St. John of God Youth Ministry

06/07/2025

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03/10/2022

Saint of the Day for March 10 | Saint Dominic Savio

Saint Dominic Savio’s Story

So many holy persons seem to die young. Among them was Dominic Savio, the patron of choirboys.

Born into a peasant family at Riva, Italy, young Dominic joined Saint John Bosco as a student at the Oratory in Turin at the age of 12. He impressed Don Bosco with his desire to be a priest and to help him in his work with neglected boys. A peacemaker and an organizer, young Dominic founded a group he called the Company of the Immaculate Conception which, besides being devotional, aided John Bosco with the boys and with manual work. All the members save one, Dominic, would, in 1859, join Don Bosco in the beginnings of his Salesian congregation. By that time, Dominic had been called home to heaven.

As a youth, Dominic spent hours rapt in prayer. His raptures he called “my distractions.” Even in play, he said that at times, “It seems heaven is opening just above me. I am afraid I may say or do something that will make the other boys laugh.” Dominic would say, “I can’t do big things. But I want all I do, even the smallest thing, to be for the greater glory of God.”

Dominic’s health, always frail, led to lung problems and he was sent home to recuperate. As was the custom of the day, he was bled in the thought that this would help, but it only worsened his condition. He died on March 9, 1857, after receiving the Last Sacraments. Saint John Bosco himself wrote the account of his life.

Some thought that Dominic was too young to be considered a saint. Saint Pius X declared that just the opposite was true, and went ahead with his cause. Dominic was canonized in 1954. His liturgical feast is celebrated on March 9.

Reflection: Like many a youngster, Dominic was painfully aware that he was different from his peers. He tried to keep his piety from his friends lest he have to endure their laughter. Even after his death, his youth marked him as a misfit among the saints and some argued that he was too young to be canonized. Pope Pius X wisely disagreed. For no one is too young—or too old or too anything else—to achieve the holiness to which we all are called.

Saint Dominic Savio is the Patron Saint of:
-Choirboys
-Juvenile delinquents

Sources: https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day

01/25/2022

12/20/2021

12/09/2021

 Saint of the Day for December 9 | Saint Juan Diego

Saint Juan Diego's Story: Thousands of people gathered in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe July 31, 2002, for the canonization of Juan Diego, to whom the Blessed Mother appeared in the 16th century. Pope John Paul II celebrated the ceremony at which the poor Indian peasant became the Church’s first saint indigenous to the Americas.

The Holy Father called the new saint “a simple, humble Indian” who accepted Christianity without giving up his identity as an Indian. “In praising the Indian Juan Diego, I want to express to all of you the closeness of the Church and the pope, embracing you with love and encouraging you to overcome with hope the difficult times you are going through,” John Paul said. Among the thousands present for the event were members of Mexico’s 64 indigenous groups.

First called Cuauhtlatohuac (“The eagle who speaks”), Juan Diego’s name is forever linked with Our Lady of Guadalupe because it was to him that she first appeared at Tepeyac hill on December 9, 1531. The most famous part of his story is told in connection with the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12. After the roses gathered in his tilma were transformed into the miraculous image of Our Lady, however, little more is said about Juan Diego.

In time he lived near the shrine constructed at Tepeyac, revered as a holy, unselfish, and compassionate catechist, who taught by word and especially by example.

During his 1990 pastoral visit to Mexico, Pope John Paul II confirmed the long-standing liturgical cult in honor of Juan Diego, beatifying him. Twelve years later the same pope proclaimed him a saint.

Reflection: God counted on Juan Diego to play a humble, yet huge role in bringing the Good News to the peoples of Mexico. Overcoming his own fear and the doubts of Bishop Juan de Zumarraga, Juan Diego cooperated with God’s grace in showing his people that the Good News of Jesus is for everyone. Pope John Paul II used the occasion of Juan Diego's beatification to urge Mexican lay people to assume their responsibilities for passing on the Good News and witnessing to it.

6 𝙁𝘼𝘾𝙏𝙎 𝘼𝘽𝙊𝙐𝙏 𝙎𝙏. 𝙅𝙐𝘼𝙉 𝘿𝙄𝙀𝙂𝙊

Every 9th day of December, the Church commemorates the memorial of St. Juan Diego, the humble man who has an interisting story about the Our Lady of Guadalupe. As we celebrate his memorial, let us take a look at this 6 interesting facts about him:

1. He is known for receiving the vision of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
2. Juan Diego was an Aztec Indian who had converted to Christianity as an adult.
3. It is believed he was visited by the Virgin Mary at Tepeyac four times in December 1531.
4. The Our Lady of Guadalupe asked him to go to the bishop and request that a chapel be built in her honor.
5. Juan Diego’s tilma is Mexico’s most popular religious symbol.
6. He is the Patron of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Sources: https://www.franciscanmedia.org

12/09/2021

Do Catholics Worship Mary?

12/09/2021

𝘿𝙀𝘾 08, 2021—𝘾𝙇𝙊𝙎𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙊𝙁 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙔𝙀𝘼𝙍 𝙊𝙁 𝙎𝙏. 𝙅𝙊𝙎𝙀𝙋𝙃

It has been a year since the Holy Father, Pope Francis, announced that 2021 will be a year dedicated to St. Joseph, and now, we are about to close it together with the celebration of the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

As we close the year of St. Joseph, may we continue to ask for his intercession to guide us, and to lead us to Jesus.

Oh, St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so prompt, so strong, before the throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires.

Oh, St. Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession, and obtain for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

So that, having engaged here below your heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of fathers.

Oh, St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms; I dare not approach while he reposes near your heart.
Press him in my name and kiss his fine head for me and ask him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath.

St. Joseph, patron of departing souls - pray for me.
Amen.

12/09/2021

What is the Immaculate Conception?

Ask many Catholics, and they often get confused on the topic. Commonly, Immaculate Conception is taken to mean the miraculous event centering on Jesus. However, Immaculate Conception refers to Mary. It was always believed as an article of faith by the Church, and only formerly defined as a dogma on December 8, 1854, by Pope Pius IX. Mary was preserved from original sin from the first moment of her conception.

Original sin is a condition inherited through our first parents, Adam and Eve. Their disobedience to God brought about a fallen world, a darkened intellect, a weakened will, and a disordering of the passions. No longer did they have the preternatural gifts of agility, ease of work, health, and continual life. There was an imbalance in nature, and the human race became sick and died. Through ignorance, weakened will, and passions personal sin was introduced. People consciously disobeyed God.

It was the merit of Jesus Christ on the cross that brought about redemption. Through redemption, the soul is elevated by grace, first received in baptism. The world, though saved by Christ, still suffers from concupiscence. However, through grace, humanity can rise above the darkness of sin to the loftiness of God.

Because of the Immaculate Conception, Mary never suffered under the contagion of sin. In God there is no time, but since we exist in time, He prefigured His Son’s redemption and applied it to the womb of Mary’s mother, Ann. Think of an old telephone switch board. The switch operator takes a wire from a call and applies it to an outlet. God anticipates His Son’s salvific work and applies it to Mary. Why is this so important? Because Mary is to give the sacred humanity to the second Person of the Blessed Trinity to redeem us from sin. Therefore, at no time could that humanity be under the contagion of sin itself.

Mary’s sinlessness began from the first moment of her conception. Mary never committed any personal sin from the time she reached the age of reason to the time she died. Since she did not have original sin, she did not deserve to suffer the consequences of it; at the end of her life she was assumed by her Son into paradise. The Eastern Church calls this the dormition of Mary. December 8 was chosen for the Feast because nine months later we celebrate Mary’s birthday on September 8.

12/07/2021