Homily of the Rector Major at the Mass for “Don Bosco’s birthday”.
«What you have heard and seen in me, do » (Phil 4,9)
Below is the text of the Rector Major’s homily at the Mass at which he presided at Colle Don Bosco on 16 August 2005, on the occasion of the 190th anniversary of the birth of Don Bosco (“Don Bosco’s birthday”). Starting from the invitation of St Paul in his Letter to the Philippians: «What you have heard and seen in me, do» (the second reading in the Mass), the Rector Major sketched a simple but detailed portrait of the person and significance of Don Bosco in his own times and for all times, in the Church and in society, on account of his insights and achievements – as a priest and teacher –who we are “called to continue with dynamic fidelity.”
My Dear Confreres and Friends,
The celebration of the “birthday” of our beloved Don Bosco has once again brought us together in this place where it all started, for him and for us, his personal story, his mission and his charism.
Here at “The Becchi” we again raise our praise to God for the gift that has meant so much to the Church and to the World, in particular but not only to “the world of youth,” the birth of John Bosco 190 years ago. Certainly, that infant born here matured throughout his life as a boy, a young student, a seminarian at Chieri, a priest at the Convitto, the boys’ priest at Valdocco, until his death on 31 January 1888, and it is for his whole life that we give thanks, it is his whole history that has become his testament.
Today once again we hear his message spoken to us, summarised in the words of St Paul to his beloved community in Philippi: « What you have heard and seen in me, do» (Phil 4,9). And what is it that we have heard and seen in him, that we have to reproduce and continue?
Perhaps it will help to look at the facts to understand him better and to imitate him faithfully.
In the political, social, economic, and religious confusion in Italy that characterised a considerable part of the XIX century, and which we describe with the term “Risorgimento”, Don Bosco felt the tragedy of a people that was becoming more detached from the faith and he especially felt the tragedy of the young beloved by Jesus who were abandoned and betrayed in their ideals and aspirations by the men of politics, of economics, even perhaps of the Church.
To this situation he reacted vigorously finding new ways to oppose evil; he fought against the negative forces in society, speaking out against the threats and dangers of the situation, “confronting”– in his own way, certainly – the powerful forces of his time.
He was able to exploit the possibilities open to him - and to develop and expand them - with all the potential afforded by the social and cultural conditions, together with the economic situation of the time: the paternalistic social structure of the ancien regime of the Kingdom of Piedmont and Sardinia, the liberal political set up open to the decentralisation of works of charity and philanthropy, the availability of resources for good works, the general support he received, from the authorities and the people, in spite of some opposition for the ecclesiastical world.
And so he set up oratories, schools of various kinds, workshops, newspapers and magazines, printing presses and publishing houses, different associations for young people - religious, cultural, recreational, social. He built churches, supported the foreign missions, organised help for emigrants and founded two religious Congregations and an Association of Lay People that continue his work.
His success was also due to his special gifts as a born communicator, in spite of his lack of financial resources (always insufficient for his needs), his limited cultural and intellectual formation (at a time when there was need for a sound theoretical framework), his being the product of a theology and a social conscience with considerable limitations (and therefore unprepared in having to respond to the secularisation and the profound social revolution in progress). Always sustained and urged on by a deep faith, in difficult circumstances he sought and obtained support on all sides from Catholics and anticlericals, from rich and poor, from wealthy and powerful men and women, from the nobility, from the middle class, from the clergy of low and high degree. His requests for help could not but present directly or indirectly a challenge, a moral judgement for those who had closed their hearts to the sufferings of their fellow men and women, withdrawing their gaze from the reproach they presented, since it was easier for them to live their lives of comfort and well-being according to the criteria of a liberal ethic.
But it is not enough to reconstruct the historical and ecclesiastical setting in which Don Bosco lived and tried to carry out his work, useful though this may be. It is also necessary to examine the background to his thinking because it is there that we can discover the direction he was determined to take.
The historical importance of Don Bosco is to be found – before any of his many “works” or his new approach as in the famous “preventive system of Don Bosco” –
in his understanding of and emotional response to the universal, theological and social importance of the problem of «abandoned» youth, that is the huge number of young people that no one bothered about or whose interest was not particularly helpful;
in his intuition that there existed – in Turin first of all, then in Italy and in the world – great concern, in society and among politicians, about the problem of the education of youth and an appreciation of this among the more enlightened elements and in public opinion;
in the idea that he launched of the need for something to be done on a large scale in society and among Catholics as an essential prerequisite for the life of the Church and for the very survival of social order;
and in his ability to communicate his insights to a extensive group of collaborators, of benefactors and admirers.
Not a politician, nor a sociologist, nor a trades unionist before his time, just a simple priest-educator, Don Bosco started from the idea that education could achieve great things, in every sort of situation, if it were conducted with great good will, with commitment and with a capacity for adaptation. He set out to change consciences, to form them in human virtue, in civil and political integrity, and this way to "change" society, through education.
He transformed the strong beliefs he held – and which he defended against all comers – into activities in society, into practical measures without focusing on the spiritual and an ecclesiastical world understood as somehow unconcerned with the problems of the world and life. Rather, convinced of his vocation as a priest-educator, he saw to it that his daily life was not closed in on itself but open to the incarnation of values and ideals; not narrow but wide open; not limited to the satisfaction of a few needs nor the routine of traditional attitudes; not the refusal to face problems, to make the necessary sacrifices, to take risks, to renounce immediate satisfaction, to fight on. For himself and for his Salesians he sought freedom and autonomy. He did not want to tie the future of his work to the unpredictable fluctuations of political regimes.
The well-known French theologian M. D. Chenu O.P., in the eighties of the last century replying to a question from a journalist who asked him to give the names of some saints whose message was relevant for the new times, said without hesitation: “It gives me great pleasure to recall, first of all, someone who anticipated the Council by a century: Don Bosco. Already in a prophetic manner, he is a model of holiness on account of the work he did that broke away from the way of thinking and acting of his contemporaries.
He was a model for so many others; not a few followed his example, becoming in their turn the “Don Bosco of Bergamo, of Bologna, of Messina and so on.”
The person of Don Bosco and his significance and that of his work are historically and universally recognised, with all respect to those such as the well-known writer Albert Moravia who has written. “Saints don’t make history.” Clearly the “secret” of his “success” each one can decide for himself among the many facets of his complex personality: a most capable manager of educational activities, a farsighted organiser of national and international enterprises, a skilful educator, a great teacher, etc.
Here then, dear friends, what we have heard and seen in Don Bosco and what we are called to continue with dynamic fidelity. To her who was given to him as Mother and Teacher, Mary the Immaculate Help of Christians we entrust our commitment to be today a pledge of hope for the young.
Fr. Pascual Chávez V.
