On May 30, 1862, St. Don Bosco told a story, to his boys that he taught, about a dream that he had a few nights earlier. He tells them to picture many ships at sea ready for battle with cannons and rams heading toward a stately beautiful ship that they want to destroy, which is captained by the Pope. St. John Bosco relates, “In the midst of this endless sea, two solid columns, a short distance apart, soar high into the sky: one surmounted by a statue of the Immaculate Virgin at whose feet a large inscription reads: Help of Christians; the other, far loftier and sturdier, supports a Host of proportionate size and bears beneath it the inscription Salvation of believers.” A great storm breaks out and as these ship go to attack the Barque of Peter, but fail to sink the ship because it is anchored between these two solid columns. Even when this Pope is struck down, a new Pope takes his place to captain the ship.
The Barque of Peter is being tossed about by the current cultural changes in the world and seems to be taking on water. Some think that changing Church doctrine will solve the faith crisis in the Catholic Church. Others believe that a new path of evangelization will be discovered in the Amazon jungle. Yet, as St. Don Bosco witnessed in his dream, the success of evangelization must be anchored in the belief of the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Bishop Fulton J. Sheen once commented, “If you don’t behave as you believe, you will end by believing as you behave.”
