There is no need to emphasize the central nature of this

aspect

in

the life and practice of Jesus;

it

is enough to recall his reply to the messengers of John the

Baptist:

"Go and

tell

John

what

you hear and

see: the blind

receive

their sight

and the lame

walk,

Iepers are cleansed,

the

deaf hear and

the

dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached

to them"

^(Mt

ll,4-5).In

John's Gospel too, the whole of the

first part

is cen-tred on Jesus' "signs," of which the

majority

are of

this

kind.

While

not

forgetting

that

Don Bosco had also

from

God the charism of healing,

it

^is not to

this that art.

11 of the Constitu-tions refers, and

still

less does

it

apply

to

the

work

of

his

sons;

we are

not

a Congregation dedicated by preference

to the

sick.

This, nevertheless, is an essential point of our charism, and

it

emphasizes two dimensions. In both the psychological and med-ical fields at the ^present day, the concept of

'health' or

'healing' has been broadened; there is no doubt

that

those

to

whom we

areprimarily

sent are, in general, boys and girls who

are'sick'be-cause of the fact that they have been abandoned in ways ranging from traumas in infancy to physical dependence or psychosomat-ic addiction. "All of

this",

\trrote Fr Vecchi, "has led us to

re-think

the concept of preuention. For many

it

could mezrn, perhaps, being concerned only

with

youngsters

still

untouched

by evil.

Anti-cipation is certainly a golden rule;

but

'prevention' has the added meaning of preventing the

ultimate ruin

of those already on an evil path but who have

still

some healthy enerry to develop or

re-store. In curent

social and pedagogical reflection consideration is given to a

first

prevention (which is basic), a second prevention (consisting

in

recovery and strengthening), and a

third

and

ulti

mate action

that

checks the worst of the evil consequences"."

On the other hand we must not overlook what is

signifiedby

"

J. E. VeccHr, Spiritualitd. Salesiana, LDC, ^2000, p. 114.

THE BECTOB MAJOR 23

Jesus' miracles. One of the leading specialists in this field writes:

'A miracle is directed to the saluation of the whole

man:

his heart and

his body.

By pardoning and healing man's wretchedness Jesus makes him aware of his impotence in the face of sin, illness and death t...1

A

miracle is a concrete sign of what Jesus is

for

man: the one who saves totally, both physically and

spiritually"".

This is the complete backdrop to the salesian

charism. With the

application of

the "oratory criterion"

Don Bosco seeks the total well-being, of his youngsters. Those who deny the reality

of

miracles frequently do so in the name of "spiritualism", ^as though God were concerned only

with

"the soul" and religious activities.

"...

^e,nd

saaing ..."

The three verbs "preaching, healing and saving" form a clear progression,

moving towards a climax: the saluation of the

youngsters,

which

was

the

peak

of

Don Bosco's

attention,

as Don Rua testifies: "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"."

If

we forget that the ultimate purpose of salesian work is sal-vation following the example of Jesus, we

fall into

a reduction-ism

which

represents a betrayal

of

the preventive

system. In

line

with

what we have said above, the aim must be one of total saving

which is

made concrete

in the

fundamental slogan "da

mihi animos".

The

term

does

not imply

any dichotomy

but

is used

in

the figurative manner of metonymy:

for

Don Bosco

'an-ima'

^('soul') signifies the whole person,

in

the context of God's

plan;

and holiness, which becomes synonymous

with

saluation, is

the

realization of

the

divine vocation of every human being.

Driven on in our educative and pastoral work by this integral

anthropological

concept,

we can never remain only on

the threshold of evangelization,

but in

every circumstance we must

"

^R. Latot'nolte, Milagros de Jesrts y Teologia del Milogro, Salamanca, Sigueme 2', 1997, p. 288.

"

^{M. Rue, cited in Cost. 21.}

24 ^{A?TS oF} THE GENERAL coIJNcIL

try to

open the young

to

religious transcendence, which is not only applicable to all cultures, but can also be successfully adapt-ed to non-Christian religions.

"...

u,nd,er

the urgency of the coming Kingd,om"

On this point, which is central

in

the preaching and practice of Jesus, we cannot say

that

Don Bosco insisted

explicitly: it

would be anachronistic

to

expect

from him

an emphasis

that

was adopted only

in

the

twentieth century

and even then more

in

exegesis and theolory than in the ordinary life of the Church.

But it

is not

just

_a

matter

of a form of

words:

the fundamental

intuition

implied by

the

Kingdom is

to

some extent present

in

Don Bosco and

in

his charism

with

other words and other ways.

Let us take one of the more important of the gospel texts: the Sermon on the

Mount (Mt

5-7)- From a

formal

standpoint

it

in-cludes various

literary

^genres: beatitudes, norms, new respect for the Old Law, the prayer of

the'Our

Father', etc. But the whole is unified by the central position occupied by the Kingdom: for

this

reason

it

has been called the "Magna Carta of ^the proclamation

of

the

Kingdom". It

is a Kingdom in which the fatherhood of God is not characterized by his dominion, but rather his dominion is gov-erned by his fatherhood, so that in the "Kingdom of heaven" there are no slaves, and not even servants,

but

sons and daughters.

If

we lose sight of this perspective, all its elements come apart.

Even

the

proposal of Jesus,

in

contrast

with the

Old Law, be-comes a burden

that

cannot be

borne: if

the

latter hills,

ttre

for-mer obliterates entirely.

It

is what one

writer

calls "the theory

of

the

non-realizability

of

the

precept", represented

by Lutheran orthodoxy.

'Jesus demands

that

we free ourselves completely from anger: even a single hostile word deserves death. Jesus de-mands a chastity

that

avoids even an unchaste glance. Jesus de-mands an absolute truthfulness, love of our enemies".'o

Accord-30 J.Jnnnvnas,Abba.ElMercajecentraldelNueuoTestamento,Salamanca,Sigueme4", L993,p.240.

THE RECT)R MAJOR 25

ing

to this

way of

thinking,

the New Law has been given

to

us solely so

that

we can really understand

that

^{we cannot keep}

it,

and that in consequence we may have recourse with humble

trust

to God's mercy.

When, on the other hand, everything is centred on the King-dom, we understand

in what the

'Joyful news" of Jesus really

consists: "The

Kingdom of God is

at hand" (Mk l,

^15).

It

is a new

situation,

the

gift

of God

with

human collaboration, which has deep roots

in

metanoia. To the extent

that

the

fatherly

do-minion

of God (Abbe) becomes a reality, and we human beings

live in it

as brothers and sisters, utopia too becomes a reality.

The kingdom is

not "built up"

by assembling pieces of the Ser-mon on the

Mount; it

arises from the proclamation of the King-dom as from a nuclear source.

Nel documento of the General Council of the Salesian Society of St John Bosco (pagine 22-25)