NEW DELHI: 2nd March 2005 -- The context of the SA Team Visit remains that of celebration of 100 years of Salesian presence and work in India.  It is a celebration of gratitude, something that the 'Bosco World' exhibition, opened yesterday in the basement of the Provincial House in Delhi, highlights: the personal, caring attitude of Salesians, their easy identification with the young, family spirit, the option for rural settings, the prayer and work and, dare we say it, the hope.

    But hope that is realistic.  As the Rector Major reflected on the second day of work in the Team Visit, a day that included an open forum where some of the hard issues were raised (provincial culture, inculturation in formation, spiritual direction), he indicated, along the lines of Fr. Alencherry's reflections on the future in India, that while we are to be grateful for the past we are now directed to the future - how do we want to be known in India in the years to come (the challenge to find a Salesian Indian identity)? What kind of Salesian presence do we want to set up - simply activities, or do we want to change society?

    The RM's own reflections probed a little further - 'Let's look at Constitution 3, the inseparable elements, lived in a single movement towards God and towards our brothers.  Our mission sets the whole tenor of our lives!  That's the core of it all.  We could be distracted by non-essential elements".

    The RM invited gathered provincials, council members, to focus on the mission, rather than the activities.  The option for the marginalised, for example is not something for some of our works, but something for our mission wherever we are.

    In the course of the afternoon, the new Don Bosco movie, this time in English version, was distributed.  The RM in his reflective intervention drew on the movie as an example of how doing flowed from Don Bosco's being, of how he was a person always 'becoming', never at a single moment complete, as is the case with us all.  Ongoing, continuing formation, then, is the principle of our Salesian lifetime.  it is there to make us fit for the mission, be it in terms of spiritual renewal, professional updating, educational competence.

    The Team Visit participants take a short break on 3rd March for some local (New Delhi-based) visiting, and a chance to gather strength for the remaining sessions.