The Right Kind of Dreamer
ONE
St. John Bosco, also known as “Don” Bosco, “Don” being a term of respect in Italian, served the street children in Turin, Italy in the 19th Century, as a response to the ugly side of the industrial revolution. Joblessness and job-dangers left countless children homeless and orphaned on the streets of the city, so this holy priest, Don Bosco, dedicated his life and ministry to serve them. He developed a teaching system based on Christian love rather than punishment, a method known as the Salesian Preventive System, named after St. Francis de Sales, Bosco’s patron and for whom he named the various religious congregations he founded. His love for this saint as well as for Jesus and His Blessed Mother under the title of Mary Help of Christians guided Bosco’s life and work. His life was a mirror of the love of Jesus. Like a mirror, Jesus’ love and grace reflected intensely off St. John Bosco and into his street children. So much so that some of them, like Dominic Savio, became saints in their own right. Does my life reflect the grace of Jesus with that intensity? Who is my saintly progeny?
TWO
St. Joseph Cafasso was St. John Bosco’s Spiritual Director, as Bosco was Savio’s, demonstrating that saints beget saints. A Spiritual Director or Mentor is a person usually of the same sex who offers one on one time with the mentee to guide them along their spiritual journey towards sanctity. This implies that the Mentor is faithful and knowledgeable enough in the spiritual life to guide others. It also means that they, too, are receiving spiritual direction or mentorship. By becoming Man, Jesus reveals His deep love and desire for relationship with others. Therefore, He set up His system of distributing graces through Sacraments and people. Because we are baptized and confirmed, we are given this divine power to be a source of Him for others, provided we cooperate!
THREE
Don Bosco’s unique closeness to Christ provided the foundation for supernatural dreams and visions. In one of his better-known visions, Bosco saw a ship, symbolizing the Church, tossed about upon a dangerous, stormy sea. After much travel, the Pope and the Bishops loyal to Jesus, anchored the ship to two pillars, one much taller than the other. On the shorter pillar stood Our Lady, holding her rosary. On the taller pillar, the Blessed Sacrament. These make up our best weapons in our stormy times.
In another vision, Bosco noticed a giant snake, dangerous and angry! An angel appeared and gave him a rope to dangle over the snake, into which the snake ensnared itself, ripping itself to pieces trying to get out of the entanglement. St. John then looked at the rope more closely, and realized that it was the Holy Rosary, which the angel said, “with the Holy Rosary, we can strike, conquer, and destroy all of hell’s demons.” Let us not forget this power!
FOUR
The dream, however, was not done. In the second part of the dream, his boys started eating the rotten snake. Despite Bosco’s protest they kept eating, before finally crumpling to the ground, stomachs swollen and hardened. He asked his angel; “why did they keep eating it even though it would kill them?” The angel replied; “Because the sensual man does not perceive the things that are of God but gorges himself on that which destroys!” St. John pleaded, there must be some way to save them! The spirit answered, “there is, by anvil and hammer.” St. John Bosco then put the boys on an anvil and hit them with a hammer. With that, most of the boys were “restored to life and recovered.” The angel explained that the anvil and hammer are symbols for Holy Communion and Confession. By Confession we strike away at sin, and by Holy Communion we are fortified.
St. John was the right kind of dreamer!
FIVE
In our individualist and materialist era which denies God and His laws, the dreams of St. John Bosco are more urgent. The attacks are particularly diabolical against young people, seducing them to believe that there is no God or absolute morality, and no eternal consequences. This is why St. John Bosco once said, “Do you want to do a good deed? Teach the young! Do you want to perform a holy act? Teach the young! Do you want to do a holy thing? Teach the young! Truly, now and for the future, among holy things, this is the holiest."
If youth of the 19th century faced such perils, how much more endangered are souls now? Bosco preached the rosary, frequent and devout reception of Holy Communion, monthly confession, and devotion to the saints. For those of you with influence on the youth, what strategy can you employ to instill these in youth?