In this year in which the entire Salesian Family celebrates the Bicentenary of that "programmatic" dream for Don Bosco, the anniversary of the Mass "at the altar of weeping" – as it has become famous in Salesian literature – is an opportunity to draw us back to the same source that sustained Don Bosco throughout his life, as founder of the Congregation and of the Salesian Family, as a formator and educator, spiritual guide, priest and before that as a Christian: his boundless faith in Divine Providence.
This trust in Someone who was able to go beyond his strength and to make up for what he could have done was visible in every gesture and project; but perhaps his clearest and most evident manifestation was precisely that of having accepted Leo XIII's proposal to see to the construction of the church of the Sacred Heart, which had already been waiting for several years to be built and which for various issues (economic, due to the nature of the land, the agreements for the pre-existing works, the suspicion of the anti-clerical civil authorities...) was humanly inadvisable.
Here is what Don Bosco's Biographical Memoirs have to say on this point (BM XIV, 464):
As required by the [Salesian] constitutions Don Bosco could not fully commit himself to a project of such magnitude without first consulting his chapter. Hence, on arriving in Turin, he summoned his councilors and presented the Holy Father's proposal to them. The ensuing discussion was a long one. All agreed that the Pope's proposal was a distinguished honor, but also a most weighty burden, since they already were laden with debts amounting to three hundred thousand lire. Under the circumstances it seemed neither wise nor conscionable to take up an enterprise that would swallow up millions more. The vote that followed was six negative and only one positive-the last most certainly Don Bosco's own.
Seeing that the Holy Father's proposal had been rejected, he said with a smile, "You have all given me a resounding no for an answer, and that is fine, because you acted with all the prudence needed to make serious, major decisions such as this. However, were you to give me a yes answer, I can promise you that the Sacred Heart of Jesus will supply the funds to build the Church, He will pay off our debts, and He will even give us a handsome bonus as well." His words, vibrant with such trust in Divine Providence, instantly overturned their decision and, on a second ballot, they all voted affirmatively. Moreover, on studying the blueprints of the church, the chapter members thought it too small and immediately, at that same session, agreed to submit to the Holy Father a vaster project which would be more worthy of the Sacred Heart and of Rome. It was done. The "bonus" was the hospice itself, which did not figure in the Pope's intentions, but was an extra, almost a kind of reward offered by the Sacred Heart. The Congregation's debts, as Cardinal Cagliero testified at the apostolic process,9 were paid with no strain, as Don Bosco had promised.”
With the construction of the church of the Sacred Heart at the Castro Praetorium, Don Bosco became an apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as well as the apostle of Mary Help of Christians. And the "bonus" that Don Bosco prophesied is still present and alive, has multiplied and carries on, grafting the Salesian charism on the Eternal City and in the heart of the Church.
