May 31, 1978

ALWAYS AND EVERYWHERE, THE FIRST PLACE BELONGS TO GOD

Write, brother Octavio; I am John Bosco.

Your visit and that of Fr. P. in Turin to the Sanctuary of the Heavenly Mother, Help of Christians, was pleasing to the most high God and to the most Blessed Virgin, our common Mother. The Masses celebrated in the chapel of relics in honor of the holy martyrs Octavio and his companions, obtained graces through their intercession, heroic and faithful confessors of the faith. Therefore it was not a useless trip, but rather one rich in gifts and in graces, that one day you will know in Paradise.

Brother Octavio and D.P., you both have a path marked out for you by the eternal decrees of God: you should form souls; you should direct them; you should teach the souls that God places upon your path, that only God is the Alpha and Omega of everything and of everyone, that we owe everything to him, and in consequence, always and everywhere, the first place should be given to him.

Dear brothers, to work in this manner and to teach it, means to accomplish the spiritual regeneration of an atheistic Christianity, unbelieving and impious; it means bringing love and union to places where hatred and division reign; it means bringing light to where darkness is, bringing faith to where there is incredulity; it means, in sum, to make a new society.

It is the task of the members of the Association of Hope to renew themselves in order to renew, to sanctify themselves in order to sanctify, to enrich themselves, to be able to give to those who do not have. Dearest brothers, you should go down into the vineyard with a group of well-trained vine keepers, in order to make this vineyard fruitful, so full of cockle and saturated with enemies that should be defeated.

No renovation or regeneration is possible without Mary Immaculate and Jesus in the blessed sacrament

Together with you, others will go down to renew the Church of God; you will form a great army with them, blessed by God the Father, by Jesus the Redeemer, and by the Holy Ghost, soul of the Church. Brothers in the priesthood, you will form part of a great plan of God; I, Don Bosco, through the love and devotion you cherish toward me, wanted to help you, and for this reason there were meetings with two worthy sons of mine, worthy members of our Congregation; they confirmed to you and pointed out the two great columns, that would be the salvation of the Church, the two great ways that should be pointed out to all the baptized souls of good will: the Immaculate, and Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

There is no spiritual renovation or regeneration without Mary Immaculate, and without Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament; only with them lies the re-establishment of the equilibrium that has been destroyed. Without them the ruins will be multiplied; without them there is only perdition.

The Immaculate Virgin is the door by which the Word of God enters and becomes engrafted upon humanity. The Cross is, and always will be, the only deliverance of humanity from the accursed tyranny of Satan, and the Cross forms a unity with the Eucharist, for the Mass is that which gives the Redeemer to the world, with the mystery of the Cross.

In this manner the vision of the Two Columns should be understood.

Brothers in the priesthood, Fr. Octavio and Fr. R, you could object that your mission is one common to all consecrated souls.

Yes, it is true, the common mission of all the consecrated is that of becoming a victim in union with him, for the same reason that he entered into the world and died upon the Cross. A mission common to all the consecrated, yes, but undertaken by very, very few; this is what disturbs the order. What should be done by everyone, or the majority, has become a reality only in just a few. Now then, apart from this, it was said to you just two days ago that God never repeats himself. If the end that is pursued is common to everyone, the ways to arrive are different, and thus the way of the Association of Hope, although working in communion with other institutions and works for the regeneration of the new Church, is different from the way of the others. You, Fr. Octavio, should all open up this "way," according to what was traced out and established ab aeterno by divine Providence.

I bless you; I will be next to you in your necessities and difficulties. God and his most holy Mother, Help of Christians, are with you.

Saint John Bosco