Accompaniment

The following events happened in Borgo San Martino, a school headed by one of the first Salesians, Father John Bonetti. One night, he dreamed that a majestic personage came into his room and gently invited him to follow him. He obeyed and was led into a dormitory where, at that hour, all the boys were asleep. Stopping at the foot of a bed, the mysterious guide said to Father Bonetti, “Within a month this boy will stand before God's tribunal. Prepare him.” When Father Bonetti awoke in the morning, he was so impressed by that dream that he could not take his mind from it. However, he did not dare talk about it because it might have been only a dream. But what if it were a warning from God? He could not rule out that possibility because God is indeed very close to each of us. God loves us with an indescribable love. Father Bonetti hesitated to talk about his dream, fearing that it might somehow redound to his own glory. He preferred to say nothing. He could not, however, dispel a nagging thought: If the salvation of a soul depends on my disclosing this dream, will I not suffer bitter remorse for my silence if this warning should be confirmed by the boy's death? On the other hand, even if it had been but a dream, what harm could there be in reminding the boys of eternity? He finally decided to speak, but not to all. Calling a few of his more trusted co-workers, he told them his dream and the day on which the boy would die, without however disclosing the lad's name. Such an unusual matter could not remain secret. As the grapevine soon made it public, everybody awaited the fulfillment of the prediction with deep anxiety, all the more so because nobody was sick. Precisely as Father Bonettl had foretold, one boy did die after a short illness within the predicted time. Father Bonetti declared that he himself prepared him for that fateful moment. BM Vol. 8, ch. 20, p.129-130

Keep in mind that Don Bosco accompanied his boys until their last hours on earth. He was not a father for nothing. He used his visionary gift for bringing the boys closer to God, and he never abandoned them.

Article 38: The Preventive System in our mission “...Initiating God’s patience, we encounter the young at their present stage of freedom. We then accompany them, so that they may develop solid convictions and gradually assume the responsibility for the delicate process of their growth as human beings and as men of faith.”