He recognised in her gaze the strong tenderness of a woman who knows how to take on responsibility, who does not shrink from pain, who encourages one to get back up when all seems lost.
This maternal dimension – welcoming yet demanding, gentle yet courageous – makes Mary a universal gift. Her motherhood is not an abstract sentiment, but a way of life: it is the ability to bring forth life even where fear, loneliness or conflict reign. It is a silent invitation to care for others, to be companions on the journey, to protect that which is born fragile. It is motherhood that becomes a commitment to the good, a gaze that sees beyond appearances, a hand that lifts up.
Mary is the woman of joyful service, an icon of a community that bends down to the world’s wounds. Mary’s motherhood is a call to peace, to concrete closeness, to the choice to stand with the least among us. She is a ‘woman of the frontier’: capable of inhabiting the boundaries of humanity to transform them into bridges, to build new relationships precisely where humanity appears most fragile.
Mary’s motherhood is a revolutionary force: it is not passivity, but generative energy; it is not fragile consolation, but daily courage; it is not privilege, but service.
In her “yes” lies the promise that every life, even the smallest or most wounded, deserves to be accompanied and nurtured. And the many benefactors and supporters of the Salesian mission throughout the world also live in her “yes”, through gestures of closeness, generosity, and the offering of prayer, time and resources that they can share in the name of Don Bosco and his poorest children.
To speak of Don Bosco today is to recognise that his charism does not belong to the past, but continues to be embodied wherever there are young people to listen to and dreams to help mature. His educational insights – prevention, loving kindness, reasonableness – resonate as relevant in an age marked by inner fragility, digital loneliness and a lack of reference points. The Salesian environment, which he envisioned as “home, parish, school and playground”, remains an effective model of an inclusive and nurturing community in which the maternal presence of Mary’s loving attentiveness is the concrete sign of God’s love for every one of his creatures. In today’s world, the Salesian presence takes the form of projects for students in difficulty, vocational pathways for those at risk of exclusion, family homes for vulnerable and abandoned minors, and initiatives in support of migrants. It is the concrete extension of Don Bosco’s dream: to offer not only assistance, but above all opportunities, trust and the possibility of a future. It is the courage to educate in hope when society offers limited horizons.
Alongside educational service, the spiritual dimension remains: for Don Bosco, growing up means learning to feel loved by God and supported by his provident gaze, which enables one to recognise the value of one’s own life. Devotion to Mary Help of Christians continues to be a point of reference for many young people, a presence that supports and encourages.
On 24 May, the solemn feast day of Mary Help of Christians, an endless chain of ‘Hail Marys’ will rise from every nation and in every language, and thousands will lift their eyes to she who is Mother of the Earth before she is Queen of Heaven.
With the certainty that every young person is “a piece of heaven”, and that – with Mary’s maternal help – every life can become a masterpiece, a gift for others and a light for the world.
Fr Luca Barone,
President of Missioni Don Bosco
Source: Missioni Don Bosco
