Circular letters on religious perfection.

Don Bosco's circular letters to the Salesians and the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians are small masterpieces of spirituality. The Saint expresses in them a holistic and total view of religious life: we give ourselves to the Lord through consecration, ready to follow him through tribulations until death, courageously facing up to fatigue and difficulty in order to win souls for God. Seen this way the Salesian and the Salesian Sister are encouraged to remain firm in their vocation, despite everything; to flee worldly spirit; to practise obedience and poverty; to keep their heart constantly tuned to God; to know how to put up with all kinds of inconvenience serenely and generously; to perfectly observe the Rule; to want holiness not by “extraordinary deeds, but common ones”; to aspire to being “able instruments of God's glory by carrying out the duties and fulfilling the occupations proper to the Institute”.¹