Son: “Have you heard what happened in Ukraine?”
Father: “Bah!”
Mother: “Is the soup salty enough?”
Son: “That’s a problem, isn’t it?”
Father: “Yes.”
Son: “Then what do you think?”
Father: “You are right, it lacks a little salt.”
Mother: “Here, have some.”
Son: “It’s strange how it could have come to this.”
Mother: “How much did you get for mathematics?”
Father: “I never understood anything about maths.”
Mother: “It’s cold tonight…”

A husband listens to his wife at most for 17 seconds and then he starts talking.
A wife listens to her husband for a maximum of 17 seconds and then she starts talking.
Husband and wife listen to their children for…

A man had four children. He wanted his children to learn not to judge things quickly. Therefore, he invited each of them to take a trip to look at a tree that was planted in a distant place. He sent them out one at a time, three months apart. The children obeyed.
When the last one returned, he gathered them together and asked them to describe what they had seen.
The first son said that the tree was ugly, twisted and bent.
The second son said, however, that the tree was covered with green buds and promise of life.
The third son disagreed; he said it was covered with flowers which smelled so sweet and were so beautiful that he said they were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
The last son disagreed with all the others; he said that the tree was full of fruit, life and bounty.
The man then explained to his sons that all the answers were correct as each had only seen one season of the tree’s life.
He said that one cannot judge a tree, or a person, by a single season, and that their essence, the pleasure, joy and love that come from those lives can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are complete.

When spring is over all the flowers die, but when it returns they smile happily. In my eyes everything passes, on my head everything goes white.
But never believe that in spring’s dying moments all flowers die because, just last night, a peach branch was blooming.
(anonymous from Vietnam)

Do not let the pain of one season destroy the joy of what will come later.
Do not judge your life by a difficult season. Persevere through the difficulties, and surely better times will come when you least expect it! Live each of your seasons with joy and the power of hope.

One cold March morning, in a hospital, due to serious complications, a baby girl was born much earlier than expected, after only six months of pregnancy.
She was a tiny little creature and the new parents were painfully shocked by the doctor’s words: “I don’t think the baby has much chance of survival. There is only a 10 per cent chance that she will survive the night, and even if that happens by some miracle, the probability that she will have future complications is very high.” Paralysed with fear, the mother and father listened to the doctor’s words as he described to them all the problems the child would face. She would never be able to walk, talk, see. She would be mentally retarded and much more.
Mum, dad and their five-year-old boy had waited so long for that child. Within a few hours, they saw all their dreams and wishes broken forever.
But their troubles were not over, the little one’s nervous system was not yet developed. So, any caress, kiss or hug was dangerous, the disconsolate family members could not even convey their love to her, they had to avoid touching her.
All three held of them held hands and prayed, forming a small beating heart in the huge hospital:
“Almighty God, Lord of life, do what we cannot do: take care of little Diana, hold her to your breast, cradle her and make her feel all our love.”
Diana was like a vibrant little baby doll and slowly began to improve. Weeks passed and the little one continued to gain weight and become stronger. Finally, when Diana turned two months old, her parents were able to hold her for the first time.
Five years later, Diana had become a serene child who looked towards the future with confidence and a zest for life. There were no signs of physical or mental deficiency, she was a normal child lively and full of curiosity.
But that is not the end of the story.
One warm afternoon, in a park not far from home, while her brother was playing football with friends, Diana was sitting in her mother’s arms. As always she was chatting happily when suddenly she fell silent. She tightened her arms as if hugging someone and asked her mum: “Do you smell that?”
Smelling rain in the air, Mum replied: “Yes. It smells like when it’s going to rain.”
After a while, Diana raised her head and stroking her arms exclaimed: “No, it smells like Him. It smells like when God hugs you tightly.”
The mother began to cry hot tears, as the little girl scampered towards her little friends to play with them.
Her daughter’s words had confirmed what the woman had known in her heart for a long time. Throughout her time in hospital, as she struggled for life, God had taken care of the little girl, embracing her so often that his perfume had remained imprinted in Diana’s memory.

God’s perfume remains in every child. Why are we all in such a hurry to erase it?

‘If one million children pray the Rosary, the world will change’ (St Pio of Pietrelcina – Padre Pio)

Every year in October, a wave of prayer spreads across the world, uniting children of different nationalities, cultures and backgrounds in one powerful gesture of faith. This extraordinary initiative, entitled ‘One million children pray the Rosary’, has become an annual appointment awaited by many, embodying the hope of a better future through the prayer and devotion of the youngest.

Origins and significance of the initiative

The idea for this initiative originated in 2005 in Caracas, capital of Venezuela, when a group of children gathered to pray the Rosary in front of an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Many of the women present there strongly felt the presence of the Virgin Mary, and remembered the prophecy of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina(Padre Pio): ‘When a million children pray the Rosary, the world will change’. That seemingly simple phrase expressed the profound conviction that the prayer of the little ones has a special ability to touch God’s heart and positively influence the world.

Inspired by this experience and by Padre Pio’s words, these women decided to turn that image into reality. They began by organising local prayer events, inviting children to pray the Rosary. The initiative grew rapidly, crossing the borders of Venezuela and spreading to other Latin American countries.

In 2008, the initiative attracted the attention of the Pontifical Foundation ‘Aid to the Church in Need’ (ACS), an international Catholic organisation that supports the Church in need around the world. Recognising the potential of this prayer campaign, the ACS decided to adopt it and promote it globally, with the aim of involving one million children in the recitation of the Rosary, one of the oldest and best-loved prayers in the Catholic Christian tradition.

Under the leadership of the ACS, ‘One million children pray the Rosary’ has grown into a worldwide event. Every year, on 18 October, children from all continents join in prayer, praying the Rosary for peace and unity in the world. The date of 18 October is no coincidence: it is the day on which the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of St Luke the Evangelist, known for his special attention to the Virgin Mary in his writings.

The Rosary: Marian prayer and symbol of peace

The Rosary is a very ancient prayer, centred on reflection on the mysteries of the life of Jesus and Mary, his mother. It consists of repetitions of prayers such as the Hail Mary, the Our Father and the Glory Be, and allows the faithful to meditate on the central moments of Christ’s journey on earth. This practice is not only a form of individual devotion, but has a strong community and intercessory dimension, so much so that in many Marian apparitions, such as those at Fatima and Lourdes, Our Lady expressly asked children to recite the Rosary as a means of obtaining peace in the world and the conversion of sinners.

The Rosary, being repetitive, allows even young children, often unable to follow complex prayers or lengthy readings, to actively participate and understand the meaning of prayer. Through the simple act of repeating the words of the Hail Mary, children are spiritually united with the global community of the faithful, interceding for peace and justice in the world.

The spiritual and educational dimension

The initiative takes place every year on 18 October, although many groups, parishes and schools choose to extend it throughout the month, traditionally dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary.

On the day of the event, children gather in various places: schools, churches, private homes or public spaces. Often, children are instructed on how to pray the Rosary and the spiritual meanings of the various mysteries, so that they can participate with awareness and faith. Under the guidance of adults – parents, teachers or religious leaders – children pray the Rosary together. Many communities organise special events around this prayer, such as songs, Bible readings or short reflections suitable for young people.

Some parishes organise actual celebrations, during which children bring handmade Rosary beads or made of creative materials, to express their participation in an active and engaging way. The initiative ends with the celebration of a special Holy Mass dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary and world peace.

‘A Million Children Pray the Rosary’ is not only a time of prayer, but also an educational opportunity. Many schools and pastoral groups use this event to teach children the values of peace, solidarity and social justice. Through the Rosary, children learn the importance of entrusting their worries and the suffering of the world to God, and understand that peace begins in their hearts and families.

Moreover, the initiative seeks to make children understand the universality of the Church and the Christian faith. Knowing that, at the same time, thousands of other children in every part of the world are praying the same prayer creates a sense of global community and fraternity that transcends language, cultural and geographic barriers.

The value of children’s prayer

Children’s prayer is often seen as particularly powerful in the Christian tradition because of their innocence and purity of heart. In the Bible, Jesus himself invites his disciples to look to children as an example of faith: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven’ (Mt 18:3).

Children, with their open and sincere hearts, are able to pray with total trust in God, without doubt or reservation. This trust and simplicity make their prayer particularly effective in God’s eyes. Moreover, children’s prayer can also have a strong impact on adults, calling them to a purer and deeper faith.

The global impact

Over the years, ‘One Million Children Pray the Rosary’ has seen growing participation, involving millions of children in over 140 countries. In 2023, more than one million children joined in prayer, praying especially for peace in the Holy Land and for other urgent intentions.

The event also attracted media attention in various countries, helping to spread a message of hope and unity in a world often dominated by negative news. Social media became an important tool to promote the initiative and share experiences. Hashtags such as #MillionChildrenPraying and #ChildrenPrayingTheRosary have gone viral in many countries, creating a sense of global community among participants.

The Million Children Praying the Rosary initiative has received support from many leaders of the Catholic Church, including Popes. Pope Francis, in particular, has repeatedly expressed his appreciation for this campaign, emphasising the importance of children’s prayer for world peace.

Beyond the religious sphere, the initiative has attracted the attention of educators and psychologists, who have emphasised the benefits of involving children in activities that promote reflection, compassion and a sense of global connectedness.

Campaign Goals

The One Million Children Pray the Rosary campaign has several key objectives:

1. Spiritual Education: To teach children the importance of prayer and the Rosary as an integral part of their spiritual life, to grow in faith.
2. Honouring the Virgin Mary: The initiative strengthens Marian devotion, a central element of the Catholic faith.
3. Learning to pray together: The event creates a sense of unity and solidarity among participants, overcoming geographical and cultural barriers.
4. Promoting world peace: Children’s prayer is seen as a powerful tool to invoke peace in a world often plagued by conflict and division.

5. Raising awareness of global challenges: Through prayer, children are encouraged to reflect on global issues and their role in creating a better future.

How to participate

Participating in the initiative is very simple. Simply:

1. Get informed: Visit the official ACS website to download free materials, such as posters, illustrated stories and prayer guides.
2. Organise a time for prayer: Choose a time to pray the Rosary, on the 18th of October (or another day closer if the 18th is not possible). It can be done in a group or individually.
3. Involve the children: from your family, school or parish in a moment of common prayer. Explain to the children the importance of prayer and the meaning of the Rosary. Encourage them to actively participate.
4. Register online: Register your participation on the ACS website to make your voice heard and help reach the goal of one million children.

5. Share the experience: Share photos, videos and testimonials on social media using the hashtag #MillionChildrenPraying. This helps create a global community of prayer

‘A Million Children Pray the Rosary’ is an extraordinary initiative that demonstrates the power of prayer and the importance of faith. Through praying the Rosary, children around the world can unite in a global community of faith, bringing hope and peace. Let us join them in this great chain of prayer and help build a more beautiful world.

A touching testimony by Raoul Follereau. He was in a leper colony on a Pacific island. A nightmare of horror. Nothing but walking corpses, despair, rage, sores and horrific mutilation.
Yet in the midst of such devastation, one sick old man retained surprisingly bright and smiling eyes. He was suffering in body, like his unhappy companions, but showed attachment to life, not despair, and gentleness in his treatment of others.
Intrigued by that true miracle of life, in the hell of the leper colony, Follereau wanted to seek an explanation: what on earth could have given such strength of life to that old man so stricken by evil?
He followed him, discreetly. He discovered that, invariably, at the crack of dawn, the old man would drag himself to the fence surrounding the leper colony, and reach a specific place.
He would sit and wait.
It was not the rising of the sun that he waited for. Nor the spectacle of the Pacific dawn.
He would wait until, on the other side of the fence, a woman would appear, also elderly, her face covered in fine wrinkles, her eyes full of gentleness.
The woman did not speak. She only sent out a silent and discreet message: a smile. But the man lit up at that smile and responded with another smile.
The silent conversation lasted a few moments, then the old man would get up and toddle back to the barracks. Every morning. A kind of daily communion. The leper, nourished and fortified by that smile, could endure a new day and hold out until the new appointment with the smile of that feminine face.
When Follereau asked him, the leper said, “she is my wife!”
And after a moment of silence: “Before I came here, she looked after me in secret, with everything she could find. A sorcerer had given her an ointment. Every day she smeared my face with it, except for a small part, enough to affix her lips to it for a kiss… But it was all in vain. So they picked me up, brought me here. But she followed me. And when I see her again every day, only from her do I know that I am still alive, only for her do I still enjoy living.”

Surely someone smiled at you this morning, even if you did not realise it. Certainly someone is waiting for your smile today. If you enter a church and open your soul to silence, you will realise that God, first of all, welcomes you with a smile.

            On the first anniversary of Don Bosco’s death his Past Pupils wanted to continue to celebrate the Feast of Recognition, as they had done every year on 24 June, organising it for the new Rector Major, Fr Rua.
            On 23 June 1889, after placing a memorial stone in the Crypt at Valsalice where Don Bosco was buried, they celebrated Fr Rua at Valdocco on the 24th.
            Professor Alessandro Fabre, a past pupil from 1858-66, took the floor and said among other things:
            “You will not be disappointed to know, dear Fr Rua, that we have decided to add as an appendix the inauguration on 15 August next of another plaque, the commission for which has already been given and the design is reproduced here. We will place it on the house where our dear Don Bosco was born and lived for many years, so that the place where the heart of that great man who was later to fill Europe and the world with his name, his virtues and his admirable institutions might remain a signpost for contemporaries and posterity will remain a place where it first beat for God and for mankind.”
            As can be seen, the Past Pupils’ intention was to place a plaque on the Casetta at the Becchi, which everyone believed was Don Bosco’s birthplace, because he had always indicated it as his home. But then, finding the Casetta in ruins, they were encouraged to redo the inscription and place the plaque on Joseph’s house nearby, with the following wording dictated by Prof. Fabre himself:
            On 11 August, a few days before Don Bosco’s birthday, the Past Pupils went to the Becchi to unveil the plaque. Felice Reviglio, Parish Priest at St Augustine’s, and one of Don Bosco’s very first pupils, gave the speech on the occasion. Talking about the Casetta he said: “The very house near here where he was born, which is almost completely ruined…” is “a true monument of Don Bosco’s evangelical poverty.”
            The “completely ruined” Casetta had already been mentioned in the Salesian Bulletin in March 1887 (BS 1887, March, p. 31), and Fr Reviglio and the inscription on the plaque (“a house now demolished”) were evidently speaking of this situation. The inscription covered the unfortunate fact that the Casetta, not yet Salesian property, now seemed inexorably lost.
            But Fr Rua did not give up and in 1901 offered to restore it at the Salesians’ expense in the hope of later obtaining it from the heirs of Antonio and Giuseppe Bosco, as happened in 1919 and 1926 respectively.
            When the work was completed a plaque was placed on the Casetta with the following inscription: IN THIS HUMBLE COTTAGE, NOW PIOUSLY RESTORED, FATHER JOHN BOSCO WAS BORN ON 16 AUGUST 1815
            Then also the inscription on Joseph’s house was corrected as follows: “Born here in a house now restored… etc.”, and the plaque was replaced.
            Then, when the centenary of Don Bosco’s birth was celebrated in 1915, the Bulletin published the photo of the Casetta, specifying: “It is the one where the Venerable John Bosco was born on 16 August 1815. It was saved from the ruin to which time had condemned it, with a general repair in the year 1901.”
            In the 1970s, archival research carried out by Commendatore Secondo Caselle convinced the Salesians that Don Bosco had indeed lived from 1817 to 1831 at the Casetta purchased by his father, his home, as he had always said, but he had been born at the Biglione farmstead, where his father was a share farmer and lived with his family until his death on 11 May 1817, at the top of the hill where the Church to St. John Bosco now stands.
            The plaque on Joseph’s house had been changed, while the one on the Casetta was replaced by the current marble inscription: THIS IS MY HOUSE DON BOSCO
            The Past Pupils’ opinion in 1889, with the words “Born near here in a house now demolished” now took on another meaning; it did not mean the Caasetta at the Becchi.

The place names at Becchi
            Did the Bosco family live at Cascina Biglione when John was born?
            Some have said that this is in doubt, because they almost certainly lived in another house owned by Biglione at “Meinito”. Proof of this would be   Francesco Bosco’s Will, drawn up by notary C. G. Montalenti on 8 May 1817, where we read: “… in the house of Signor Biglione inhabited by the testator in the region of the Monastero borgata [hamlet] at Meinito…”. (S. CASELLE, Cascinali e Contadini del Monferrato: i Bosco di Chieri nel secolo XVIII, Rome, LAS, 1975, p. 94).
            What can be said about this opinion?
            Today, “Meinito” (or “Mainito”) is merely the site of a farmstead located south of Colle Don Bosco, beyond the provincial road that goes from Castelnuovo towards Capriglio, but at one time it indicated a more extensive territory, contiguous to one called Sbaraneo (or Sbaruau). And Sbaraneo was none other than the valley to the east of the Colle.
            “Monastery”, then, did not only correspond to the current wooded area close to Mainito, but covered a vast area, from Mainito to Barosca, so much so that the Casetta at the Becchi was recorded in 1817 as “region of Cavallo, Monastero” (S. CASELLE, op. cit., p. 96).
            At a time when there were not yet any maps with numbered plots, farmsteads and estates were identified on the basis of place names or toponyms, derived from surnames of ancient families or geographical and historical features.
            They served as landmarks, but did not correspond to today’s meaning of “region” or “hamlet” except very roughly, and were used with much freedom of choice by notaries.
            The oldest map of the Castelnovese, preserved in the municipal archives and kindly made available to us, dates back to 1742 and is called the “Napoleonic Map”, probably because of its greater use during the French occupation. An extract of this map, edited in 1978 with photographic elaboration of the original text by Mr Polato and Mr Occhiena, who compared the archive documents with the lots numbered on the Napoleonic Map, gives an indication of all the land owned by the Biglione family since 1773 and worked by the Bosco family from 1793 to 1817. From this “Extract” it appears that the Biglione family did not own any land or houses at Mainito. And on the other hand, no other document can be found so far that proves the contrary.
            So what meaning can the words “in Mr Biglione’s house… in the Monastero region of the hamlet of Meinito” have?
            First of all, it is good to know that only nine days later, the same notary who drew up Francesco Bosco’s will, wrote in the inventory of his inheritance: “… in the house of Signor Giacinto Biglione inhabited by the unnamed pupils [Francesco’s sons] in the region of Meinito…”. (S. CASELLE, op. cit., p. 96), thus promoting Mainito from “borgata” to “regione” in just a few days. And then it is curious to note that even the Cascina Biglione proper, in different documents appears as Sbaconatto, in Sbaraneo or Monastero, in Castellero, and so on and so forth.
            So where are we at? Taking everything into account, it is not difficult to realise that it is always the same area, the Monastero, which at its centre had Sbaconatto and Castellerò, to the east the Sbaraneo, and to the south the Mainito. Notary Montalenti chose “Meinito” as others chose “Sbaraneo” or 2Sbaconatto” or “Castellero”. But the site and the house were always the same!
            We know, moreover, that Mr and Mrs Damevino, owners of Cascina Biglione from 1845 to 1929, also owned other farmsteads, at Scajota and Barosca; but, as local elders assure us, they never owned houses at Mainito. Yet they had bought the properties that the Biglione family had sold to Mr Giuseppe Chiardi in 1818.
            All that remains is to conclude that the document drawn up by notary Montalenti on 8 May 1817, even if it contains no errors, refers to the Cascina Biglione proper, where Don Bosco was born on 16 August 1815, his father died on 11 May 1817 and the grandiose Temple to St John Bosco was built in our days.
            The existence, finally, of a fictitious Biglione house inhabited by the Bosco family at Mainito and then demolished whenever or by whoever before 1889, as some have speculated, has (at least so far) no real evidence in its favour. When the Past Pupils the words “Born here at…” in Becchi (see our January article) they certainly could not have been referring to Mainito, which is over a kilometre from Joseph’s house!

Cascine, massari and mezzadri
            Francesco Bosco, farmer at the Cascina Biglione, wishing to set up his own business, bought land and the Becchi house, but death took him suddenly on 11 May 1817 before he had been able to pay all his debts. In November, his widow, Margaret Occhiena, moved with her children and mother-in-law into the Casetta, which had been renovated for the purpose. Before then, the Casetta, already contracted by her husband since 1815 but not yet paid for, consisted only of “a croft and adjacent stable, covered with tiles, in poor condition” (S. CASELLE, Cascinali e contadini […], p. 96-97), and therefore uninhabitable for a family of five, with animals and tools. By February 1817 the notarial deed of sale had been drawn up, but the debt was still outstanding. Margaret had to resolve the situation as guardian of Anthony, Joseph and John Bosco, by then small owners at the Becchi.
            It was not the first time that the Bosco family moved from the status of massari to becoming smallholders and vice versa. The late Comm. Secondo Caselle has given us ample documentation of this.
            Don Bosco’s great-great-grandfather, Giovanni Pietro, formerly a massaro (sharecropper) at the Croce di Pane farmstead, between Chieri and Andezeno, owned by the Barnabite Fathers, in 1724 became a shrecropper at the Cascina di San Silvestro near Chieri, belonging to the Prevostura di San Giorgio. And the fact that he lived in the Cascina di San Silvestro with his family is recorded in the Registri del Sale of 1724. His nephew, Filippo Antonio, fatherless and taken in by Giovanni Pietro’s eldest son, Giovanni Francesco Bosco, was adopted by a great-uncle, from whom he inherited a house, garden and 2 hectares of land in Castelnuovo. But, due to the critical economic situation he found himself in, he had to sell the house and most of his land and move with his family to the hamlet of Morialdo, as a sharecropper of Cascina Biglione, where he died in 1802.
            Paolo, his first-born son, thus became the head of the family and the farmer, as recorded in the 1804 census. But a few years later, he left the farmstead to his half-brother Francesco and went to settle in Castelnuovo after taking his share of the inheritance and buying and selling. It was then that Francesco Bosco, son of Filippo Antonio and Margherita Zucca, became a massaro of Cascina Biglione.
            What was meant in those days by cascina, massaro and mezzadro?
            The word cascina (in Piedmontese: cassin-a) indicates in itself a farmhouse or the whole of a farm; but in the places we are talking about, the emphasis was on the house, i.e. the farm building used partly as a dwelling and partly as a rustic house for livestock, etc. The massaro (in Piedmontese: massé) in itself is the tenant of the farmstead and the farms, while the mezzadro (in Piedmontese: masoé) is only the cultivator of a master’s land with whom he shares the crops. But in practice in those places the massaro was also a sharecropper and vice versa, so that the word massé was not much used, while masoé generally indicated the massaro as well.
            Mr and Mrs Damevino, owners of Cascina Bion or Biglione al Castellero from 1845 to 1929, also owned other farmsteads, at Scajota and Barosca, and, as Mr Angelo Agagliate assured us, they had five massari or sharecroppers, one at Cascina Biglione, two at Scajota and two at Barosca. Naturally, the various massari lived in their own farmstead.
            Now, if a farmer was a farmer, e.g., at Cascina Scajota, owned by the Damevino family, he was not called “living in the Damevino house”, but simply “alla Scajota”. If Francesco Bosco had lived in the supposed Biglione house at Mainito, he would not, therefore, have been said to have lived “in Mr Biglione’s house” even if this house had belonged to the Biglione family. If the notary wrote “In Signor Biglione’s house inhabited by the testator below”, it was a sign that Francesco lived with his family at Cascina Biglione proper.
            And this is further confirmation of the previous articles that refute the hypothesis of Don Bosco’s birth at Mainito “in a house now demolished”.
            In conclusion, one cannot give exclusive importance to the literal meaning of certain expressions, but must examine their true meaning in the local usage of the time. In studies of this kind, the work of the local researcher is complementary to that of the academic historian, and particularly important, because the former, aided by detailed knowledge of the area, can provide the latter with the material needed for general conclusions, and avoid erroneous interpretations.

Rediscover the great value of closeness, friendship, simple joy in everyday life, the value of sharing, of talking and communicating.

I write these lines, dear friends of Don Bosco and his precious charism, looking at the draft of the Salesian Bulletin for September. My greeting is the last thing to be included: I am the last to write, depending on the month’s content. Just as Don Bosco did.
In this month, at the start of the academic year in the schools, in the oratories, I am pleased to see that the messages have such a missionary flavour (and that is why the Philippines and Papua New Guinea are mentioned), and also the simplicity of a “Salesian mission” with the local flavour of the Saluzzo house.
Reading the Bulletin makes me appreciate something that is very much ours, very Salesian, and which I am sure pleases so many of you: I refer to the great value of closeness, friendship, simple joy in everyday life, the value of sharing, talking and communicating.  The great gift of having friends, of knowing that you are not alone. The feeling of being loved by so many good people in our lives.
And thinking about all this, a sincere and very honest testimony came to mind from a young woman who wrote to Father Luigi Maria Epicoco and which he published in his book La luce in fondo. It is a testimony that I would like you to know because I consider it the antithesis of what we try to build every day in every Salesian house. This young woman feels, in a certain sense, that there is no success or fulfilment if the most human of encounters, of beautiful human relationships, is missing, and this school year that we are beginning brings this back to us.
This young woman writes of herself: “Dear Father, I am writing to you because I would like you to help me understand if the nostalgia I feel in these months says that I am strange or that something important has changed for me. It will perhaps be helpful if I tell you a little about myself. I decided to leave home when I was barely eighteen. It was a way to escape from an environment that seemed so narrow, so suffocating for my dreams. So I arrived in Milan in search of work. My family could not support my studies. That was also why I was angry with them. All my friends were in a frenzy to choose a faculty. I had no choice because no one could support me. I looked for a job to live on and dreamt for years of a chance to study. I succeeded and with immense sacrifices I graduated. On the day of my graduation, I did not want my family to attend. I thought that peasants with only secondary school would not understand anything about my studies. I only told my mother that everything had gone well, and I felt her tears that for a moment woke me up to a sense of guilt that I had never felt before. But it was a no great matter. What I did was my own efforts and never could or wanted to rely on anyone else. Even at work I got ahead because I chose to ally myself with myself.
I spent years like that. And I don’t understand why it is only now, in the midst of the lockdown during this pandemic, that a longing for my family has burst inside me. I dream of telling them everything I never told them. I dream of hugging my father. At night I wake up and wonder if one can live a life free of such meaningful relationships. Even the relationships I have had over the years, I have never allowed them to cross the border of true intimacy. But now everything seems so different to me. Now that I cannot choose to leave the house, or go to whoever I consider important, I have awakened to the realisation of the big lie I have been living all this time within me.
Who are we without relationships? Maybe just unhappy people looking for affirmation. I now realised that everything I did, in reality I did because I hoped someone would tell me who I really was. But the only ones who could help me answer that question I cut them off by closing off relationships. And now they are risking their lives, hundreds of kilometres away from me. If I were to die, I would want to be with them and not with my successes,”

A shared joy
I appreciate the honesty and courage of this young woman who made me think a lot about our situation today. It made me reflect on the lifestyle we are living in so many families where the important thing is to have good results, to achieve a good economic situation, to fill our days with things to do so that everything is profitable, etc…. but we pay very high prices for living always, and more and more, not outside the home but outside ourselves. There is a danger of living without a centre, i.e. “off centre”. And believe me, dear friends, you cannot imagine how much this can be seen especially in the boys and girls in our homes, our courtyards and our oratories.
Don Bosco’s second successor, Fr Paul Albera recalls: “Don Bosco educated by loving, attracting, conquering and transforming.  He enveloped us all almost entirely in an atmosphere of contentment and happiness, from which sorrows, sadness and melancholy were banished… He listened to the children with the greatest attention as if the things they were saying were all very important.”
The first pleasure in life is to be happy together: “A shared joy is twice a joy!” The educator’s watchword is “’I feel good when I am with you.” A presence that is intensity of life.
A biographer of Don Bosco, Fr Ceria, recounts that an important prelate after a visit to Valdocco declared: “You have a great fortune in your house, which no one else has in Turin and neither do other religious communities. You have a room into which anyone who enters full of affliction, comes out radiant with joy.”  Fr Lemoyne noted in pencil: “And a thousand of us have had that experience.”
One day Don Bosco said: “Among us, the young people now seem like sons in the family, all householders; they make the interests of the Congregation their own. They say our church, our college and whatever concerns the Salesians, they call it ours.”
That is why this new year is an opportunity to take care, to take care of ourselves in what is most essential and most important. For our family.

This is the true story of an eight-year-old girl who knew that love can work wonders. Her little brother was destined to die of a brain tumour. His parents were poor, but had done everything to save him, spending all their savings.

One evening, the father said to the tearful mother: “We can’t do this any more, dear. I think it’s over. Only a miracle could save him.”
The little girl in the corner of the room, with bated breath, had heard this.
She ran to her room, broke open the piggy bank and, without making a sound, headed for the nearest pharmacy. She waited patiently for her turn. She walked up to the counter, stood on tiptoes and, in front of the astonished pharmacist, placed all the coins on the counter.
“What’s that for? What do you want, little one?”
“It is for my little brother, Mr. Pharmacist. He is very ill and I have come to buy a miracle.”
“What are you saying?” muttered the pharmacist.
“His name is Andrew, and he has a thing growing inside his head, and daddy told mummy that it’s over, there’s nothing more to be done, and that it would take a miracle to save him. You see, I love my little brother so much, that’s why I took all my money and came to buy a miracle.”
The pharmacist nodded a sad smile.
“My little one, we don’t sell miracles here.”
“But if this money is not enough, I can get busy to find more. How much does a miracle cost?”

There was a tall, elegant man in the pharmacy, looking very serious, who seemed interested in the strange conversation.
The pharmacist spread his arms, mortified. The girl, with tears in her eyes, began to retrieve her change. The man approached her.
“Why are you crying, little one? What is the matter with you?”
“Mr Pharmacist won’t sell me a miracle or even tell me how much it costs… It’s for my little brother Andrew who is very sick. Mum says it would take an operation, but dad says it costs too much and we can’t pay and that it would take a miracle to save him. That’s why I brought everything I have.”
“How much do you have?”
“One dollar and eleven cents… But, you know…” she added with a edge in her voice, “I can still find something…”
The man smiled “Look, I don’t think that’s necessary. One dollar and eleven cents is exactly the price of a miracle for your little brother!” With one hand he collected the small sum and with the other he gently took the little girl’s hand.
“Take me to your house, little one. I want to see your little brother and also your daddy and mummy and see with them if we can find the little miracle you need.”
The tall, elegant man and the little girl came out holding hands.

That man was Professor Carlton Armstrong, one of the world’s greatest neurosurgeons. He operated on little Andrew, who was able to return home a few weeks later fully recovered.

“This operation,” mum murmured, “is a real miracle. I wonder how much it cost…”
The little sister smiled without saying anything. She knew how much the miracle had cost: one dollar and eleven cents…. plus, of course, the love and faith of a little girl.

“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain: ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20).

The white stork (Ciconia ciconia) is a large bird, unmistakable for its tapering red beak, long neck, very long legs, and predominantly white plumage, with black feathers on the wings. It is migratory by nature, and its arrival in spring in many countries of Europe is considered a good omen.
As soon as they arrive, these birds start to make or rebuild their nests in high places, often in the same place.

In the past, when there were no electricity grid support poles, the highest places were the covered chimneys of houses, and the warmest ones were preferred by storks. And the houses that were also warm in the spring were those where a newborn baby was in need of a propitious environment. Hence the legend of the stork carrying babies, a legend that has become a symbol. In fact, even today, greeting cards to new mothers feature a stork in flight, with a bundle tied to its beak.

The Creator endowed storks with superior instincts, making them noble birds. And they are so faithful to the task assigned to them by nature that they deserve to be placed among the first in the “book of creation”.

The first thing that strikes one is that they tend to be monogamous: once a couple is formed, they stay together for life. Sure, there will be squabbles in their existence, but these never lead to separation.
They almost always return to the same nest, rebuilding and enriching it. They never tire of repairing it every year and improving it, even if this requires much effort. And the nest is always high up, on chimneys, electric poles or bell towers, because they want to protect their offspring from wild animals.
Although no one has taught them, they manage to build wonderful nests that can exceed two metres in diameter with twigs and also with other materials they find within their flying range, even with textiles and plastics; they do not destroy nature, but recycle.
The female lays three to six eggs, not worrying about how she will support her young. Once the eggs are laid, she never neglects her duty to brood, even if she has to face bad times. If the nests are close to roads, the constant noise of cars, the vibrations caused by heavy vehicles or their dazzling lights at night does not make them leave. When the sun gets scorching hot, the stork opens its wings a little or moves occasionally to cool off, but does not try to get into the shade. When it is cold, especially at night, it does everything it can not to leave its eggs outside too much. When a strong wind comes, it does not let itself be carried away and does everything to keep still. When it rains, she does not take cover to protect herself from the water. And when even a hailstorm comes, it stoically resists at the risk of losing its life, but does not stop doing its duty.
And this behaviour  is wonderful if we remember the basic instincts that the Creator has left to every living being. Even in the most basic organisms, the single-celled ones, we find four basic instincts: nutrition, excretion, preservation of the individual (self-defence) and preservation of the species (reproduction). And when an organism has to choose whether to give priority to one of these instincts, the preservation of the individual, self-defence, always prevails.
In the case of the stork, the fact that it stays put to protect its eggs even in storms, even when there is a hailstorm endangering its life, shows that the instinct of preservation of the species becomes stronger than that of preservation of the individual. It is as if this bird is aware that the liquid in those eggs is not a generated product from which she can separate, but that inside the egg is a life that she must protect at all costs.

The female alternates with the male while brooding. The male is ready to give his consort a change to allow her to get food and get some exercise. And this for the entire time, just over a month, until the eggs hatch and the new creatures come to light. After this period, the parents continue to take turns to provide a warm place for the young, to feed them for another two months until they begin to leave the nest. And up to three weeks they feed them with regurgitated food because their young are unable to feed themselves otherwise. They are content with what they find: insects, frogs, fish, rodents, lizards, snakes, crustaceans, worms, etc.; they make no demands for food. And by satisfying this need to feed, they participate in the natural balance, reducing agricultural pests such as grasshoppers.
They ensure the survival of their chicks by defending them from predatory sparrows, hawks and eagles, because they know that they are incapable of recognising aggressors or even defending themselves.
The young, once they have grown wings, learn to fly and look for food, and gradually leave their nest, as if they are aware that there is no more physical space for them, as the nest is limited in size. They do not live by weighing on their parents, but they get busy. They are non-possessive birds; they do not mark their territory, but coexist peacefully with others.
In this way, young storks begin to live as adults, even if they are not yet adults. In fact, to begin to reproduce they must wait their time, until they are 4 years old, when they join forces in pairs with another bird of the same temperament, but of the opposite sex, and begin the adventure of their lives. For this they will have to learn that in order to survive they must migrate even very long distances, struggling, seeking their opportunities to live in one place during the summer and in another during the winter. And to do so safely, they will have to associate with other storks which have the same nature and interest.

The instincts of these creatures have not escaped human observation. Since ancient times, the stork has been the symbol of love between parents and children. And it is the bird that best represents the ancient bond between man and nature.
The white stork has a mild character and for this reason it is loved by people and is well liked everywhere; the Abbey of Chiaravalle even wanted it in its coat of arms next to the pastoral baculus and mitre.
Today it is difficult to see it in nature. It is not often you see a stork’s nest and even less so up close. But someone came up with the idea of using technology to show the life of these birds by placing a live video camera next to a nest on a road. Watching to learn. The “book of nature” has so much to teach us….

Long ago there was a man who had three sons whom he loved very much. He was not born rich, but through his wisdom and hard work he had managed to save a lot of money and buy a fertile farm.
When he became old, he began to think about how to divide what he owned among his sons. One day, when he was very old and ill, he decided on a test to see which of his sons was the most intelligent.
He then called his three sons to his bedside.
He gave each one five pennies and asked them to buy something to fill his room, which was empty and bare.
Each of the sons took the money and went out to fulfil their father’s wish.
The oldest son thought it was an easy job. He went to the market and bought a bundle of straw, which was the first thing that came his way. The second son, on the other hand, pondered for a few minutes. After going round, the whole market and searching all the shops, he bought some beautiful feathers.
The youngest son considered the problem for a long time. “What is it that costs only five pennies and can fill a room?” he wondered. Only after many hours of thinking and rethinking did he find something that suited him, and his face lit up. He went to a small shop hidden in a side street and bought a candle and a match with his five pennies. On the way home he was happy and wondered what his brothers had bought.
The next day, the three sons gathered in their father’s room. Each brought his gift, the object that was to fill a room. First the oldest son spread his straw on the floor, but unfortunately it only filled a small corner. The second son showed his feathers: they were very pretty, but they barely filled two corners.
The father was very disappointed with the efforts of his two older sons.
Then the youngest son stood in the middle of the room: all the others looked at him curiously, wondering: “What could he have bought?”.
The boy lit the candle with the match and the light from that one flame spread across the room and filled it.
Everyone smiled.
The old father was delighted with his youngest son’s gift. He gave him all his land and his money, because he understood that the boy was smart enough to make good use of it and would take wise care of his brothers.

With a smile you can light up the world today. And it costs nothing.