(ANS - Rome) - The Salesian motto "Da mihi animas, cetera tolle" expresses and summarizes the apostolic concern of Don Bosco and his ability to involve many in this adventure. It is the impassioned cry of those who have a clear sense of his apostolic consecration, of those who feel attracted to a mission of love and have experienced in a wonderful way the love of God and love of neighbour.

Fr Pierluigi Cameroni, SDB

Don Bosco was "the bearer of God's love for the young". He manifested the great love for young people which comes from the heart of Christ. It does not exclude anyone but seeks their true good and authentic happiness and points out the concrete steps to be followed in order to get there. It is the love of a father who creates and fosters life, as the Apostle Paul said to the early believers in Corinth: “I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me.”(1 Cor. 4.14 to 16).

Don Bosco was called by God, through the maternal intercession of Mary, to help young people to discover that life has meaning in God who is love. Without Him there is no future, and no joy, but above all there is no eternal salvation. Through the ways of grace and the power of prayer he leads young people in search of God, a God who is close to us, so that they may give God first place in their lives, above everything else. He makes known to them the love of God who is our Father, and he leads them to give their hearts to Him so that He can fill them with His love and raise them up in love.

The Holy Spirit made him understand and experience that young people can become a way to reach God, a path towards him, to achieve union with Him. "My dear young people, I love you all very much. It is enough that you are young for me to love you. I can assure that you will find books written by people far more virtuous and more learned than I, but it will be very difficult for you to find someone who loves you more than I love you in Jesus Christ and who desires your true happiness more than I do. "(Don Bosco, Companion of Youth).

Published 29/01/2016