Talk about a personal plan of life is fairly new in the Church and in the Congregation, but perhaps one can find some reference to it in our salesian tradition, and more especially in the methodology of our spiritual life. It was mainly expressed through the choice of some resolutions to be kept. Here we recall some examples.
Don Bosco says in “Memories of the Oratory,” that when he first put on the religious habit he went before a picture of Our Blessed Lady, read his resolutions, and after saying a prayer made a formal promise to Our Lady to keep them even to the point of sacrifice. Among his resolutions were, love for temperance, to fight with all his strength against everything contrary to the virtue of chastity, and the daily practice of meditation and spiritual reading (MO 89-90) Afterwards at the end of the Retreat he made in preparation for his ordination as a priest, Don Bosco wrote some reflections, allowing us to see the idea of the priest he intended to be and his resolutions in this regard. He said: “The priest does not go to heaven, or to hell alone. If he does God’s work he will go to heaven with the souls he has saved by his good example. If he has been a cause of scandal , he will go to perdition along with the souls that were damned through his scandal. Therefore I pledge myself to keep the following resolutions.” The nine resolutions he makes then follow, as for example: to be rigorous in the use of time; to suffer, work, humble myself in all things whenever it is a question of saving souls; to be guided always by the charity and gentleness of St Francis of Sales; to set aside some time every day for meditation and spiritual reading, and during the day to pay a brief visit to the Blessed Sacrament. (BM I, 385).
            Similarly the Servant of God Fr Giuseppe Quadrio. At the beginning of the second year of his practical training as assistant and teacher of philosophy in the postnovitiate at  Foglizzo, he made a detailed programme of life for himself. These are the first three resolutions: 1. “I shall be a real brother to everyone of my clerics. Openhearted, friendly, smiling, welcoming. I shall seek out those who do not approach me; I shall encourage the timid; I shall comfort those feeling low, I shall always be the first to greet those I meet; I shall not allow too much time to pass without chatting with everyone....; 2. Every day: rising, meditation, Communion, Mass, prayer, visit, always together with my clerics; I shall offer myself as a victim for them; I shall speak to Jesus about each one of them; I shall say to Jesus first whatever I need to say to any of them. Every day a special visit for my clerics... 3. I shall be prudent, shrewd and diligent in assistance, always with them; I shall watch them openly and correct them with simple fraternal kindness.”
            The Salesian Brother Artemides Zatti at the end of an undated Retreat took several resolutions for the New Year, which we find recorded in the “positio” of his cause for beatification and canonisation: “Carry out the practices of piety well, both community and personal ones, especially Confession and  Communion. Conform my will as far as possible to that of God. Not to be discouraged when there is some problem or things do not go as I would wish them to. ‘Quod aeternum non est, nihil est’. Love the superiors, seeing God in them; love the confreres, making sure to avoid any criticism.”
Then in the “Biographical Memoirs” you can find the programme of life that the cleric Giuseppe Giulitto drew up for himself when he made his perpetual profession on 18 September 1874: “The construction of my sanctification needs to have: for its foundation the virtue of Humility, for the walls the virtue of Obedience, for the roof the virtue  of Prayer” (MB X, 1286).
            The language of the personal plan of life may be new to you ; the way of doing it may also seem new to you, but in these four examples you can see the taking on of responsibility for vocation development on the part of the seminarian Giovanni Bosco, of the cleric in practical training Giuseppe Quadrio, of the Salesian brother Artemides Zatti and the cleric Giuseppe Giulitto. We need to take up again the methodology of the spiritual life deepening and updating it because we need to ensure a “high level” for our ordinary salesian life. The spiritual life is not built up without a method; the plan of life is a means for the journey of growth and holiness.
3. How to draw up the personal plan of life?
            New we come to point out the way to draw up the personal plan of life. I suggest a three stage process.
- Since the personal plan of life is a process of discernment, it is clear that you need a period of silence and recollection to do it, for example during the Day of Recollection at the beginning of the year or during the Retreat. In a moment of prayer, place yourself in the presence of God and speak to Him in the words of Samuel: “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.” Ask Him what He wants from you “here and now”.
In the first stage it is a question of identifying God’s call. You already know what God wants from you through the Constitutions, which provide an outline of the identity of the consecrated Salesian; the “Ratio” then helps you to discover the purpose, the formation experience and the conditions of the phase in which you find yourself; you can also find something in the Provincial Plan of Formation that describes the process of the development of the salesian identity in the context of your Province; finally the Community Project provides you with a more precise picture of what God expects from you and those others in formation living with you.
God speaks to your heart through the Spirit. If you are open to his voice you will recognise within your own life those things in which you feel you need to grow more. I suggest that you look at the four dimensions or aspects of formation and find the goals that God is setting you for the year that is beginning. God also makes use of people, such as your spiritual director, confessor or a friend who can help you to hear His voice and to discern your position. Open your heart to your spiritual director; speak about your relationships, your fears, your discoveries; discuss your plan of life with him, now while you are preparing it and later when it is a matter of verifying it.
You are now thinking not of the things you intend to do but of the goals that God is inspiring in you and you want to achieve, that promise you a sense of joy and represent a step forward along the path of your fidelity to your vocation. You are creating for yourself a vision of what God is calling you to be. It is important that this vision for the future is not described as something intellectual or cold, but as something you are enthusiastic about, that is attractive and encouraging, that corresponds with your desires and expectations, that shows the possibilities that can result from the efforts you make. The more the goal attracts you and fills you with enthusiasm the more determined you will be to take the necessary steps to reach it.
- Having identified what it is that God is calling you to, now is the time to consider the point at which you find yourself, that is your present  situation: what are the strengths and weaknesses, capacities and possibilities, limitations and negative factors. For example this might be my situation: “Normally I am faithful to my duties, to my studies, I try to be on good terms with everyone. However, I recognise that in the community meetings while I follow everything with interest, I don’t share with the others my ideas and my experiences, being afraid of what they might think or say about me.”
Generally there is a tendency to talk immediately about weaknesses or negative aspects; it would seem a better idea, on the other hand, to consider first the “successes” with regard to the future one hopes to achieve. Then we can move on to identify the difficulties or weaknesses, aspects that need to be improved in order to reach the goals set. This way of proceeding creates a positive  atmosphere for the whole process and serves as an encouragement in that we see what we have already achieved or are capable of achieving even though it is then necessary to look at what still needs to be done.
You might be able to express your situation better in prayer, drawing inspiration from the threefold confession of praise, of sin and of faith, that the Rector Major also made use of in his letter on holiness (AGC 379, 35-37). The confession of praise helps you to recognise as God’s gift all the positive things you find in  your life now; the confession of sin makes you aware of hesitations, reservations, resistance and faults on your journey; the  confession of faith helps you to have confidence in God and in His Spirit in order to make progress in your development.

In this context it is good to remember that an interminable list of detailed points positive and negative does not serve. A good planning process presupposes the ability to identify those two or three points that are decisive and which practically determine all the rest; it is a matter of focusing on the main points that need attention. Be convinced that the success of your planning process lies not so much in the application of techniques as in the readiness to face up to yourself honestly and in depth, and to open yourself to the Spirit with trust and patience.
- Finally you have reached the third stage, in which you try to hear the message coming to you from God in reply to your question: “Lord, what do you want me to do?” In the light of your knowledge about yourself, reached in the second stage, you decide on the lines of action that you intend to follow in the course of the year in order to arrive at the goals you set your self in the first stage. Decide where you ought to be going and what the Spirit is saying to you. It is to be hoped that your lines of action are reasonable and capable of being achieved during the year; they should be few and essential; they should apply to important aspects of the formation process that you are following. According to the “Ratio” it is important to choose tasks that regard the four aspects or dimensions of formation.
It would also help if the plan of action were made up of progressive steps to be realised month by month, week by week. Implementing these steps one after the other creates a certain self confidence and you become more courageous and optimistic, seeing the progress you are making. If you like, these steps can take into account motivations, attitudes and behaviour; they can be made concrete with objectives, procedures and interventions. While remaining on a practical level, this stage too can be expressed in the form of prayer.
4. Point of reference for the personal journey

Now that you have drawn up your personal plan, you have to ensure that it is not just on paper, but becomes an effective means for your growth. For this to happen there is no need for anything extraordinary, just the means that the methodology of the spiritual life and our salesian traditions have always recommended. There is no growth without a serious method to follow; the plan of life is a new resource for the spiritual life, which employs traditional elements and means, giving them a new function and organised structure.
- It is especially necessary to make an assessment of the progress you are making. The plan ought to have indicated the timing and the practical method of this exercise. You need to give sufficient time for the evaluation, as  for example during the days of recollection and retreats. The purpose of the assessment is to see to what extent you have been faithful to all that you proposed in the plan: whether you have carried out the activities you decided on and how you have done them. If you haven’t done them, you need to see why. You also need to check whether the goals set have been reached and to what extent. In the event of poor results, an examination of the reasons could perhaps show that you have not been regular in the tasks undertaken and that you have not followed up the initial enthusiasm effectively; or perhaps you have not analysed the problems sufficiently and have been superficial in dealing with them; or you have not given sufficient attention  to the different aspects of the problems; or perhaps your course of action was too generic. Whatever the reason, through your assessment you can see whether or not you are on  the right track, and you can draw  useful lessons for the improvement of your plan. The assessment process, however, invites you to make use of the days of recollection and retreats in such a way that there is more time for prayer and for personal reflection.
- Having drawn up your plan with the help of your spiritual director – as I suggested above - accompaniment becomes an important means for continuing your journey; therefore you discuss   the plan, you examine it and assess it with your director.. In fact the  “Ratio” says that “From time to time, in dialogue with his Rector, he assesses the progress he has made in attaining his objective.” (FSDB 216). You can speak about the difficulties you may be experiencing and ask for advice. The greatest contribution he makes will be to help you to see the situation more clearly before God and to deepen your motivations; at the same time he will give you confidence and courage for the journey. In this relationship you will see your vocation better: through discernment   you will become ever more confirmed in it or you will be able to face up to the questions that might arise.
- It will also be helpful to make use of the methodology that you have always used from the very beginning of initial formation, that practical method of meditating by writing, take notes, write down your experiences and the reflections that the Spirit suggests to you. You will be able to refer back to what you have written at any time, to check on it or to add to it. Writing is a means to avoid being superficial, to help with reflection and prayer to reach the depths of your life. Make use of this method in other situations and not only in drawing  up your plan.
- It is obvious that you need to be vigilant in everyday situations. Without a vigilant conscience, without being attentive and keeping on your guard there is no progress; instead there is laziness, weakness superficiality. Among the usual means, the daily examination of conscience is to be not  merely routine and hasty, but serious and in depth. Daily meditation too is an opportunity to “make some good resolution and consider how to put it into practice,” re-enforcing the steps being taken. But above all, the frequent celebration of the sacrament of Reconciliation is a moment of grace, which in addition to the evaluation of your life, to the sorrow it evokes, to God’s pardon    that reconciles you with Him, offers you sacramental grace for healing and renewal.
- Finally, it is necessary to harmonize your personal plan with the community’s(cf. GC25 74). In fact there is an interdependent relationship between the two: they re-enforce and help each other. On the one hand, when you draw up your personal plan you take into consideration the commitments of the community plan, since it is a discernment carried out by you and the other confreres into God’s designs for your community; it therefore includes those expressions of God’s will that also concern you. On the other hand the community plan is enriched when each member of the community, having drawn up his own personal plan, has reached a mature understanding of what he is proposing. While respecting the right to privacy you can share with other confreres those aspects of your own plan that you wish to; in this way people get to know each other better in the community, stronger links are forged in the sense of belonging and you help the community to reach a deeper level in its own planning process.

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In conclusion, with the personal plan of life you have in your hands an instrument that helps you to grow in progressively identifying yourself with your salesian vocation. I invite you to value it and to accept it joyfully. The path that the plan points out for you is not the result of a mere act of will, but of your free choice and the constant action of the  grace of God, who has called you to this life. Accept the invitation to live the plan as an opportunity to walk the way of holiness!

                                                                                    Fr Francesco Cereda
Rome, 5 July 2003