A few thoughts, adapted from an article that
appears on the Salesian Sisters website, as we celebrate the Feast of Mary Help
of Christians Today:
Devotion to Mary Help
of Christians was spread far and wide through the work of St. John Bosco and
continues to be propagated in the world by the Salesian family which recognizes
and invokes Mary Help of Christians as its principal patroness. From the very beginning, St. John Bosco, the
great educator, placed his work as a priest and founder under the protection of
Mary Help of Christians, to whom he turned for every need. His confidence in Our Lady's help and protection
was greatest when when things were difficult or confusing, and he would often
turn to her, saying, "So, shall we begin to do something?” Don Bosco
placed all the works and religious communities he founded under her maternal
protection. In 1862, Don Bosco said to Fr. Cagliero, one of his early
Salesians, "Our Lady wants us to honor her with the title of Mary Help of
Christians. The times are so sad that we need the Holy Virgin to help us
preserve and defend the Christian faith".
The precious memory
that Don Bosco left us regarding great devotion to Our Lady Help of Christians
is two-fold. In the first place, Don
Bosco wanted us to be a living monument of gratitude to Mary Help of
Christians. The second is that he always
wanted us to know that Mary was a protector and guide for us . In a singular
experience which Don Bosco had on his last visit to the Salesian Sisters in Nizza,
Monferrato, Italy on August 23, 1885, he had a mystical experience that drove
this point home. After the new Sisters
had received their habits, and the young women had entered the novitiate, Don
Bosco, moved to tears, spoke to the Superiors who had gathered there. Several times, Don Bosco repeated: "Our Lady is really here, here in your
midst ... strolling in this House and the covers with her mantle."
As we celebrate this
feast of Mary, Help of Christians, may we always honor her by our holy lives
lived in faith for her Son, Jesus Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment