105. Work and temperance, 1876
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Part 1: The bull and humility.
This is one of the most important dreams of our Saint. He narrated it thus:
Last night I had a dream which seems to me rich in important teachings.
I saw that with my disciples we were arriving at a field and that an unknown personage was telling us: - I want to free you from a great danger.
It is a furious bull that destroys those who pass by its path.
And he recommended to me: - Tell your disciples that as soon as they hear the roar of the bull, which is fierce and very large, they should immediately throw themselves to the ground and remain face down, with their faces turned towards the ground, until the bull has gone away. Those who do not accept to humiliate themselves on the ground and stay like that, will be irremediably lost.
Let them remember that phrase of the Gospel which says: "Those who humble themselves will be exalted, but those who are proud will be humiliated".
And suddenly the terrible roar of the bull was heard and my disciples very obediently made two rows on either side of the road and fell to the ground and remained with their faces turned towards the ground.
The dreadful roar of the bull was heard and that terrible animal arrived. It had horns with which it wreaked real havoc. We all trembled with fear. Up to seven horns appeared on the bull.
But it was with the two in front of it that it was destroying the most.
And a voice was heard saying: "Now we will see the effects of humility.
And, ah wonder, in an instant, all of us who were prostrate and lying on the ground, with our faces to the ground, were lifted into the air so that the horns of the beast could not touch us.
But the proud ones, those who had remained standing instead of lying on the ground, were all torn to pieces by the horns of the ferocious animal. And the voice said: - This happens to the proud. He who is proud will be humiliated.
The bull raised his horns trying to reach us and hurt us, but he did not succeed because we were very high.
Then, enraged, he went to look for other beasts to help him reach us.
The bull is the enemy of souls.
It has up to seven horns, which are the deadly sins (pride, greed, anger, impurity, gluttony and sloth). But he does not succeed in destroying those who remain humble with these sins.
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Part 2: The wild beasts and the Eucharist.
Then I saw that we were all going to a Church and that we were kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament on the altar and we were devoutly praying. And at that moment many other furious bulls with terrible horns arrived and wanted to attack us but they could not approach us because we were praying to Our Lord (it was fulfilled what Jesus said: "Certain evil spirits are not driven away except by prayer and sacrifice").
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Part 3: The two conditions for success.
We arrived at a vast field and the stranger said to me: - Now you are going to see what awaits the Salesian Community.
He made me climb a very high rock and from there I was able to see a plain as large as I had ever imagined that there could be something so immense. It seemed that from there you could see the whole earth.
And people of all colors and races appeared there, dressed in clothes from the most diverse countries of the earth. Near me there were Salesians leading huge groups of Italian boys. I recognized them. Then to the south I saw many Salesians from Sicily and Africa leading large crowds of young people. I looked to the east and saw many young people from Asia led by the Salesians. I knew the Salesians in the first row. The others were unknown to me. I looked to the north and to the west and everywhere, huge groups of boys were marching led by the Salesians.
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And the personage explained to me: - This is the immense field that awaits the Salesians. A boundless field awaits your disciples. You have seen some you know and others you do not know. This means that the Salesians will work for souls in this century, in the next century and in the centuries to come. But on one condition: to achieve these successes you have seen they need to have these words as their motto, as their word of command, as their badge. The words are: Work and temperance make the Salesian Congregation flourish. These words need to be explained to them, they need to be repeated many times and even a booklet needs to be written to explain the meaning of these two words. It is necessary to try to convince them that work and temperance are the inheritance that you leave to the Congregation, and at the same time its glory.
Temperance is to control oneself: to be sober and mortified in eating, drinking, sleeping and resting. It is to fulfill what Jesus said: "Whoever wishes to be my disciple must deny himself, must be self-controlled").
I answered him: "I agree with all this. This is what I recommend to my disciples day after day and whenever the occasion arises.
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And the voice continued saying to me: - It is necessary to tell them clearly that as long as they fulfill these two mottos: Work and Temperance (to be always very busy and to know how to mortify their senses and their passions) they will have followers in the north and in the south, in the east and in the west. Let each one propose to be a model in this. Let them fulfill what the apostle recommends: "Be sober, vigilant and watchful, because the enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (St. Peter 5:8).
Mastering the senses and sensuality is the number one step in gaining personality.
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Part 4: The four nails.
The guide then showed me a poster where four nails were painted and told me: "These are the four nails that torment and put an end to religious congregations. They are like the four nails that tormented Christ on the cross.
If in the Salesian Congregation they manage to keep them away, everything will go very well and they will reach sanctity.
And he explained to me: The first nail bears a phrase of St. Paul that says: "Their God is the belly". It means to eat too much, to drink too much. Not to be mortified in eating and drinking.
The second nail has another phrase of the apostle written on it which says: "They seek their own and not what belongs to Jesus Christ". They are those who seek not the Kingdom of God or the salvation of souls, but their own comfort, the pleasure of their pride and vanity, and the help of their relatives. If this way of behaving is removed, the Congregation will prosper.
The third nail carries another phrase from the Bible that says: "Their tongue is like the venom of a poisonous viper" (Psalm 140). They are the murmurers, those who are always criticizing, the gossipers who tell others what has been said against them. They are a fatal nail for the communities.
Then the guide showed me another phrase from the Holy Book that said: "They are like a serpent hidden in the grass, like a viper in the path where one must pass" (Genesis 49:17). They are those individuals who do not trust their superiors, who never talk to them, who keep everything they feel to themselves and never say it. These are real scourges for the communities. Those who act badly if they are discovered can be corrected, but these are underhanded, hypocritical and we do not realize the hidden evil they are doing, and when they are discovered there is no time to remedy the evil they have done. These kinds of people should be kept away from the Congregation.
I set out to write this very wise advice, and when I was about to start writing, I saw that the young people were beginning to arrive frightened and I heard the mooing of the bull that was charging, and such was the fright that I felt that... I woke up.
Conclusion: What a good conclusion to all this would be that we should resolve to practice every day the motto of Work and Temperance and always avoid the four harmful nails: gluttony, pride, murmuring and idleness. And instead of acting hidden like a snake in the grass, we should be frank and sincere with our superiors. In this way we will be able to do great good to our soul and at the same time do a great deal of good to other souls.
I asked Our Lord to enlighten me some more about how important it is to fulfill the motto of Work and Temperance, and I went back to sleep. And I saw a beautiful garden full of the most beautiful flowers one can imagine. And I was told: that will be your community if you observe your motto of Work and Temperance.
Then the garden became a pigsty where there were the most disgusting and loathsome animals one can imagine and there was an unbearable stench, and I was told, "That is what the community will become if you do not obey the motto of Work and Temperance. The stench made me so disgusted that I woke up, and I remained for quite a long time with the impression of that disgusting and horrible scene.
Let us heed what we have been advised today, and we shall be happy
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106. The flioxera (or rust or borer or pest) of grapes, 1876.
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On an October night in 1876, while many of my disciples were making the Spiritual Retreats, I dreamed that I came to a huge hall full of religious and that they said to me: - Are you thinking what you should say to your disciples at the end of the Spiritual Retreats? Well... tell them about the Flioxera; tell them to flee from the Flioxera. Tell them that if they make an effort to keep the Flioxera away, then yes, the community will have a long life and will succeed in doing much good to souls.
I asked them: - And which Flioxera are you talking about? - Well, that flioxera that has destroyed and brought to ruin so many religious communities and even prevents many of them from doing the good they should be doing.
And as I did not understand what they wanted to tell me, a kind and venerable personage came forward and said to me: - I am going to explain to you. Flioxera (or rust or borer) is a disease that comes to the plantations and destroys them. It is made up of millions and millions of tiny microbes.
And when it appears on one plant, it doesn't take long for all the surrounding plants to be infected with the same disease, even if they are at a certain distance. When this disease appears, the infection spreads rapidly and the fruits and the expected harvest are ruined. And how does it spread?
The wind is transmitting the disease from plant to plant. It is a misfortune that spreads very quickly.
- And that flioxera is gossip, which spreads very quickly and carries the disease of disobedience to many people.
- And what else does flioxera, that is, gossip, cause them? The venerable old man answered me: "The evils that come from backbiting are incalculable. The first thing that withers in the houses where it arrives is charity ( gossip is a bucket of cold water on the small flame of charity). Murmuring cools and extinguishes the desire to save souls and wastes much time that could be spent in doing good. And the bad example that is received from murmurers makes them fulfill what the Book of Sirach says: "The murmurer makes himself unpleasant before God and before men". It is not necessary for the murmurer to pass from one house to another: it is enough that there it is known what he said while murmuring, and thus the evil spreads from house to house. This was the evil that destroyed many religious communities.
- But how to remedy such a great evil? The personage said to me: - It is not enough with lukewarm remedies. Serious and strong measures must be taken. To attack the flioxera it is not enough to fumigate.
One infected plant is enough for it to infect the whole plantation and spread to other farms.
That is why it is necessary to cut the plant, and hopefully burn it, and if there are enough infected plants, it is necessary to cut all those that have the disease. This is how it has to be in the communities: the murmurer, the one who rejects the orders received, the one who disregards the regulations, the one who sows discord and discontent among the others, must be driven away without contemplation, without being overcome by a dangerous tolerance. Sometimes we feel pity when we have to punish an individual because we are friends with him or because he has very special qualities, or because his great knowledge brings prestige to our Congregation. Be careful, we must not let ourselves be carried away by this consideration. These individuals would hardly change their way of being. I do not say that their conversion is impossible, but I dare to assure you that it is very rare that they would abandon their habit of murmuring, criticizing and creating a bad atmosphere.
Some would say, but if they leave, they may behave even worse in the world! It is up to them, but we cannot leave these individuals in the Congregation because they would destroy everything.
- What if there was hope that they would change in the Congregation? - Watch out! It is preferable that one of them leave and not expose himself to the risk of infecting the whole plantation of the Lord with his murmuring and rebellion. You have to talk very seriously about this to those who run the community.
I thanked the kind character for these very important teachings and at that moment the bell rang for the wake-up call and I woke up.