DB and Bible 5%2C Devotion


DB and Bible 5%2C Devotion

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DON BOSCO AND THE BIBLE
Part V
Source:
La Bibbia con don Bosco, Una lectio divina salesiana, 1. L’Antico Testamento, Morand Wirth.
TOPICS:
• Devotion to the Word of God
• The Word of God is Nourishment, Guide and Light
• The Bible and the Word of God in the Wide Sense
DEVOTION TO THE WORD OF GOD
The Bible
Contains the
Word of God
God as Author
In the Introduction to the devout life, St. Francis de Sales tells Filotea: “Be
devoted to the Word of God” (Part 2, Ch. XVII) as if to say that the devotion
to the Word of God ought to be the first of all the “devotions”. We do not
find this expression in the writings of Don Bosco, but we can presume that it
reflects exactly his thought. In fact, words of the Bible are truly the words of
God. For Don Bosco this is so true that he sometimes ignores almost
completely or minimizes the part played by the human authors. When he
cites passages from Sacred Scriptures, he generally mentions only the
principal Author, declaring: “God says” or “The Holy Spirit has said”.
In the fifth topic of the “Instructed Catholic” on the “divine character of the
books of the Old Testament”, Don Bosco highlights “the excellence and the
holiness of the doctrine of Sacred Scriptures, which is so pure and perfect
that only God could have been the author.”
Reading
Versus
Listening
It is necessary to accept as the word of God what is contained in those books.
In fact, their writers having been inspired by God speak under the influence
of the Holy Spirit. Those books contain facts which cannot be explained
humanly speaking, in particular the prophecies which were fulfilled in the
person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Moreover how do you explain “the
admirable efficacy it has on the heart of those who read it”? At the end of the
topic the father, a faithful interpreter of Don Bosco, expresses himself in this
way: “Meanwhile with a heart full of gratitude to God who deigned to teach us
himself in the Sacred Books, let us read them with all respect, convinced that in them
we encounter his word, his heavenly infallible doctrine”.
Nevertheless the invitation to read the Bible is very rare in comparison with
the exhortation to listen to the Word of God. And that is what we hear from
the father in the “Instructed Catholic”: “I have never found God commanding
the people to read the Word of God…. On the contrary we find very clear
expressions with which God commands to listen to his holy Word. …Blessed are
they who listen to God’s word and keep it. I wish to point out, my Son, that here the
Savior does not say: Blessed are they who read or who interprets the Word of God,
but blessed are they who goes to listen to it.”
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Not to Joke
with God’s
Word
Don Bosco did not like that the sacred words of the Bible be treated lightly.
In the Life of Louie Comollo he remembers being reprimanded one day by
this seminarian friend: “It happened that I had used the words of Sacred Scripture
in a joke. He severely reprimanded me about it, telling me that I should not use the
words of the Lord in jest.”
Don Rua recounts that Don Bosco would not hesitate to “reproach gently those
who at times permitted themselves to joke with the words or sentences of the sacred
books. Nolite miscere sacra profanis (do not mix the sacred with the profane), he
would exclaim with a voice and countenance showing how he suffered at the
irreverence shown to the Word of God” (MB III, 619).
During a meal among priests where one of them made a parody of the
words of Job, he reacted keenly: “So tell me: if we were to find St. Francis de
Sales in our midst, what would he say upon hearing such profanation of the words of
Sacred Scriptures?” (MB VI, 1004-1005).
THE WORD OF GOD IS NOURISHMENT, GUIDE AND LIGHT
The Word of
God Nourishes
the Soul
“Just as our body without food becomes sick and dies, the same happens to
our soul if we do not give it food. The nourishment and food of our soul is
the Word of God” (Companion of Youth).
The Word of
God is a Guide
A sure guide, the Word of God leads a person on the right path. On the
ninth day of his “Month of May” Don Bosco wrote that Jesus “wishes to give
me God as Father, the Church as mother and the Divine Word as guide”.
Dominic Savio is an illustration of this truth. “He firmly believed that the
Word of God is man’s guide on the way to heaven. Therefore, every maxim
heard in preaching was for him a memento which he can never forget. From
this was the beginning of that exemplary tenor of life, that continuous
progress in virtue and that exact fulfillment of his duties beyond which one
could not go.”
The Fruits of
Listening to the
Word of God
In “Counsels to Christian Daughters” of Msgr. Strambi which Don Bosco
reprinted thousands of copies in 1856, one can read: “…the Word of the Lord
purifies the heart more and more and enkindles and inflames it with holy
love.”
In the appendix on San Justine, martyr and apologist, placed after the “Life
of the Supreme Pontiffs Saint Sixtus, Saint Telesforus, St. Igino and St. Pius I,
Don Bosco wrote that this philosopher “turned to the study and continuous
meditation of the Sacred Books”, and showed “full admiration and respect
for the august majesty of Sacred Scriptures, which restrains the passions,
and calms the anxiety of the human spirit, placing it in a state of unchanging
tranquility.”
The Word of
God Gives
Light
In “The Christian Guided…by the Spirit of St. Vincent”, the author showed
how this Saint allowed himself to be guided in every circumstance by the
light of faith obtained from the Word of God: “The man of God followed
these sacred lights which were for him that burning lamp which guided the
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steps of the prophet-king: “Your Word is a lamp to my steps and a light to
my paths (Ps 119:105).”
Commenting on this verse which evokes the light of God’s commandments,
Don Bosco in his “The Instructed Catholic” offers this explanation through
the mouth of the father of the family: “The Word of God is said to be a light,
because it illumines man and guides him in believing, working and loving. It
is a light because when it is well explained and taught, it shows to man
which road to take in order to reach the blessed life. It is a light because it
calms the passions of man which shroud the soul in darkness, a darkness so
thick and dangerous that it cannot be cast away except with the Word of
God. It is light because if it is well-preached, it brings the light of divine
grace into the heart of the hearers and makes them know the truth of the
faith.”
Jesus Christ is
the True Light
But the true light is Jesus Christ, the living Word of God, is the light which
illumines evey person who comes into the world. Citing an ancient author,
Don Bosco clarifies that “the word ‘lamp’ means the law of Moses and ‘light’
means Jesus Christ. Thus the lamp of Moses illumines only one nation while
the light of the Sun of Justice, Jesus Christ, illumines the whole world.
At the end of the “Lives of the Supreme Pontiffs St. Sixtus, St. Telesforus, St.
Igino and St. Pius I”, Don Bosco wanted to publish an ode of the Poet Silvio
Pellico in honor of St. Justin which carries the epigraph “Lux lex” (Prv 6:23
Vg) which means that the Word of God is truly a light (lux) for the journey
of the believer who entrusts himself to its law (lex).
Who Are in
Need of God’s
Word
Don Bosco in his book entitled, “Remembrance of a Solemnity in Honor of
Mary Help of Christians” cites an “argument” of Msgr. Ferre’, bishop of
Casale Monferrato: “The faithful here on earth need the Word of God as life-
giving bread, and this bread is distributed in abundance in the sacred
Temple. Here the little ones come and they find wisdom which instructs
them, enlightens them, and guides them. Here the adults come and they also
find wisdom which with the milk and wine of truth and heavenly love
nurtures and strengthens them. Those in doubt and those in need of counsel
during the trying moments of life come here and they always find the Divine
Master who reassures them in their good resolutions and points to them the
life which they ought to live in order to avoid dangers and reach the
homeland of the Saints. The troubles and oppressed come here and receive
the purest consolation and the sweetest foretaste of heavenly bliss.”
THE BIBLE AND THE WORD OF GOD IN THE WIDE SENSE
Channels of
God’s Word
The Bible is certainly the Word of God par excellence, but the faithful
usually come in contact with it through many channels which also merit the
same title (i.e., Word of God). Don Bosco explains in article 6 of the first part
of the Companion of Youth that the Word of God are also “preaching,
explanation of the Gospel, and catechism”.
Talking about spiritual reading and the Word of God, Don Bosco suggests
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Spiritual
Reading
that they read “books about spiritual things, such as the Imitation of Christ,
Filotea (Introduction to the Devout Life) by St. Francis de Sales, The Practice
of the Love of Jesus Christ by St. Alphonsus Liguori and other similar
books.”
In his pamphlet (Porta teco cristiano) Don Bosco makes his own this
recommendation found in “General Reminders of St. Philip to the Youth”:
“Read often, my sons, the lives of Saints; listen to the Word of God, join in
the prayers and other exercises of piety, because they are all pleasing to
God.”
Spiritual reading is part of the rule of Christian life proposed in the
“Cattolico provveduto per le pratiche di pieta”: “To these acts of the devout
life, every Christian, when possible, should add a daily reading of some
book of devotion, at least for a brief period, for the purpose of imprinting in
the soul some Christian maxims and of keeping them in mind in the midst of
the turmoil of his affairs. For example, the New Testament with the
translations and notes approved by the Church, the golden book of the
Imitation of Christ, the Spiritual Combat of Scupoli, Filotea (Introduction to
the Devout Life) of St. Francis de Sales, The Exercise of Christian Perfection
by Rodriguez, the Lives of the Saints, are books to which each one should
lead his mind to pasture, because they are useful to enlighten the spirit,
inflame the heart, to evoke good thoughts, keep, fortify and increase good
sentiments.”
The author adds some advice which might help make such reading a kind of
lectio divina: “To make it profitable it is necessary to read them with
attention and pleasure, and stop to make some reflection. Accompany and
end the reading with some good resolutions.”
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