31 January 2020
Friday of the Third Week of Ordinary Time
Today is the feast day of St. John Bosco. He was a 19th century Italian priest who is most famous for his work with troubled, city-dwelling male youth who became disenfranchised following the Industrial Revolution. St. Don Bosco is also known for his many prophetic dreams. His most famous dream regards future troubles for the Church and is known as the Prophecy of the Two Columns. He described his dreams as follows:
“Try to picture yourselves with me on the seashore, or, better still, on an outlying cliff with no other land in sight. The vast expanse of water is covered with a formidable array of ships in battle formation, prows fitted with sharp spear-like beaks capable of breaking through any defense. All are heavily armed with cannons, incendiary bombs, and firearms of all sorts – even rockets – and are heading toward one stately ship, mightier than them all. As they try to close in, they try to ram it, set it afire, and cripple it as much as possible… The flagship commander – the Roman Pontiff – seeing the enemy’s fury and his auxiliary ships’ very grave predicament, summons his captains to a conference. However, as they discuss their strategy, a furious storm breaks out and they must return to their ships. When the storm abates, the Pope again summons his captains as the flagship keeps on its course. But the storm rages again. Standing at the helm, the Pope strains every muscle to steer his ship between the two columns from whose summits hang many anchors and strong hooks linked to chains…”
John Bosco concludes his dream as follows: “Very grave trials await the Church. What we have suffered so far is almost nothing compared to what is going to happen. The enemies of the Church are symbolized by the ships which strive their utmost to sink the flagship. Only two things can save us in such a grave hour: devotion to Mary and frequent Communion. Let us do our very best to use these two means and have others use them everywhere.”
We are living in a troubled world; Satan has done his work very well. The beauty of the Church has been destroyed and shattered by secularism, heresy, and apostasy which has led to attacks against the Church and Her teachings. As we are lamenting the state of the Church these days, perhaps we should take the advice from St. John Bosco about how deal with this grave hour. Increase our devotion to Mary and seek frequent communion.