BOOKS
In September 1815, Pope Pius VII established the feast of Mary Help of Christians as a sign of gratitude to Mary for his liberation from imprisonment by Napoleon. A month before, in a small hamlet of Asti, a man was born who would become the great apostle of the Help of Christians. The book "From the house of Mary to our homes. The Gospel of the Family at the school of Don Bosco," is the sixth in the series "Notebooks of Mary Help of Christians" published by ELLEDICI. It is intended to show the relevance today of the bicentenary of the birth of Don Bosco and of the institution of the feast of Mary Help of Christians.
In times when a significant proportion of consecrated men and women have retired from active ministry, and fewer vocations means others are handing on their front-line roles in education, health or social care to lay colleagues, Fr Michael Cunningham, SDB, argues that despite the human tendency to identify ourselves by our function, 'we are more than what we do.'
We know that a 'Rule of Life' is common to religious communities, with roots going back to Benedict and other 'Greats'. But a 'Rule' might still be off-putting for some today, so it was an inspired little touch to come out with “A Salesian Way of Life”, and as the author, Fr David O'Malley, describes it, not far into this brief but profound and inviting invitation to 'be Salesian' whoever you are, whatever gender, faith background ...
The book by Fr Pietro Braido, SDB, and edited by Fr Francesco Casella, SDB, outlines a spiritual and pedagogical itinerary whose focal point is Don Bosco, not the activity of Don Bosco, but his being: the priest of the young and founder of institutes of consecrated men and women, apostles of youth.