Dear
St. Dominic, I am deeply impressed by your WISDOM in using every means
to save your soul and the souls of others. I admire your COURAGE in
preferring death to a single mortal sin. I need these two gifts very
badly. Help me to place the salvation of my soul above everything
else. Teach me to fight against the devil and my evil tendencies. May I
never weaken in my struggle and may I one day deserve your
companionship in heaven. Amen.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be,
St Dominic Savio, Pray for us.
*Practice*: Conclude this Novena with a good confession and perfect Communion. Consecrate yourself to Our Lady.
🙏😇🙏😇🙏😇
*PRAYER OF EXPECTANT MOTHERS*
Lord
Jesus I bring to you with love the sweet hope that I carry within my
womb. You have given me the gift of this tiny living being within me. I
thank you for choosing me as your instrument of love. As I wait in
expectation, help me to surrender myself joyfully to your will. Make my
heart Pure, strong and generous. To you I offer my preoccupation about
what is to come, along with my fears, anxieties and expectations about
the little creature which I do not as yet know fully. Grant that the
baby may be born healthy. Keep every bodily illness away from my baby
and above all preserve it from all spiritual harm.
O
Mary, you who have experienced the ineffable joys of a holy motherhood,
obtains for me a heart capable of transmitting life of ardent and
living faith. Sanctify my expectation; bless my joy-filled hope so that
the fruit of my womb may grow in virtue and holiness with y0our prayers
and the grace of your Son. Amen.
🌹🌹🌹
Ninth day
‘Jesus
said to Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in
me shall never die. He who believes in me though he die, yet shall he
live.”’ (Jn 11. 25, 26)
A City Street and the Road to Heaven
The
streets of Turin were dark that night, lit up by a rare oil lamp here
and there. As on other nights, Don Bosco was hunched over his writing
table. Before him was a pile of letters awaiting a response and he was
trying to get this done in the next couple of hours. But then, there was
a gentle knock on the door:
- Come in, who is it?
- It’s me, - said Dominic – stepping in.
- Oh, Dominic, what are you doing out of bed at this hour?
- Quick, come with me, there’s good deed to be done.
- Now, at this hour of the night? Where are you taking me?
- Hurry up, Don Bosco, quick!
Don
Bosco hesitated, but looking at Dominic Savio, a youngster, not yet 15
years old. He looked at him…the usually serene face was very serious.
Even the way he spoke was as decisive as a command. Don Bosco got up,
took his hat and followed him.
Dominic climbed
up some precipitously steep stairs. He left a courtyard, slipped into
another lane and then a third. He said nothing and paused nowhere. In
that maze of dark streets he walked as if guided by radar. Along the
road, there were doors after doors. Dominic stopped before one of them.
He had not read the number neither did he look around to see if he was
in the right place. He decided to take the stairs. Don Bosco simply
followed him: the first floor, the second and then the third. Don Bosco
stopped before a little door. Before anyone could open it he told Don
Bosco:
- You should go in here.
Without another word he turned around and retuned home.
The door opened. There before him was a disheveled woman. Seeing a priest she raised her hands to heaven:
-
It is the Lord who has sent you. Hurry, hurry, there’s no more time. My
husband was a priest. He became a Protestant Pastor for the money. Now
he is dying and asking for mercy and to make his Confession.
Don Bosco went in and comforted the dying man. He found the poor man on the point of despair.
He heard his Confession, reconciling him with God. A few minutes later the man was dead.
A
few days went by. Don Bosco was still shaken by what had taken place.
How could Dominic Savio have known about that sick man? He came just at
the nick of time when no one could have expected. He asked:
- Dominic, that evening when you came to my office to call me, who told you about the sick man? How did you know?
Then
something happened that Don Bosco didn’t expect. Dominic looked at him
sadly and began to cry. Don Bosco did not dare to ask him any more
questions, but understood that in his Oratory there was a boy to whom
God was speaking to in mysterious and inexpressible ways.
A
few months went by and God called Dominic to himself. A terrible cough
tore at his lungs for several days. He had to return home to his family,
where he was to spend his days and gently fade away.
It
was the evening of March 9, 1857. Mrs Anastasia Molino, a neighbour of
the Savio family was present at Dominic’s last moments and recounted her
sworn testimony with these words:
“I saw
Dominic often during his last illness. I never heard him utter a word of
complaint. During the last moments his illness worsened and seeing his
mother so distraught he consoled her saying:
-
Mamma! Don’t cry, I’m going to heaven. He also said that he was going to
see the Madonna and the saints. He died peacefully. Present around his
bed were his mother, father and some of his neighbours.”
It was the night of March 9, 1857. Dominic was born a second time, to the life of Heaven.
Time for Reflection
Don
Bosco wrote and spoke several times: “Death is a debt we all must pay.
But after that God will give us a great reward for all the efforts we
have sustained for his sake. At the end of life we will reap the fruit
of our good works.”
Dominic Savio heard him say
those words several times. And after his short life he truly met Jesus
and thanked him for what he had done and Jesus crowned him with joy and
peace. Today there is little talk of death. Many people are not only
afraid of death but also of talking about it. This is not a Christian
attitude: if we live under God’s gaze we will never be afraid of meeting
him and receiving from him the reward for all the good we have done.
A Moment of Prayer
Saint
Dominic Savio, Don Bosco taught you how to live and how to die well.
Help me also to live beneath God’s gaze by doing good, so that whenever
God calls me I too will receive the Father’s embrace.
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