The path of roses
Oh, how Don Bosco always walks on roses! He goes forward
calmly; all things go well for him. But they did not see the
thorns that lacerated my limbs. Nevertheless I kept
going.Every life is intertwined with thorns and roses, as in
Don Boscos famous dream of the bower of roses.Hope is the
strength that keeps us going, despite the thorns.

Dear Readers, friends of the Salesian Family and benefactors
who help the work of Don Bosco in all situations and contexts.
In sending you a thought through the Salesian Bulletin, I have
chosen to stay with the topic of Hope, as we did last month,
for just a little longer.
This is not only for the sake of continuity, but above all
because it is a topic worth talking about, because we all need
it so much. It is one form of Gods sensitivity in our lives.
But when we talk about hope, first of all let us remember that
it is an element of profound humanity, and a clear criterion
for interpreting life in all religions.
Hope has much to do with transcendence and faith, love and
eternal life, Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han points out. We
work, we produce and we consume, this philosopher emphasises
in his writings, but there is no openness to the transcendent,
no Hope in this way of living.
We live in a time deprived of celebration, even though we are
filled with things that dazzle us; a time without celebration
is a time without hope. The society of consumption and
performance in which we live risks making us incapable of
happiness, of rejoicing in the situation in which we find
ourselves. Even the most difficult situation always has specks
of light!
Hope makes us believers in the future, because the place where
hope is most intensely experienced is transcendence.
The Czech writer and politician, Vaclay Havel, president of
Czechoslovakia at the time of the velvet revolution which

many of us still remember, defined hope as a state of mind, a
dimension of the soul.
Hope is an orientation of the heart that transcends the
immediate world of experience; it is an anchoring somewhere
beyond the horizon.
The roots of hope lie somewhere within the transcendent, which
is why it is not the same thing as having hope or being
satisfied just because things are going well.
When we speak of the future we are referring to what will
happen tomorrow, next month, two years from now. The future is
what we can plan, predict, manage and optimise.
Hope is the building of a future that unites us to the future
that does not end, to the transcendent, to the Divine
dimension. Cultivating hope is good for our heart because it
puts energy into building the road to Paradise.

The word Don Bosco used most
Fr Alberto Caviglia wrote: If we turn the pages that record
Don Boscos words and speeches, we find that Paradise was the
word he repeated in every circumstance as the supreme argument
driving every activity for good and every enduring of
adversity.
A piece of Paradise fixes everything! Don Bosco would say in
the midst of difficulties. Even in modern management schools
it is taught that a positive vision of the future becomes a
driving force in life.
When he was old and failing, he would cross the courtyard with
ant-like steps, and those who passed him would give him the
usual quick greeting, Where are we going, Don Bosco?
Smiling, the saint would reply, To Paradise.
How much Don Bosco insisted on this: Paradise! He made his
youngsters grow up with the vision of Paradise in their hearts
and eyes. We all know that we can be Christians, even
convinced ones, but not believe in Paradise.
Don Bosco teaches us to unite our here and now with the
hereafter. And he does so with the virtue of Hope.
Let us carry this in our hearts, and open our hearts to

charity, to our humanity that embodies what we deeply believe
in.
If you receive this brief writing in November, then live this
hope with our Saints and with your dearly departed, all united
as a group that starts with daily life and leads to the
infinite.
Like Don Bosco, living as if we see the invisible, nourished
by the Hope that is the provident presence of God. Only those
who are profoundly concrete, as Don Bosco was, are able to
live with the gaze fixed on the invisible.