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DON BOSCO EDUCATOR

PASCUAL CHÁVEZ VILLANUEVA

THE DEVIL IS AFRAID OF HAPPY PEOPLE

DON BOSCO NARRATES

I am known throughout the world as a saint who has openhandedly sown so much joy. Indeed, as someone who knew me personally wrote: I made Christian joy "the eleventh commandment". The experience convinced me that you cannot work without this wonderful educational drive, this beautiful step ahead, which is joy. And, what’s more, because my kids were deeply convinced. "If you want your life to be happy and peaceful, you must do so by staying in the grace of God, since the heart of the young man who is in sin is like the sea in continuous turmoil". That's why I remembered always that "joy comes from peace of heart". I insisted: "I don't want anything other than a young man who does what is good and is always cheerful".

At times, someone comes to mind as the eternal acrobat of the Becchi and I think ‘you can do me a big favour’. But it is a very reduced image of my ideal. Games, rides, musical bands, theatrical performances and festivals were a means, not an end. I had in mind what I wrote openly to my kids: "I have only one desire: to see you happy in time and in eternity".

Games and happiness were for me a form of serious apostolate, of which I was deeply convinced. Since my boyhood, for me joy was an inseparable element from study, from work and from compassion. A lad from those early years remembering the ‘heroic’ years, described them thus: "Thinking about how he ate and how he slept, now we wonder how he had then been able to enjoy himself, without sometimes suffering and without complaining. But we were happy, we lived for affection".

To live and pass on the joy was a form of life, a conscious choice of pedagogy in action. For me, the lad was always a lad, his deep need was joy, freedom and playfulness. I found it natural that I, a priest for the young, passed on to them the good and joyful news contained in the Gospel. And I did not have to do it with a stern face and in unfriendly and abrupt ways. Young people had to understand that for me having fun was something really serious! The courtyard was my library, my chair where I was at times both teacher and student; that joy is the Basic Law of youth.

Increasing the value of theatre, music, song. Organizing in minute detail the famous autumn walks.

In 1847, a book on Christian formation was printed, The cared-for young man. I'd written it losing many hours of sleep. The first words that my boys were reading were these: "the first and foremost trick with which the Devil sweeps away young souls from virtue is to let them think that serving the Lord consists of a melancholic life far removed from all fun and pleasure. Not so, dear young people. I want to teach you a Christian way of life which can at the same time make it cheerful and happy, in addition, those things which are real fun and real pleasure…. This precisely is the purpose of this booklet, serve the Lord, and be happy ".

As you can see, for me joy has a deep religious significance. In my educational style there was a balanced combination of sacred and profane, of nature and of grace. The results didn’t take long to appear, so much so, that in some autobiographical notes that I was almost compelled to write, I could say: "Faithful to this mixture of devotion, amusements and trips; everyone who became part of the sign, were not only very obedient to my commands, but were anxious to help to carry out some task".

I wasn’t just satisfied that young people were cheerful; I wanted them to spread around this atmosphere of rejoicing, of enthusiasm, and love of life; I wanted them to be builders of hope and joy. Missionaries to other young people through the apostolate of happiness. A contagious apostolate.