Like father, like sons

I got this cartoon drawn by a third grader Bosconian in the United States from my e-mail a couple of weeks ago. It was sent to be my an American FMA novice. 

FMA is the abbreviation of Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice, Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in English; they are the female counterpart of the Salesians of Don Bosco.  

The idea is they asked their students to draw a Don Bosco according to how he is very much like us. The “us” here is rather subjective of course; and what do you expect about one’s impression of how Don Bosco is very much like us from the inoccent eyes of a child?

Look at the cartoonized image of Don Bosco again. 

But if one would look closely past beyond the bubbly blue shoes and zesty shades of Don Bosco, one gets a profound message the artist wishes to convey to us.

Beneath this funky look of the Father and Teacher of young people is a subtle reality of how he wanted very much to be part of their world. 

That’s how absolutely, deeply and madly he had fallen in love with them that, I am sure, if Don Bosco were alive today, he would not hesitate dressing up similar in this cartoon in order to win the attention,and ultimately, love of the young people.

He battled a lot of difficulties during his time in order to provide the young people a decent way of living.

As a priest then, he did not only educate them to faith; he knew that the young needed to eat, and so he gave them food. They had the need to be informed, and so, he did not only teach them the three R’s, but also helped them gain some skills such as tailoring, shoe repair, printing, so that they would have better chances to survive the challenges of their time.

And so, the young people who encountered him had come to know some essential life skills. When his young charges were hired to construct buildings for example, they could not be cheated for they knew how to count. The employers could not cheat these poor fellows by manipulating their contracts because they knew how to write.

He did all these following his passion of saving souls.

What’s the point of this piece then? You may wish to ask. Simple.

If you see Salesians—whether they be ageing priests, or brothers or even maturing clerics, dressed up like that in this cartoon—give them the benefit of the doubt. They’re just following the example of their Father.

Recommendations on Vacation

Before anything else, Merry  Christmas!

 

Fr. Joe, our seminary catechist asked me to synthesize some valuable inputs of Don Bosco for our seminarians who will be home for vacation. I'm posting this set of recommendations not only for the benefit of some of my seminarian friends , but also for any ordinary students, Bosconians in particular, who may find them useful.

Now, let's hear from Don Bosco himself:

I don’t recall anyone returning from home to tell me he had behaved better at home than the Oratory, nor do I recall anyone telling me that his vacation had brought him spiritual advantage. On the contrary, every year, I have often had to deplore many falls from grace.

These will make for a true vacation, and, more importantly, a sinless vacation.

• As soon as you get home, greet your parents, hug them and give them my most heartfelt regards. Respect and obey your parents; do all you can to make them happy.

• Then, visit your parish priest, give him my regards. Ask him if there is anything you can do around the church while on vacation.

• The word vacation, from the Latin verb vacare means “to be busy, to be occupied.” You may not be occupied with school, but you should continue to be occupied with work, study or prayer.

• Keep yourselves always busy and live in God’s presence. Don’t waste your time at home, and, whatever you may do, always remember that Our Lord sees you.

• While home with your family, help your dad and mom, give them some help: clean the house, set the table, maintain your garden… keep yourself forever busy!

• Play games with your family: cards, chess, any game you find relaxing.

• Sleep also a little longer but avoid the “noonday devil.” (Ps 90, 6)

• Be moderate in eating, don’t overeat.

• As long as there are books to read, read!

• Read to learn, not just for pleasure. Read useful books.

• Endeavor to live as good Christians, as you do here at the Oratory:
o Serve Holy Mass every morning. If you can’t, attend Mass devoutly.
o To receive Jesus in better disposition, spend some time in meditation.

• Avoid bad books and bad companions.

• Avoid laziness.

• Avoid idleness.

Culled from pp. 335 -345 of the Biographical Memoirs XIII

On good (and bad) books

“Uncle Charles Cabin” and “The Wandering Jews” Do these titles ring a bell?

For those among us who are taking the Rizal course, they should, for they are two books which greatly awakened Rizal's consciousness in fighting for our freedom.

Hands down, books influence us. I don’t have to argue about it. Was it St. Augustine who said that “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page?”

Don Bosco knew the importance of reading books. This prompted him to issue, three years before his passing away, a circular letter devoting entirely on spreading good books.

But I never thought that in the beginning of the school year of 1883, five years before his death, he wrote a long letter to all Salesian houses regarding one important concern: bad books.

At this point, let us listen to the words of Don Bosco:

The enemies of souls are aware of the influence of this weapon, and experience has taught us how young people avail themselves of it to the loss of their innocence. Strange titles, presentable paper, clean type, fine engravings, low prices, popular style, variety of plot, vivid descriptions: everything is exploited with diabolic artistry and craftiness. Woe to all of us if we doze off while the enemy is constantly alert!

All pupils should be told to hand over any new book they may acquire or that may be brought to them by relatives or friends. Professors, supervisors in the study hall, and assistants must take note of what the boys are reading in the church, at recreation, in class and in study hall.

Speak often on the subject of bad books during the year from the pulpit, in the evening talk, and in the classroom. Point out the harm they do.

If we act along these lines, I hope that no bad books will be smuggled into our schools, and that if they are, they will soon be destroyed.

                                              (cf Biographical Memoirs, pp. 173-177)

This letter was written in 1883. And the popular medium back then was the printed matter. If Don Bosco were alive today, I am certain that he would also write a letter on movies, TV shows, Internet sites.

We have been reminded to choose out friends, to associate only with those who serve as good examples. I believe that, it is also true in choosing the books, and of comics, and of video clips we save in our computers. For we do not just possess them, we also allow them to possess us.

I said a lot tonight. Forget everything, but please remember this. When you receive some cash during the Christmas break, please consider buying good books that will not just satisfy your curiosity, feed your mind, warm your heart, but more importantly, nourish your vocation.

God bless. Read more. Good evening.  

Mabuhay si San Bosco!

Last week, during the send-off of the relics, I committed a major major blunder. I guess, it would easily land in the list of my most embarrassing moments.

No, it was not when I shouted “Mabuhay si San Bosco (Long live St. Bosco).” I maintain that that is acceptable. If we have San Lorenzo, San Pedro, and even Sta Cruz, Sta Mesa in our lexical consciousness, then it follows that we could also have something like “San Bosco.”

When Fr. Arnold shouted “Mabuhay ang Panginoon (Long Live the Lord),” that’s when I entertained the possibility—however remote it may be—of how Don Bosco must have been complaining because he’s been getting so much attention.

That made me also feel a little disturbed realizing how the majority of individuals who came to venerate Don Bosco with much care seemed to fail to show respect to the Blessed Sacrament. What is worse is that some even failed to recognize its existence.

God is present in our Blessed Sacrament 24/7, seven days a week. And we don’t just get to see and touch and talk to Him. We consume Him. He becomes part not just of our biological mechanisms but also, and more importantly, He strengthens us spiritually.

When Don Bosco was alive, he would be branded in the newspapers as “miracle worker” owing to the countless miracles he would perform. But he would be quick to deny that he did not do it and almost instantly, he would lead them to thank God’s Providence.

If there is an improvement in the quality of our relationship with Christ; then, Don Bosco’s coming to Canlubang is not in vain. And his visit is not going to be just that, a short visit, for he will remain in our hearts.

Mabuhay si San Bosco!

Live the dream video

Here's the MTV produced by the FIN province in occasion of the visit of Don Bosco's relics in the Philippines.

I had some goosebumps watching the video. All the best to the production staff!

Long live Don Bosco!

Some musings on Don Bosco’s coming

Fr. Joe, our catechist, mumbled some unrecognizable words when I told him that I would be off to the provincial house. I thought that he was almost complaining that I’d be out again of the community to go to the provincial house.

The seminarians may be puzzled as well, why I would, once in a while, head to the provincial house. A number of them have asked me what’s my business in the provincial house.

Just so to set the record straight, I am there for the commission on social communications (CSC) meetings.

The commission is composed of five individuals, we have Fr. Bong as our head, Frs. Vester and Drans are also commission members.

I think it’s in order to update you with some endeavors of the commission.

The webpage of the province is still being updated which will hopefully be web 2.0 compliant, that is, it’ll be more interactive and up-to-date.

This year, the CSC penetrates the airwaves via Langit sa Lupa. The talk show airs in Radio Inquirer on Saturday evenings. We met the station manager last Monday and we got the go signal to have an additional 30 minutes by next year which we plan to use for a segment that will cater to the young people.

Fr. Bong asked me to tap seminarians here who could be anchormen for that segment. If we cannot be there on a weekly basis, perhaps, one Sunday every month, we could take charge.

On top of the regular issues of the Salesian Bulletin, the CSC added two more special issues that will coincide with the visit of the relic of Don Bosco. We’ve seen the first one featuring Don Bosco as the cover. The second one will hit the ‘newsstands,’ so to say, once the relic is already here.

Advent season is about coming, I am certain that it’s been a general knowledge. And coming means we are to prepare.

This year, this season of advent means doubly special for we are preparing for the Christmas season, and more than a week after, we brace ourselves for the coming of Don Bosco in flesh, metaphorically and literally. We’ll be able to see a part of him.

I hope that we’ll not be drowned with the pomp and pageantry and noise of his coming, for I believe that his visit is meant to strengthen us spiritually.

Don Bosco’s coming is a meeting with the person of Don Bosco. And I’d like to believe that he has got some special message for each of us.

I’ve read a couple of episodes in the Biographical Memoirs when Don Bosco would do oratory hopping to visit his salesians, the novices, the young people, and the preparations are simply remarkable. They would assign someone to deliver the speech. They would intensify their practices of piety. They would offer their communion and confessions so that the visit of Don Bosco to their house will be a tremendous success.

I wish that we’ll also do the same.

That as we busy ourselves in thinking about what exhibits could be set up, what else will catch the fancy of our guests, what will make the event more special, we may not lose the grasp of the essential.

After all, that’s what his motto is all about: Give me souls, take away the rest.

Don Bosco's Manifesto on Pastoral Charity

This year, as we celebrate the 150^th year of the death of St. John Vianney and the 150^thyear of the founding of our congregation, we also mark the quasquicentennial of the Letter from Rome.

On May 6, 1884, exactly one hundred twenty five years ago, St. John Bosco who was in Rome dictated a letter to his secretary, Fr. John Lemoyne. The letter neither contained empty pleasantries nor some sporadic housekeeping procedures the recipients ought to take note of. That important correspondence, as we know it now, is a synthesis of how Don Bosco desired his Salesians to deal with the young people.

This letter was mailed four day's letter. But Fr. Michael Rua did not think that it should be read out in its entirety in public, and so he requested that a copy be sent to him that was suitable for the pupils.

The letter from Rome is rightly called as such because it is precisely that—Don Bosco wrote it from Rome. But probably, it is more appropriate to call it "the letter from the heart," because every single thought contained in the letter is unmistakably an expression of Don Bosco's love for his Salesians and the young people of his oratories.

Fr. Peter Braido, one of the foremost experts in the field of the Preventive System, would say that "the eleven short pages constitute the clearest and most essential document of the pedagogy of Don Bosco, which is, in itself, one of the most meaningful in the whole of Christian pedagogy.

The letter touched on the subject of his deteriorating physical health—frail body, and his poor eyesight. But amidst all these, he never failed to mention how he delights to write to them, and how he looks forward to hear from them.

The first paragraphs of the letters, using the standard of our young people, sounded cheesy. He could not contain his emotions probably because he would always wear his heart on his sleeve, especially when he was composing that letter. He emphasized the brand of loving kindness which he hopes to be known for in his institute: patience, gentleness, and no humiliating remarks. He challenged the recipients, to exercise only these in the realm of the Oratory, and "the boys should not only be loved, but realize that they are loved."

To speak of an authentic love of a Salesian is to make a distinction. Here, let me ask the help of Pope Benedict.

"Love," the Holy Father said, "in the true sense, is not always a matter of giving way, being soft, and just acting nice. In that sense, a sugar-coated Jesus or a God who agrees to everything and is never anything but nice and friendly is no more than a caricature of real love. Because God loves us, because he wants us to grow into truth, he must necessarily make demands on us and must also correct us."

Don Bosco, perhaps relying on the filial affection of his boys, openly speaks about what delights him: the practice of virtues, regularity in confessions and communion, which ultimately leads to the salvation of souls.

I first read that letter on the latter part of my novitiate. I thought that we would not tackle it since we seldom give attention to the appendix part of any textbook. After all, there is a reason why appendix is found at the last few pages of any publication if in case its author decides to come up with one. It is merely a supplement, something that can be dispensed with. We would not miss anything important if we skip that part. Things remain to be valid even without reading that section. But there is also a sufficient reason why there is an appendix. And why that letter has been part of our constitutions.

One hundred twenty five years after the letter was written, read and reflected on, have we managed to remain faithful to Don Bosco's challenges to his Salesians? Will there be a need to write another letter?

The initial reaction was for me to see my locale vis-à-vis the setting when that letter was composed. With the ugly depiction the oratory morphed to be against the backdrop of the golden age of the glorious oratory, I saw the relevance of coming up with such a letter. There was a need for it. A reminder was in order.

Six months from now, I will be in practical training. I am not denying it; whether it is Cebu, Mandaluyong, Pampanga or Guam—I am excited—regardless of wherever I would be assigned. I will be able to flex my own Salesian muscles and live first hand a life of a son of Don Bosco immersed in the active apostolate. By then, I don't expect to be with Br. Joji or any other brother assistant to remind me of my duties. I will also free myself from the 'nagging love' of Fr. Bobby or any other prefect of discipline to instantly offer corrections.

But I know that I am also gripped by fear when as I inch towards that time.

As a young Salesian, I cringe whenever I am reminded that I ought to be a sign and bearer of God's love for the young. This is such a tall order. But I am sure, it can be done. With God's grace, I know that it is possible.

Again, this letter will only continue to be relevant if the message it articulates remains to be valid to the lives of those people concerned. After all, people and events which are worth celebrating are moments which continue to remain relevant to our lives.

Don Bosco did not write a treatise on pastoral charity. Instead, he composed a letter, ordering and begging his Salesians then—and especially now—to make themselves be present in the midst of the young.

This year, we celebrate Don Bosco's 121^st death anniversary. Year after year, we go farther and farther from him. Nobody is left among his boys who encountered him in the flesh, but he left us a legacy which documents the pedagogy he wished to live and carried out by his sons. His letter from Rome speaks eloquently of this paternal legacy we ought to treasure most.

Don Bosco: in pilgrim

I've been terribly loaded with so much task the past weeks that I failed to update this blog. I am cooking something special, but let it wait until tomorrow.

For the meantime, I'd like to share with you the good news about Don Bosco's relic which is already in 'pilgrimage' across the world in preparation for the bi-centenary of the birth of Don Bosco to be celebrated in 2015. We expect his relic, at least in the region where I am in, between November 2010 and April 2011.

Here's the complete account from ANS


(ANS – Turin) – On 25 April at Valdocco, Turin, in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians the casket containing a special relic of Don Bosco will be blessed before setting out to visit in the next few years the countries in which the Salesians are present.

The pilgrimage of the casket which will cross the five continents is the idea of the Rector Major of the Salesians, Fr Pascual Chávez Villanueva, in preparation for the bi-centenary of the birth of Don Bosco to be celebrated in 2015.

The presentation and the blessing of the casket will take place in conjunction with the celebration of the Thanksgiving Feast-day of the Special Circumscription of Piedmont and the Val d’Aosta (ICP). After presiding at Mass Fr Pascual Chávez will bless the casket which will be carried in procession from inside the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians to the courtyard outside.

From the courtyard where the Saint from Turin worked for the benefit of so many boys, the casket will begin its pilgrimage round the world.

The Casket
The casket, the work of the architect Gianpiero Zoncu, has been made of aluminium, bronze and glass. The artists employed were Marco Berrone (blacksmith), Francesco Boglione (carpenter), and the glass is from the Bivetro Company. The De Carli Artistic Foundry produced the metal structures and the Perlaluce Company was responsible for the illumination.

The base of the casket is in the form of a bridge supported by four pillars which bear the dates of the bi-centenary: 1815-2015. They are decorated, on the ends of the casket, with square tiles with the faces of young people from the five continents made by the sculptor Gabriele Garbolino. The coat of arms of the Salesian Congregation which this year is celebrating the 150th anniversary of its foundation and the charismatic motto adopted by Don Bosco himself – Da mihi animas, cetera tolle – complete the decoration of the case.

Including the base, the casket is 253 cm long, 100cm wide and 132cm high with a total weight of 530 kg.

Inside is a statue of Don Bosco similar to the one in the casket preserved in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians. It was made by the sculptor Garbolino and the Apostolato Liturgico, and Sr Anna Scaglia FMA made the vestments. The face has been reproduced from the mask made by Cellini the day after Don Bosco died.

The pilgrimage
At the end of the short blessing ceremony, the casket will begin its pilgrimage around the world. The logistics for the pilgrimage have been entrusted to the Roberto Bertoli Company and the Missioni Don Bosco in Turin.

The first stage will be in Lazio. After a stop at the Poor Clares Monastery in Città della Pieve, the casket will travel through several cities - Frascati, Latina, Formia, Castelgandolfo, Genzano – and stop at several Salesian houses in the capital. The pilgrimage in the Lazio region will finish at the end of June at the Generalate of the Salesians in via della Pisana and will then head off for Latin America.

The first international phase of the pilgrimage will see the casket in the Salesian Region of America South Cone and it will pass through Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil.

The programme of the pilgrimage which will end on 31 January 2014.
* Interamerica, Region between March and October 2010
* East Asia Oceania Region, between November 2010 and April 2011
* South Asia Region, between may and November 2011
* Africa-Madagascar Region, between December 2011 and April 2012, July and August 2012
* West Europe Region, May and June and between September and November 2012
* North Europe Region between December 2012 and August 2013
* Italy MOR Region, between September 2013 and January 2014

Fire-tried gold

The “Father and Teacher of the Young” is one remarkable title conferred to Don Bosco by no less than Pope John Paul II: a fitting tribute for the 73-year old saintly priest who labored so hard so that the young people of his time—particularly the poorest and the abandoned—could have better chances in life.

Indeed, the way Don Bosco chose to thread was a difficult path. There was a time when he and his young friends had to roam around the streets in search of a decent place where they could hold catechism classes.

He was against all odds in safeguarding them: receiving harsh criticisms from the civil authorities and even from his own brother-priests because of the nature of his work.

Don Bosco firmly believed that the young people should become Good Christians and Honest Citizens as they prepare themselves to become one day, citizens of God’s Kingdom.

With the Divine intervention, and with his human effort, he was able to succeed in carrying out his special mission for God’s greater glory and for the salvation of the souls!

Don Bosco is not only our Father and Teacher. But he is also one remarkable example that the authenticity of gold is challenged by the smoldering blaze of fire.