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This first chapter presents the fundamental characteristics of Salesian
Youth Ministry within the overall framework of the Salesian mission and spirituality.
God’s call to Don Bosco to undertake the mission of salvation of the young, and
especially the poorest of them, brings together many individuals and groups in a spiritual
convergence and a shared educative and pastoral enterprise which is the Preventive System
of Don Bosco. This is the source and inspiration of a concrete and original manner of
living and giving effect to the Salesian mission which we call the Salesian Youth
Ministry.
Don Bosco, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was acutely
aware of being called by God to a unique mission for the benefit of the young and
the poor. Signs from above, natural talents, advice of prudent persons, personal
discernment, providential circumstances, all combined to convince him that God had
enriched him with singular gifts and asked him for a total dedication to the young: I have
promised God that I would give of myself to my last breath for my poor boys" (C 1).
This mission to which the Lord called Don Bosco has its characterizing
trait in the young, and especially the poorest of them (C 26). Without them Don
Bosco is unrecognizable: "For you I study, for you I work, for you I live, for you I
am ready even to give my life" (C 14).
But together with his field of work Don Bosco sensed the original
purpose of his mission: to reveal to poor youngsters the love of God. He also sensed the
principles underlying a pastoral style suited to this end: that of the Good Shepherd.
Don Bosco offered his whole being for the young in a strongly unified plan
of life: his priestly life and his educative activity, his multiple relationships and
deep spirituality, were all directed to the service of young people; "he took no
step, he said no word, he took up no task that was not directed to the saving of the
young" (C 2 1).
God does not cease to call many other believers to continue Don
Bosco’s mission for youth. Among them are the Salesian religious (SDB) whom he
consecrates, unites and sends out to be in the Church signs and bearers of the love of God
for the young and especially the poorest of them.
Sharing Don Bosco’s mission with them, in line with their specific
vocations and styles of life, are the other groups of the Salesian Family, and a
vast movement of persons and groups, men and women, with the most diverse conditions of
life, who make up the Salesian Movement.
The Salesian mission, beginning from Don Bosco and his experience at
Valdocco is of unlimited extent, and brings together many persons and groups in a
spiritual convergence and in an educative and pastoral shared endeavor for the integral
advancement of the young, especially those who are very poor.
Don Bosco’s mission and life project, shared by the Salesian
Family, are expressed in a style of life and activity, the Salesian spirit, centered on
pastoral charity and characterized by the youthful dynamism so strongly evident in Don
Bosco and in the origins of our Family (cf. C 10).
This Salesian spirit is embodied and manifested in the spiritual and
educative experience of Don Bosco in the first Oratory at Valdocco he called it the
Preventive System. It belongs to the very essence of our mission; it is our manner of
expressing pastoral Charity; it can be considered almost the synthesis of all Don Bosco
wanted, the nucleus of the program and pedagogical and pastoral project which he practiced
and entrusted particularly to the Salesian Family. It appeared as a rich synthesis of:
2.1 A spiritual experience
The Preventive System finds its origin and center in the love of God
who provides in advance for all his creatures, is ever present at their side and freely
gives his life to save them (C 20).
This experience disposes us to welcome God in the young, convinced that
in them he is offering us the grace of meeting with him and calling us to serve him in
them, recognizing their dignity, renewing our confidence in their resources for good and
educating them to the fullness of life (cf. GC 23, 95).
This pastoral charity creates an educative relationship in line
with the poverty of the adolescent, the fruit of the conviction that every life, poor,
complex and precarious though it may be, contains in itself through the mysterious
presence of the Spirit, the power of redemption and the seed of happiness (cf. GC 23, 92).
2.2 A pastoral offer of youthful
evangelization
This original proposal of youthful evangelization begins by meeting the
young where they are to be found, giving due value to the natural and supernatural
patrimony which every youngster has in himself, in an educative environment full of life
and rich in opportunities; it is given effect through an educative process which gives
priority to the poor and lowly; it promotes the development of the positive resources they
possess, and offers a particular form of Christian life and youthful holiness (cf.
GC 23, 97-115).
This original project of Christian life is organized around certain
experiences of faith, choices of values and evangelical attitudes which constitute
Salesian Youth Spirituality (SYS), a style of educative holiness which prompts every young
person to grow in Christ, the perfect man, by developing his interior dynamic forces
towards maturity of faith.
2.3 A pedagogical methodology
The Preventive System is also a pedagogical methodology characterized
by:
the will to remain with the young, sharing their life, viewing their
world with sympathy, attentive to their true needs and values;
unconditional acceptance which becomes a tireless promoter of
dialogue;
the preventive criterion which believes in the strength of the good
present in every youngster, even the most needy, and tries to develop it through positive
experiences of the good;
the centrality of reason, manifested as reasonableness in requests
and norms, flexibility and attractiveness of the proposals; of religion, understood as
development of the sense of God inherent in every individual and of the effort at
Christian evangelization; and of loving kindness, expressed as an educative love which
leads to growth and creates reciprocity;
a positive environment full of personal relationships, enlivened by
the loving and solid presence of the educators, who foster initiatives and animate, and by
encouraging leadership taken by the youngsters themselves.
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