(ANS –Rome)–On August 24, 2014, at the Generalate in Rome, Mother inaugurated a small exhibit of objectives that recall Don Bosco or particular experiences of his life such as, trips, meetings, and illnesses.

We desire to celebrate Don Bosco in many ways this year.  There is a simple but meaningful way of remembering our Father and it is that of conserving his ‘relics’with veneration and love.  Etymologically, the word ‘relic’means that which remains, with reference to the human body or to a part of it.  In a broader sense, ‘relics’are also objects that had contact with the person venerated.
Along the years, the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians have not only loved and sought to imitate their Founder and Father, some of them have also kept letters received from him or objects belonging to him and used by him.  
At other times, these objects were gathered in the Motherhouse at Nizza, then in the Generalate at Turin, and now they are conserved in Rome.  On the occasion of the Bicentenary of Don Bosco’s birth, it is good to make these ‘relics’known to more people.

For the entire year, these ‘remembrances of the Father’will remain exposed in appropriate display cases, with precise captions in order to remember our Founder.  Every article is a sign of the daughters’affection for their Father, and also the Father’s affection for his daughters.  For example, among the writings are found some letters of Don Bosco to FMA, and also letters sent to Don Bosco by the communities or individual Sisters on the occasion of his name day and which Don Bosco kept throughout his life.

Among the articles in the exhibit, there are dishes, glasses, and cups that Don Bosco used in his visits to the communities of Turin and Nizza, and that the FMA had jealously kept.  There are even some objects that came through his niece, Mother Eulalia Bosco, and others from the Olive family, originally from France, where Don Bosco had stayed various times, and that gave three FMA to our Institute.
It is touching to see the shawl Don Bosco used during his illness or some other object that belonged to him and that his secretary gave to Mother Eulalia Bosco or other Superiors in memory of his holiness.  This is documented on some of the objects.  This small exhibit wishes to be for the FMA, a reminder of the presence of God in Don Bosco’s life, as is indicated on one of the panels.

The cult of ‘relics’is intimately connected with the cult of the saints. It can help to deepen our spiritual life. 

“Above all, we venerate those among whom God has rested.  He is all holy and rests among the saints (Cf Is. 57: 15), as with the Mother of God and all the saints.  These are the ones who, as far as possible, made themselves similar to God through their will, and through the indwelling and help of God. They are really called gods (Cf. Psalm 82: 6), not by nature, but contingently, as the red-hot iron is called fire, not by nature but contingently, and through the participation of the fire.  It says in fact, ‘You will be holy because I am holy’(Lev. 19: 2)”.  (St. John Damascene)

Pubblicato il 28/08/2014