MORNING

He said to his disciples, 'Obstacles are sure to come, but alas for the one who provides them! It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone around his neck than that he should lead astray a single one of these little ones. Watch yourselves!'
-- Luke 17:1-3

People brought little children to him, for him to lay his hands on them and say a prayer. The disciples turned them away, but Jesus said, 'Let the little children alone, and do not stop them coming to me; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of Heaven belongs.'
-- Matthew 19:13-14

Prayers:

God our Father,
You called John Bosco to be a teacher and father to the young.
Fill us with love like his:
may we give ourselves completely to your service
and to the salvation of mankind.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

John Bosco,
You led young people to the feet of the divine Master
and moulded them in the light of faith and Christian morality;
heroically sacrificing yourself to the very end of your life,
and setting up a proper religious institution
destined to endure to the farthest boundaries of the earth;
obtain also for us from Our Lord the same holy love for young people
who are exposed to so many seductions
in order that we may generously spend ourselves
in supporting them against the snares of the devil,
in keeping them safe from the dangers of the world,
and in guiding them, pure and holy,
in the path that leads to God.
Amen.

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AFTERNOON

When John was nine, the Master called him openly. A mission as important as his could not be left to a mere urge. In a "dream", John Bosco found himself fighting a large crowd of rowdy boys who were cursing and carrying on abominably. He tried to stop them but they refused to listen to him. Suddenly, a Man appeared, who motioned to John and said, "Not with blows will you help these boys, but with goodness and kindness!" "Who are you?" gasped the astonished lad. Then a woman appeared. Putting her arms around him, she said, "Watch what I do, John." As John watched, the boys changed to a pack of snarling wild animals whose growls sent terror to his heart. When the woman put out her hand, the beasts changed again, only this time into a frolicking flock of lambs. "But what does it all mean? I'm just a farm boy. What can I do?" He burst into tears. The lady's answer came to him, ever to resound in hist heart, to be repeated audibly several times in his life: "This is the field of your work. Be humble, steadfast and strong!"
-- The call of St. John Bosco

Prayer:

Most Holy Virgin Mary, Help of Christians,
how sweet it is to come to your feet
imploring your perpetual help.
If earthly mothers cease not to remember their children,
how can you, the most loving of all mothers forget me?
Grant then to me, I implore you,
your perpetual help in all my necessities,
in every sorrow, and especially in all my temptations.
I ask for your unceasing help for all who are now suffering.
Help the weak, cure the sick, convert sinners.
Grant through your intercessions many vocations to the religious life.
Obtain for us, O Mary, Help of Christians,
that having invoked you on earth
we may love and eternally thank you in heaven.
Amen.
-- St. John Bosco's prayer to Our Lady, Help of Christians

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EVENING

"This was the method that Jesus used with the apostles. He put up with their ignorance and roughness and even their infidelity. He treated sinners with a kindness and affection that caused some to be shocked, others to be scandalized and still others to hope for God's mercy. And so he bade us to be gentle and humble of heart."
-- St. John Bosco (1815 - 1888), Excerpt from one of his letters

Prayer:

O John Bosco,
father and teacher of the young, I appeal with confidence to you in my special needs, for I require not only spiritual graces, but also temporal ones, and particularly [add your personal intentions here]. May you, who on earth had such great devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and to Mary, Help of Christians, and who always had compassion for those who were suffering, obtain from Jesus and His Heavenly Mother the grace I now request, and also a sincere resignation to the will of God.
Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.
Amen.