Ingredients of SaFa vocational animation 2

 Perspectives of Vocational Animation

The work of vocational animation is inserted in the continuity of the mission of Jesus; therefore all evangelization must be impregnated with a vocational sense. The work of the evangelizer is to be an accompanist, a mediator between God the Trinity who loves, guides and saves and the recipient of the mission. The vocation promoter is therefore "a mediator". It is God who gives the vocation, therefore, he must walk alongside the young person, allowing him to be the protagonist of his own path, respecting the freedom he has in his discernment process and offering him the tools to do it well.

Our Institute, from the particularity of the gift of the Spirit received, promotes vocation animation as an ecclesial service. In this way it does its utmost to ensure that there is no lack of those who continue to enrich the Church with the charism of Brother Gabriel.

The pastoral agents and all the people of the SaFa Family involved in vocation promotion live it in different ways according to their areas of influence or places of work.

We can see some testimonies received in the course of vocational animation, which can enlighten us at the time of acting. They shared with us interesting answers to the question:

From what perspective do I get involved in vocational animation?

From the certainty of having received a gift from God that fills life with fullness, knowing that God does not call those who are ready, but prepares those who are called, working through a humble and fraternal service, trying to make life a proclamation of God, of Jesus Christ and of the Nazarene Taborine charism.

Being available for whatever is needed, dialoguing with colleagues and young people, bringing a look of faith, hope and love in the complex realities in which we live. Trying to be a bridge and to accompany, adapting to the conditions and situations of the local environment. From the vision that each and every one of us who make up the educational communities, beyond our role, are pastoral pedagogical agents and vocational animators, bearing in mind that we are instruments in God's hands, providing support and working in the different projects that help the people who are part of them. All these spaces are valuable as a personal experience and, at the same time, as a concrete testimony of life for children and young people, so that they can discover the passage of God in their lives.

Being also bearers of the good news of Jesus and of a charisma inherited from Brother Gabriel: "The heart of a Christian should often, or rather always, be under the humble roof of Nazareth", so that it spreads in families. Committing day by day and making available the necessary human and material resources to be able to reach the children, young people and families who make up the communities, as best as possible.

In the morning prayer, in conversations with them, there is always a moment to enlighten them about their vocation and help them to discover it and to learn to discern the meaning of their lives and to make them see that they are called by God.

From the perspective of trying to bring more workers into the harvest, that is to say that the Institute and the whole Church can count on more workers for the vineyard of the Lord. That all the baptized see that in life we have the mission to follow the teachings of Jesus in pursuit of a more fair, supportive and merciful world, as an ecclesial service, with the conviction that the Spirit continues to raise up vocations and with a collegial perspective, that is, with a team dynamic, realizing that the basic work is done by us, but it is God who makes the seeds mature.