Don Albera had accepted a few gifts of money from friends and acquaintances because he knew he would need funds to set up the new house. Before he departure, Don Bosco asked him if he needed anything.
"No, thank you, Don Bosco! I already have five hundred lire." (500 lire then would be approximately INR 35 today!)
"But that is too much money," protested Don Bosco. "You will find Providence in Genoa as well as in Turin."
The saint took a few lire from a drawer, handed them to Don Albera and took the five hundred lire bill.
When this became known, everyone laughed, and Don Bosco chuckled: "It would be an insult to Providence to put away a fund for future needs."
Such was Don Bosco's trust in Divine Providence. While he struggled for funds all his life, even as a boy, he never doubted the maxim 'God provides', no matter how big or small his initiatives were. I think a major source of this confidence comes from the realisation that all he did was actually God's work, not his!
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| When Don Bosco was being photographed (photography a rare novelty then) he chose to be photographed hearing confessions; and the boy making his confession is young Paul Albera. |
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