Under this title the Portuguese Province, in recent years (1998-99), published 6 booklets dedicated to putting in the hands of our Dehonian Laity, especially in the world of young people, a work in which various authors are involved and which could be of great benefit for the Portuguese Dehonian Family. This series contains numerous themes which concern our spirituality and, by means of its lively, simple and eminently dynamic style, it will be of help in the task of stimulating awareness as well as in the formation of the Dehonian laity in the Congregation.

Together with the publications by the Province of North Italy, and with others produced in the various Provinces, they form part of those aids which have been found useful by those educators guiding the laity who, drawn to the figure of Fr. Dehon and our Works, feel their interest stimulated by and feel called by the shared charism of the Dehonian Family.

The aim of these booklets is, as Fr. Manuel Neto Quintas indicates in the introduction to the first number of the series: “To respond to a call, which we have heard particularly from young people, to participate together in the life and Work of Fr. Dehon; giving particular emphasis to his experience of faith, and his distinctive way of living the Gospel and identifying himself with the Heart of Jesus in order to respond to the questions of the society of his time. His was a distinctive way of living, one which continues today to attract both young and not so young people in the same way, leading them to follow Christ as prophets of love and servants of reconciliation”.

So far the collection has offered us - and we hope it will continue the same rhythm of publication - six titles. Two are specially dedicated to the figure of Fr. Dehon, with well known reverberations that effect the Dehonian Family. The first, which opens the series, is entitled “John Leo Dehon, a Prophet of Our Time” and the other specifically dedicated to his life is entitled “Fr. Dehon, Man of the Church”. The other four, which offer typical themes of Dehonian spirituality and charism, are entitled: “The Oblation to God”, “Reparation is Loving”, “The Eucharist in the Life of Fr. Dehon”, and “Fr. Dehon and Adoration”.

It is interesting to note how the first three, prepared by Fr. Adérito Gómez Barbosa, are not merely simple Dehonian texts or reflections, but are diligently thought out and written. They are above all material for reflection and work, by individuals or in groups, on the themes of Dehonian spirituality which, although primarily directed to young peoples’ groups, among whom the writers work, can also facilitate the formative path of the whole Dehonian family, with relevant adaptation to individuals, cultures and ages, and through which, as is indicated in the first in the series, one is invited to “continue reading, studying and going ever more deeply into the study of this great man of the Church”.

The Holy Scriptures, an approach to the Bible through the experience of Fr Dehon, the personal and particular reflections of the authors - all of whom are educators and youth formation directors - together with a small bibliography enhance the offerings of Fr. Adérito, Fr. Manuel Gómez Barbosa, Fr. Isildo Gomes da Silva and Fr. Agostinho Pinto who are responsible for these themes.

Our attention is drawn to the care taken in the pedagogic preparation of these reflections in order to lead the reader to certain conclusions which groups are to prepare by means of a questionnaire. These conclusions can be reached through methodological suggestions, such as those which have been particularly expressed in the first two booklets. The booklets can be useful also for individual study.

Reparation, which is never an easy subject, is developed in the third booklet: “Reparation is Loving”. Here Fr. Adérito expresses a new, evocative and active approach by means of various scenarios through which one may achieve profound reflection, personalized or in groups, regarding the content of the subject and how to live it.

Fr. Manuel Gómez Barbosa, in “Fr. Dehon Man of the Church”, offers us an up-to-date vision of the “living and feeling with the Church” of a man who had no lack of difficulties with the Church-Institution itself. The pages are few but they have been carefully selected, deeply felt and are full of life. As he himself indicates: “This is a support text, to be read, meditated upon, corrected, criticized. There was not much time to prepare it and it does not pretend to be complete or exhaustive, I am well aware of this. It does not claim to give methodological indications for studying”. At the end it presents some current texts which may be an aid to reflection and study: “They are provocative texts, in keeping with a renewed Church”.

“The Eucharist in the Life of Fr. Dehon”, by Fr. Isildo Gomes da Silva, is a simple but well prepared aid on this theme. It contains an original interview with Fr. Dehon on this subject, in which, using his own words, he explains how it used to be presented to young people. As in the first works, and also in the others, the suggestions for reflection and participation, individually or in groups, help to mature, in young people, the knowledge of the Eucharist through Fr. Dehon’s experience of faith.

And lastly, Fr. Agostinho Pinto offers us a view of “Adoration and Fr. Dehon”. This is a volume which starts by discussing what adoration is in itself, as seen through the Holy Scriptures, the experience of the Church, in the magisterium, in today’s Dehonian Family, and by Fr. Dehon himself. It concludes by telling us: “That is why it is said that adoration is fundamental to the life of the Christian and, above all, in the life of those who have been called by God for consecration in the service of the Kingdom”.

We thank the Portuguese Province for the spiritual aids provided by means of their “Series of Publications on Dehonian Spirituality”. We hope that they will steadily continue to add new titles like these simple and pedagogically well prepared reflections, the continuity and frequency of which will no doubt help the formative path of the multiform Dehonian Family.