust to Mary, the Immaculate Help of Christians, who helps him to love as Don Bosco did
C87 The community attentive to the Word
Welcome the Word as Mary did and ponder it in our heart, so that it will bear fruit and we may proclaim it with zeal
C92 Mary in the Life and Prayer of the Salesian
Mary, Mother of God holds a unique place in the history of salvation.
This article has a corresponding Regulation, Regulation 74 which gives us the means by which we unite ourselves with Mary in our prayers – the Rosary, the monthly commemoration, the daily prayer after meditation and the frequent use of the Blessing of Mary Help of Christians. It also states that we should feel the obligation of zealously spreading devotion to Mary Help of Christians and of fostering, wherever possible, the Association of the Clients of Mary Help of Christians
C98 The Formation Experience
With the help of Mary, his Mother and Teacher, he gradually becomes a pastor and educator...
As we tonight tenderly remember the great signs of benevolence and protection Mary had bestowed upon Don Bosco, upon the Salesian Society, upon each of one of us and upon the whole humanity, let us again turn our gaze upon her who though we might have been oblivious of her acts had always been asking the Lord to turn water into wine.
I would end this sermonette by inviting all of you to pray with me one of the prayers of the Salesian Family to Mary Help of Christians. Get your In Dialogue with the Lord Volume II and turn to p. 696 Prayer#5 O Mary Help of Christians, Mother of the Church.
Mary, Help of Christians, pray for us!
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