The Value Of The Holy Eucharist In The Life Of Don Bosco

The Holy Eucharist is the centre of Catholic Worship, and so it was the centre of Saint John Bosco’s devotion.  As, a young man and later as a seminarian he was happy to assist at “Holy Mass” and when possible serve at it too. Very often, he received Our Lord Jesus Christ in “Holy Communion” and visited him in the Blessed Sacrament.  When, he was ordained a Priest, Saint John Bosco had many more opportunities of practicing this devotion, as he was able to celebrate “Holy Mass”. Don Bosco was a staunch believer in the “Real Presence” of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. His spiritual life was dominated by the “Real Presence”. 

His Priesthood gave him many opportunities to spread this devotion specially among the Youth. This is so true in the case of Saint Dominic Savio. He often spoke about Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament through Books that he wrote to help people to receive Jesus Christ worthily, to make reparation for injuries inflicted upon him, and to console him for the neglect he suffers. 

The following are interesting little titbits about today’s Saint of the Holy Eucharist, St. John Bosco: 1. Early in childhood our Lord and His blessed mother inspired him to rescue young boys from evil ways. 2. The boys under Don Bosco’s care learned about the Catholic faith “under a remarkable educational system based upon frequent confession and daily Mass.” 3. In 1862 Don Bosco had a vision of the dangers threatening the Church. Since everyone is familiar with the story I will skip to the end of the dream:

“Suddenly two marble columns surged from the depths of the stormy ocean, one surmounted by a monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament – “Salvation of Believers” and the other by a statue of Mary Immaculate “Help of Christians.”

The Eucharistic Dream:

For sixty years St. John Bosco received remarkable dreams which were almost visions. Probably his best-known dream-vision was that of the Church like a ship taking refuge between two pillars in the sea. In May 1862 he shared his experience of this dream. He could see a very big ship in the sea which he understood as the Church. There were many smaller ships drawn up to do battle against the big ship, they were the enemies of the Church and persecutions. Two pillars or columns were protruding from the sea a little distant from each other. 

On the top of one was a statue of Our Lady with Help of Christians written beneath. On top of the other pillar was a host (blessed sacrament) beneath which was written Salvation of the Faithful. The commander of the ship was the Pope. He was directing all his energies to steering the ship between those two columns or pillars. All the enemy ships moved to attack. 

Sometimes the large ship, the Church, got large, deep holes in its sides, but no sooner was the harm done than a gentle breeze blew from the two columns and the cracks closed up and the gaps were stopped immediately. In a battle the Pope fell gravely wounded. Immediately those who were with him helped him up. A second time the Pope was struck, this time he fell and died. The new Pope was so promptly chosen that the enemies begin to lose courage. 

The new Pope overcame all obstacles and enemies and guided the ship right between the two columns. He fastened a chain from the bow of the ship to the column on which stands the host, and fastened a chain from the ship’s stern to the column on which stands a statue of Our Lady. All the ships which had fought against the Pope’s ship were scattered and broken to pieces and other smaller ships which had fought for the Pope’s ship now bound themselves to the same two columns. 

In this remarkable dream-vision experienced by St. John Bosco the Church has two means to save itself in the midst of her persecutions; devotion to Jesus in the Eucharist and devotion to Our Lady.

Devotion to The Eucharist – One of the Pillars of Salesian Spirituality:

The second pillar of Don Bosco’s spirituality was devotion to Jesus in the
Eucharist, which he saw as the heart of every Salesian house. 

He used to remind young people: “If you want many graces, pay many visits to Jesus in the Sacrament; if you want few graces, pay him few”. Don Bosco was a “vir eucharisticus“, that is, a saint formed through and through by the Eucharist. He was so passionate about the Eucharist that he communicated his passion to the young people he carefully prepared for communion with the Lord through the sacrament of Reconciliation. 

For Don Bosco, Confession and the Eucharist were the two sacraments that inculcated in young people the Christian virtues and holiness. On this topic he wrote in 1877:

“Frequent Confession, frequent Communion and daily Mass are the pillars that must support an educational building that we desire to protect from threats and scourges. Never force youngsters to receive the holy sacraments, but only encourage them and make it easy for them to do so” (John Bosco, Il sistema preventivo nella educazione della gioventù [1877], n. 4).

The 15-year-old St Dominic Savio is a shining example of this sacramental pedagogy which strengthened his virtuous habits and his union with Jesus, witnessed by his Eucharistic ecstasies during Holy Communion.