The book is a precious gift: it talks to the heart and transmits a profound message for better living.
A book fills the emptiness of one’s solitude. It fills the heart, finding communion with the rest of the world, opening new horizons.
It opens all doors, guiding the reader especially towards the dimensions of the mystery of being man.
A book plays an important role on the character, emotions and mind of a human being.
Don Bosco was a man of books; he wrote and published books and the words he wrote were adapted to the reader, especially the young.
A book is not mere paper and words. It is a door and a key, a road and a journey, it is a thousand new sights, sensations and sounds. It holds friendships, experience and life lessons.
Don Bosco was a fine educator and a formator of the young. He knew that books wash away the everyday dust from the soul.
Socrates wrote: “True wisdom comes to each of us when we realise how little we understand about life, ourselves and the world around us.”
Wrath of Gnon, a traditional architecture enthusiast who shares his passion on Twitter, wrote: “I read old books because I would rather learn from those who built civilisation than those who tore it down.”
And US author Charles William Elliot had this to say: “Books are the quietest and most constant of friends. They are the most accessible wisest of counsellors and the most patient of teachers.”
Don Bosco knew and experienced the fact that the pen is the tongue of the mind. He was a very busy man and the hundreds of books he authored and published were written during the night, the only free time he had, while his boys were sleeping. He was convinced that the Church, throughout the history of the world, was well deserving of art and culture and it always transmitted to the world the love for books. Books take away violence from the heart and help the reader discover dignity.
Don Bosco wrote constantly during 1835 and 1886. The archives at St Patrick’s, in Sliema include nine volumes in which his 4,424 letters are printed. Hundreds of books about his life and work were published in many languages, in countries where the Salesians work all over the world, even in countries where the teaching of religion is prohibited.
“In books, we find ourselves”
Don Bosco’s life and work belong to history and history will eloquently make clear to future generations that, for half a century, he was the apostle of good. What history will never be able to tell us in full nor make us fully understand is his innermost life: his constant, quiet, sympathetic, invincible and heroic self-sacrifice; his deep love for his ‘sons’, the confidence, esteem, reverence and affection he inspired in us, the way we looked up to him and the regard we had for his authority, saintliness and learning.
To us, he was the symbol of moral perfection. History can hardly portray or describe the soothing comfort that a word, glance or even a nod of his could bring to our hearts. The spell exercised by a saint over his contemporaries or intimates cannot be described even in the best written biography. The fragrance of his words and virtuous deeds wanes as the years go by.
Books are made by our inner thoughts, our failures in history, our originality and defects, our love and our hatred. They are made by man.
In books, we find ourselves: what we are, what we do, what we think, what we project and create around us.
They are what we wish, we love, we hate, our fear and, especially, the projections of our inner drive; the words we search and hide in our heart.
Bargain Book Fair
Thousands of rare, new, old, and second-hand books, as well as an exclusive selection of Melitensia, will be for sale at this month’s Bargain Book Fair in aid of young people in difficulty.
Several ex-libraries will also be available.
The Bargain Book Fair will be held between June 16 and 19 at St Patrick’s Salesian School, St John Bosco Street, Sliema.
Parking is available in the school grounds.
For more information, contact Fr Charles Cini on 2133 4614 / 7949 2555 or via e-mail at charlescini@gmail.com.
