Br. EDWAR GOBRAN, sdb Salesian Brother in Ratisbonne Monastery Jerusalem “Don Bosco is known like this: “Extraordinary in the ordinary” The Ratisbonne Monastery of Rehavya in Jerusalem is a place full of history since its construction in 1874. Today and since 2004, it has become the Studium Theologicum Salesianum and is home to the Salesian congregation of St. John Bosco. « Who was Don Bosco? » Saint John Bosco was born in Italy in 1815 in Piedmont. At the age of 2, his father died and this marked an important point in his life and in his relationship with young people. At the age of 9, he had a dream that marked a turning point in his life: Br. GIANLUCA VILLA, sdb Salesian Brother in Ratisbonne Monastery Jerusalem "At the beginning he dreamed about young people that were fighting and he was going there, fighting to them because they said blasphemous, bad words, things against God, things against the church and then he dreamed of Jesus, he dreamed on Mary, and they were telling him that he would have taken care of them. So he dreamed about wolves that were starting to become a sheep. He didn’t understand at that time what that dream was about but in the morning he woke up and he spoke with his grandmother, with his mother and his mother thought that maybe he would become a priest. He will have several dreams like this in his life that will accompany his vocation.” After this dream, he invested himself in the people of his village: he organised activities, proposed times of discussion... In 1841, he decided to become a priest and to work with young people. He started in Turin with young people in prison and discovered a reality of abandonment and extreme poverty. Faced with this reality, he decided to dedicate his life to them and in 1846, he created an oratory. He founded the Salesians of Don Bosco, the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, the Association of Salesian Cooperators, sort of third order. On 18 December 1859, the Salesian congregation was created in a particular context: Br. GIANLUCA VILLA, sdb Salesian Brother in Ratisbonne Monastery Jerusalem “During that period of time Don Bosco started to gather around him people, priests, but also lay people and young people coming up from those young that he was gathering in the oratory. It was night, it was evening and they were in the room of Don Bosco, and there were about 20 people and they signed a document that is the official birth of our congregation. They were priests, adults and there were a lot of young people who were already working with Don Bosco. So we can say that the Salesian congregation was really born for the young with the young.” Don Bosco's preventive system is based on Reason, Religion and "Amorevolezza" (Loving-Kindness). The charism is defined by several aspects: dedicating one's life to young people, the relationship with God as a consecrated person and life in community. The motto summarises this charism perfectly: Br. GIANLUCA VILLA, sdb Salesian Brother in Ratisbonne Monastery Jerusalem “If we want to synthesize our charisma in one sentence we can take the motto: “Da mihi animas, caetera tolle”. It means give me the souls and take the rest. And it speaks about the mystical aspect of our life that is working for the souls, that is taking care of the souls, the salvation of people and the ascetic part of our life there is there and it’s very important. “Take the rest” so whatever, we do not need in order to save young people, we will abandon it. It means comfort, it means pleasures, it means whatever you may think that is not useful for our mission.” « Why become Salesians?» Each vocation is different but all wanted to commit themselves to young people. Br. EDWAR GOBRAN, sdb Salesian Brother in Ratisbonne Monastery Jerusalem “To be honest the first approach with the Salesians was that I felt God's hand on me so that person was a kind of God’s hand to work my life and then I wanted to become like this person, this priest, it was my first impression. Little by little I knew that Lord, God wants me to become like this person to make my life ready to serve him through the young, through what Don Bosco did because myself I am a product of this vocation, I was saved by a salesian Priest and I want to do what I received also.” Every day, they try to follow what Don Bosco has taught them, transmitted to them. Br. EDWAR GOBRAN, sdb Salesian Brother in Ratisbonne Monastery Jerusalem “It’s very interesting for us, salesians, we believe that in our daily life we can see god every day and in whatever we are doing, in time of prayer, in time of studying right now, in time we are with kids, with the young, everything we are doing in our daily life is a part of God. Don Bosco is known like this: “Extraordinary in the ordinary”. So for ourselves, to be salesians today, we have to live with simplicity, to make known that God loves you wherever you are. So we hope that we can bring this person in their place, in their situation to God as Don Bosco did. This is every day commitment, it’s not easy but we desire to live like this.” The Salesians have evolved along the years to live with the times and make God accessible to everyone: Br. EDWAR GOBRAN, sdb Salesian Brother in Ratisbonne Monastery Jerusalem “I really want to thanks the Salesians Congregation, not only what they did to me, they saved my life but because they are still searching to find the new modalities to get God closer to people.” "And in the Holy Land, how do they express their mission?" Present since 1893, the Salesians have a strong presence in the Holy Land. They have 5 houses which allow them to diversify their activities and their accompaniment of young people. Unlike the other houses, the monastery in Ratisbonne is a theology centre that prepares 48 Salesian students from all over the world to become priests. The other houses are houses of formation and welcome for all young people who wish to do so: Br. GIANLUCA VILLA, sdb Salesian Brother in Ratisbonne Monastery Jerusalem “The first one who comes to my mind is the one Bethlehem, Bethlehem as a professional center for training people for learning jobs. There is a big oratory with a scout group. There is a bakery that sells bread at affordable prices for people in need. It’s a real salesian presence in that city. Another presence is Cremisan, there is a winery, a famous winery that produces wine and sell all around the world. And here in the Holy Land, the winery has existed since 1885 and it’s a jewel of the salesians in the Holy Land. Cremisan is also the seat of the provincial house and there is also a house of retreat and they welcome visitors and pilgrimages because there is a nice park. We are present in Nazareth where there is a technical school, an oratory, a public school. It’s a big presence in Nazareth. And we are present in Beit Jamal, it’s a large property with lots of olive trees. They produce oil. They welcome visitors, Jews, Muslims, Christians and it’s famous because as tradition said it’s the place where Saint Stephen was buried so it’s one of the Holy Places in the Holy Land.” Like Don Bosco and in addition to these training centres, the Salesians are very present among the local population: Br. EDWAR GOBRAN, sdb Salesian Brother in Ratisbonne Monastery Jerusalem “Personally I went every Saturday in Bethlehem for pastoral activities with 2 groups mainly: with the scouts (big group), with kids and young, with them we usually have spiritual talks, spiritual sharings, we also make some games because our spirituality has to do with what the children like. Children like games so we like games and we play with them so we love what they love. This was for Don Bosco: “Love what children love, so that they can love what you love.” It’s a big commitment, not easy but it’s what we do with this quote. We can speak with them about Christ because they are all Christians. With the Oratory, the youth center, they are mixed. Majority are Muslim. It is a gift for us, that God gave us to serve all people. In the oratory they play football, there is a kind of human formation and simple presence but it means a lot because we don’t serve others with objects to make them like us or to put them like this; no we love how God loves to serve others. So without distinction and this is a big gift really to have not only Christians in our place.” "Special sign" Unlike many congregations, we cannot distinguish Salesians by their religious habit. However, they do have a cross which allows us to distinguish them: Br. EDWAR GOBRAN, sdb Salesian Brother in Ratisbonne Monastery Jerusalem “This cross we received on the day of our perpetual profession. This is the second sign that we receive. The first sign, we receive a medal when we meet our profession, when we are in the novitiate so we start to make the first profession, temporal vowels, we take the medals. This sign is we continue forever; we say yes forever to God as the model of a Good Shepherd. It has to do with all of our identity, because here we have the lamb as it is put on the shoulders, it’s a symbol with a charge of meanings because it’s not a clear thing. As in our lives, Jesus is bringing us on his shoulders so that we might, by his grace, bring others on our shoulders as they are.” « Let’s Pray » The Salesians have morning and evening prayer times, community and personal prayer times. Br. EDWAR GOBRAN, sdb Salesian Brother in Ratisbonne Monastery Jerusalem “We don’t have this separation, it’s true that Salesians don't have a separation between work and prayer because our work can be seen as a prolongation or our prayer, It’s not something that has been to put aside. And then surely, as work can be considered as prayer we need also to contemplate, to stay calm, to stay still so we can really create a room inside ourselves so that we can welcome others and like this our spiritual life it’s not transforming us, making us able even to listen God’s words and to listen others, I think something wrong is going so it’s for this reason it’s good to be aware about this personal time so that you can profiling your attention, profiling your way of living and go one. Because we know that whatever we do we don’t merit all this good thing God is giving us because he is merciful, he is love so we can join him because otherwise nobody can do it.”