Voices ever ancient, ever new. Ordinary Time Week Three: Friday. Saint John Bosco.

“Without parables He did not speak to them, but to His own disciples He explained everything in private.” (Mark 4:34)

In commenting upon these verses from today’s Mass Readings, Tertullian writes:

“Christ Jesus our Lord clearly declared himself as to who he was while he lived on earth. Who then of sound mind can possibly suppose that those whom the Lord ordained to be leaders and teachers were ignorant of anything essential to salvation? Who could suppose that he who kept them, as he did, so close to himself in their daily attentiveness, in their discipline, in their companionship, to whom, when they were alone, he used to expound all things which were obscure, telling them that “to them it was given to know those mysteries,” which it was not permitted the people to understand — now would he leave them ignorant?” (Prescription Against Heretics, 20)





O God, Who raised up the
Priest Saint John Bosco
as a father and teacher of the young,
grant, we pray,
that, aflame with the same fire of love,
we may seek out souls and serve you alone.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.




Glory to You Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning is now
and will be forever. Amen!