General chapter- part 2:Reflection of the chapter theme

Today, we are living in a favourable time Our life: gift and call of a God of

great love

A sure guide on our journey: Mary. “I will give you a teacher”

Mary helps us to witness, to a prophecy of love, as community.

… and to express the dynamic power of love in mission.

Today, we are living a favourable timeToday, we are living a favourable time

The Inter-chapter evaluations of provinces have The Inter-chapter evaluations of provinces have highlighted highlighted signs of vitality:signs of vitality:

o commitment to live in a state of discernment, commitment to live in a state of discernment, o paths of communion that lead to collaboration paths of communion that lead to collaboration with other religious Institutes,with other religious Institutes,o concrete love for the poor,concrete love for the poor,o a wider outlook on world reality,a wider outlook on world reality,o growth in co-responsibility with lay people. growth in co-responsibility with lay people.

We are challenged by today’s reality. There are seeds of hope in the world.

However, due to the lack of love, humanity is threatened in its very life today and in the future.

We are preoccupied by the violence that exists throughout the world, often affecting family and educational relationships; the gap between faith and life; widespread relativism; the idols of competition, profit and possession.

Like Mary, at Cana, we feel responsible for looking at the reality in which we live with the attention of the heart so as to perceive its deepest needs. “They have no wine” becomes our prayer that rises trustingly.

In the ecclesial community, the echo of the appeal to love that Benedict XVI sent out to the world in his encyclical: Deus caritas est,

On the broad horizon of consecrated life we feel called to manifest the wonders that the God who is Love performs in the fragile humanity of persons who follow Christ.

To make our response more visible we feel the urgent need to live, together with the laity, the basic dimension of the preventive system, which is love in a newer and deeper way.

With realism we recognize that there are many forms of fragility in community relations and this is a real challenge for us. They often express themselves through difficulty in dialogue and in forgiveness, lack of affective maturity and of openness to accept those who are different.

They manifest themselves in individualism, in a lack of mutual accompaniment and in the weakening of apostolic ardour. Awareness of this fragility is an invitation to open ourselves to the “liberating power of God’s grace” (cf. C66).

He sends us, today, to young people so that they may have life in abundance. What Don Bosco tells us in his letter written from Rome in 1884, that : it is not enough to love, but it is necessary that young people feel that they are loved, has not lost its significance for today.

A God of great loveA God of great love

The experience of the foreseeing love of God, rooted in the Covenant, is the greatest treasure of our life. It fills us with joy and nourishes fraternal communion and missionary courage.

The experience of the foreseeing love of God, rooted in the Covenant, is the greatest treasure of our life. It fills us with joy and nourishes fraternal communion and missionary courage.

“God is love” (Jn.4,8): this is the great truth of biblical faith.

The love of God is freely given and faithful, always takes the initiative and makes all things new.

“God is love” (Jn.4,8): this is the great truth of biblical faith.

The love of God is freely given and faithful, always takes the initiative and makes all things new.

In Jesus, the mystery of the Father’s foreseeing love takes on a human face, reveals itself in all its fullness and culminates in the mystery of the cross and resurrection and in the effusion of the Holy Spirit.

In Jesus, the mystery of the Father’s foreseeing love takes on a human face, reveals itself in all its fullness and culminates in the mystery of the cross and resurrection and in the effusion of the Holy Spirit.

In the Church, home and school of communion, through the charism of preferential love for young people, we help them to experience the personal love of God, to the point of encouraging commitment to being , in their turn, signs of love and hope in the world.

In the Church, home and school of communion, through the charism of preferential love for young people, we help them to experience the personal love of God, to the point of encouraging commitment to being , in their turn, signs of love and hope in the world.

We become involved in the dynamics of his giving to the Father and to humanity through:

• the daily encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist,• constant reflection on the Word,• the Sacrament of Reconciliation• the experience of prayer as love that is life- giving,

We become involved in the dynamics of his giving to the Father and to humanity through:

• the daily encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist,• constant reflection on the Word,• the Sacrament of Reconciliation• the experience of prayer as love that is life- giving,

The exercise of the presence of God was for Don Bosco, the first step in any form of prayer and for Maria Domenica the life of prayer was remaining constantly in the presence of God.

The exercise of the presence of God was for Don Bosco, the first step in any form of prayer and for Maria Domenica the life of prayer was remaining constantly in the presence of God.

This experience, shared with young people and the laity, becomes the path of holiness that characterises the spirituality of the everyday as tending continuously towards love.

This experience, shared with young people and the laity, becomes the path of holiness that characterises the spirituality of the everyday as tending continuously towards love.

The experience of a God of great love reawakens our passion for Christ and gives us a taste for contemplation and the courage to look at reality through the eyes of faith. It helps us to regain our fascination for religious life lived in joy and creativity through the eyes of faith.

The experience of a God of great love reawakens our passion for Christ and gives us a taste for contemplation and the courage to look at reality through the eyes of faith. It helps us to regain our fascination for religious life lived in joy and creativity through the eyes of faith.

Mary, a sure guide:

I will give you a teacher