🗓️Jan 31St. John Bosco, confessor

St. John Bosco, born in Becchi in 1815 and died in Turin in 1888, was one of the greatest apostles of youth in the history of the Church. His life was characterized by a total dedication to the spiritual and material formation of poor and abandoned youth, founding for this purpose the Salesian Congregation and the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. A priest endowed with extraordinary charisms and guided by prophetic dreams since childhood, he developed the "Preventive System," a pedagogy of holiness based on reason, religion, and "amorevolezza" (loving-kindness), opposing the repressive methods of the time and aiming to form "honest citizens and good Christians." His spirituality, deeply Eucharistic and Marian, emphasized joy as a path to perfection and the frequency of the sacraments of Confession and Communion as the "two wings to fly to heaven," fighting sin not through fear, but through love for God and trust in the protection of Mary Help of Christians, whose devotion he tirelessly propagated until his canonization by Pope Pius XI in 1934.

📖 Introit (III Kings 4, 29 | Ps 112, 1)

Dedit illi Deus sapiéntiam, et prudéntiam multam nimis, et latitúdinem cordis, quasi arénam quæ est in líttore maris. Ps. Laudáte, pueri, Dóminum, laudáte nomen Dómini. ℣. Gloria Patri.

God gave him wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart as the sand that is on the sea shore. Ps. Praise the Lord, ye children: praise ye the name of the Lord. ℣. Glory be to the Father.

✉️ Epistle (Phil 4, 4-9)

Fratres: Gaudéte in Dómino semper: íterum dico, gaudéte. Modéstia vestra nota sit ómnibus homínibus: Dóminus prope est. Nihil sollíciti sitis; sed in omni oratióne et obsecratióne, cum gratiárum actióne, petitiónes vestræ innotéscant apud Deum. Et pax Dei quæ exsúperat omnem sensum, custódiat corda vestra et intelligéntias vestras, in Christo Jesu. De cétero, fratres, quæcúmque sunt vera, quæcúmque púdica, quæcúmque justa, quæcúmque sancta, quæcúmque amabília, quæcúmque bonæ famæ, si qua virtus, si qua laus disciplínæ, hæc cogitáte. Quæ et didicístis, et accepístis, et audístis, et vidístis in me, hæc agite: et Deus pacis erit vobíscum.

Brethren: Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice. Let your modesty be known to all men. The Lord is nigh. Be nothing solicitous; but in every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. For the rest, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever modest, whatsoever just, whatsoever holy, whatsoever lovely, whatsoever of good fame, if there be any virtue, if any praise of discipline, think on these things. The things which you have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, these do ye: and the God of peace shall be with you.

✠ Gospel (Mt 18, 1-5)

In illo témpore: Accessérunt discípuli ad Jesum dicéntes: Quis, putas, major est in regno cælórum? Et ad vocans Jesus párvulum, státuit eum in médio eórum, et dixit: Amen dico vobis, nisi convérsi fueritis, et efficiámini sicut párvuli, non intrábitis in regnum cœlórum. Quicúmque ergo humiliáverit se sicut párvulus iste, hic est major in regno cœlórum. Et qui suscéperit unum párvulum talem in nómine meo, me súscipit.

At that time, the disciples came to Jesus saying: Who thinkest thou is the greater in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus calling unto him a little child, set him in the midst of them, and said: Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the kingdom of heaven. And he that shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me.

😇 The joy of innocence and the pedagogy of holiness

The liturgy of today weaves a deep connection between divine wisdom and the simplicity of spiritual childhood, personified in the figure of Saint John Bosco, whose "largeness of heart" mentioned in the Introit reflects the expansive charity that welcomes the little ones to lead them to God. The Gospel establishes the condition sine qua non for entering the Kingdom: conversion to littleness, not as immaturity, but as the humility that recognizes total dependence on the Father, for, as Saint Augustine teaches, pride is the obstacle that prevents man from passing through the narrow door, making it necessary to become small so that the grace of God may make us great (Saint Augustine, Sermon 69). Don Bosco understood that educating is, above all, a theological act of "receiving in my Name," seeing in every young person the face of Christ and leading him to the joy that the Epistle to the Philippians commands imperatively: "Gaudete in Domino semper". This Salesian joy is not worldly euphoria, but the fruit of charity and peace of conscience, as explained by Saint Thomas Aquinas, who defines joy as the consequence of love resting in the possession of the beloved Good (Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 28, a. 1). By instructing young people to keep their souls in grace through Confession and the Eucharist, Don Bosco applied the "praise of discipline" cited by Saint Paul, protecting the purity that allows the soul to see God; thus, his apostolate demonstrates that true Catholic pedagogy does not dissociate human formation from supernatural life, for the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, can only guard the hearts that, in innocence recovered or preserved, surrender with filial confidence to Providence and the maternal protection of Mary Help of Christians.