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Memorial of St. John Bosco, Priest
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January 31, 2022John Melchior Bosco (Italian: Giovanni Melchiorre Bosco; Born August 16, 1815 – January 31, 1888), popularly known as "Don Bosco" was an Italian Roman Catholic priest, educator, and writer of the 19th century. While working in Turin, where the population suffered many of the ill-effects of industrialization and urbanization, he dedicated his life to the betterment and education of street children, juvenile delinquents, and other disadvantaged youth. He developed teaching methods based on love rather than punishment.
"Times Change"
In the Scripture readings we have been hearing from the Second Book of Samuel we see David in every possible situation and with every possible emotional reaction. Today, as his son Absalom tries to take over the throne, David and his men flee. As an old enemy gloats over David’s lot, the king takes it as only appropriate. “Perhaps the Lord will look upon my affliction and make it up to me with benefits for the curses He is uttering this day” (2 Samuel 16:12). Though we know enough of David not to take him as a picture of virtue and the source of all wisdom, Scripture does give him some memorable lines. David’s approach to his present distress reminds us of a well-known passage in Ecclesiastes: “There is an appointed time for everything……A time to weep and a time to laugh……A time of war and a time of peace.”
We can hear in David’s words that good and bad alternate in any human life; some would say that joy and sorrow balance out over the course of our years. The Jesuit poet Robert Southwell writes in a poem entitled “Time Goes By Turns” that “The saddest birds a season find to sing.”
For us who trust in the presence and grace of the Lord Jesus, there is always hope that a dark day or period of our life will eventually by brightened by signs of God’s compassion and love, that resurrection will follow our suffering and death. Very often we find that just allowing the passage of some time gives us a better perspective on today’s worries or allows God’s goodness to touch us. Like the man in today’s Gospel reading from Mark we have seen this happen often enough to have reason “to proclaim what Jesus has done for us” (Mark 5:19).
