Don Bosco’s Healthy Tonic for the Soul

Don Bosco’s Healthy Tonic for the Soul

By: Cl. Samuel Augustine

            Life is simply meaningful when fully lived. It is wonderful because of sharing the gifts we possess from the core of our hearts. Happiness is a journey not a destination. This is the miracle of joy given to every created being. We should reciprocate such gifts to others freely because we have received them without any cost.

            Don Bosco’s healthy tonic for soul is the holy optimism and joy. He has used effectively this tonic to protect his youngsters from the confusing and delicate ideologies of his time. Joy is one of the characteristics of Salesians. At Valdocco, there reigned an atmosphere of family spirit. Don Bosco created a Christian life of cheerfulness and instilled in his boys that heavenly bliss; ‘here we make sanctity consists in being always cheerful… we try to fulfill our duties with exactitude and cultivate piety’. Knowing the beauty of life Don Bosco says, ‘being happy doesn’t mean everything’s perfect. It means you’ve decided to look beyond imperfection’. He guided Dominic Savio and other boys to attain the height of sanctity by his healthy tonic of holy joy. In the Biographical Memoirs Vol. II, DB said, ‘A day that fills the heart with remorse and fear of God’s judgment cannot be called a day of amusement’. He also often quotes the beautiful statement- ‘run, jump, shout, but do not sin’.

      

      St. Philip Neri whom Don Bosco has taken as a point of reference to healthy tonic for soul once said, ‘The world is funny and our sermons too must be funny’. He is known to give spiritual direction using unconventional ways to others. Once a man came to St. Philip and asks him if he thinks a hair shirt is a good penance. St. Philip replies that it will be better if he wears the hair shirt outside his nice clothes. He is the patron saint of humour and can become a powerful intercessor for all who feel let down and low.

            True joy comes from the Lord for it is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Pope Francis in his first apostolic Exhortation ‘Evangelii Gaudium’ expresses this truth ‘the joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus.’ Prophet Nehemiah affirms this fact when he wrote ‘for the joy of the Lord is your strength’ (Nehemiah 8.10). To be cheerful is a choice and not a result. Life can be exasperated when we expect perfect results. On the other hand it will be a blessing and joyful when we see good in daily events of life. It is said to think less and feel more, talk less and listen more, fear less and love more to be happy.

            Don Bosco left this marvelous legacy to his sons, daughters and young friends. It is our responsibility to share this holy joy to others because Salesian spirituality is incomplete without the various expressions of joy. Don Bosco does not want his youngsters to be sad but wants warm heartedness within them. For Salesians, cheerfulness is the 11^th Commandment. With joy from the Lord, we shall be his bearers sharing this healthy tonic to all for ‘A cheerful heart is a good medicine’ (Proverbs. 17.22)