Humanly speaking, hope is a virtue that enables individuals to look forward to a better future, despite challenges and difficulties.
Spiritually speaking, hope is a profound and multifaceted concept that can bring comfort, guidance, and inspiration to individuals to grow in holiness and virtues. Spiritual hope is rooted in God and His promises. Spiritual hope is that we are redeemed by God and we have a share in his love.
DON BOSCO : Hope Cultivated From Childhood
Don Bosco cultivated the virtue of hope early in his childhood. God in his divine providence created for him an environment and situations which may apparently look hopeless, built in him hope that would make him strong and robust to meet all the challenges he ought to meet as an individual and a father of the multitude that we are today in the world and Church.
A peep into his early life, his struggles and difficulties of growing up gives us a clear indication that hope was his ‘project of life.’ The death of his father in his infancy, witnessing the hardship his mother underwent in caring for the family, the extreme poverty that made it impossible for him to go to school, forced to take up odd jobs to sustain himself, death of a priest-benefactor who would have assisted him. It is not wrong to say that through these difficulties of his childhood God prepared him for great hardships as he prepared to serve young people.
DON BOSCO : Hope Seen in His Ministry
There are so many hopeless situations and incidences in the beginning of his ministry that an ordinary person would have given up. For example, problems he faced in locating a decent place to begin his oratory, lack of funds in feeding his hungry children, moments of loneliness as he began his work singlehandedly, and his ill health caused by fatigue.
Little John Bosco’s famous motivating dream of nine years was misinterpreted by his family members as something not coming, his relationship with his step-brother Antony was nothing but discouraging. His mother who came to help him wanted to leave him after seeing the challenging work in front of her. Outside his family, his fellow priests considered him out of his mind, and he suffered greatly in his strained relationship with his Archbishop and the restrictions he planned on Don Bosco. Within his own organization, some of his early followers doubted his work and found it too difficult to follow him.
In all these hopeless situations, the young priest Don Bosco found himself in ill health and wanting energy, often he was in anxiety due to lack of funds to feed his boys, meeting the needs of expanding oratory and the other centers he founded, later the new congregation took toll of his fragile health.
Don Bosco went through great moments of uncertainty while getting approval for his congregation and leaving his works to the inexperienced sons. We see all these hidden in his words in the ‘Letter from Rome’ (May 10, 1884). His premature death was due to complete exhaustion and complete run down of his health. But Don Bosco never lost his hope.
DON BOSCO : Modelled on Jesus’ Hope
Don Bosco modelled himself on Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Jesus’ own hope was Don Bosco’s perennial inspiration of hope. Jesus as our savior is the ultimate symbol of hope in life. His life was in uncertainty and anxiety in every stage of life. He was conceived and born in doubt, suspicion, homelessness, his parents went through a moment of insecurity, took refuge in Egypt and later moved to their home town with practically nothing in hand and Jesus lives an obscure life.
His ministry begins with temptations, disciples were not just ordinary, but unreliable, skeptical, self-centered, and slow in understanding. Jesus constantly lived in moments of danger, encountered threats to his life, and was often rejected by everyone around him. His message was received with skepticism, doubt, annoyance, and even mockery.
At the end of three years working patiently with his disciples, Jesus found himself in a hopeless situation. He had to face his suffering and final moments in loneliness and pain of being rejected. But he did not give up hope. After resurrection he goes back to the same apostles to strengthen them to continue the mission he started with them. He turns the hopeless instrument of the Cross into an instrument of salvation.
It is this journey of Jesus that continued to inspire Don Bosco in his vocation to serve the poor and dedicate his life. Don Bosco’s faith in divine providence, God’s care and Mary’s motherly intercession kept him going until the end. The hope Don Bosco received from God, he faithfully passed it on to his spiritual family.
Like Jesus, Don Bosco had his own experience of hopeless people such as Samaritans, Zealots, tax collectors, and vulnerable women and the sick. Like Jesus, Don Bosco reached out to the people who lived on the fringes of society. As people found hope in Jesus, the numerous poor and abandoned boys found hope and solace in Don Bosco.
Manifestation of DON BOSCO’s Hope
As a man of hope Don Bosco manifested extraordinary courage and resilience. The Salesian congregation and the larger Salesian family are a great expression of his hope amidst great uncertainty, and privation of everything.
Don Bosco’s works, his writing mission, establishing churches, academic and vocational training, and apprenticeships to help young people are expressions of his hope in the future of his mission. He established Oratories and schools in Italy and other countries, offering young people a safe and supportive environment to learn and grow.
Again, his sending missionaries when he needed those most to be around him is his hope for the future of the congregation. Concretely speaking, trusting in his own sons such as Rua, Cagliero, Rinaldi to be his close associates and successors are his hope for the future. Thus Don Bosco inspired countless young people and adults to work towards creating a better world, filled with hope, kindness, and compassion.
Importance of Cultivating Hope in Youth
As sons of Don Bosco and youth workers, cultivating hope in young people is essential for their emotional, social, and psychological well-being. As role models and animators we help the youth to build positive relationships where they feel love, valued, and encouraged.
We are called to encourage resilience through hope, helping young to develop healthy coping mechanisms, such as problem-solving, self-control, and personal care. Building hope brings about the right mind-set, which creates opportunities for growth and learning.
Hope promotes positive thinking.
We encourage young people to reflect on the good things in their lives. We ought to teach them to cultivate positive self-talk and self-encouragement.
Hope creates greater chances for success.
It helps to set achievable goals and better results in every aspect of life in a realistic way. It encourages participation in activities they enjoy, such as sports, music, or art. They are also encouraged to participate in things of prayer, spirituality and social action.
Hope fosters a sense of belonging.
It improves community involvement, encouraging young people to get involved in their community through volunteering, extracurricular activities, or youth groups. It can create an inclusive environment where young people feel valued, respected, and supported. Young people share their personal stories of hope and success among themselves.
As youth ministers we teach hope-focused skills. We actively involve them in problem-solving techniques and finding solutions for new challenges through goal-setting in the short term and long term.
Fr. Lazar Arasu SDB
Salesian Community, Gulu-Uganda
AGL Province.