In Mt. 19:16, the rich young man asks Jesus, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” With varied formulations, the same question is asked by young people across cultures in the globe and across the span of history: “What is the meaning of my life?” “What must I do to be happy?” And yet today, there is a pressing urgency to respond to this question as they are asked by young people who were born and raised in the age of postmodernity: young people who know that everything, even the very theoretical foundation of knowledge can be deconstructed, who think that truth is nothing more than an expression of personal preference, who receives an overload of information from a wide variety of media but fails to educe meaning from them; who is seriously tempted to believe that life is meaningless and is a product of chance or a mere cosmic accident; who looks into his/her own life and sees it as fragmented, as consisting of unrelated snap shots instead of a panoramic whole. Yes, there is a sense in postmodern young people that life is “of isolation” and “of meaninglessness.” The song “One Song, Glory” from the musical Rent illustrates the point. It was sung by Roger after he receives the information that he is HIV positive, and so faced with the inevitability of his fast approaching death, he asks himself, “how can I make my life meaningful?”
“Song: One Song Glory”
For young people, what then are the cultural expressions of this sense of isolation and meaninglessness?” There are three: (1) Hedonism, which seeks meaning and happiness in pleasure and in escaping from pain. Hence we see young people addicted to alcohol and cigarette, occupied with parties all night, yearning, almost crazy for physical beauty; (2) Materialism, which seeks meaning and happiness in possessing material things. Because of this, we notice young people having the compulsion to buy the trendiest clothes, the coolest pair of shoes, and the newest and most technologically advanced gadgets; (3) Wrong notions of freedom, which seeks meaning and happiness in an unbridled freedom. Therefore, we see young people rebelling against authority, disrespecting their parents, disregarding their teachers and elders. It is against the backdrop of these contemporary realities of young people that our being Salesians acquire a revitalized meaning. Happiness is found neither in pleasure, nor in material things, nor in an unbridled freedom. Real and lasting happiness is found only in Jesus Christ. Our very life as Salesians, therefore, becomes a prophetic testimony to this. When young people ask us, “what would make my life happy and meaningful?” we point to them the splendour and surpassing beauty of a life lived according to Jesus Christ. Against hedonism, we propose chastity (a pristine love for others); against materialism, we propose poverty (a radical sharing of all that we have and are); against the wrong notions of freedom, we propose obedience to the will of our heavenly Father. Perhaps, the good questions for our reflection are these, “how effective am I in communicating the splendour and surpassing beauty of the evangelical counsels?” “am I an attractive medium?” Finally, knowing that our persuasiveness lies in the consistency of our proclamation and life, we ask ourselves “is my witnessing to the counsels clear and credible in front of young people? Or am I also falling into the culture of hedonism, materialism, and unbridled freedom in one way or another?” When, in our very lives, we show signs of hedonism, materialism and unbridled freedom, our witness becomes unclear and our prophetic credibility diminished. It is at this point that Mama Mary becomes for us a powerful inspiration and guide. She was quiet most of her life. She said very few words as recorded in the Gospels, but her credibility as the paragon of the disciple who lived the evangelical counsels lies in the fact that she stood by the things she said up to the end of her life. In Lk. 1:38 Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done to me according to your word.” This is the obedience that knew no bounds; one that brought her to the manger, to the desert in Egypt, to the way of the cross, to Calvary, to the tomb, to the upper room... and in all these events she was quiet... simply “pondering all things in her heart.” In Lk. 1:52-53, Mary proclaimed “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and he has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty.” Throughout his public ministry, Jesus must have become very popular among the people, especially because of the spectacular miracles that he performed. And yet never did we hear about Mary taking advantage of this Jesus’ tremendous popularity to benefit herself materially. Finally, in Jn 2:3, at the wedding at Cana, Mary said to Jesus “They have no wine...” – a powerfully captivating statement that shows her chastity as expressed in a genuine concern for the welfare of others. In this way, Mary becomes for us a model and inspiration in following Jesus.
Indeed our practice of the evangelical counsels is our way of following Jesus Christ. And at this point we remember Fr. Godo’s exhortation “in following Christ, we must begin with the heart.” Now I ask, “is it not from Mary Jesus’ mother, that he received the very physicality, the very matter, the very flesh of his own heart?” And therefore, if there is anyone who could guide us in transforming our hearts into the likeness of the heart of Jesus Christ, that person must be no other than Mary. The same Mother Mary who guided and taught Don Bosco how to be “humble, strong, and robust” and who helped fashion his heart into that of a shepherd for poor boys. Today we ask her, that as she guided and taught our Father Don Bosco, she may also guide and teach us who are Don Bosco’s spiritual sons.
