Hajja Salesjana January March 2018

8 “We can’t be saints on our own.” This is so obvious in the story of Don Bosco, the holy priest from Turin who grew into a dedicated spiritual director for many young people. From a very young age, John Bosco gradually began to grow in his love for God and achieved holiness through great personal effort and by abandoning himself to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Things were never easy as John went through a troubled childhood. However, God never abandoned the young boy and sent him various spiritual friends and spiritual directors. Without these people, Don Bosco would have never understood what God wanted him to do with his life. Apart from the positive influence of his mother, John Bosco reaped the benefits of Spiritual Direction in two particular moments of his life with two people in particular. These two spiritual directors were Fr John Calosso and Fr Joseph Cafasso. John Bosco also benefited from spiritual friendships, particularly in his relationship with his seminary companion Louis Comollo. John Bosco lost his father at the tender age of two. This was a great loss for John. Luckily, his mother Margherita Occhiena (1788-1856) was a gifted woman and John’s first educator. [Teresio Bosco, Mamma Margherita Educatrice (Torino: Leumann, 1986)]. Through Margherita’s faithful Christian life, sustained through a strong prayer life, she was able to be a true inspiration and guide to John. Two keymoments in John Bosco’s religious formation were his first Confession and his first Holy Communion. When John was seven years old, Margherita prepared John for his first confession. “Sin took on a horrible and frightening aspect for John.” [Arthur Lenti, Don Bosco, History and Spirit I , (Rome: LAS, 2010), 174.] Later on in 1827, when John Bosco was eleven years old, his mother prepared him for his first Holy Communion. “While at the parish he was instructed by the priest, Mamma Margherita did all the rest at home.” [Carlo Salotti, Il Santo Giovanni Bosco , ed. 7 (Torino: SEI, 1961), 41]. Although she could neither read nor write, Margherita was able The Benefits of Spiritual Direction in Don Bosco’s Life By Rev. Dr. Louis Grech sdb PhD in Spiritual Companionship with the Young