The Year of Mercy is like a tree rooted in the soil of the post-conciliar Church that wanted to use the “medicine of mercy, rather than taking up arms of severity”, and that invited to a Samaritan service in the world. It is a tree that has grown feeding on the reflection and experience of “Dives in misericordia” of John Paul II and of “Deus Caritas est” of Pope Benedict XVI. It is a tree that is bearing its ripe fruits in the words and actions of Pope Francis.
Don Bosco went through a long journey of conversion to recognize and welcome the mercy of God. His vision of God as a child, in the theological context of his time, is one of a severe and terrible God, whose justice is sometimes mitigated by His providing goodness. It will be at the school of don Cafasso and don Guala that he will learn more balanced morals. It will be especially in the accompaniment of his poor and difficult youth that he will definitely acquire not the rigor, but the goodness, benignity and mercy of God.
The Rector Major wonders what should the experience of mercy be in each Salesian house in the world. Conflicts, fundamentalisms, violence in the name of God, injustices, all these invoke the offer of mercy; the geography of suffering calls us to compassion. On the other hand, we can never offer mercy unless we ourselves have experienced God’s forgiveness and mercy, especially through the sacrament of Reconciliation.
In our charism, mercy means having the same heart of Jesus, the Good Shepherd; it means putting into practice the Preventive System and living our presence together with the youth, because without proximity we cannot communicate mercy. Finally, mercy requires social justice in our environments; otherwise it is an abstract and void expression.
Concluding his Letter, the Rector Major invites us to recognize and invoke Mary, Mother of Mercy. Let us let Her be our Teacher and Guide.
The Letter of the Rector Major “Merciful like the Father” is available on sdb.org website.
