Volunteers with don bosco (cdb) in the Salesian Family

Article 15 of the Charter of Identity of the SF reminds us that the members of Secular Institutes "carry out a Salesian apostolate in the context of the family, the world of work, social relationships, and civil commitments", in the awareness that each person "is a sent one, therefore called to carry out the common mission according to the role entrusted to her, her abilities and possibilities". These are two of the brightly coloured brushstrokes that define our specific identity, within that marvellous kaleidoscope of colours and shapes that embellish the beautiful diamond that is the Salesian Family.

Our Group, born thanks to the willingness with which Fr Egidio Viganò accepted the generous donation of the first brothers to consecrate their secularity to the Lord, tends to live the beauty of the Salesian charism, committing itself to carrying its perfume in all contexts of life. The vocation to consecration in the secularity stems from the call that each one receives at Baptism: we take on the mission proper to the laity (building the Kingdom of God in the everyday places of life) and consecrate them to God in the mission through the donation of ourselves to Him and to the world made through the profession of the evangelical counsels. Love of God and transmission of God’s love to the world are the two aspects that characterise our vocation. 

We like to rediscover the particular traits of our vocation as defined in the articles of the third chapter of the Charter of Identity of the Salesian Family: love of God urges us to collaborate with God the Father, to live the sentiments of Christ, to be docile to the Spirit; love of the world helps us to live, in communion with the mission of the Church, the spirituality of daily life, to make Don Bosco's "contemplation in action" our own, to live all human relationships with dynamic pastoral charity. We cannot forget that our vocation drives us towards the working classes and the young with that predilection that was typical of our common father: so many of us work in "difficult" contexts to transform them from within with attitudes of Salesian loving-kindness, always open to optimism and hope. Let us entrust our lives and our mission to the Virgin Help of Christians.