N° 100 reads: We have seen that our formees and their spiritual guides have a ‘spiritually centred’ idea of personal spiritual accompaniment. This is a positive and encouraging signal, revealing an interest and predisposition to discover within one’s personal story the plan of God and the working of the Spirit. It also means that the young are looking for adults who can accompany them in this kind of journey, helping them to move towards the ‘high standard of Christian living’ to which we are called.
No less intense is the desire to make Don Bosco's charismatic heritage his own.
The difficulties encountered are also frankly highlighted: "Attention to the Salesian charism is very strong during the novitiate but much weaker in the successive phases."
In the 3-minute video, one of the basic principles of the Ratio is reaffirmed: "To become a consecrated apostle like Don Bosco is the guiding principle of our process of formation. (FSDB 41). Fr Rinaldi says it even more clearly and loudly, with the words of this video seed: "The Salesian is either a Salesian or he is nothing; he is either of Don Bosco's or of no one. If we study Don Bosco, if we follow his system, we will truly be his sons; otherwise we shall be nothing, we shall be beating the air and getting nowhere."
As in the previous months, the young novices and confreres who produced the video in the five main languages - Marco (ITA), John Paul (ENG), Rufin (FRA), José Luis (ESP), Alvaro (PT) ask 3 questions to stimulate sharing and discussion in the communities, involving together above all young people in formation and the teams of formators. This, in fact, remains the main objective of the video support, and is also accompanied by additional tools (PowerPoint and PDF) sent via email to the communities: to encourage reading and sharing, taking part in this process, which has already been born from the contribution of 86% of young people in formation and is aimed primarily at them and those accompanying them.
The video in English is available here.
A space is accessible on Google Doc to share opinions on this issue, across regions and languages.
