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Sermonette M Don Bosco Formation Center (Chapel)

 

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ow Mary heals through Don Boscoǯs DzPillsdz

This is a sermonette in honor of our Blessed Mother. It͛s the twenty-fourth of the month of Mary, the Help of
Christians, the Lady of the Rosary, and the Queen of the Missions. But where does Don Bosco enter the picture? And
why such a title for Don Bosco: ͞Mary͛s Pharmacist͟? Let me tell you a little story:

When Johnny Bosco was still a seminarian, he made a strategy to help sick people through the intercession of
our Blessed Mother. He dispensed small pills made of bread crumbs, or a dose of sugar and maize flour in small
envelopes, on condition that the recipients would receive the sacraments and recite a given number of times the Hail
Mary, the Hail Holy Queen, and other prayers to Our Lady. Sometimes the pills and the accompanying prayers were
prescribed for three successive days, sometimes for nine. Even those who were seriously ill recovered. Even in those
early days Don Bosco realized the great power of prayer to Our Lady. Perhaps the Blessed Virgin Mary had granted him
the gift of healing, which he concealed behind the artifice of pills and powders to avoid becoming an object of
admiration. He continued to avail himself of this means even as a priest while he was at the Convitto Ecclesiastico in
Turin. (BM II,

There you have it. Here are the answers to questions: first, Don Bosco is part of our sermonette today because
he is Our Lady͛s instrument of healing. And second, Don Bosco was ͞Our Lady͛s pharmacist͟ because he dispensed
͞medicines͟ with which he prescribed prayers in honor of Our Lady to ask for her intercession for healing.

Okay, so now I will end my sermonette.

Not yet...

Let us look deeper into this episode of Don Bosco͛s life and how his devotion to Our Lady compelled him to do
so much good and what we can come learn from this experience of our own Father. It can be summarized in three
points:

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It is just amazing how as a young seminarian he was able to help people out with ͞pills͟ made of corn flour and
sugar. Maybe, making such little tablets was tedious considering the demands of his seminary studies and the other
apostolates he was doing. Nevertheless, he did it. It͛s just a small thing, as one can see it; to ͞fool͟ people with tablets
and ͞prescribed͟ prayers. But the good it was able to bring about is immeasurable. In our own experiences, the
challenge to do small good things can be in keeping one͛s place tidy (which I am constantly trying to do), send a short
message through email or even Facebook to a friend near or far who is down and needs some kind of advice or
encouragement, and most especially a little prayer for those who are in need. The sense of mission doesn͛t have to be
found in great programs or apostolic projects. The mission of doing good begins where we are and what ͞opportunities͟
our life experiences offer. Just like Mary who upon knowing of her relative Elizabeth͛s ͞untimely͟ pregnancy left her
home and helped Elizabeth even if she herself was pregnant and in need. These are just little things but in the hands of
God, they can do immense good.

  
        !   "
When Don Bosco had the inspiration of beginning this pharmaceutical enterprise, I believe it took him a great
deal of courage borne out of faith to actually begin it. It is never easy to begin distributing ͞pills͟ that do not have any
medicinal value and simple prayers to effect a cure. What if your ͞folly͟ or ͞prank͟ was found out? Wouldn͛t that cause
such a scandal and humiliation if they found out it was only made of bread crumbs and sugar? How much more if the
medicines never worked at all? But when Don Bosco followed Mama Mary͛s ͞yes͟ to God͛s will, oh what wonders he has
done on those who are humble and lowly, so many healingsͶspiritual and physical. When we stop to look at our
capacities and limit ourselves to what we think we can do, God can make a miracle in us, a miracle of transformation.
And from this transformation, we cannot but change the people and the environment by our way of speaking and acting.
Indeed, the grace of God makes a miracle in us and through us, He can make a miracle for others.
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Johnny Bosco was many things to many people as a young person. He was a farmhand, a magician, a preacher, a
friend, a blacksmith, even a bartender. And in our account today, he was a ͞pharmacist.͟ As was said, with the grace of
God, we can perform miracles so that we can fulfil our mission. What mission? To save the souls especially of the young
for the greater glory of God. And our Father and Founder showed us precisely this ideal. Jesus and Mary told our dear
Father John Bosco in his dream at nine that he was to transform these wolves into lambs but did not limit this mission to
a particular profession or field of specialization. Whether as a consecrated priest, a religious brother or sister, a married
person, or a simple lay person, the call to save souls is brought forward.

And so dear friends, on this day in honor of our Blessed Mother, the Help of Christians, we ask God to
strengthen us and help us be cooperative with His grace so that we can do much good in whatever way we can just as
our Blessed Mother did.

Ave Maria!

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