JANUARY 16 &17

January 16/17

After reflecting yesterday on the 'slips' we continue to see some more resolutions that were prompted by the slips given by Don Bosco. 

1. As often as I shall be allowed I shall not sleep more than six hours and even less and as uncomfortably as possible.

2. I shall fast every Saturday in honor of Our Lady, every day in Lent and on all the vigils commanded by the Church and whenever something pleasing to the palate is given to me, I shall offer it up to Our Lady depriving myself of all or at least part of it. Whenever I eat something I shall contrast it with the myrrh that Our Lord Jesus Christ had to drink on the Cross.

3. I shall visit the Blessed Sacrament every day and shall recite the "Memorare". Besides I shall kiss the crucifix every morning and evening and shall say the other prayers I am accustomed to say. I shall make the exercises of a happy death every month, and frequent the Holy Sacraments once a week or every day according to the advice of my confessor.

4. I shall be careful not to offend my companions in any way and I shall try to make reparation for scandals given.

5. I shall never waste time in study and shall occupy as much as possible even in my recreation time.

6. Every month I shall choose a saint as my particular patron/protector. Thus for January I shall select St Francis de Sales, for February St Gregory, Pope, for March St Joseph, for April St Mark and so on. 

A third reads as follows: -

I, James R., with the help of God and Mary most holy, promise to observe these resolutions, commencing from the feast of all Saints on which I hope to receive the clerical habit and which also is my seventeenth birthday.

1. I shall every day ask God to strike me dead rather than permit me to commit one mortal sin.

2. I shall consecrate myself entirely to Him, putting myself in the hands of my superiors and considering every little command of theirs as coming from Him.

3. I shall fulfill my every duty whether spiritual or temporal with the greatest precision.

4. I shall try to conquer all human respect and give good example.

5. I shall go to confession every week and shall more frequently receive Communion.

6. I shall make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament every day and to Mary Most Holy.

7. Every Saturday I shall perform some mortification in honor of Our Lady.

8. I shall celebrate Her feasts with particular devotion and before every one I shall fast a little.

9. Every day I shall pray for my parents, benefactors and superiors

10. If I obtain the grace to become a priest I shall work with zeal for the salvation of souls and shall announce to all, the glories of Mary to whom I owe my change of life.

11. I shall always beg God to grant me final perseverance. "All things are possible because of Him that encourages me".  

At death and at my judgment I shall see whether or not I have kept these promises.

Lastly on the slip of a young cleric, besides the promises to observe exactly the rules of the Society and the obligations of the clerical state, we find these two articles. 

1. I shall choose for myself a secret monitor whom I shall ask to observe my conduct and correct me every time he notices that I fail in anything.

2. Before commencing any study I shall ready a chapter of the life of a saint in order to imitate them. On finishing these books I shall again start from the beginning. 

Who would not be moved on thinking of those good pupils, with pen in hand and slip before them, penning those lines that please God directed them inexorably towards a happy eternity! We seem to see those youthful yet serious faces, eyes raised upwards in search of phrases and that shining candor which they would manifest in their act of giving it to Don Bosco. 

What was the result, we sometimes ask, of all these holy devises?

Canon Giacinto Ballesio in his work "The private life of Don Bosco" gives us the reply:

"Don Bosco used to govern his dear Oratory with the triple rule of holy fear of God, love and good example. Some will call this kind of government "Theocratic government" but we always call it the government of persuasion and love, the most worthy of men. On seeing its effects one naturally cries out in pleasant surprise for through it hundreds of boys both students and artisans would fulfill their duties with zeal and exactness. A large number of them were not only good but very good," true models of piety, study, sweetness and mortification, attractive guides, shining and efficacious examples. Boys who would not have committed a venial sin for the whole world, boys of so sound and tender a devotion that it really possessed something of the extraordinary about it. How beautiful it was to see them in Church, rapt in heavenly ecstasy. And how often would the noble people of the city bring their children to the Oratory in order to get them to imitate the lowly children of people, who by their piety had become without their knowing it, noble and great. They were indeed very dear to the heart of Don Bosco. Impregnated with this spirit they, by the great influence they exercised over their companions were of great help to him. The sweet and attractive virtues of innocence, simplicity and Christian happiness that make the works of St. Dominic and St. Francis of Assisi together with those of their followers so popular were in truth seen to flourish in the oratory. And so through Don Bosco we see that those things that the profane call fairy tales have indeed come true.