Let Your Hearts Take Comfort, All Who Hope In The Lord.

Memorial of Saint John Bosco, priest
Reading I
Hebrews 11:32-40
Brothers and sisters:
What more shall I say?
I have not time to tell
of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah,
of David and Samuel and the prophets,
who by faith conquered kingdoms,
did what was righteous, obtained the promises;
they closed the mouths of lions,
put out raging fires,
escaped the devouring sword;
out of weakness they were made powerful,
became strong in battle,
and turned back foreign invaders.
Women received back their dead
through resurrection.
Some were tortured
and would not accept deliverance,
in order to obtain a better resurrection.
Others endured mockery, scourging,
even chains and imprisonment.
They were stoned, sawed in two,
put to death at sword’s point;
they went about in skins of sheep or goats,
needy, afflicted, tormented.
The world was not worthy of them.
They wandered about in deserts and on mountains,
in caves and in crevices in the earth.

Yet all these, though approved because of their faith,
did not receive what had been promised.
God had foreseen something better for us,
so that without us they should not be made perfect.
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Responsorial
Psalm 31
R. Let your hearts take comfort,
all who hope in the Lord.
How great is the goodness, O LORD,
which you have in store for those who fear you,
And which, toward those who take refuge in you,
you show in the sight of the children of men.
R. Let your hearts take comfort,
all who hope in the Lord.
You hide them in the shelter of your presence
from the plottings of men;
You screen them within your abode
from the strife of tongues.
R. Let your hearts take comfort,
all who hope in the Lord.
Blessed be the LORD whose wondrous mercy
he has shown me in a fortified city.
R. Let your hearts take comfort,
all who hope in the Lord.
Once I said in my anguish,
“I am cut off from your sight”;
Yet you heard the sound of my pleading
when I cried out to you.
R. Let your hearts take comfort,
all who hope in the Lord.
Love the LORD, all you his faithful ones!
The LORD keeps those who are constant,
but more than requites those who act proudly.
R. Let your hearts take comfort,
all who hope in the Lord.
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Gospel
Mark 5:1-20
Jesus and his disciples came
to the other side of the sea,
to the territory of the Gerasenes.
When he got out of the boat,
at once a man from the tombs
who had an unclean spirit met him.
The man had been dwelling among the tombs,
and no one could restrain him any longer,
even with a chain.
In fact, he had frequently been bound
with shackles and chains,
but the chains had been pulled apart
by him and the shackles smashed,
and no one was strong enough to subdue him.
Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides
he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones.
Catching sight of Jesus from a distance,
he ran up and prostrated himself before him,
crying out in a loud voice,
“What have you to do with me,
Jesus, Son of the Most High God?
I adjure you by God, do not torment me!”
(He had been saying to him,
“Unclean spirit, come out of the man!”)
He asked him, “What is your name?”
He replied, “Legion is my name.
There are many of us.”
And he pleaded earnestly with him
not to drive them away from that territory.

Now a large herd of swine
was feeding there on the hillside.
And they pleaded with him,
“Send us into the swine. Let us enter them.”
And he let them,
and the unclean spirits came out
and entered the swine.
The herd of about two thousand
rushed down a steep bank into the sea,
where they were drowned.
The swineherds ran away
and reported the incident in the town
and throughout the countryside.
And people came out to see what had happened.
As they approached Jesus,
they caught sight of the man
who had been possessed by Legion,
sitting there clothed and in his right mind.
And they were seized with fear.
Those who witnessed the incident
explained to them what had happened
to the possessed man and to the swine.
Then they began to beg him to leave their district.
As he was getting into the boat,
the man who had been possessed
pleaded to remain with him
But Jesus would not permit him
but told him instead,
“Go home to your family and announce to them
all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.”
Then the man went off
and began to proclaim in the Decapolis
what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.
==================================
St. John Bosco
(1815-1888)

John Bosco’s theory of education could well be used in today’s schools. It was a preventive system, rejecting corporal punishment and placing students in surroundings removed from the likelihood of committing sin. He advocated frequent reception of the sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion. He combined catechetical training and fatherly guidance, seeking to unite the spiritual life with one’s work, study and play.

Encouraged during his youth to become a priest so he could work with young boys, John was ordained in 1841. His service to young people started when he met a poor orphan and instructed him in preparation for receiving Holy Communion. He then gathered young apprentices and taught them catechism.

After serving as chaplain in a hospice for working girls, John opened the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales for boys. Several wealthy and powerful patrons contributed money, enabling him to provide two workshops for the boys, shoemaking and tailoring.

By 1856, the institution had grown to 150 boys and had added a printing press for publication of religious and catechetical pamphlets. His interest in vocational education and publishing justify him as patron of young apprentices and Catholic publishers.

John’s preaching fame spread and by 1850 he had trained his own helpers because of difficulties in retaining young priests. In 1854 he and his followers informally banded together under Francis de Sales.

With Pope Pius IX’s encouragement, John gathered 17 men and founded the Salesians in 1859. Their activity concentrated on education and mission work. Later, he organized a group of Salesian Sisters to assist girls.

Comment:
John Bosco educated the whole person—body and soul united. He believed that Christ’s love and our faith in that love should pervade everything we do—work, study, play. For John Bosco, being a Christian was a full-time effort, not a once-a-week, Mass-on-Sunday experience. It is searching and finding God and Jesus in everything we do, letting their love lead us. Yet, John realized the importance of job-training and the self-worth and pride that comes with talent and ability so he trained his students in the trade crafts, too.

Quote:
“Every education teaches a philosophy; if not by dogma then by suggestion, by implication, by atmosphere. Every part of that education has a connection with every other part. If it does not all combine to convey some general view of life, it is not education at all” (G.K. Chesterton, The Common Man).

Patron Saint of:
Boys
Editors
Youth

Saint of the Day
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