Monday mornings are not so pleasant, especially for a youngster. Amal lives in Malad, and every Monday morning at 6:30 he leaves his home and goes to the Matunga Remand Home to help the delinquents in their studies. He returns home around 11 a.m. and goes to work. Like Amal, around 17 other youth have committed themselves to visit the remand homes every week. They get no monetary assistance and most of them are lower middle-class youth. Instead, at times after they spend money on travel, the government staff at the remand home might not allow them in,and they have to return.
Why are these young people sacrificing time, talents, resources? What are they getting in return?
The Salesian spirit is inspired by the style of the Good Shepherd - the hallmark of our spirituality, our educational and pastoral action. This requires a change in pastoral outlook: young people come before the works! Their needs require that our institutions and activities be rethought, rewritten and reordered, if we are to be faithful to the mission given to us “to be signs and bearers of God’s love”.
Youth Ministry in our province is vibrant across the various sectors. A good perspective that Salesians need to have is that the young are at the centre, and not the works nor the shepherds. With this ‘oratorian heart’ of St John Bosco we are called to show our concern for the poorest youth.
The fruit of our Youth Ministry is creating young shepherds for our mission. In Provincial Chapter 2022, we had taken a decision to promote the various Salesian Youth Movement (SYM) groups in our settings. SYM opens up a number of possibilities to engage all our youth creatively according to their specific interests. The Cafasso Squad is one example of young people who become young shepherds for other abandoned youth.
The shepherd of the young is present with the young. Pope Francis beautifully writes, “...the Salesian is a living reminder of a presence in which availability, listening, joy and dedication are the essential features which give rise to processes. The gratuitousness of presence saves the Congregation from any activist obsession and from any kind of technical and functional reductionism. The first call is to be a joyful and gratuitous presence among young people.”
We like to do things with full certainty. But being shepherds of the young also means taking the risk of newness. Like St John Bosco we need apostolic courage. Mary, the first Tabernacle carrying Jesus, set off to visit her cousin, despite being vulnerable to danger. As shepherds of the young may we carry Jesus to all the young people in all our settings with hope and courage.
