Living by Faith 5

If we have the good fortune to live by faith, we will feel the deepest gratitude to God for having called us to the Pious Salesian Society, so prov-idently founded by Don Bosco. We will consider her the ark of salvation and our refuge, and we will love her as our sweetest mother. We will look at the house where obedience has sent us to work as the house of God himself; our office, whatever it may be, as the portion of the vineyard that the owner has given us to cultivate.

In the person of the superiors we will see the representatives of God himself, on whose forehead faith will make us read those words: qui vos audit, me audit; qui vos spernit, me spernit: he who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me [Luke 10:16]. Therefore we will keep their commands as commands of God himself, and we will take care to carry them out, being careful not to judge them ill-advised and criticise them.

We will recognise the Constitutions, the Regulations, and the schedule as so many manifestations of God’s will in our regard, and we will take care that they are never transgressed. With eyes of faith, we will regard the young people of our oratories and institutes as a sacred deposit for which the Lord will hold us accountable.

Our confreres who share sorrows and joys with us, with whom we pray and work, will be so many living images of God himself, whom he has charged now to edify us with their virtues, now to make us practise charity and patience with their defects.

Oh! When will that day come when we, according to the imaginative

5 From the circular letter “On the life of faith” (21 November 1912), in LC, pp. 82-106, at 95-99.

expression of Saint Francis de Sales, will allow ourselves to be carried by our Lord like a child in the arms of his mother? When, dear confreres, will we habitually see God in everything, in every event, which we will consider as a sacramental species under which he hides? Thus we will be persuaded that faith is a ray of heavenly light that makes us see God in all things and all things in God.

This is precisely what we admire in the life of our Venerable Founder.

As a youth, why did he work so hard to attract to himself the children of the humble hamlet of Becchi? We all know: it was to instruct them and keep them away from sin. What was the purpose that he set himself in embracing the priestly calling, overcoming numberless obstacles? His motto tells us clearly: da mihi animas. He wanted to save the souls that faith showed him to have been redeemed at the price of the very blood of Jesus Christ.

Ordained a priest, he consecrated himself to the care of poor children, because he saw them abandoned by everyone, growing in ignorance and vice. How edifying for us to contemplate him busy for many hours hearing the confessions of so many young people, without ever giving the slightest sign of being tired in his ministry! This happened because his most lively faith made him contemplate the confessor as the healer of the wounds of souls, breaking the chains by which they were bound, and setting them on the path of piety and virtue.

Nor would he have wanted the youngsters entrusted to him to remain even for a few hours with sin on their souls. Therefore with very effective words he exhorted them if they had fallen into some fault, to confess to it as soon as possible, even if they had to get up from bed during the night.

What did faith not suggest to Don Bosco to make his preaching more effective? He made it a rule to avoid any word or phrase that his young listeners would not perfectly understand, however elegant it might be. He avoided any abstract expression that was difficult to understand, and thus got used to a language I would almost call concrete, with which he appealed to the senses of the children, grabbed their attention, and governed their will.

The singular efficacy of his word was due to this art and to his holiness.

It was likewise the spirit of faith that inspired in him his admirable Preventive System, which, while earning him a most honoured place among the educators of youth in the judgement of the learned, is for us the most convincing proof of his most ardent zeal to prevent sin.

Why would he have wanted his pupils to be put in the moral impossi-bility of committing faults? Solely for the desire that offences against God

be avoided.

He himself showed how much assistance would cost those who want to follow the Preventive System, and as long as his strength held up, he preceded his sons with his example and encouraged them with his warm exhortations. I remember that he said emphatically to someone who, because he was tired, had left the boys of the Oratory alone one Sunday in August: “When there are so many boys in recreation, we must assist them at any cost. We will rest some other time.”

He had no scruple about having a conversation or writing a letter with some religious thought. He knew how to do this with such grace and finesse that no one ever felt put off by it. It was therefore possible to bear witness of him that no one ever approached him without feeling some improvement.

Faith taught him that a priest would fail in his duty if he did otherwise.

Several times I was in his company aboard ship when he bade farewell to his missionaries, and it was in those precious moments that I was able to witness the best proof of his living faith and most ardent zeal. To one he would say, “I hope you will save many souls.” He whispered in another’s ear, “You will have a lot to suffer, but remember that paradise will be your reward.” To those who would have to assume the care of parishes, he recommended taking special care of children, the poor, and the sick.

He repeated to everyone, “We are not looking for money; we are looking for souls.” He wished one priest on the day of his first Mass that he would be most fervent in faith and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.

He impressed upon another that he should give no sermon without talking about Mary. He himself set us an example.

Having entered the Oratory as a youngster, I remember that from the very first days on hearing the Good Night talk in the evening, I could not refrain from saying to myself how much Don Bosco must have loved the Madonna!

Who among the older boys did not notice with what feeling and with what conviction he spoke to us about eternal truths, and how it happened not infrequently that speaking especially of the last things he was so moved that his voice failed?

Nor will we be able to forget with how much faith he celebrated Holy Mass and how diligently he performed the ceremonies; he even always carried the booklet with the rubrics precisely to refresh them in his mind from time to time.

It was also his faith that made him consider his Congregation and its houses the result of the very special protection of Most Blessed Mary Help

of Christians, to whom he professed his deepest gratitude. He was heard to exclaim: “How many wonders has the Lord wrought in our midst! But how many more He might have done had Don Bosco had more faith!” And saying this, his eyes filled with tears. (BM VIII, 418)