At the root of this vision lies what St John Paul II, in Iuvenum Patris, defined as authentic Christian humanism. Don Bosco sees every young person as a person called to the fullness of life, in which human growth and the life of grace go hand in hand. He rejects both a disembodied spirituality and a humanism without God: he insists on study, work, friendship, and the responsible use of free time, but he directs everything towards Christ and salvation. For this reason, he clearly states that one cannot be a good Christian without becoming an honest citizen, nor can one be an authentically responsible citizen without a conscience formed by faith.
It is Don Bosco himself who simply points out the way to this fullness. He proposes to the young Francesco Besucco an essential and realistic programme, capable of combining serenity, commitment and spiritual life:”Cheerfulness, study, piety… this is the great programme, which, by practising, you will be able to live happily and do much good for your soul”. These few words encapsulate a concrete and everyday pedagogy, far from any sad moralism and deeply rooted in the real life of young people.
In this context, we can understand why, in the preventive system, the pedagogy of joy and celebration is considered a constitutive and non-negotiable element. Studies remind us that “joy and cheerfulness are constitutive elements of the system, inseparable from study, work and piety”. Don Bosco translates this principle into very concrete educational practices: games, theatre, music, celebrations, walks, always deeply connected to sacramental life. The courtyard refers to the church, recreation to confession and communion, celebrations to charity.
It is an educated and oriented joy, free and often noisy, but never disorderly or empty. It is a joy that is also capable of saying “no” sometimes, because it is based on a positive vision of man, in which nature and grace, duty and recreation are not opposed but mutually supportive. In this sense, cheerfulness becomes almost a vocation: the Christian way of living life with trust, responsibility and hope.
Being “Good Christians and Joyful citizens” therefore means living citizenship with an evangelical heart. Don Bosco wants young people who are capable of thinking and acting with religious convictions, but at the same time ready to take on their civic duties responsibly: working honestly, respecting just laws, collaborating in social peace, contributing to the common good. He does not propose an escape from the world, but a responsible immersion in reality, illuminated by the Gospel. ‘Good Christian’ and ‘honest citizen’ are not two parallel identities, but two inseparable dimensions of the same person.
A recent article describes the atmosphere of the Valdocco oratory as follows: ‘The boys could learn to be good Christians and honest citizens, and they could savour joy as the highest measure of Christian life.’ For Don Bosco, cheerfulness thus became a sort of educational and vocational thermometer: if a young person is constantly gloomy, isolated, and lacking in enthusiasm, something is not working; if, on the other hand, they know how to play, commit themselves, and pray with a serene heart, then they are on the right path. It is no coincidence that in his famous Letter from Rome of 1884, Don Bosco calls on the Salesians to be familiar with young people, especially during recreation, as a privileged place of education: without familiarity, love cannot be shown; without love, trust cannot be born; and without trust, there can be no true education.
In our time, when many young people associate faith with sadness, renunciation as less human proposal, Don Bosco’s idea of cheerfulness is surprisingly relevant. It testifies that the Gospel makes us more human, not less; that it is possible to be deeply Christian and fully integrated into social life, work and culture. Where young people grow up capable of praying and studying, of serving and engaging in the city, of smiling and making others smile, Don Bosco’s charism continues to offer the world its most convincing response: a daily holiness that knows how to be joyful.
