“What you have learned and received and heard

and seen in me, you must do.”

Rector Major’s Homily for the Mass of St John Bosco

Bangalore – 6 February 2006

Phil 4, 4-9; Mt 18,1-6.10

Let me begin by saying how pleased and grateful I am to be here in Bangalore to celebrate with you this Eucharist in the presence of confreres, members of the Salesian Family and parishioners, on the occasion of my first visit to this Province as Successor of Don Bosco. I think it very opportune that you have chosen the votive Mass of St John Bosco, because in this way we have the possibility of thanking God for the wonderful gift he has given us in him, and at the same time of finding in him new inspiration and a new impetus for the future.

“Unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 18,3)

When, on various occasions, I have accompanied groups of young people from different parts of the world on their visits to Colle Don Bosco, I have noticed how deeply moved they were before the little house at the Becchi and the humble surroundings in which Don Bosco spent his boyhood. God always uses poor means for the accomplishment of his designs. The same path was followed by Jesus of Nazareth (cf. Phil 2,5-11), and is the road he points out to his disciples as we have just heard in the Gospel: “Unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 18,3).

But what does it mean to “become like children”? There is an incident in Don Bosco’s life, which I think is very enlightening, not least because it stems from his experience as an educator. In the famous letter from Rome in May 1884, written to the Salesians and boys of the Valdocco Oratory, he said: “If you want to be loved, you must make it clear that you yourself love. Jesus Christ made himself humble with the lowly and bore our iniquities. When one knows he is loved, he loves in return; and one who loves can obtain anything, especially from the young”.

With these words Don Bosco sums up his experience as an educator: to educate you must make yourself unassuming, available, humble, simple, poor, trusting, undemanding; giving priority to others, seeking out those in need, looking for those who are abandoned or who remain at a distance, protecting those in danger. This is the language of love (cf. 1 Cor 13), and, as he used to say, education is a matter of the heart. We show this love by means of a loving and attentive presence, through warm-hearted interest and sharing, to free other persons from any harmful experience that could endanger their physical and mental well-being and their eternal salvation, and to help them to mature, to develop all their capabilities, to discover the meaning of their life and salvation in the world, and to lead them to Christ himself.

“Becoming like a child” means entering positively and resolutely into the world of the lowly, of adolescents and young people, of those who count for next to nothing in our society of power and influence, just like the child whom Jesus placed in the midst of his disciples.

“Becoming like a child,” means taking up the cause of poor youth who lack the means of education to enable them to make a success of their lives, and who find enormous difficulties in acquiring a place in the world of work that will lead to a respectable future.

“Becoming like a child” implies never putting on airs of experience, knowledge or authority, which only drive people away, as the young John Bosco saw in priests who never answered him when he greeted them.

“Becoming like a child” means making a deliberate choice (because a choice is involved – “whoever humbles himself like this child will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”, v.4) to organize one’s own life around the needs of the young, working for them, praying for them, sacrificing oneself for them, opening oneself to their lives, sharing their joys and sorrows, their dreams and problems, their hopes and requests.

This is what youngsters are looking for nowadays: adults who will accept them unconditionally, grown-ups able to come down to their level and be close to them; men and women who know how to make them feel important, who will bring them into things as Jesus did. And this is precisely what Don Bosco did too, and what he asks of his Salesian followers: not only to love the young but to make them feel they are loved. And this, in my opinion, is the meaning of “becoming like children” after the manner of Jesus Christ.

This is in fact the road we have to follow if we want to build a new society, a real family, a worthy future not only for the young but for all of us, a future in which the globalized elements are education, solidarity and peace, not just economy. There is a lot of talk nowadays about a better possible world, more united, about economic criteria, but a true United Humanity will not be mainly the result of the economic sector, nor of a better living standard, but of a common effort by everyone to build a society in which all can feel “at home” and be part of a family; this is the challenge that Don Bosco puts today to the whole of the Salesian Family and to all educators in India.

For the accomplishment of this task our mentality needs to be converted (“unless you be converted”), and aim at making progress not according to the world but in line with the Gospel.

“What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, you must do” (Phil 4,9)

But how are we to achieve this Christian and typically Salesian mentality? St Paul, in that part of his letter to the Philippians we heard read, gives us a very valuable reply: “Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things”. It is a prompting to develop an attitude or approach which is able to see always and everywhere whatever is positive in others, in the young, in adults, in strangers, in those who are different from ourselves, in the conviction – as Don Bosco used to say – that in the heart of even the most apparently perverse youngster there is a point sensitive to what is good, and that the task of the good educator is to discover that point and collaborate in its development.

Don Bosco’s humanism, which made him one of the most successful men in history and so much loved and venerated by everyone, had its foundation in faith. He perceived the presence and action of the Spirit in every person, and especially in the most lowly and needy; for this reason he believed in them, defended them, and was able to devote his whole life to them, renouncing other possibilities which were offered him and which could have ensured him an easier and more secure way of life. Thanks to this realistic and positive humanism, learned without any doubt at the school of Mamma Margaret and from St Francis de Sales, Don Bosco was able to awaken in the boys of his Oratory a great determination to improve themselves, to grow in the Christian life and collaborate for the good of others, and to become holy. Don Bosco’s faith hope and charity brought about, in fact, the miracle of the formation and the holiness of large numbers of those boys.

When we compare ourselves with him, I think that sometimes we limit ourselves to making an analysis of young people, as though we wanted to convince ourselves that it is not possible to do more than we are actually doing; and so we are satisfied with a discreet enthusiasm on our part and a good technical preparation on theirs, with some effort at their Christian formation.

Don Bosco would never complain about his boys; he would believe in them and continue to be a priest for them, with all the ardour of Da mihi animas and all the loving kindness of the preventive system.

What then can we do to increase our hope and make it fruitful? Once again the Word of God we have already quoted can show us a path we must follow: in the first place we have to discover and make known everything that is fine and good and true by passing on to others all our positive experiences.

Secondly, we must collaborate with others in common projects of service and solidarity; it is precisely in the sharing of projects that communion is created and fraternity grows.

In the third place, we must share the values that unite us, both human values and those that are strictly religious, as is – for us believers – the faith: praying together, listening together to the Word of God, celebrating together. This is how the Church is born and matures as God’s family, as the disciple of Jesus, as the spouse of the Holy Spirit.

It is not a matter of difficult or extraordinary things, but they can truly bring about a dynamic transformation.

Paraphrasing the words of the Apostle, Don Bosco invites us today to do as he himself did: “What you have heard and seen in me is what you must do. And the God of peace will be with you” (Phil 4,9).

Let us ask for the grace to find like him a dream to realize, to become lowly and humble as he was, to commit ourselves for the benefit of the young, especially those most in need of the experience that God exists and that he loves them; and finally to take the Gospel to young people and young people to Christ.

Don Pascual Chávez V.

Bangalore – 6 February 2006