Missions: Challenges and Beyond Borders go proclaim to the ends of the earth #Don Bosco#

Don Bosco while setting his life for his poor youngsters, he dreamt about the missions, where he could spread his work around the world, in order to serve youngsters worldwide. He sent his first Salesian missionaries to Argentina in 1875. From there they spread throughout South America. His followers today serve youth in 132 countries in the 5 continents, thus prolonging the mission dream of their father and founder.

The Salesian Missionaries comprises of Priests, Brothers and Sisters who care for the disadvantaged youth. They help young people achieve intellectual, emotional and spiritual maturity, thus becoming self-sufficient, contributing members of society, with Christian values and good social skills. More importantly the Salesian Missionaries take the Word of God to all the people whom they come in contact with.

Missionaries therefore are present here in this environment to bring hope and faith to people in need, especially to the Young at Risk (street children, school drop outs, child workers, rag pickers, victims of war and violence, etc).

Youth Spirituality: The Path to Holiness #Don Bosco#

‘Not with blows with kindness you will make them friends’ these words said by Jesus to little Jonny Bosco set the tone of his mission. Don Bosco told his boys about the ugliness of sin and the beauty of virtue. Now it is not the Church asking young people to come close to it, but the Church through Don Bosco is coming close to the young. 

The Salesian presence in the world makes sense if it is seen as proposing to young people a way to holiness. The Salesian Youth spirituality is that to be available to the young especially the most deprived with an approach of individual freedom and faith, helping them to become progressively more involved in his/her own growth. 

The youth spirituality is about building the Church of Christ and participating in the mission of the Church. It is a spirituality which enriches the whole church with the gift of holiness.

Sacraments: Reconciliation and Eucharist #Don Bosco#

As, the Holy Eucharist is the centre of Catholic Worship so, it was the centre of Saint John Bosco's devotion. As, a young boy and later as a Seminarian he was happy to assist at "Holy Eucharist" and when possible serve at it too. Very often, he received Our Lord Jesus Christ in "Holy Communion" and visited Him in the Blessed Sacrament. When, he was ordained a Priest, Don Bosco had many more opportunities of practicing this devotion, as he was able to celebrate "Holy Eucharist". His Priesthood gave him many opportunities to spread this devotion especially among the young. This is so true in the case of Saint Dominic Savio. He often spoke about Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament through books that he wrote to help people to receive Jesus Christ worthily, to make reparation for hurts inflicted upon him.

As a priest he dedicated a good part of his pastoral moments to hear confessions of his poor youth. Don Bosco who lived during the industrial revolution in Europe witnessed the dangers young people went through, affecting their body and soul. He himself was a victim of extreme poverty unable to meet basic needs of life such as food, shelter and education. Instead of getting frustrated by the harsh conditions of life he determined himself to become a priest and save children and young people who undergo deprivations in life just as he himself underwent.

As a young priest Don Bosco let go opportunities that offered comfortable life, but accepted many hardships to work for abandoned youth. His motto “Give me souls and take away the rest” explains it all. His concern was searching for souls for Christ and he was ready to forego anything to save souls for God. The virtues of mercy and compassion moved him to reach out to youth who underwent problems similar to his own childhood experience. The first beneficiaries are young prisoners, young apprentices in building and factory sites, abandoned street boys and the like.

Congregation: Charismatic identity and Apostolic Passion #Don Bosco#

Don Bosco, by the initiative of God and the help of Mary, gave rise in the Church, the Salesian Congregation on 18 December 1859. It was the Spirit that shaped in him a heart filled with a great love for God and for his brothers and sisters, particularly the little ones and the poor.

The motto of the Salesian society is ‘Da Mihi Animas Cetera Tolle’ which means ‘Give me Souls take away the rest’. In these words Don Bosco expresses his passion for God and for the young, ready to sacrifice his life in order to carry out the mission entrusted to him. For don Bosco it was the Good Shepherd Jesus who was the source, model and an inspiration in his work as an educator and evangelizer.

In order to respond to the needs of the youth he founded the oratory in which he gave shelter to many poor and abandoned boys. Later, with the help of May Mazzarello he founded the Institute of Mary Help of Christians in which catered to the needs of the poor girls. Don Bosco was very famous among the common people and with the help of these people he founded the Association of the Salesian Cooperators.

The successors of Don Bosco getting into his shoes founded many other groups. And in this way this congregation has moved on.

Preventive System: Spirituality – Pedagogy – Evangelization #Don Bosco#

Today it is so easy to be swayed by mass media presentations of happiness. Wealth, influence, fame, appearances – these are popular criteria for success. Many of us are influenced by these superficial interpretations of life and they often induce this on our younger onces to join the frantic chase for the pot of gold and glamour.

Don Bosco, instead, points to the root cause of genuine happiness: an ardent following of the will of God as we daily live our lives in faith and according to a moral plan. Love of God and love of neighbour which begins in the home continues in the school. One of the peak moments of family togetherness is the time each family sets aside to worship, praise, thank and petition God.

Don Bosco’s educative system is deeply centred on Reason, Religion and Loving kindness. Don Bosco introduced reason as its potential as the factor that balances love on the one hand and faith on the other.  True religion, is one that brings out the best in our human nature in order to direct it to a more perfect loving, and a more generous way of living. In Loving kindness, we learn to establish a relationship that is a loving relation. We learn faster from people we love. We learn faster because we are loved. And the key to a healthy growth in this system is that of trust and acceptance.

Don Bosco as a priest. #Don Bosco#

Don Bosco devoted his whole life for his poor boys. From his earliest interaction with the poor boys he never failed to see under the dirt, the rags and the rudeness but above all he still saw kindness and goodness in them. “Not with blows but with but with gentleness much you dram these friend to the path of virtue” these were the words heard by Don Bosco in his dream which he put to practice when he had his poor boys with him. Don Bosco as a priest animated excursions for his poor boys  and then he would say Mass in the village church and give a short instruction on the Gospel, followed by games and then he would give them catechism lessons since the boys there didn’t go to any church and finally he would prepare them for the sacrament of reconciliation. 

When Don Bosco visited the prisons with Fr. Cafasso for the first time, it was his motherly heart that ached and his fatherly affection that went out to them. He would come to visit these boys at prison and would teach them some games through which he gained their trust and finally tried to save their souls through the sacrament of reconciliation. The beloved Saint was in constant demand as a pulpit preacher. He accepted all engagements for the sake of the excellent public relations thus established for his work. Valuable lieutenants were drawn to devote their lives to his work, among them Dominic Savio, the young Cagliero who, before becoming a Cardinal, led the first missionary expedition sent forth by the Salesians, and Paul Albera, destined to be one of his successors as the Head of the Salesian Congregation.

Dreams: Hooked on God’s Agenda. #Don Bosco#

 One of the famous dream of Don Bosco is when he received it at the age of 9. Don Bosco believed that his vocation was given to him in this dream. He had this dream several times during his life, each time it was a little different, and adding details to what came before. Don Bosco didn't understand what the dream meant at first. In fact, he would say it wasn't until he was told that he fully understood what the Lord had asked of him, and that he had indeed been faithful.

His mother was very much instrumental in this dream, when she heard about John’s dream at the age of nine, she alone could interpret it in the light of the Lord: “Who knows, but maybe you should become a priest”. She allowed him to be with some of the rougher lads, because they were better behaved around him. She accompanied him all the way to priesthood. 

Mama Margaret: A Saint before the Son #Don Bosco#

“Without a mother, life has no meaning”. This was a phrase scratched with a nail on the wall of a juvenile prison by a young lad. Today’s theme is Mama Margaret: A Saint before the Son.

Don Bosco lost his father when he was just two and it was his mother Margaret who helped him to look ahead to the future with much hope and love. Without the love of a mother a boy seems abandoned and if he does not have enough courage, he will never make any head way.

Mama Margaret knew how to combine fatherliness and motherhood, kindness and firmness, vigilance and trust, familiarity and dialogue, bringing up her children with disinterested love, both patient and demanding. Attentive to their own experience, she trusted both in human means and divine assistance. She brought up three children with very different temperaments, using the same criteria with different methods. She taught them the catechism and prepared them for their First Communion.

Don Bosco confesses that ‘even though we had little there was much sharing and my mother taught me that in spite of our poverty there was always a place for someone in need.

Becchi: The home that Nurtured #Don Bosco#

Nurturing a child is a huge task. It is a wonderful collaboration in the work of the God of life, but to educate a child is still more wonderful, because you give the youngster the tools to live a life of love. This was precisely done by the family members of Johnny Bosco toward him. He was nurtured with great love, care and also brought to him the reality of life too.

John Bosco was born in the evening of 16 August 1815 in the hillside hamlet of Becchi, Italy. He was the youngest of 3 brothers. He lost his father at a very young age. All that he had was his mother, grandmother and his two brothers.

It was here in Becchi at his home that Don Bosco learned the meaning of being a poor person and working hard. When you are poor, not only must you learn to live with just the essentials (which means you make good use of what you have and to learn to relate with people and use things), but you are also ready to do everything possible for the sake of the family. From his mother he learned to welcome everyone with a sense of hospitality, a virtue that is clearly biblical. He came from a farmer’s family so he saw his brothers working very hard in the fields and thus inculcated the value of hard work in him.