Two life-changing stories everyone should know.
From the third book in the award-winning God Moments series, God Moments III: True Love Leads To Life.
Chapter 8: Restoring the Culture of Life
The Snake and the Rosary
"Don't Let Go!"
This story from the biographical
memoirs of St. John Bosco (Vol. VII, pages 143-145) may forever change the
importance you place on saying the Rosary. It sure did for Dom Bosco and
his boys, and for so many others who have heard the story. Please share it with others.
For 60 years, St. John Bosco had
many vision-like dreams that foretold the extraordinary mission God had for
him, and also guided him as it came to fruition. Fr. Bosco shared the
dreams with his boys. Sometimes the
youths faced tremendous challenges, and in other dreams, the state of their
souls were revealed.
The remarkable dream/visions
continue to provide us in the modern era with important lessons and insights as
we grow in sanctity and fulfill our purposes in life.
One particular dream had two parts. In
it, St. John Bosco "received yet another proof of the devil's
unceasing, devastating attacks against souls and of the need to repel him
constantly and free his victims." 1
In the dream, Fr. Bosco and his boys
were at his brother's house in Italy. As the boys played, a stranger came
up to Fr. Bosco and asked the priest to accompany him. They arrived at a
meadow alongside the playground, where the stranger pointed to a huge and ugly
snake that was coiled in the grass. The snake was over twenty feet long.
Fr. Bosco was afraid and wanted to
flee, but the stranger restrained him and said, "Get closer and take a
good look."
He balked of course, but the
stranger told him not to be afraid. He told Fr. Bosco to stay where he
was and went to get a rope.
The strange man asked Fr. Bosco to
take one end of the rope and grip it tightly in both of his hands. The
stranger held the other end, and together they dangled it over the snake.
Fr. Bosco replied, "You must be
crazy; the snake will leap up and tear us to pieces."
The stranger assured him all would
be well, and again Fr. Bosco attempted to flee. However, the stranger
assured him that there was nothing to fear because the snake would not harm
him. His argument was so convincing, that Fr. Bosco remained and agreed
to do as he said.
The stranger then went to the other
side of the "monster." They stretched the rope and snapped it
across the back of the snake. It immediately sprang up and struck at the
rope, but in doing so ensnared itself as if in a noose.
The stranger yelled to Fr. Bosco to
hold on and not let go, then ran to a pear tree nearby and tied his end of the
rope to it. Next he went to Fr. Bosco and tied his end of the rope to the
iron grating of a window in a house.
Fr. Bosco watched as the snake
struggled with rage to free itself. Instead, it tore itself to pieces and
scattered its flesh all over the area. Eventually it slashed itself
against the rope until it was just a skeleton.
Then, the most incredible thing
happened. The stranger untied the rope and coiled it up, and as he placed
it in a box, told Fr. Bosco to watch carefully. He closed the box, and by
that time, the boys from the Oratory had gathered around Father. They all
watched as the stranger opened the box. The rope was shaped into the
words Ave Maria, or "Hail Mary."
Fr. Bosco asked the stranger how
that happened. He explained that the
snake is a symbol of the devil, and the rope represents the Rosary, a
succession of Hail Marys with which we can strike, conquer and destroy all of
hell's demons.
Fr.
Bosco concluded that first part of the dream by telling his boys that he would
leave the second part of the dream for the next night. That dream, named The Anvil and the Hammer,
is described in the next story.
__________________
Source:
1. From The Biographical Memoirs of St. John Bosco, Compiled and Edited by
Fr. J. Bacchiarello, S.D.B., Forty Dreams of St. John Bosco (Rockford,
IL: Tan Books And Publishers, Inc., 1969), p. 108.
The Anvil and the Hammer
The Snake and the Rosary, Part II
St. John Bosco had many very
significant dreams throughout his lifetime. They began when he was a
child and continued for sixty years. God spoke to him then, and now speaks to
us through those dreams.
Some of them are parables, others are prophetic, and others are instructional.
They involved nations, the Salesian Congregation, missions, the Oratory, and
the Oratory boys.
St. John Bosco usually had a guide
and interpreter in the dreams. Sometimes he was able to see the state of
the Oratory boys' consciences, which he considered to be an extraordinary grace
which was granted for the benefit of their eternal salvation.
He shared his dreams with the
children, and residents eagerly anticipated news of a new one. The dreams
contained clear and exact revelations, and the residents of the Oratory
witnessed many of the events come to pass. Fr. Bosco was said to narrate his
dreams humbly, always with the spiritual benefit of his listeners his primary
concern. The sharing of the dreams led to a greater horror for sin,
better and more frequent Confessions, and more frequent Communion. He
referred to the dreams as "The Devil's Bankruptcy." 1
The first part of one very dramatic
dream was described in the previous
story, The Snake And The Rosary.
In the second part of that dream,
Fr. Bosco turned around as he was talking to the stranger about the symbolism
of the snake and the rope. The flesh of the snake was scattered all around,
and he saw boys picking up pieces of
snake meat and eating them. As soon as they swallowed some of the snake,
they crumpled to the ground, their bodies swelled, and then they turned as hard
as stone.
To Fr. Bosco's horror, more and more boys
kept eating the meat!
Fr. Bosco shouted at them and tried
to physically restrain them from eating the meat, but he was unable to stop
them. Each time a boy fell to the ground, another precious boy took his
place. Fr. Bosco called to some clerics to come help him stop the boys
from eating the snake meat, but some of them began to eat the snake meat, too!
They fell to the ground as well.
Fr. Bosco recalled that he was
nearly out of his mind at seeing so many of his boys lying in that terrible
state. He asked the stranger why the boys ate the meat when they knew it
would kill them.
"Because 'the sensual man does
not perceive the things that are of God' That's why!" was his
reply. 2
Fr. Bosco asked if there was some
way to save the boys.
"Yes," he was told. "There is a way to save them."
"Anvil and hammer."
Anvil and hammer, to put the boys
back in shape.
The stranger explained that the
anvil and hammer are symbols for Holy Communion and Confession.
He was clear: "These are the remedies you must
use."
So Fr. Bosco "went to
work" and found the prescribed treatment was very effective.
However, while most of the boys who ate the snake meat were restored to life
and recovered, a few did
not.
Why? Because they made bad confessions.
At
the end of the story, an historian explained that the boys' disobedience,
collapsing, swelling up, and the hardening of their bodies signified pride,
obstinacy, and love of sin.
Further,
"The prayers and sacrifices of
the just must first ask that God's grace warm hardened hearts and soften them,
so that the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Eucharist may exercise their divine
efficacy...thus, the hammer's blows and the anvil's support bring about the
cure of an ulcer-ridden but now docile heart. As the sparks fly, the
heart is reconditioned." 3
© Joseph Karl Publishing
God Moments III: True Love Leads To Life will be available fall 2012.
___________________________
Sources:
From the Biographical Memoirs of St. John
Bosco, Compiled and Edited by Fr. J. Bacchiarello, S.D.B., Forty Dreams of
St. John Bosco (Rockford, IL: Tan Books And Publishers, Inc., 1969)
1. From the Biographical Memoirs of St. John
Bosco, Compiled and Edited by Fr. J. Bacchiarello, S.D.B., Forty Dreams of
St. John Bosco (Rockford, IL: Tan Books And Publishers, Inc., 1969),
p. xii.
2. From the Biographical Memoirs of St.
John Bosco, Compiled and Edited by Fr. J. Bacchiarello, S.D.B., Forty Dreams
of St. John Bosco (Rockford, IL: Tan Books And Publishers, Inc.,
1969), p. 112.
3. From the Biographical Memoirs of St.
John Bosco, Compiled and Edited by Fr. J. Bacchiarello, S.D.B., Forty Dreams
of St. John Bosco (Rockford, IL: Tan Books And Publishers, Inc.,
1969), pp. 112-113.
Images taken at Ss. Cyril & Methodius Slovak Catholic Church, Sterling Heights, Michigan, U.S.A.
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