Meditation for the Day
You should try to stand aside and let God work through you. You
should try not to block Him off by your own efforts, or prevent His spirit
working through you.
God desires your obedient service and your loyalty to the ideals of the
new life
you are seeking.
If you are loyal to God, He will give you protection against mistakes. His
spirit will plan for
you and secure for you a sufficiency of all spiritual help. You will have
true
victory and real
success, if you will put yourself in the background and let God work
through
you.
-Twenty-Four Hours a Day
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January 31st - St. John Bosco
These are two excerpts from the book Some Pedagogical Ideas of Don Bosco.
1 It is indisputable that the personality of Don Bosco's mother, Mamma
Margherita, influenced his formation. This woman, a widow at age 29,
profoundly
marked the souls of her three sons. She had little formal education but
remarkably good sense. Her uprightness of judgment, great piety and virile
firmness made her an exemplary educator. Margherita required her sons to
work
either in the house or the fields. From the break of dawn, after morning
prayer
the children worked hard all day long. "Life is too short to lose the best
part
of the day," she would say.
Laziness was not permitted. The meals were simple and at night they slept
on the
floor. She never allowed self-complacence and had always her mind turned
toward
heaven: "We are soldiers of Christ always with our weapons ready, facing
the
enemy, and we must win," she used to say. This is the way she prepared her
sons
for life.
2 In addition to the work of his religious congregation, the building of
churches, the foundation of numerous orphanages and preparing missions in
faraway countries, Don Bosco dedicated time by day and night to write. He
knew
how to serve the Church with the pen, at times combating errors, at times
strengthening souls. As a man of his time, he was aware of the great
influence
of that new modern giant, the press. He used his pen for more than 45
years
producing a variety of works according to the needs of his fight.
When Protestantism launched offensive attacks against the Catholic Church
with
popular periodic brochures, Don Bosco countered with his Catholic
Lectures, a
monthly publication with timely articles and questions that responded to
the
Protestant propaganda.
Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)
Let me comment on these excerpts one at a time.
Regarding Mamma Margherita, she fits the description of that strong woman
of the
Scripture who fulfills her duties and whose value is "far and from the
uttermost
coasts." She lived her life uprightly, she formed her sons perfectly, and
one of
them became the great St. John Bosco.
Her life offers proof of just how erroneous the progressivist mentality
inundating the Church today is. Indeed, for this flawed mentality, anyone
who
has to bear hunger, cold and suffering cannot have a spiritual life.
According
to it, the first step is to do away with poverty and hunger. Only then can
one
begin to talk about a spiritual life. Therefore, the beginning of all
apostolate
is this material action. Doing away with poverty becomes, then, one of the
main
if not the principal ends of the Catholic Church.
The life of Mamma Margherita demonstrates precisely the opposite. Her
house was
so poor that all the members of the family slept on the floor; the meals
were
frugal; the family members were subjected to much hard work. They led a
typical
poor life. Notwithstanding, she knew how to profit from this life and
sanctified
it by means of fortitude and the spirit of abnegation and sacrifice.
Despite the
poverty of the family, she saw to their material needs: her sons became
strong
men, capable of all kinds of work. At the same time, and this is what is
im****tant for us to note, she also took good care of their spiritual
lives.
You see how Progressivism lies and fools Catholics when it implies that
soft,
comfortable conditions are indispensable for sanctity. This is completely
wrong.
Austerity, not softness, is what is needed.. This austerity must be
observed in
the formation of every family, even those of high levels with many
resources.
In Europe this austerity was maintained in the formation of children and
youth
until some time ago. In the memoirs of the Duke of Nemours or the Duke of
Alençon - I don't remember which - it tells about the time when he was in
London, exiled from France. He was young and lived with several other
noble
young men in the same house along the River Thames. The windows of their
large
bedroom were on the second floor opening straight out to the Thames. He
wrote
that when they would wake in the morning, it was their habit to jump out
the
window into the Thames. They would all do this every morning in the
winter. This
shows how they were accustomed to austerity. It is an example that comes
to my
mind on austerity in the formation of nobles. I wonder how many bad
consequences
would have been avoided if austerity were imposed in the formation of the
youth
of today's wealthy families.
Regarding the second excerpt, it is interesting to observe how St. John
Bosco
was always aware of the problems of his times. He was not a saint living
in the
clouds, as sentimental hagiographies depict many saints. St. John Bosco
knew the
problems of his time and combated the enemies of the Church as they
actually
were. When the Protestant propaganda became strong in north Italy, he
developed
an effective intellectual action against it.
Today most people have a revolutionary understanding of what is im****tant.
They
think that the economic means is more im****tant than intellectual skills,
and
that the material is greater than the spiritual. For this reason, when
they
speak about St. John Bosco, they tend to stress his works of social
assistance,
and underplay his intellectual work. I also praise and recognize the
im****tance
of the foundations he made to help poor boys and give them a good
formation, but
I don't agree that he should be remembered primarily for those works.
When you examine his life, you see that he spent a large number of years
writing; therefore, he was as much a writer as a man of outside activity.
It is
why he joins St. Francis de Sales as one of the two patron saints of the
press.
It is good for us to stress this point that sets things aright.
Let us ask St. John Bosco to give us the spirit of austerity he had and
protect
our intellectual work and our Catholic journalism.
See Pictures at:
http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j165sd_DonBosco_2-01.html
Longer Version found at:
http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0131.htm
Saint Quotes:
Fly from bad companions as from the bite of a poisonous s****. If you keep
good
companions, I can assure you that you will one day rejoice with the
blessed in
Heaven; whereas if you keep with those who are bad, you will become bad
yourself, and you will be in danger of losing your soul.
-Saint John Bosco
Enjoy yourself as much as you like-if only you keep from sin.
-Saint John Bosco
Do you want our Lord to give you many graces? Visit him often. Do you want
him
to give you few graces? Visit him seldom. Visits to the Blessed Sacrament
are
powerful and indispensable means of overcoming the attacks of the devil.
Make
frequent visits to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and the devil will be
powerless against you.
-Saint John Bosco
Bible Quote:
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth,
bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing
his
sheaves with him. (Psalm 126:5-6 )
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Memorare to Jesus, Mary and St. Joseph
Remember, O Merciful Jesus, Immaculate Mary and glorious
St. Joseph that no one has ever had recourse to Your
Protection, or implore Your assistance without obtaining
relief. Animated with a like confidence, but weighted down by
my sins, I prostrate myself before You. O! Reject not my
petitions, but graciously hear and grant them. Amen.
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