21. The Wheel of Fortune 1856 (MB. 5,327)
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I dreamed that someone was presented to me with a wheel that announced the future, and that personage said to me: "Listen to the noise of this wheel. Every turn it makes means what will happen to your educational work in 10 years".
He gave it the first turn and the noise that was produced was so small that it was barely audible very close. After the second turn, the noise produced by the wheel could be heard from much farther away. At the third turn the noise was much greater and could be heard all over the country. At the fourth turn of the wheel the noise was immense and at the fifth turn the noise was so great that it seemed to be heard all over the world.
And it was communicated to me that this was the announcement of the future that awaited the Educational Work of Don Bosco. In the first years it would only be known in the city where its first Institute, the Oratory, was located in Turin. In its second decade, it would already spread throughout the provinces of that region, Piedmont. In the third decade, its fame and influence would spread throughout the whole country of Italy. In the fourth decade it would spread throughout Europe and in the fifth decade the Work of Don Bosco would be known and appreciated in all the continents of the world.
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22. The dream of the loaves 1857
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"One night I saw in a dream all my students, distributed in four different groups. The young people in the first group ate a very fine and tasty bread. Those in the second group ate ordinary bread. Those in the third group ate a bran bread. And those in the fourth group ate a moldy bread full of worms.
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And I was told that those in the first group are those who always remain with their souls in the grace of God and without sin. That those in the second group are those who are good, but sometimes commit faults. Those in the third group are those who frequently commit sins but repent and try to convert. And those of the last group are those who live in peace with their sins without doing anything serious to correct themselves.
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Note: Don Bosco in narrating this dream to his students said: "I remember perfectly well which of the groups each one was in.
So those who want to can go to my room these days and I will tell them in what state their souls are in".
The young people went to the room of our Saint on all those days and to each one he told such details about the state of his conscience that the boys exclaimed in admiration: "It seems that he had a pair of glasses to see spirits. He tells one everything he has in his soul".
This dream was repeated many times in various forms in the life of St. John Bosco, and he always managed to see the consciences as they really were.