{"id":4610,"date":"2021-07-23T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-24T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/?p=4610"},"modified":"2025-04-25T19:12:31","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T02:12:31","slug":"presentation-of-the-theme-for-streanna-2022-do-all-through-love-nothing-through-constraint-st-francis-de-sales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/2021\/07\/23\/presentation-of-the-theme-for-streanna-2022-do-all-through-love-nothing-through-constraint-st-francis-de-sales\/","title":{"rendered":"Presentation of the theme for Streanna 2022: “Do all through love, nothing through constraint” (St. Francis de Sales)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Don Angel Fernandez Artime, SDB
Rector Major<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(ANS \u2013 Rome \u2013 July 23, 2021) \u2013 <\/strong>Dear Brothers, Sisters, and Friends, Just six months ago we gave the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians \u2013 as has been our tradition since Don Bosco\u2019s time \u2013 and the whole Salesian Family, the strenna for the new year. Six months later, therefore, I have been asked to anticipate what could be the guiding theme for the new year 2022, as the different rhythms of the hemispheres where the Salesian presences are located demand. I do so gladly in the hope that it may be of some help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quite clearly, in 2022, the year in which we will celebrate the 400th anniversary of his death, the theme can only be that of the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales, the wellspring of Don Bosco\u2019s Salesian spirit<\/em>, from which our father and founder drank and contemplated at all times, especially when it came to defining his style of education and evangelization (to put it in the kind of language we use) of the fledgling Salesian Congregation: \u201cWe will call ourselves Salesians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know that Don Bosco was deeply impressed by the extraordinary figure of this saint. He was an authentic inspiration to him, especially because he was a true pastor, a master of charity, and a tireless worker for the salvation of souls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a young seminarian, John Bosco took the following resolution before his priestly ordination: \u201cMay the charity and gentleness of St. Francis de Sales guide me at all times.\u201d And in the Memoirs of the Oratory<\/em> Don Bosco said: \u201c[The Oratory] began calling itself by the name of St. Francis de Sales \u2026 because we had put our own ministry, which called for great calm and meekness, under the protection of this saint in the hope that he might obtain for us from God the grace of being able to imitate him in his extraordinary kindness and in winning souls.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, this year\u2019s strenna will also be a wonderful opportunity to recognize and find ourselves in the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales and to appreciate even more the magnificent characteristics of Don Bosco\u2019s Salesian spirit<\/em>, as also the precious values of Sale<\/em>sian youth spirituality<\/em>. We will undoubtedly see ourselves reflected in them and feel called today to be \u201cmore Salesian\u201d in our Salesian Family, that is to say, more filled with the spirit of St. Francis de Sales, a spirit that permeates our Salesianity as the family of Don Bosco<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belonging completely to God, living to the full [our] presence in the world<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is probably the most \u201cevolutionary\u201d proposal of St. Francis de Sales. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI expressed it with his usual profundity and beauty when he said that the great invitation that St. Francis de Sales addresses to Christians is to \u201cto belong completely to God, living to the full [our] presence in the world and the tasks proper to [our] state. \u2018My intention is to teach those who are living in towns, in the conjugal state, at court\u2026.\u2019 (Preface<\/em> to the Introduction to the Devout Life<\/em>). The document by which Pope Pius IX, more than two centuries later, proclaimed him a doctor of the Church would insist on this broadening of the call to perfection, to holiness. It says: \u2018[True piety] shone its light everywhere and gained entrance to the thrones of kings, the tents of generals, the courts of judges, customs houses, workshops, and even the huts of herdsmen….\u2019 (Brief Dives in misericordia<\/em>, November 16, 1877). Thus came into being the appeal to lay people and the care for the consecration of temporal things and for the sanctification of daily life on which the Second Vatican Council and the spirituality of our time were to insist. The ideal of a reconciled humanity was expressed in the harmony between prayer and action in the world, between the search for perfection and the secular condition, with the help of God\u2019s grace that permeates the human being and, without destroying him, purifies him, raising him to divine heights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We certainly find the source of this spirituality in so many of our Lord\u2019s gestures and words in the Gospel and in the simplicity of Don Bosco\u2019s proposal to his boys, in the language and ecclesial context of the 19th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how can we not be attentive so that it may also be a source of inspiration and a pastoral and spiritual proposal for our day?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The centrality of the heart<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his formation in Paris, what triggered Francis\u2019s conversion was an in-depth reading of the Song of Songs under the guidance of a Benedictine priest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For him it was a light that colored his whole perception of both God and human life, both his individual journey and his relationships with any other person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The symbol he chose for the Visitation also shows how the heart is the most telling sign of his human and spiritual heritage: a heart pierced by two arrows: love of God and love of neighbor<\/em>, which would also be matched by the two treatises that condense all his thinking and teaching. The first \u2013 Treatise on the Love of God<\/em> \u2013  is the fruit of his patient work in the formation of the first group of Visitandines: these are the conferences written and published in book form. It was also the basis of the formation of Mary Margaret Alacoque who, 51 years after the death of Francis, received the revelations which opened the way to devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only the table of contents remains of the other treatise, the one on love of neighbor, due to Francis\u2019s premature death on December 28, 1622, at the age of 55.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The humanism of Francis \u2013 his desire and ability to enter dialogue with everyone, the great value he placed on friendship \u2013 was so important for personal accompaniment in the way Don Bosco would interpret it: everything is built on the solid foundations of the heart, just as Francis lived it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between Providence and loving-kindness<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two reflections of his way of feeling God\u2019s heart and opening his heart to his brothers and sisters, intimately related to each another, are his sense of Providence and his way of approaching and interacting with each person, in other words his proverbial gentleness or loving-kindness<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trust in Providence<\/em> has roots that come from Francis\u2019s formation in Paris and Padua: his \u201choly indifference.\u201d I trust God\u2019s heart unreservedly, and this disposes me to embrace whatever the sequence of events and circumstances presents to me day by day. I have \u201cnothing to ask and nothing to refuse\u201d with respect to what I know is in God\u2019s hands in every situation. Paul was thinking similarly when he wrote to the Romans: \u201cWe know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family\u201d (Rom 8:28-29).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gentleness of heart <\/em>when dealing with one\u2019s neighbor, even when that neighbor is unfriendly or anything but pleasant as a character, is a reflection of the same trust before it is a simple trait, this time trust in the human heart, always open to God\u2019s action and always destined for the fullness of life. Gentleness and loving-kindness are missionary approaches, aimed at facilitating as much as possible in every circumstance and situation this encounter between grace and freedom in the hearts of those in front of me. It is not, then, just a question of good manners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we think of the way in which Don Bosco reinterpreted this loving-kindness in his educational system, we understand how profound are the motivations on which it is nourished, just as it was for St. Francis de Sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Practical training in the mission in the Chablais, and Don Bosco\u2019s Da mihi animas<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tough experience of evangelization in the Chablais between 1593 (his discourse as provost) and 1596 (Christmas Masses at Thonon) is where the mission set the concrete tone for his whole life.<\/em> It was extremely difficult (\u201chere all of them have insults on their lips and stones in their hands\u201d), but it was a crisis that brought growth and transformed the missionary in the first place, even before it did so for his beneficiaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also very interesting to read those years as a Eucharistic pedagogy. The visible Eucharist, celebrated with a large crowd, carried in procession, after years of emptiness (Christmas 1596), became the point of arrival after going through a long desert, where he was the one who lived from the Eucharist and became its presence in a hidden way among the people who were previously hostile and whom he approached and made friends with, one by one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bearing in mind that our Salesian presences are for the most part among non-Catholics, this Eucharistic spirituality becomes prophetic: from within the missionary it reaches out with great patience and perseverance to those to whom he is sent, without renouncing explicit proclamation but knowing how to wait for God\u2019s long time, and not waiting for the faithful to fill the church but mixing with the flock wherever and however it may be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And with the Eucharist, and on the same wavelength, is the centrality of the cross and confidence in Mary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All this speaks to us of the educational and evangelizing passion of Don Bosco who, in the presence of the Lord in the Eucharist and the strong presence of Mary in the life of the Oratory, in the midst of his boys, found the daily strength to realize the Da mihi animas, cetera tolle<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how do we communicate?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Francis de Sales is the patron saint of journalists. His charism as a communicator is worth grasping, where there is a splendid agreement between love and interest in reflection, culture, humanism in its most beautiful expressions on the one hand, to be promoted, encouraged, harmonized by creating and fostering dialogue between those who are abler and richer in these fields and, on the other, Francis de Sales as the master of communication for everyone, a great disseminator given the means and circumstances in which he lived. It is enough to think of the enormous number of letters in which a significant part of his apostolate as bishop and saint was condensed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this too we have a disciple in Don Bosco who follows his master\u2019s zeal, with the new means at his disposal (the popular press \u201cfor the masses\u201d): 318 published works of Don Bosco in 40 years \u2013 on average about one every two months. And at the same time it is a message for us of the utmost relevance and a real challenge in today\u2019s world where communication is at the center of reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Francis de Sales in Don Bosco\u2019s way of accompanying young people: charisms flourish and bear fruit in each other<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a true \u201ccommunion of saints\u201d within the educational and spiritual art of Don Bosco, which did not come from nothing, but was nourished by deep roots, the work of the Spirit in the history of the Church that preceded him. It is neither an addition nor a repetition: it is rather a new flourishing and bearing of fruit that feeds on the work of the Spirit that vivified the Church with Francis of Assisi and Ignatius, with Dominic and Teresa of Avila.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A fine proposal for the Church today, and certainly for the Salesian Family of Don Bosco, is rightly that of growing in the art of accompanying the journey of faith, especially of so many boys, girls, and young adults of the world who do not know God, and who at the same time hunger and thirst for him often without knowing it. It is very “Salesian” to feel and truly believe that each person needs \u201ca friend of the soul\u201d in whom to find advice, help, guidance, and friendship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I conclude this succinct outline, around which the strenna for 2022 for the whole Salesian Family of Don Bosco around the world will be developed, with the invitation that Pope Benedict XVI addresses to us at the end of his address, asking us to follow in a \u201cspirit of freedom\u201d the exemplary witness of St. Francis de Sales, a true example of the Christian humanism that makes us feel that only in God do we find the satisfaction of the desire and nostalgia we feel for Him: \u201cDear brothers and sisters, in an age such as ours that seeks freedom, even with violence and unrest, the timeliness of this great teacher of spirituality and peace who gave his followers the \u201cspirit of freedom,\u201d the true spirit, St. Francis de Sales is an exemplary witness of Christian humanism; with his familiar style, with words which at times have a poetic touch, he reminds us that human beings have planted in their innermost depths the longing for God and that in him alone can they find true joy and the most complete fulfilment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source: https:\/\/www.infoans.org\/en\/sections\/news\/item\/13320-rmg-presentation-of-the-theme-for-strenna-2022-do-all-through-love-nothing-through-constraint-st-francis-de-sales<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By: Don Angel Fernandez Artime, SDBRector Major (ANS \u2013 Rome \u2013 July 23, 2021) \u2013 Dear Brothers, Sisters, and Friends, Just six months ago we gave the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians \u2013 as has been our tradition since Don Bosco\u2019s time \u2013 and the whole Salesian Family, the strenna for the new year. Six months later, therefore, I have been asked to anticipate what … Continuar leyendo Presentation of the theme for Streanna 2022: “Do all through love, nothing through constraint” (St. Francis de Sales)<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":10336596,"featured_media":4618,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[516714022,782003440],"tags":[35890,23200,735479,1784,782003449,782003450,24976,100143,13467],"class_list":["post-4610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-salesian-world-news","category-youth-ministry","tag-featured","tag-clubs","tag-parishes","tag-resources","tag-salesian-family","tag-salesian-youth-movement","tag-schools","tag-sdb","tag-youth-ministry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/salesianbulletin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/picture4-1.jpg?fit=578%2C578&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p59ePG-1cm","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10336596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4610"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4620,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4610\/revisions\/4620"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}