Strenna 2006
Commentary
Poster
 
   

他们一看见他,便大为惊异,他的母亲就向他说:「孩子,为什么你这样对待我们?看,你的父亲和我,一直痛苦的找你。」耶稣对他们说:「你们为什么找我?你们不知道我必须在我父亲那里吗?」但是,他们不明白他对他们所说的话。他就同他们下去,来到纳匝肋,属他们管辖。他的母亲把一切默存在心中。耶稣在智慧和身量上,并在天主和人前的恩爱上,渐渐地增长。( 2:48-52)

鲍思高神父在华道角 (Valdocco) 创立了一个教育的家庭 (educative family)。在这个家庭的母亲 妈妈玛加利大 (Mamma Margaret) 逝世一百五十周年的时刻,让我们重新我们的承诺:

 

务须关爱家庭

这是生命与爱情的摇篮

人性陶成的温床

 

以下是赠言的注释,展示了一些动机及意念:

 

1. 这个主题的意念是从积极的生活和慈幼会传统中的家庭精神出发,以达致「今日的家庭」的使命。这个富有生命力的神恩经验能照出家庭的真谛,并为我们展示行动的方向,好能在教育和牧民的领域上,为社会及青年的益处作出贡献

 

2. 妈妈玛加利大受到慈幼大家庭的爱慕、钦佩和尊敬;我们急切地期待着她的宣福。适逢她逝世一百五十周年,这正是我们更深入了解她的时刻。

 

3. 妈妈玛加利大不论在鲍思高的人性及灵性的陶成在华道角建立一个教育环境时,都毋容置疑地担当着重要的角色。G. Joergensen 所编着的鲍思高生平便以下列的字句开始:「在起初有一位母亲 (In the beginning was the mother)」。

 

4. 这位母亲临在于华道角,无疑地加强了该处的家庭气氛:「妈妈玛加利大英雄式的迁往华道角,使那些贫穷男孩们的环境渗透着家庭的格调,这格调正是预防教育法及我们许多传统的泉源。鲍思高神父从他个人的经验中知道,他的性格的形成植根于碧基 (Becchi) 家庭的气氛,那是一种全身投入、慈爱、自我奉献的非凡气氛。因此,他希望使这些非常重要的素质重现于华道角的庆礼院,实现于那些贫苦及被遗弃的青年人当中。」(节录自卫甘诺神父 (Fr. Viganò) 于家庭年撰写的总会长公函 3491994 6 月,第 29-30 )

 

5. 对于我们来说,「家庭」尤其是神恩经验先于作为福传地方,是生活体验先于作为使徒的工作。这理所当然地是一份使命,因为青年的教育是不能与家庭分开的。Peter Braido 说:「我们的慈幼会圣召理应在贫穷卑下的人中实现。他们就是那些最需要家庭的人,鲍思高神父响应了他们的需要。…… 他建构了独特的气质:慈爱 在喜乐和家庭环境内的教育。」(节录自卫甘诺神父撰写总会长公函 2991980 年主教会议的挑战,1981 1 月至 3 月,第 27 )

 

6. 在刚开始第三个千年的时候,若望保禄二世在教会牧民计划中把家庭视作其中一件需要优先关顾的项目:「在目前这历史时刻中,尤其应给予家庭特别的牧灵关怀,因为这个基本制度此时正遇到极端且普遍的危机。…… 我们必须透过更完整的福音培育,使基督徒家庭能更令人信服地显示出,符合天主旨意也符合人类真正好处的婚姻生活是可能的,即包括配偶本身及较脆弱的子女的好处。」(「新千年的开始」牧函,47)

 

7. 本笃十六世也非常重视这实:「其中一件最重要和需要最大牧民关注的就是家庭。在意大利,其它的国家也是一样,家庭是社会的基本核心。这个观念深深植根于年青一代的心里,并能帮助解决很多问题,一些使人失望的情况提供了支持和治疗。同时,意大利的家庭在现今的文化气候下,面对着很多我们很熟悉的危险及威胁。盛行的社会及文化趋势,以及配偶的内心的脆弱和不稳定,使婚姻、家庭的独特性质及特殊使命受到质疑。」(意大利主教团第 54 届会议的教宗演辞,2005 5 月,第 5 )

 

8. 这主题亦在慈幼大家庭的《共同使命宣言, Common Mission Statement》内提及:『在慈幼大家庭中,在俗的或度奉献生活的成员,均承担着一份责任,使家庭变得更庄严及稳固,使它成为一个「小教会,家庭教会」。』( 17 18 )

 

9. 同时,二零零六年恰巧是颁布《家庭团体 Familiaris Consortio》宗座劝谕的二十五周年。这更能帮助我们启动对家庭牧民的关注。

 

如果我们注视现况,便会察觉到尤其在西方国家更为严重的世俗化氛围,对家庭做成直接影响。家庭已感受到此等氛围,影响它依从其本质及为社会实践其任务的能力。也使教育承受风险,因为有效的教育是依赖着重新建立家庭内的教育环境,这是人类价值社会化 (socialisation in human values) 的天然地方。

 

今天,人们提出不同的家庭模式,倡议每个人拥有同等的权利,弃绝任何客观的标准;一切都取决于个人选择,从而产生了以个人取向为前的家庭替代品。因此而生的争议包括:同性婚姻和他们领养孩子的权利、夫妇们草率的离婚、渐趋普遍化的安乐死、用胚胎作研究的自由。

 

面对着这股在西方社会盛行的社会风气,我们不能不回想马尔谷及玛窦对婚姻问题所记载的:「有些法利塞人前来问耶稣:许不许丈夫休妻?意思是要试探他。耶稣回答他们说:「梅瑟吩咐了你们什么?」他们说:「梅瑟准许了写休书休妻。」耶稣对他们说:「这是为了你们的心硬,他才给你们写下了这条法令。但是,从创造之初,天主造了他们一男一女。为此,人要离开他的父母,依附自己的妻子,二人成为一体,以致他们再不是两个,而是一体了。所以,天主所结合的,人不可拆散。」( 10:2-9)

 

在我看来,这段记载为事情带来曙光,因为它是与家庭相关的题材,尤其使我们看到了耶稣的理不是跟从着法律主义的思维去判断甚么该遵从或禁止而是回到造物主最初的计划;而事实上没有人能比耶稣更了解祂的计划。

 

这赠言是很有意义的,因为它在很多方面上也联系到我们的使命。而为着这个原因,我希望为此题材展开一项牧民建议。

 

查伟思神父

二零零五年六月 罗马

 

«When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him: “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” He said to them: “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he then went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years,, and in divine and human favour.» (Lk 2. 48-52)

 

150 years after the death of Mamma Margaret, mother of the educative family created by Don Bosco at Valdocco, we renew our commitment to

 

Ensuring that special attention be given to the family,
the cradle of life and love and where one first learns how to become human.

 

Some motivations and ideas for a commentary on the Strenna:
1. The idea of the theme is to begin with the positive, lived experience of family life precisely as part of our Salesian tradition, in order to arrive at “family today” as a mission field. This is so that the lived charismatic experience may shed light on the reality and show us a way of acting which, from an educational and pastoral perspective, will always be for the benefit of young people and society.

 

2. Mamma Margaret’s person is much loved, admired and venerated by all groups in the Salesian Family, anxiously awaiting her Beatification. The 150th anniversary of her death is a time when we can make her better known,

 

3. Especially for the role she played in Don Bosco’s human and Christian formation, and also in creating an educative environment at Valdocco. See G. Joergensen’s biography of Don Bosco published by SEI with these opening words: “In the beginning was the mother”.

 

4. Her motherly presence in Valdocco certainly did much to achieve the atmosphere of familiarity that existed there: “Mamma Margaret’s heroic removal to Valdocco served to permeate the environment of those poor boys with the same family style from which has sprung the substance of the Preventive System and so many of our traditions that go with it. Don Bosco knew by personal experience that the formation of his own personality was vitally rooted in the extraordinary climate of dedication and kindness (‘self-giving’) of his family at the Becchi and he wanted to reproduce its most significant qualities at the Valdocco Oratory among those poor and abandoned youngsters ” (D. E. Viganò, In the year of the family AGC 349, June 1994, pag. 29-30).

 

5. For us, “family”, then, is above all a charismatic experience before it becomes a mission field, a lived experience before being an apostolate. It is a mission, certainly, because the education of the young is inseparable from the family. “The thrust of our Salesian vocation is naturally towards the poor and the lowly. They are the ones who above all have need of a family; and it was for them that Don Bosco”, as Peter Braido says, “conceived his characteristic ethos: kindliness that educates in a happy, united family environment”. (D. Viganò, The Challenge of Synod 80) AGC 299, January-March 1981, pag. 27).

 

6. In his pastoral programme for the Church at the beginning of the Third Millennium, John Paul II made the family one of his priority issues: “At a time in history like the present, special attention must also be given to the pastoral care of the family, particularly when this fundamental institution is experiencing a radical and widespread crisis… It is necessary to ensure that through an ever more complete Gospel formation Christian families show convincingly that it is possible to live marriage fully in keeping with God's plan and with the true good of the human person — of the spouses, and of the children who are more fragile”. (NMI, 47).

 

7. Benedict XVI, too, gives great importance to this reality: “One crucial issue that demands of us the maximum pastoral attention is the family. In Italy, even more than in other countries, the family truly is the fundamental cell of society. It is deeply rooted in the hearts of the young generations and bears the brunt of many problems, providing support and remedies to situations that would otherwise be desperate. Yet also in Italy, families in today's cultural atmosphere are exposed to the many risks and threats with which we are all familiar. The inner frailty and instability of many conjugal unions is combined with the widespread social and cultural tendency to dispute the unique character and special mission of the family founded on marriage”. (Audience given to those taking part in the 54th General Assembly of the Italian Episcopal Conference, OR 30-31 May 2005, p. 5).

 

8. This is a theme already taken up in the Common Mission Statement of the Salesian Family: “The members of the Salesian Family, lay and consecrated, assume a specific commitment for giving dignity and solidity to the family, so that it becomes in an ever more evident manner “a small Church, a domestic Church”.(art. 17 and art. 18).

 

9. Besides, in 2006, providentially, we have the 25th anniversary of “Familiaris Consortio”, which will help guide us in relaunching our ministry to families.


If we look at the context, we see how the atmosphere of secularisation, which is catching on in so many countries, in the West especially, directly affects the family. The family has already felt the effects of this on its ability to justify its proper nature and to carry out its mission on behalf of society. It puts any effective educational intervention at risk, since the effectiveness relies on recreating the educative environment of the family, the natural place for socialisation in human values.


Today there is talk of different models of family, each having equal rights with the other, to the extent where it appears there is no longer any objective point of reference, but where everything depends on personal choices, setting up substitutes for family according to one’s own whim. We see issues such as homosexual marriages, the right for these to adopt children, the introduction of ‘quickie’ divorces, the gradual extension of possibilities for euthanasia, freedom to carry out research on embryos.
 

Faced with a social climate of this kind, especially in Western society, we cannot but recall the marriage scene and its problems as recorded by Mark and Matthew: “Some pharisees came, and to test him they asked: “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them: “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” But Jesus said to them: “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation ‘God created them male and female.’ For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together let no one separate.” (Mk 10: 2-9).


Here, in my view, we have a text which throws much light on things, because it refers to the theme of family, and especially because it makes us see Jesus’ reasoning, not caught up in legalistic thinking, about what is allowed and what is prohibited. It sets itself rather in the context of the Creator’s original plan, and nobody knows God’s original plan better than Jesus does.


The Strenna is full of meaning because of the many ways it touches on our mission. For this reason I want to follow it up with a pastoral proposal.

 

Fr Pascual Chávez V.
Rome – June 2005

 


 

 

给慈幼会士们的牧民建议

这赠言是一个机会,给予修会一些特别实行的牧民建议,以延续及发展 2004 赠言及其牧民建议。我们对家庭的承诺完全回应了会宪:「我们…… 也注意家庭,在家中长幼相处,人类的将来也正由此建设。」( 29)

 

确保我们透过教育、福传途径和其它原素来关注家庭。我们需要

 

- 青年的慈幼会教育及信仰培育中,保证特别承诺对为他们进行爱的教育。

第二十三届全会代表大会 (GC 23) 把爱的教育表达成信仰影响生活或其它看似不相关的项目上的其中一个重点。鲍思高神父的独特经验,以及预防教育法的教育、灵修内容为我们指出:

  • 特别着重为青年制造一个浓厚的教育环境,以促进沟通及情感的交流,

  • 宣扬洁的真正价值,

  • 鼓励男女青年之间自我及互相尊重的、无私的、喜悦的和共同成长的关系,

  • 在教育环境下,必须展示那些为坦率的、喜悦的爱所作的见证,尤其是那些透过纯洁的自我奉献所作的见证。

- 在家长的教育责任上,我们支持他们,并与他们同行,邀请他们完整地实践慈幼牧民及教育计划。

第二十四届全会代表大会 (GC 24) 提出了在俗人士对慈幼会使命的参与,认定了家长及家庭在我们工作里的角色,也要求我们强化与家庭的合作,因为家庭是孩子的第一个教育园地 (the first educator for children)(参阅 GC 24:20, 177) 为此,它建议我们重视家长与家庭对年青人不可替代的建树…… 透过设立委员会及机构,使我们能凭借他们的参与而保证及提升鲍思高神父的教育使命得以实践。 (参阅 GC 24:115) 透过基督徒的见证、对孩子的信仰培育上所作的努力,以及为建设基督徒团体所作的贡献,基督徒家庭亦是一个很重要的福传媒介。

- 培育及鼓励人们把慈幼大家庭的风格带进自己的家庭、慈幼会团体,以及教育和牧民团体中。

慈幼家庭精神是我们灵修的其中一项特色 (参阅 GC 24:91-93)透过以下途径表达:

  • 无条件地聆听,

  • 热切的接待别人,

  • 教育者充满活力地临在于青年中,

  • 人与人、团体与团体对话和沟通,

  • 透过共同参与教育方案来共责任……

- 透过在青年中履行教育和牧民服务,增强慈幼大家庭的经验及精神。慈幼大家庭尤其要求我们集中行动,为每个青年人提供圣召的建议和陪同 (参阅 GC 25:41, 48),并透过以下途径实践:

  • 一个完善地运作的慈幼大家庭咨议会,

  • 让青年参与这议会,

  • 一些促进我们更能成为一个宗徒精神家庭的行动和活动

一些建议

· 为青年人预备一个渐进式及有系统的培育计划,教导他们去爱,好使他们能够:

- 理解性爱的基督信仰及人性的价值

- 成熟男女的积极及正面的关系

- 以人性尊严、生命的价值,及福音的标准来回答众多当代有关生命与人类性爱的问题。

- 以开放的态度来面对天主的计划,在他们的生活中实践爱的召叫。

为慈幼青年运动内的团体及组织提供培育课程,或与个别青年人同行时,应特别关注这方面。

· 向我们所及范围之内的年轻人 (领袖、义工、同工、青年人) 推行关于婚姻圣召的具体培育课程、同行和辨别。同时,我们亦鼓励慈幼大家庭内的已婚夫妇共同合作。

 

· 鼓励在我们的事业内推行夫妇及家庭小组等,帮助他们更深入地了解及活出婚姻圣召及教育责任。

在慈幼大家庭内有 “Don Bosco Families”, “Hogares Don Bosco” 等组织,由慈幼协进会支持及推动着;另外,亦有其它的家庭机构,好像 “The Christian Family Movement””Marriage Encounter” 等等。

· 透过具体的、有系统的培育及分享教育议题,在家长联会和学生家长中,支持他们实践教育责任。

 

· 在慈幼会临在的地方,在教育牧民团体内,特别关注家庭气氛和人际关系,有规划地渗及分享慈幼会价值观及牧民教育计划的目标。这样,慈幼会便会成为青年人的家,也能支持所有家庭。

 

· 透过父母与子女的接触,以及家庭教理讲授等行动,使家庭参与我们在青年中提供及推进的教育福传旅程。使家长参与慈幼青年运动、庆典和其它小组活动,并以基督徒家庭团体为这个信仰旅程的基点。

 

· 鼓励及装备在俗人士,并与他们同行,让他们在法律及环境冲击着他们的情况下,使他们在社会中促进及捍卫家庭的权利。

 

· 在不同地域的组别中,透过认识及分享《共同身分证, Common Identity Card》、《共同使命宣言, Common Mission Statement》和实行不同层面的慈幼大家庭咨议会,加强了解身为慈幼大家庭的一份子的归属感。

 

PASTORAL PROPOSAL FOR SALESIANS
The 2006 Strenna is an opportunity to offer the Congregation some pastoral suggestions to be carried out this year especially, in continuity with and as a particular way of developing, the Pastoral Proposal which accompanied the 2004 Strenna. Our commitment to family is in perfect harmony with our own Constitutions, which say: “We also give our attention…. to the family, where different generations come together and build the future of mankind.” (C. 29).


Ensuring that special attention be given to the family through what we offer by way of education and evangelisation we need, as well as other things, to:


- Guarantee a particular commitment to educating to love in the context of Salesian education and in the faith education curricula which we offer young people.
GC23 presented education to love as one of the crucial points for showing where faith impinges on life or where in practical terms it seems irrelevant. Don Bosco’s typical experience and the spiritual and educational content of the Preventive System direct us to:

·  give special importance to the task of creating around young people a rich educational environment for communication and affective exchanges,

·  appreciate the authentic values of chastity,

·  encourage relationships between boys and girls which show respect for self and for others, in mutual enrichment, in joyful, free self-giving,

·  ensure the presence of a transparent and happy witness of love in the educational environment, especially by means of chaste self-giving.


- Accompany and support parents in their educative responsibilities, involving them fully in carrying out the Salesian pastoral and educative project.
GC24, speaking of involving lay people in the Salesian mission, recognised the role of parents and families in our works, but requested us to intensify our collaboration with the family, inasmuch as the family is the first educator for children. (Cf. GC24, 20. 177). For this reason it proposed that we value the irreplaceable contribution of parents and families of the young… by setting up committees and associations able to guarantee and enhance Don Bosco’s educational mission through their participation in it (Cf. GC24, 115). The Christian family is also a most important agent of evangelisation, through its Christian witness, its commitment to education to faith of the children, and through its contribution to building up Christian community.


- Encourage and prepare people in the Salesian Family Style in their own family, in the Salesian community, in the educative and pastoral community.
This Salesian family spirit is one of the characteristics of our spirituality (cf. GC24, 91-93) and is expressed through:

·  listening to others unconditionally,

·  making people freely welcome,

·  the animating presence of the educator amongst the young,

·  dialogue, interpersonal and institutional communication,

·  shared responsibility centred on a shared educational project…


- Grow in the spirit and experience of the Salesian Family at the service of our educational and pastoral engagement with and among the young. The Salesian Family especially demands of us a commitment to convergent action in offering a vocational proposal as well as an appropriate and exacting accompaniment to each young person (cf. GC25, 41 and 48), by means of:

·  a well-functioning Salesian Family Advisory Council,

·  the involvement of young people in this Council,

·  initiatives and activities which help us to work more and more as an apostolic spiritual family.

 

Some suggestions

· In the formation plan for young people, prepare a gradual and systematic curriculum of education to love, which helps adolescents and young people to:
- grasp the Christian and human value of sexuality,
- mature as boys and girls in positive and open relationships,
- confront the various contemporary questions about life and human sexuality with the values of the dignity of the human person, life and the Gospel’s criteria.
- be open to God’s plan as a practical way of living out their vocation to love.
We ought give special importance to this aspect in formation courses offered to groups and associations which are part of the Salesian Youth Movement and in personal accompaniment of young people.


· Promote practical formation courses, accompaniment and vocational discernment regarding Christian marriage amongst young adults in our settings (leaders, volunteers, co-workers, young people…). We seek to encourage the collaboration of married couples who are members of the Salesian Family.


· Encourage groups, movements and associations of couples and families within our settings, which help them to live and to gain deeper understanding of their vocation to marriage and their educational responsibilities.
In the Salesian Family there are “Don Bosco Families”, “Hogares Don Bosco” groups, encouraged and animated by Salesian Cooperators; but there are also some other family associations like “The Christian Family Movement”, “Marriage Encounter”, etc.


· Support parents of boys and girls in our settings in their educational responsibility, by means of parents associations, school for parents, etc. with a practical and systematic formation and sharing on educational topics.


· Strengthen, in each Salesian presence, the educative and pastoral community, giving particular attention to a family atmosphere, to the most regular participation possible and to sharing the Salesian values and aims of the educative and pastoral plan. In this way a Salesian presence becomes a home for the young and a support for those families involved.


· Involve families in the journey of education and evangelisation which we offer and animate amongst the young, by means of initiatives like parent-son/daughter encounters, family catechesis; involve parents in leadership of SYM groups, celebrations and other meetings together, and Christian family communities as a reference point for the journey of faith which we offer to young people, etc.


· Encourage, prepare and accompanying our lay people to promote and defend the rights of the family in society, in the face of laws and situations which seek to destroy them.


· Deepen understanding of the sense of being Salesian Family amongst the different groups in the same geographical area by making known and by sharing the “Common Identity Card” and the “Common Mission Statement” and by putting in place the “SF Advisory Council” at various levels.


慈幼会中华会省