146. The Way of the Cross, 1886
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I dreamed that a personage appeared to me and said: “Preach to the people about the Way of the Cross.
And he took me to a square full of people and there I spoke to them about the 14 stations of the Holy Via Crucis, or Holy Way of the Cross. I explained to them how in the Stations of the Cross we are remembering what happened to Jesus during the last hours of His earthly life (from the prayer in the Garden on Holy Thursday night, to His burial on Good Friday evening).
And I dreamed that when I finished speaking, those people asked me to explain to them one by one the 14 Stations of the Cross.
I explained to them how Jesus, who was the first to go through the Stations of the Cross, proposes that we also go through them, and He says it with these words: “If anyone wants to be My disciple, let him master himself, and take up the cross of his sufferings every day and follow Me”.
The listeners asked me to explain the Way of the Cross with examples. Then I explained to them how this pious practice recalls the sufferings that Jesus underwent in His passion and death to save us.
People asked me to distribute the Stations of the Cross printed in little books and I went to look for some Salesian priests to help me in this work and while I was looking for them eagerly... I woke up.
Note: The life of St. John Bosco in this year 1886 was a true Way of the Cross or road to the cross, because his health was terribly deficient and his worries and labors were very great. But he never lost his serenity and kindness. He knew very well that the more he suffered on this earth, the more similar he became to the Divine Redeemer and the higher place he earned for Heaven. But he often repeated: “Let us remember that it is not the sufferings, but the patience with which we bear the sufferings that come to us that earns us rewards”.
Throughout his life he recommended to the people who listened to him to pray the Holy Way of the Cross, especially during Lent (the 40 days before Holy Week) and in his devotional called: “The Educated Young Man”, of which he published more than two million copies, he published a beautiful Way of the Cross with graphics and beautiful prayers. He personally made many times the Stations of the Cross.
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147. Dream of Mother Margherita in I Bechi
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On March 1, 1886, our Saint narrated the following: I dreamed that I was in the field where I was born, in I Bechi. My Mother Marguerite with a vessel in her hand was standing by the fountain and she was drawing dirty water by pouring it into a vessel. That fountain had always given pure water and now it gave cloudy water, and my mother was very surprised and exclaimed: “Now we will have to pay for the water we drink”.
- Explain these words to your priests and they will see that they will be fulfilled.
Then she took me to a high place and showed me the small villages around, for example: Capriglio (the village where Mother Margherita was born) and Butigliera, and she said to me: “Why not found some work here? Are these people not worth as much as those of Patagonia? - Yes mother, but I want to do good here and also there in Patagonia.
- Well, if that is so, I agree.
And when I saw that my mother was going to leave... I woke up.
Later the waters that were born in the source of I Bechi became impotable and it was necessary to install the official aqueduct and to pay every month the waters that are taken there.
On the height where the birthplace of St. John Bosco used to be, 50 years later, according to the wish of Mamma Margherita (expressed in this dream), a large Industrial College was built for young people from the surrounding area. The Semeria Institute, where young people from Capriglio, Butigliera and other neighboring villages can go to study. Thus it has been demonstrated that the countrymen of Don Bosco are as important for the Salesian educators as those of Patagonia and other missions.