Assistants

ASSISTANCE

“Care should be taken that the pupils are never left alone. As far as possible the assistants ought to precede the boys to the place where they assemble; they should remain with them until others come to take their place, and never leave the pupils unoccupied.” Don Bosco

As a young Salesian I have been taught by my superiors never to leave the boys alone unattended. Thus when I was a practical trainee, much as I wanted to unwind and watch TV on Friday evenings with the rest of the brothers, I stayed in the dormitory to watch over the few weekend boarders while they were sleeping.

But in these post-modern times of multi-tasking and fewer Salesian vocations, it seems we cannot anymore avoid on certain occasions leaving the boys alone.

Don Bosco himself on certain occasions had also to leave the oratorians by themselves. When that would happen he would normally leave his biretta on top of his desk in the study hall to remind the boys to behave in his absence. He also had inscribed on the walls at Valdocco these words: “God sees you” for the same purpose of keeping discipline at those times when the boys would be unassisted.

Don Bosco was well aware that the oratorians sooner or later would eventually leave him, the Salesians and the oratory. Without the assistance of the Salesians, they would nevertheless have to do still the right things; but by then they would already be on their own. Thus it was clear in Don Bosco’s mind that the real goal of his Preventive System is not only independence from the Salesians but real self-discipline – control and restraint springing from the boys themselves and not from the external presence of their superiors.

Preventive System after all is not repressive but rather expressive. Through it the boys learn to act independently expressing themselves in multiple ways that are healthy and pure. Thus Don Bosco encouraged among the boys sports, recreation, music and theatre as well as study, work and prayer. But among the Salesians themselves he still encouraged assistance not only as a necessary means for the boys to attain self-discipline and independence but more so as a crucial way for the Salesians to know the young.

“Here in your midst I feel completely at home; for me, living means being here with you.”

Don Bosco