austraLasia #2786
DB’S Visit to the FIN: Reminiscences and Reflections, Why and Wherefore
Fr Eli Cruz, Provincial
MANILA: 17 January 2011 -- The pilgrimage of the relic of St. John Bosco, a preparation for the celebration of his 200 years of birth in 2015, ended in the Philippines-North Province (FIN) on 15 January 2011, 200 years to date of the birth of St. Joseph Cafasso, Don Bosco’s model and mentor.
The forecast rains for the days ahead stopped the afternoon of the relic’s arrival on 23 December 2010 at the tarmac of the Philippine Air Force Base in Manila, which the Philippine president uses when departing for foreign or domestic trips. Don Bosco’s relic was welcomed with full state honors, short of the 21-gun salute reserved for heads of state. The papal nuncio to the Philippines and the dean of the diplomatic corps in the country, the Right Reverend Edward Joseph Adams, welcomed our holy founder not only as saint of our faith but also as the “unwritten patron of Vatican diplomats”, Don Bosco being a sought-after mediator between Church and the State in his times.
On 15 January 2011, the same apostolic nuncio said the farewell Mass at the Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians and by nightfall, before the relic’s departure for Vietnam, the rains were back. Indeed, even in the city of Legazpi, famous for its perfectly coned Mayon Volcano, still experiencing torrential rains and flooded streets to date, the chartered plane carrying Don Bosco’s relic was the last plane in and the only plane out, because the rains stopped and poured again as if to allow the convenience of Don Bosco’s arrival and departure.
All throughout his 24-day sojourn in the FIN, the fair weather allowed wonders to shine. Numerous log books and large graffiti walls were all filled with intentions and insights, surprisingly even from young people studying in faraway schools unknown to Salesians, a good number of them bearing the unpatented name of St. John Bosco. Thousands of past pupils, much more than the hundreds that attend the annual school homecomings, returned to their alma mater, the younger ones bringing along their little boys, the next generation of Salesian pupils. Non-Salesian parishes, diocesan seminaries, and religious communities headed by priests who were past pupils of Salesian schools added to the people that swarmed some places visited by the relic.
A motorcade towards the earliest Salesian school in Tarlac, the longest so far it was claimed, and a procession towards the mother house of the Salesian works in Mandaluyong, said to be a close second to the throng in Guatemala, showed not only the people’s devotion to St. John Bosco and their admiration for his works, but also the influence in civil society of our past pupils. In both places, the alumni-mayors could not contain their emotions for the privilege of their father’s short stopover in their city gym or town plaza. The vice-president of the country, once a boy in our youth center, made sure he was present in the churches of St. John Bosco and San Ildefonso both in Metro-Manila, two parishes that influenced him.
The cathedrals of San Jose, San Pablo and San Gregorio, had the diocesan clergy and youth representatives of their geographic region celebrate in a festive gathering the 2011 Year of Youth in the Philippines in the presence of the very father and teacher of youth.
All throughout, with each setting having its own unique festive features, the spirit of prayer prevailed, always with whatever rehearsed cheering from the students toned down- whether in Mabalacat in the north of the capital, Makati in the financial center, Tondo in the port area, and Alabang for the street children village in Metro-Manila, or Canlubang in the south of the capital. The whole educative-pastoral communities were simply too overwhelmed to even say a word. Many would describe it as indescribable; one columnist would put it that way in her long column on the front page of the leading national paper.
In a predominantly Catholic country where uncommon or uncanny manifestations are easily accepted as a sort of miraculous, digital pictures of Don Bosco’s casket with the image of the Virgin Mary or the clear sky with Don Bosco’s image formed by the clouds were soon uploaded in Facebook or sent via e-mail. Miracles of healing have yet to be documented, or perhaps there is no need, but testimonies of transformations one could read from the log books or graffiti walls.
Don Bosco’s relic has come and gone. And to borrow the words of the poet Robert Blair: “Its visit, like those of angels, short, and far between.” But a “why” will linger. And the “why” must be a commitment to the “wherefore.”
Francheska, a 22-year-old past pupil was brutally killed in the morning of 6 January 2011 inside her house in Better Living Subdivision, Parañaque, where the Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians is located, the last setting to be visited by Don Bosco’s relic. Francheska’s death does not make sense at all especially in the context of the joy of the visit of St. John Bosco, the father and friend of youth. On second thought, we can make sense of her death precisely in the context of St. John Bosco’s presence among us. She was killed by five minors, teenagers, neglected and exploited, living in the margins of an otherwise middle-class vicinity, in a world of violence and crime.
This is why God sent Don Bosco to this world, to a world of exploitation, violence, and crime done to and by young people, many of them minors already in conflict with the law. Don Bosco dreamed of wolves becoming sheep. If the death of young Francheska in the hands of minors were to have a meaning especially in the context of this once-in-a-lifetime visit of St. John Bosco, then to the best of our possibilities no child or teenager among us must feel that they are the last, the least, and the lowliest in this world.
Don Bosco, of course, also educated young people who had the capacity to excel in studies, in servant-leadership, in sanctity of life. He educated young people who came from good Christian families with influence in industry, business, government, and the media of his time. We have seen many of them during the relic’s visit, enough to say that Don Bosco has become a leaven in both the Philippine church and society through them.
But Don Bosco taught us that if people who have enough of the wealth of this earth want to live in a land where there is peace, where no one violates or harms another, then those who have more must care for those who are the last, the least, and the lowliest in society. Otherwise, they will claim what they have been deprived of in violent ways.
No wonder Don Bosco’s visit to the FIN ended on the 200th birthday of his formator, St. Joseph Cafasso, patron of prisoners, priest of the gallows, chaplain of the hanged. Pope Benedict XVI said of these two saints, Don Bosco and Don Cafasso: “These Saints were bound to each other by total love of Christ and by their profound charity for the poorest people.”
But Pope Benedict XVI continues: “In all the fundamental decisions of his life St. John Bosco had St. Joseph Cafasso to advise him, but in a very specific way: Cafasso never sought to form Don Bosco as a disciple "in his own image and likeness", and Don Bosco did not copy Cafasso.” And so while St. Joseph Cafasso accompanied criminals from prison to gallows, St. John Bosco sought to prevent such endangered young people from even going through a life of crime and the confinement of prison. This is our wherefore.
DB’S Visit to the FIN: Reminiscences and Reflections, Why and Wherefore
Fr Eli Cruz, Provincial
MANILA: 17 January 2011 -- The pilgrimage of the relic of St. John Bosco, a preparation for the celebration of his 200 years of birth in 2015, ended in the Philippines-North Province (FIN) on 15 January 2011, 200 years to date of the birth of St. Joseph Cafasso, Don Bosco’s model and mentor.
The forecast rains for the days ahead stopped the afternoon of the relic’s arrival on 23 December 2010 at the tarmac of the Philippine Air Force Base in Manila, which the Philippine president uses when departing for foreign or domestic trips. Don Bosco’s relic was welcomed with full state honors, short of the 21-gun salute reserved for heads of state. The papal nuncio to the Philippines and the dean of the diplomatic corps in the country, the Right Reverend Edward Joseph Adams, welcomed our holy founder not only as saint of our faith but also as the “unwritten patron of Vatican diplomats”, Don Bosco being a sought-after mediator between Church and the State in his times.
On 15 January 2011, the same apostolic nuncio said the farewell Mass at the Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians and by nightfall, before the relic’s departure for Vietnam, the rains were back. Indeed, even in the city of Legazpi, famous for its perfectly coned Mayon Volcano, still experiencing torrential rains and flooded streets to date, the chartered plane carrying Don Bosco’s relic was the last plane in and the only plane out, because the rains stopped and poured again as if to allow the convenience of Don Bosco’s arrival and departure.
All throughout his 24-day sojourn in the FIN, the fair weather allowed wonders to shine. Numerous log books and large graffiti walls were all filled with intentions and insights, surprisingly even from young people studying in faraway schools unknown to Salesians, a good number of them bearing the unpatented name of St. John Bosco. Thousands of past pupils, much more than the hundreds that attend the annual school homecomings, returned to their alma mater, the younger ones bringing along their little boys, the next generation of Salesian pupils. Non-Salesian parishes, diocesan seminaries, and religious communities headed by priests who were past pupils of Salesian schools added to the people that swarmed some places visited by the relic.
A motorcade towards the earliest Salesian school in Tarlac, the longest so far it was claimed, and a procession towards the mother house of the Salesian works in Mandaluyong, said to be a close second to the throng in Guatemala, showed not only the people’s devotion to St. John Bosco and their admiration for his works, but also the influence in civil society of our past pupils. In both places, the alumni-mayors could not contain their emotions for the privilege of their father’s short stopover in their city gym or town plaza. The vice-president of the country, once a boy in our youth center, made sure he was present in the churches of St. John Bosco and San Ildefonso both in Metro-Manila, two parishes that influenced him.
The cathedrals of San Jose, San Pablo and San Gregorio, had the diocesan clergy and youth representatives of their geographic region celebrate in a festive gathering the 2011 Year of Youth in the Philippines in the presence of the very father and teacher of youth.
All throughout, with each setting having its own unique festive features, the spirit of prayer prevailed, always with whatever rehearsed cheering from the students toned down- whether in Mabalacat in the north of the capital, Makati in the financial center, Tondo in the port area, and Alabang for the street children village in Metro-Manila, or Canlubang in the south of the capital. The whole educative-pastoral communities were simply too overwhelmed to even say a word. Many would describe it as indescribable; one columnist would put it that way in her long column on the front page of the leading national paper.
In a predominantly Catholic country where uncommon or uncanny manifestations are easily accepted as a sort of miraculous, digital pictures of Don Bosco’s casket with the image of the Virgin Mary or the clear sky with Don Bosco’s image formed by the clouds were soon uploaded in Facebook or sent via e-mail. Miracles of healing have yet to be documented, or perhaps there is no need, but testimonies of transformations one could read from the log books or graffiti walls.
Don Bosco’s relic has come and gone. And to borrow the words of the poet Robert Blair: “Its visit, like those of angels, short, and far between.” But a “why” will linger. And the “why” must be a commitment to the “wherefore.”
Francheska, a 22-year-old past pupil was brutally killed in the morning of 6 January 2011 inside her house in Better Living Subdivision, Parañaque, where the Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians is located, the last setting to be visited by Don Bosco’s relic. Francheska’s death does not make sense at all especially in the context of the joy of the visit of St. John Bosco, the father and friend of youth. On second thought, we can make sense of her death precisely in the context of St. John Bosco’s presence among us. She was killed by five minors, teenagers, neglected and exploited, living in the margins of an otherwise middle-class vicinity, in a world of violence and crime.
This is why God sent Don Bosco to this world, to a world of exploitation, violence, and crime done to and by young people, many of them minors already in conflict with the law. Don Bosco dreamed of wolves becoming sheep. If the death of young Francheska in the hands of minors were to have a meaning especially in the context of this once-in-a-lifetime visit of St. John Bosco, then to the best of our possibilities no child or teenager among us must feel that they are the last, the least, and the lowliest in this world.
Don Bosco, of course, also educated young people who had the capacity to excel in studies, in servant-leadership, in sanctity of life. He educated young people who came from good Christian families with influence in industry, business, government, and the media of his time. We have seen many of them during the relic’s visit, enough to say that Don Bosco has become a leaven in both the Philippine church and society through them.
But Don Bosco taught us that if people who have enough of the wealth of this earth want to live in a land where there is peace, where no one violates or harms another, then those who have more must care for those who are the last, the least, and the lowliest in society. Otherwise, they will claim what they have been deprived of in violent ways.
No wonder Don Bosco’s visit to the FIN ended on the 200th birthday of his formator, St. Joseph Cafasso, patron of prisoners, priest of the gallows, chaplain of the hanged. Pope Benedict XVI said of these two saints, Don Bosco and Don Cafasso: “These Saints were bound to each other by total love of Christ and by their profound charity for the poorest people.”
But Pope Benedict XVI continues: “In all the fundamental decisions of his life St. John Bosco had St. Joseph Cafasso to advise him, but in a very specific way: Cafasso never sought to form Don Bosco as a disciple "in his own image and likeness", and Don Bosco did not copy Cafasso.” And so while St. Joseph Cafasso accompanied criminals from prison to gallows, St. John Bosco sought to prevent such endangered young people from even going through a life of crime and the confinement of prison. This is our wherefore.
