DON BOSCO NOVENA: DAY 7

Day 7 (January 28): Seeking the simplicity of the Beatitudes

In teaching the Beatitudes, Jesus offered us a real path to holiness. “The Beatitudes are like a Christian’s identity card” (Gaudete et Exsultate, 63).

In them a way of life is proposed to us which includes processes that go from poverty of heart, which also means austerity of life, to reacting with humble meekness in a world where quarrels easily arise over the slightest thing; from the courage of allowing ourselves to be “pierced” by other peoples’ sorrow and show them compassion, to seeking justice with a true hunger and thirst, while others share out the spoils obtained by means of injustice, corruption, and the abuse of power.

The Beatitudes lead the Christian to look and to act with mercy, which means helping others and also forgiving them; they encourage him or her to keep a heart that is pure and free from all that taints love for God and neighbor. The proposal of Jesus asks us to sow seeds of peace and justice and build bridges between people. It also asks us to accept the lack of understanding, deceitfulness in those who deal with us, and finally all persecutions, even the subtlest ones that exist today.

Prayer to St. John Bosco

Saint John Bosco,
help us to understand as you did that only in Jesus and in his Gospel can we find true meaning and happiness in our lives;
help us to respond generously to God’s invitation to holiness, so that like you, we may help build here on earth a true civilization of love;
help us to be like you, signs and bearers of God’s special love for the young and the needy.
Pray for us the grace of holiness, so that guided by Mary Help of Christians, and living the spirit of the Beatitudes in our daily life, we may all meet to enjoy together eternal happiness with God.
Amen.