An examination of the internal reality of contemporary religious life, particularly that of ministerial women religious in the first world setting, through the focusing lenses of commitment, consecrated celibacy, and community.

In order to mark the bicentenary of the foundational dream that Saint John Bosco experienced when only nine years of age (1824), this book offers readers reflections on a number of biblical and theological themes that emerge from the simplicity yet depth of that dream. In the first place, certain elements from the life and person of Jesus are presented as the model for a so-called 'Salesian' spirituality and life-style. Those elements are outlined as an awareness that Jesus never abandons his fragile disciples, and that a genuinely Christian education writes on the hearts of the young. They are never abandoned in the challenging all-pervasive secularity of contemporary society. It closes with a summons to a deeper awareness of the universal possibility of 'the perfection of love' as Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622) taught, well before his fellow Savoyard, John Bosco (1815-1888).