In the last few weeks, we have re-discovered St. JOHN BOSCO: TEACHER AND FATHER TO THE YOUNG. We knew that he had a great devotion to OUR LADY HELP OF CHRISTIANS, patroness Saint of our parish and we felt close to him when praying daily the beautiful prayer he wrote to Mary Help of Christians, especially when venerating his relic (before Cardinal Gregory placed it inside our new altar last Sunday, click here to visit the Dedication of the New Altar) and also when praying the special Novena to St John Bosco (January 22-30).

As we just completed the NOVENA to St John Bosco at all Masses last Sunday and celebrated his Feast Day Monday (January 31st), we re-discovered his LOVE FOR JESUS IN THE BLESSED SACRAMENT. On the first day of the Novena (January 22nd, first day following his death on January 31st): we prayed together: "O St John Bosco, you loved Jesus in The Blessed Sacrament and zealously promoted this DEVOTION by encouraging participation in the HOLY EUCHARIST, reception of HOLY COMMUNION and daily Visits." This reminder of St John Bosco's vision of the two pillars (Eucharist and Mary Help of Christians - click here to see my column of last week) that can save our church and our individual souls when we face daily attacks from the devil.

Many of you also took the time to look at the write-up on the poster next to his picture in the Narthex, giving basic information about his life and his actions. Here they are repeated for your personal reflection on how from a very poor and challenging early life, John Bosco became one of the most famous "FATHER AND TEACHER TO THE YOUNG":

Born: August 16, 1815
Died: January 31st, 1888
Canonized: April 1st, 1934

John BOSCO was born in a poor peasant family in northern Italy. His father died when he was 2 years old.

John BOSCO was a self-taught acrobat and magician. As a child, he performed tricks before his fellow villagers to entertain them and then repeated the Sunday homily he memorized word-for-word.

To become a priest, he begged his mother to send him to school, which she did despite their dire poverty. Later on, she never accepted money from him.

He endured many humiliations. As a seminarian, he learned many crafts (music, tailoring, carpentry, welding, shoemaking etc.) and spent a lot of time helping the poor children orphaned or abandoned by their parents who left in search of a job.

As a priest, he worked with prisoners and delinquent youth. He taught them crafts and brought them to God. Soon, there were crowds of men following him. They loved him in everything. He played sports with them and performed tricks, but also confessed them and celebrated Mass for them.

He never carried money, yet built great many churches, oratories, schools etc.

He had many prophetic dreams and performed many miracles, always through HIS BELOVED MARY HELP OF CHRISTIANS.

He established a religious institute for men called the Salesians, to care for poor and delinquent boys.

What an amazing Saint helping the poor and the young! It is not surprising that throughout the world the followers of St John Bosco, the Salesians (John Bosco chose this name as he had a great admiration for St Francis de Sales) have established a very large number of "affordable" Catholic schools for the poor and the young. These schools have also promoted the devotion to Our Lady Help of Christians. Most of the time near Salesian schools, one can find parishes consecrated to "Our Lady Help of Christians". It is worth noting that the closest Salesian school to our parish is "Cristo Rey" (Christ the King) Catholic High School in Takoma Park (next to Our Lady of Sorrows parish), well known for its affordability and excellence as each student is sponsored/ funded by a local company where the student works for about one day every week. However, that school in Takoma Park was established only recently in 2007 (27 years after Cardinal Hickey chose our name for the then newest parish in the Archdiocese) and only in the last few months have we begun to establish some relationship with that new school). The dedication of our new altar has reinforced this new relationship and your ideas on how to pursue future cooperation are most welcome.

Let us pray that our youth will discover Saint John Bosco and that he can become an inspiration to them, their families, and their religious education teachers in our parish. Let us repeat the prayer for young people on the fourth day of the Novena:

"O Saint John Bosco, you became father, teacher and friend to young people by the great love and sacrifice with which you worked for their salvation. Pray for us that, inspired by your example, we also may love this chosen portion of God's flock with Christ's own pastoral charity, and receive every child as we would the Lord Jesus himself."

One in Christ,


Father Alain