St. John Bosco: Drawing others to Christ

St. John Bosco is well known for his work in forming youth to be excellent disciples of Jesus Christ. His exemplary apostolate led many young men and women to excel in their vocations to religious life, the priesthood and marriage.

What enabled him to be so successful? It was not costly diocesan programs, or a privileged position or even fortuitous circumstances. In fact, it would have been easy for him to hide behind many excuses if he had wanted to avoid the difficulty of his mission. On the contrary, many things worked against him and his efforts, beginning with his own vocation to the priesthood.

Bosco did not come from a privileged family, and despite the fact that poverty—at that time—was often an impediment to a priestly vocation he was eventually ordained. As a priest, his efforts of discipleship resulted in the formation of the Society of St. Francis de Sales, which went on to become the third largest missionary organization in the world, as well as co-founding the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians.

He ministered to the poor, destitute and delinquent children who were products of the industrialization of Italy in the 1800s. At times he was robbed and taken advantage of by those to whom he ministered, but he continually labored to find employment, food and shelter for the poor, and advocated for their rights when their employers abused them.

Seeing Christ in the faces of the poor, oppressed and even the delinquent, Bosco did not turn away those who were not already exemplary Christians. Many youth who were the most unlikely candidates even became holy priests and religious, vocations that may never have come to fruition without his loving guidance and advocacy.

What was so special about St. Bosco? He was an authentic Christian disciple. A faithful servant of God and son of the Church, he kept things simple and faithfully went about the work that he saw was necessary. He did not worry about money, circumstances, people’s opinions or programs. He let God take care of those things as needed, and he just did what needed to be done.

His genuine approach appealed to those he served. Many were drawn by his Christ-like love, and vocations arose even from the most unlikely of places.

St. John Bosco can be an example for all of us who promote vocations. The more simply and authentically we live Christ-like lives, the more we draw others to Christ—even others who may not seem receptive to Christ's message— and the more we encourage young people to want to give themselves to Our Lord and his mission.