2. The great crossing-over…It can be a good experience!
November reminds us of our loved ones who have gone before us, and makes us think of our own departure too; so, let us learn something from this famous dialogue between 2 great Italian saints, John Bosco and Dominic Savio.
Savio: Do you see these flowers? They represent the virtues that most please the Lord.
Bosco: Which ones?
Savio: Roses symbolize charity; violets, humility; sunflowers, obedience; gentian, penance and mortification, and cobs, frequent communion. Lilies symbolize the beautiful virtue of which it is written: ‘They are like angels in heaven’, namely chastity. And everlasting flowers symbolize all those virtues which must last forever, namely perseverance.
Bosco: All right, my dear Savio. But tell me, you who have practiced these virtues in your life, what was your greatest consolationat the moment of death?
Savio: What was it, in your opinion?
Bosco: Perhaps having kept the beautiful virtue of purity?
Savio: No, not just that one.
Bosco: Perhaps you rejoiced in having a clear conscience?
Savio: This is indeed a good thing, but not yet the best.
Bosco: Could the hope of Heaven maybe have been your comfort?
Savio: It wasn’t that either.
Bosco: So may having acquired merit from many good works?
Savio: No, no…
– So what comforted you at this final hour? Bosco asked him, almost pleading, saddened at not having been able to guess his thought.
Savio: What comforted me most at the moment of death was the assistance of the powerful and eminently kind Mother of the Savior! And this you must tell your sons! Let them never forget to pray to her while they are alive.
(Excerpt from San Giovanni Bosco, Il beato Domenico Savio. Torino, SEI 1950 p. 229-243)
This dialogue speaks for itself, as we ask ourselves about the best way to please the Lord and fall into his arms of mercy in our last hour!
“The main thing is not to act so much according to our idea, said St. Maximilian Kolbe in a later time, but to be in the hands of the Immaculate!”
