St. John Bosco
John Bosco, surely a saint for our times
This is a busy, mostly troubled week in the world. Tensions mounting over Iran and its development of nuclear energy/weapons, and its threat to decrease oil production. More tensions over oil as scattered violence against oil workers in Nigeria, market worries over futures prices and a growing concern that the theory of Peak Oil is true. (Peak oil basically says that, although the world still has a lot of untapped crude, the time and resources needed to get it to market are growing so that slightly less will be produced each year, this at the same time as rising demand.) Then there's the Iraq war, budget deficits, trade deficits, Alan Greenspan's retirement, the confirmation of Samuel Alito, the State of the Union address and, lest we forget, the buildup to the weekend's Super Bowl. And that's just a short list!
Lost for too many of us is the sense of the sacred, the peace of knowing that our chief responsibility in this life, at this time, is to discern and do the will of God in our lives. Everyone needs this peace, and many yearn for it, but we are all so busy doing first what we think other people expect of us. What we need is a good role model, and someone whose words speak to us of nobler goals and worthier pursuits.
So on his Feast day, Tuesday, Jan. 31, we nominate Saint John (Don) Bosco, an Italian priest and founder the Salesian Order, a great mystic, a diligent servant of God, and a man who knows how to communicate to the young, and the young at heart.
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