Reflections on Evangelical Consecration

REFLECTIONS ONEVANGELICAL CONSECRATION CELEBRATING A BICENTENARY Francis J Moloney SDB

ContentsABBREVIATIONS 6Acknowledgements 7Introduction 8 15Notes on the Introduction 20CHAPTER ONE 22 29Don Bosco: Father and Teacher of the Young 37 39A Prophet in the Making 45Don Bosco and Prophecy 47 52The Ongoing Challenge 53 55Notes on Chapter One 59 60CHAPTER TWO 64Honest Citizens and Good Christians 66Honest Citizens 70 73Good Christians 79 83The Human Figure of Jesus – and Us 91 93To be Christian = To be Christ Honest Citizens and Good Christians Contemporary Evangelisation Conclusion Notes on Chapter Two CHAPTER THREEThe Salesian Charism and The Good Shepherd Motif Earlier Biblical Allusions The Shepherd Theme in the Gospels The Johannine Good Shepherd Conclusion Notes on Chapter Three

CHAPTER FOURBiblical and Theological Reflections on Obedience 98The Obedience of Jesus 99What did Jesus think he was doing? 100Who did Jesus think he was? 107Jesus as a Son 108Jesus as the Son of Man 111Notes on Chapter Four 115 CHAPTER FIVEThe Practice of Obedience 118Obedience: The Imitation of Christ 118Paul and the Imitation of Christ 120The Superior as a Christ-Figure 124A Call to Freedom 130Conclusion 134Notes on Chapter Five 136 CHAPTER SIXPoverty 140Poverty in the Biblical Traditions 140The Situation Changes 142Poverty in the Gospels 146Poverty Today 148The Basic Premise: A Shared Life ‘In Christ’ 152Notes on Chapter Six 157 CHAPTER SEVENThe Practice of Poverty 161The Poverty of the Jerusalem Church 161Giving the Community All One Has 165The Beatitudes 167The Story of the Rich Man 169Shared Responsibility for Community Life 174Conclusion 177Notes on Chapter Seven 181

CHAPTER EIGHTCelibate Chastity 185Biblical and Theological Reflections 185The Traditional Case for Celibate Chastity 187Vatican II and the Chaste Celibacy 190The Origins of the Traditional View 192A Challenge from Vatican II 194Return to Biblical Traditions 197Matthew 19:12 198I Corinthians 7:32-35 206Notes on Chapter Eight 210 CHAPTER NINEThe Practice of Celibate Chastity 217Matthew 19:12 in the Life of Jesus 219A Rereading of 1 Corinthians 7 229The Function of the Vow of Chastity Today 231Conclusion 235Notes on Chapter Nine 238 CHAPTER TENThe Model of Evangelical Life 242Galatians 4:4-7 244Mark 3:31-35; 6:1-6a 247Matthew 1:1-17 248The Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles 250Luke 1-2 251The Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38) 252Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart (Luke 2:19, 51) 255Mary and the Disciples Luke 8:19-21; 11:27-28; Acts 1:14 257The Gospel of John 259The Mother of Jesus at Cana (2:1-12) 260The Mother of Jesus at the Cross (19:25b-27) 262Conclusion 264Notes on Chapter Ten 266 BIBLIOGRAPHY 274

IntroductionThree events of charismatic significance have generated thesereflections on some aspects of the figure of St John Bosco (1815-1888),a vocation to live obediently, poorly and chastely within the CatholicChurch, and the Gospel portrait of Mary of Nazareth that follows:1. The celebration of 200 years of Don Bosco, born on August 16th, 1815.2. The implementation of the Twenty-Seventh General Chapter of the Salesians of Don Bosco, Rome, February 22nd – April 12th, 2014.13. The celebration of the Year of Consecrated Life from November 30th 2014 to February 2nd 2016, called for by Pope Francis.2The first of these two events inspires the opening and the closingreflections. Much of my sharing about Don Bosco will be a mutualrejoicing in the gift of Don Bosco to the Congregation, the Churchand the world, especially the world of poor and abandoned youngpeople, on the peripheries, as GC27 stated over and over again.I have done my best to reflect on Don Bosco’s contribution with thehelp of the contemporary material that is available to all English-speaking Salesians, beginning with Arthur Lenti’s Don Bosco.History and Spirit, aided by the work (often excellently summarisedin Arthur’s volumes) of Pietro Stella, especially his Don Bosco.Religious Outlook and Spirituality and Pietro Braido, Prevention notRepression.3 I will occasionally turn to The Biographical Memoirs,a remarkable but uneven gathering of events and encountersfrom the life of Don Bosco, collected across his life and eventuallypublished in Italian as the Memorie Biografiche (1898-1939).4They are best interpreted through the critical eyes of the studiesjust mentioned. We are blessed to have Don Bosco’s own (notimpartial) recollections of the period from 1815-1855 in hisMemoirs of the Oratory.5 I have also been greatly assisted by thesuccinct but telling study of Ian Murdoch, Starting Again fromDon Bosco.6 The sessions on Don Bosco necessarily reflect my ownexperience of fifty-five years as a Salesian, however much theymay be informed by the work of others.

Don BoscoThree reflections that focus directly upon Don Bosco open this study. Thefirst is a general overview of my personal appreciation of the propheticfigure of Don Bosco as a father and teacher of the young. From this moregeneral overview of my appreciation of the gift of Don Bosco as a prophet,I will look at two specific areas of contemporary interest in the figure ofour founder. The theme of the first of these reaches back to Don Boscohimself. However, it addresses, in more biblical and theological termsthan Don Bosco would have ever imagined, his mission to offer youngpeople the opportunity to become good Christians and honest citizens.7The second has its roots in a more recent phenomenon, beginning withDon Egidio Viganò and further developed by Don Juan Vecchi and DonPascual Chávez Villanueva: the reimagining of Don Bosco and his missionunder the rubric of the biblical image of the Good Shepherd. As we willsee, Don Bosco never made use of this image to speak of his mission andcharism. His only use of the biblical image, reflecting his times and hisultramontane understanding of the Church, was to defend and exalt therole of the papacy in the difficult transitional period in which he lived.8But the leadership of the Congregation, from Don Viganò onwards, hasstruck a rich chord by turning to the image of the Good Shepherd, a newtradition that is now embedded in our Constitutions (see Constitution45), and in the symbol used in the contemporary final profession cross.Under this rubric I will continue reflection on a Christological theme thatwe Salesians might turn to for inspiration. ConsecrationThe following six reflections turn to the theme of consecration, developingfurther the agenda of GC27 that the Salesian charism can only be livedeffectively if we renew our radical commitment to the Gospel. In practicalterms, this means reflecting upon the so-called vows of Obedience,Poverty and Chastity. As well as working to implement the Congregation’splea that all Salesians be Witnesses to the radical approach of the Gospel(GC27), these reflections also play into Pope Francis’ decision that 2014-2015 is to be dedicated to the Consecrated Life. They thus address all whopursue some contemporary form of the Religious Life within the Church.

I have referred to the so-called vows of Obedience, Poverty and Chastitybecause it is important to understand and accept that obedience,poverty and chastity are not unique to the Religious Life. Obedienceto the design of God, placing our origins and destiny in God before allcreated things, and a chaste attitude to the splendid and fruitful giftof human sexuality for the celibate or the married, are marks of theChristian life, a consequence of the configuration of the Christian withthe person of Jesus Christ in and through baptism. This necessarily raisesthe theme of the universal call to the perfection of love.A number of Religious, across the English-speaking world, especially theolder ones, may have heard me speak of this issue at length in the retreatsand lectures that I gave in the United Kingdom in the 1970s and in theWestern Province of the USA in the 1980s.9 My thoughts on the matterwere also published in my widely-used books, Disciples and Prophetsand A Life of Promise.10 For the purposes of this general introduction, itis enough to state bluntly that nothing in the New Testament is directedto Religious. That way of life emerges several centuries after Jesus Christ,most likely closely associated with the subtle secularisation that followedfrom the Christian cause being identified with the Imperial cause duringand after Constantinian times. But lives of obedience, poverty, andchastity were lived by many outstanding early Christians well before thefourth Christian century. These values were incarnated in the person ofJesus Christ, and thus can never be regarded as the special calling of afew specialists.The challenge that God has issued to give an ultimate meaning to lifeand death, in and through the life and death of Jesus, is directed to thewhole of creation. There are many texts where this is strikingly obvious,but one of the best is Paul’s eloquent indication of the hope that residesdeep within the whole of creation including the baptised, those whoalready have the first fruits of the Spirit: I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own

will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:18-23).Faithful to its programme of ressourcement, the Church at Vatican II, forthe first time in a formal statement from its highest form of Magisterium,has sent us back to our biblical roots to affirm the universal call toholiness: The Lord Jesus, divine teacher and model of all perfection, preached holiness of life, which he both initiates and brings to perfection, to each and every one of his disciples no matter what their condition of life: You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48). It is therefore quite clear that all Christians in whatever state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of love, and this holiness is conducive to a more human way of living even in society here on earth (Lumen Gentium 40).Salesians should recognise the open and courageous vision articulatedby St Francis de Sales in his Introduction to the Devout Life in 1609, onlysome decades after the Council of Trent had seen the need to defenditself against the Reform’s rejection of a state of perfection within theChristian Community as having no biblical foundation.11 I must admit,however, to never having heard of the universal call to the perfectionof love, nor Francis de Sales’ leadership in this matter, until after it wasclearly stated at Vatican II.If there is no such thing as a call to a better form of Christian life withinthe Church, does the consecrated life, as we continue to call it, have aspecific function within the mystery and the ministry of the believingChristian community as a whole?12 That is one of the questions that wemust raise and answer in Salesian terms in the reflections on Obedience,Poverty and Chastity. We may not be better as the Gospel will not allowsuch objective distinctions of quality given the universal effect of the

death and resurrection of Jesus. But in what way has Don Bosco, fromwithin the heart of the Catholic tradition, called us to be different?13These critical theological considerations will guide my furtherdevelopment of the theology and practice of obedience, poverty andchastity among Religious. Mary as Mother and Model of the DiscipleIn a final session I will return to a theme beloved to Don Bosco, buthandle it in a way that he would never have imagined. Using the toolsof contemporary Gospel criticism, I will suggest a biblical portrayal ofMary of Nazareth. Reading the New Testament’s presentation of Maryagainst the background of the earliest Church’s own historical andtheological development is enlightening. It questions some of the forcedapplications of Marian piety found in Salesian documents, especially inthe seemingly de rigueur conclusion of every sermon or document witha reference to Mary. The superficiality of Salesian Marian piety is alsoobvious in Salesian pages in the social media.14It begins with the premise that what we have in the written texts ofthe New Testament by no means exhausts the teaching of the earliestChurch.Those writings are literally the tip of the iceberg that can be seen abovethe sea of emerging prayer, thought and practice that marked theearliest Church. Under the surface of that sea, in the steadily awakeningconsciousness of what God has done for us in and through Jesus Christ,a growing understanding of the role of Mary of Nazareth in God’s designwas emerging. The passing earliest mention of a woman who was Jesus’mother, so that he might be born under the Law, appears in Galatians4:4, articulated about 55 CE. The preaching, praying and eventually thewriting of the Early Church came by the end of that first Christian centuryto present her at the cross of Jesus as the Mother of the Disciple in John19:25-27.15 Between the extremities of the early Paul (55 CE) and thelate John (100 CE), there is much to be pondered in the Early Church’sinspired presentation of the figure of Mary of Nazareth as she appearsacross the pages of Mark (70 CE), Matthew and especially Luke (bothabout 85 CE).

The aim and object of these reflections is to render possible the dreamof our Constitutions: For us, the Word listened to with faith, is a source of spiritual life, food for prayer, light to see God’s will in the events of life, and strength to live out our vocation faithfully. With the Sacred Scriptures daily in hand, we welcome the Word as Mary did and ponder it in our heart, so that it will bear fruit and we may proclaim it with zeal (Constitution 87).For the community and for every Salesian these are privileged momentsfor listening to the Word of God, discerning his will and purifying ourhearts. These times of grace restore to our spirit a deep unity in the Lord Jesus and keep alive in us the expectation of his return (Constitution 91).We must look to our past as we cast a critical eye and a loving heartupon our present in order to construct a future. As Pope Francis puts it: Recounting our history is essential for preserving our identity, for strengthening our unity as a family and our common sense of belonging. ... In this way we come to see how the charism has been lived over the years, the creativity it has sparked, the difficulties it encountered and the concrete ways those difficulties were surmounted. We may also encounter cases of inconsistency, the result of human weakness and even at times a neglect of some essential aspects of the charism. Yet everything proves instructive and, taken as a whole, acts as a summons to conversion. To tell Coounr ssetocrraytiesdtoPeporpalies,eI)G. od and to thank him for all his gifts (To All

These reflections were prepared to mark the celebration of thebicentenary of the birth of Saint John Bosco (August 16th 1815).They are written after 55 challenging years of Religious Life: pre-andpost-Vatican II, the initial enthusiasm, its waning, the loss of dearconfrères, the scandals, the ageing and the slow-down of youngvocations. What follows, therefore, is also directed to all Religious,despite their regular reference to matters Salesian. We sons anddaughters of Don Bosco are not alone in surrendering ourselvestotally to God whom we love above all else, we commit ourselves toa form of life based entirely upon Gospel values (Constitution 60). Francis J. Moloney, SDB, AM, FAHA, was born in Melbourne, Australia, joined the Australian Province of the Salesians of Don Bosco in 1960 and was ordained a Priest in 1970. He was awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy from Oxford University in 1976. Since then he has a wide teaching and research experience in Australia, Europe, Israel and the USA. He is the author of many books and articles, both scholarly and popular, in the area of biblical studies and the Christian life.In 1992 he was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities(FAHA), and made a member of the Order of Australia in 1994 (AM).In 1994 he was appointed the Foundation Professor of Theology atAustralian Catholic University and in 1998 Professor of New Testamentat the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. He was Deanof the School of Theology and Religious Studies at CUA from 2002-2005,and a member of the International Theological Commission to the HolySee from in 1984-2001. He was Provincial of the Salesians of DonBosco in Australia and the Pacific from 2006-2011, and is currentlya Senior Professorial Fellow at Australian Catholic University.