Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (18: 1-5) in which Jesus tells his disciples whoever takes the lowly position of a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven… And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. After reading the Gospel, Fr Paul shares a little about the life of St John Bosco whose memorial we celebrate today.
Fr Paul says John Bosco was born in Piedmont (Italy) to a peasant family, and he was brought up by his widowed mother. He became a priest. He settled in Turin, where, as in so many cities in the 19th century, the industrial revolution was bringing enormous movements of population and, consequently, social problems, especially for the young men who came there to work. John Bosco devoted himself to the care of the young. First of all, by means of evening classes, to which hundreds came, and then by setting up a boarding-house for apprentices, and then workshops for their training and education. Despite many difficulties, caused both by anti-clerical civil authorities and by the opposition of some senior people within the Church, his enterprise grew, and by 1868 over 800 boys and young men were under his care. To ensure the continuation of his work, he founded a congregation, which he named after St Francis de Sales (a saint for whom he had great admiration), and today the Salesians continue his work all over the world. Today, Fr Paul says, especially we pray St John Bosco….Pray for us!
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