“Tell the boys I am waiting for them in Heaven,” was one of the last thoughts Don Bosco spoke.
This weekend the relics of Saint John Bosco will be among us in Miami. More specifically, his remains will come to the church which bears his name and that I have attended [off and on, now on] since the mid-1960’s. It is a time of great joy and anticipation. Last night, a meeting led by Father Juan Carlos Paguaga, the pastor at St. John Bosco Catholic Church, was attended by over 100 people. Each person there had committed to serving in some way. If you get a chance to see the relics, please notice those whose guests you are for that brief time. They will not soon forget the experience.
Pivotal moment in Don Bosco’s life
When he was nine years old, he had a dream that was prophetic.
He seemed to be in the middle of a crowd of children at play, some of whom were cursing. Suddenly, the young John threw himself at them, hitting and kicking them to make them be quiet. But a man appeared before him who said: “Don’t hit them, with kindness and love you must win over these your friends. I shall give you a Teacher under whose guidance you will be able to become wise, and without whom, all wisdom becomes nonsense”. That person was Jesus, and the Teacher would be the Virgin Mary, under whose guidance he placed his whole life.
Who dies for a lie?
In one of my favorite book of apologetic’s, Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ presents the following arguments about the validity of the Resurrection:
J. P. Moreland’s circumstantial evidence added final documentation for the Resurrection. First, the disciples were in a unique position to know whether the resurrection happened, and they went to their graves confirming it was true. Nobody knowingly and willingly dies for a lie. Second, apart from the Resurrection, there’s no good reason why Paul and James would have been converted and would have died for their faith. Third, within weeks of the Crucifixion, thousands of Jews began abandoning key social practices that had critical sociological and religious importance for centuries. They believed they risked damnation if they were wrong. Fourth, the early sacraments of communion and baptism affirmed Jesus’ resurrection and deity. And fifth, the miraculous emergence of the church in the face of brutal Roman persecution “rips a hole in history, a hole the size and shape of Resurrection,” as C. F. D. Moule put it.
So to those with doubts [so this is self-directed part of the time], the question is;
2 Think Good 