Homily on the Feast of St. John Bosco, 31 Jan 2026, Shrine of St John Bosco, the Dreamer, Lawaan
When Don Bosco opened here in Lawaan in 1976, I wasn’t here yet. According to the historical accounts, Fr Ed Espiritu and the boys from Don Bosco Boys Town were hiking around one day, and they saw this huge property abandoned with tall grass growing everywhere, windows broken and buildings dilapidated. It seemed like the seminary closed down by the MSC had become useless, hopeless and futureless.
The good news is that, by God’s providence and the intercession of Mary Help of Christians, The Salesians of Don Bosco was able to acquire the entire property and make it clean, functional and beautiful again. Having been restored as an Aspirantate for high school students, Don Bosco Missionary Seminary (DBMS) was solemnly inaugurated on December 8, 1976 with the blessing of this renovated chapel.
On a personal note, I came here to Lawaan only in 1988 for my two years of practical training. The late Fr George Militante was our Rector, and together with him were Fr Julius Sanchez, Fr Nioret Geronimo and Br Lorenzo Nardin. At that time, we had almost a hundred aspirants occupying the two dormitories. Life was very simple back then, but we were happy, contented and united. Moreover, the significant presence of the Salesian Cooperators, the DBLCC (Don Bosco Lawaan Community Choir) and the few daily Mass goers had contributed a lot to make this place truly imbued with the Salesian youthful spirit, capable of producing not only Salesians priests and brothers but also missionaries abroad.
Today, 50 years later, as you can see, Don Bosco Lawaan has grown and developed beyond proportion. You can’t imagine that a place, once abandoned for years, can still bloom and bear much fruit beyond one’s expectation.
Dearly beloved confreres, Salesian Family members, lay mission partners and staff, benefactors, young people and friends in Don Bosco, thank you for coming over to join us here in DBFC Lawaan to celebrate the solemn feast of our father and founder, St John Bosco.
Today’s liturgy proper to St John Bosco is very rich. First of all, the entrance antiphon inspired by 1 Kings 5:9 says “God gave him (Don Bosco) wisdom and understanding and a heart as vast as the sand on the shore.”
Despite being orphaned by his father at two years old, little John Bosco grew up filled with grace, endowed with a deep faith and extraordinary wisdom. This can be attributed to his mother, Mama Margaret who, even though illiterate, was able to guide him and accompany him in his childhood years. Her constant refrain in educating and evangelizing her three kids was a three-word statement: “God sees you.” And so, despite being deprived of the love of a biological father, little John grew up with a huge heart convinced that God, our Father, had been constantly seeing him and accompanying him as his beloved son.
What amazes us even more is that later on as a priest, Don Bosco would develop the “God sees you” of his mom into a full blown “Preventive System of Education” in his Oratory there in Valdocco. Today the same system continues to be applied in all our schools, boarding homes and training centers around the world. The once three-word statement from Mama Margaret had now become three-Rs – Reason, Religion and Rapport (short for loving kindness) – the three essential elements that make up Don Bosco’s Preventive System today.
Secondly, today’s Opening Prayer expresses what God in his providence has done for us. He has “given us St John Bosco, the father and teacher of youth… under the guidance of the Virgin Mary (he) worked with untiring zeal for the good of the Church.”
Despite his family’s poverty, Don Bosco managed to finish his education and seminary formation through the help and support of his benefactors, priests and lay alike. Then, when he got ordained as a priest, for his assignment he was offered to be a private chaplain to a wealthy couple with the task of tutoring their growing up kids. However, remembering his dream at nine and guided by our Blessed Mother, Don Bosco surprisingly declined the offer.
Months later, God showed him the way to fulfil his real mission. Very soon Don Bosco found himself in Valdocco surrounded by hundreds of poor and abandoned kids whom he tried to befriend, evangelize, and catechize – until he saw his dream becoming a reality, the transformation of wolves into lambs and sheep. Some of those kids even became exemplary in holiness that they were canonized saints, foremost among them was St Dominic Savio, a saint at 15.
I believe Don Bosco in his younger years, had been moved by the words of Jesus proclaimed for us in the gospel today. “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me. Don Bosco never refused or rejected anyone of the kids who needed his help. His heart always went out of him with the zeal of a father and a pastor, intent at saving souls by all means.
Lastly, the Preface of today’s Mass expounds this further. It says that God has “raised up St. John Bosco as the father, brother and friend of the young to lead them along the way of salvation with honesty, integrity and active faith.” Most of all, the same Preface says, “Under the impulse of (God’s) Spirit, he (Don Bosco) brought into being a great Family to continue throughout the world his mission of father and teacher.”
Yesterday morning, I was asked by Fr Gino our Rector in Talamban to give a short talk to our staff and the ADMA of Maryville Subdivision. The topic was on how Don Bosco tried to listen and obey his local bishop and the Holy Father, in line with this year’s Strenna “Do Whatever He Tells You.” As I was giving the talk, one thing that amazed me personally was that Don Bosco did not stop short at becoming the father and teacher of youth. He worked so hard and so zealously for their salvation that he achieved much more than expected and attained something beyond what he saw in his “Dream at Nine.”
Against all odds, opposed even by his very own Archbishop in Turin, Don Bosco became the founder of the Salesian Congregation as well as the father of the world wide Salesian Family – a vast movement of people from all over the world, working together for the total well-being of the young. He founded the Salesian Society in 1859, followed by the Association of Mary Help of Christians (ADMA) in 1869. Then he also founded the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in 1872, and finally the Association of Salesian Cooperators in 1876.
Today the vast Salesian Family consists not only of the four groups mentioned above but also of around 30 other member congregations, institutes and associations. And there are another 30 more groups requesting our Rector Major to approve their application to be part of the Salesian Family.
This year 2026 aside from the Golden Jubilee of Lawaan, we are glad to let you know that we are also celebrating the 75th anniversary of the opening of Don Bosco’s mission in the Philippines (Victorias and Tarlac in 1951) as well as the 150th anniversary of the Association of the Salesian Cooperators founded by Don Bosco in 1876.
I hope and pray that as we partake of this Eucharist, all of us, whatever our status and affiliation might be, may share more fully in Don Bosco spirit and his mission for the young. Remember this: Don Bosco’s dream was not only to see wolves transform to lambs and sheep, but above all to see a vast movement of people working zealously together for the youth, so that they may become good Christians and upright citizens, holy for the Church and heroes for the country. GiGsss!
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