austraLasia 822
Fr. Chavez unpublished: an anniversary reflection
ROME: 5th April '04 -- We have heard of 'Don Bosco inedito' - the unpublished writings or sayings of Don Bosco. From time to time the 9th Successor of Don Bosco, Fr. Pascual Chavez V., talks to the community that he is part of, the General Administration in Rome, often in the context of a Good Night. It would seem a shame if such a 'pearl' as the other evening's talk, on the 2nd anniversary of his election, were to remain unpublished in some form or other.
Two years and visits already to some 52 provinces later, Fr. Pascual was reflecting on some key moments in his own spiritual journey. Prominent amongst these was a retreat given to the Council by Fr. Frank Moloney (2001). Fr. Pascual experienced a need to take his own spiritual life even more seriously, to make it count more for self and others. Here was the genesis of a theme that has now become insistent in his writings: Make yourselves saints! On a second occasion, at the Catacombs, when Fr. Vecchi by then close to death, had sought the Anointing of the Sick, the notion returned, strongly. Then there were the announcements of the beatification of Luigi Variara, Artemide Zatti and Maria Romero, and, ultimately, his meeting with the Holy Father as newly elected Rector Major.....'Make yourselves saints'.
Fr. Pascual said that he has received many comments, some in writing, from confreres who have been moved by his letters, to take their own spiritual and religious life more seriously: their meditations, their reading, their monthly recollections....
The Rector Major then moved on to questions he has been asked - of course the obvious one: 'How do you feel about your Office?' He had no ambitions for this office! But he saw immediately that this was God's will and despite his limitations, something to accept. "Do you ever feel discouraged?" Well, no - not that there were not many and serious problems right from the start. And then he reflected again on all these visits he has made to provinces, where he has seen first-hand the astounding charism of Don Bosco at work. This is an antidote to discouragement, and a reason for each Salesian to take his religious and spiritual life more seriously. Fr. Pascual commented, using the English phrase 'part-time' how Fr. Vecchi had himself pointed to the danger that so many Salesians face of being so absorbed in their work that their real purpose of witness can become part-time.
And then, some homely advice from the depths of his own being and practice: he has now, for some time, adopted the practice of a careful and prayerful daily examen of conscience, usually at the end of a day when he will ask himself who it is he has met, how the conversation has gone, and so forth. This and regular use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation (he specified - every 15 days or so) can be as powerful a tool for all of us as it is for him.
What will our true impact as Salesians be? To be witnesses, to strive to make ourselves saints.
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