Passing Thoughts on the Passing of Time

              In the midst of life we are in death. This is brought home to us when those known to us closely, pass away. Death is the only certainty in life.

            Today, there is the category of the aging population. A good percentage of the population is in this aging process and we continually hear of someone or other of this generation passing away. Undoubtedly they have lived their life; lived to a ripe old age, well pass the Biblical span of three score and ten and there should be no regrets. Nevertheless death inevitably leaves a heartache. Long – forgotten memories are awakened – nostalgic bitter – sweet memories. Bitter over the pain of parting and sweet for the fragrant, lingering memories left behind. Like the haunting strains that linger in the heart and mind long after the music is over – thankful for that music. We are never really parted so long as memories remain.

            Some of us encounter each other or one another, seasonally, periodically, after a lapse of time and on such memorable occasions the profound topic of death, invariably creeps into conversation, as all are necessarily in the departure lounge awaiting the great flight. Very often the parting words are “See you again God willing”. On one such occasion in the not too distant past a parting remark directed as me was “I wonder if and when we’ll meet again.” I was reminded of Bard’s quote “If we should meet again we shall but smile; if not this. Parting was well made” and it did after all turn out to be portentous. I am thankful however that quite unwittingly I made the parting in anticipation.

            How come we do not appreciate or at least show any recognition, sometimes even to the point of ignoring when people are alive but are haunted by memories when they are dead. This is the way of the world. The rush and fret and the fever of life leave us no time for such compliments or so we think.

            What is this life is full of care

            We have no time to stand and stare

            Little cherished incidents suddenly crop up from somewhere in the sub-conscious; they surface only then when people are dead. This leaves much food for thoughts and digestion.

            So this is the inevitable transience of life. But through it all permeates the promise of the Lord. “I am the Resurrection and the Life” and the words of Donne echo “Death where is thy sting? Death where is thy victory?” for the Lord has promised eternal life in the portals of the Lord for those who believe in Him.

Does Jealousy Block Our Happiness?

Almost everybody has it but nobody likes it. But unfortunately it is seen in most human beings in varying degrees. Its called the green-eyed monster ... 'jealousy'.

If no one wants it and if it is destructive why do people cherish it? May be because they do not know the harm it does, why and how it starts and how to eradicate it.  Do we think we too may have it? If the answer is 'no', great! We will be blessed with peace of mind.  If we are an unfortunate soul filled with jealousy, try to shed it and be free. It is rewarding.

Why do we experience jealousy? Jealousy is simply a combination of selfishness and lack of self confidence. As long as we have a generous heart and self confidence, we will have no feelings of jealousy at all. When we are not secure, when we are not confident about our abilities, our potential and our skills, we become jealous. We are scared of being replaced. "If I cannot have it, you can't have it!" is the basic theme of a jealous person. Others may have many riches,  talents, opportunities. So what? Why should we have what all the others have? It is not necessary. It is not what they have that burn us, but our heart. Our thoughts. We should learn to change the way we think,the way we feel and act. Breaking free from jealousy starts with our thoughts.

Understanding our own worth is the best and probably the fastest and surest way. Each one of us is unique. Believe and enjoy that thought. Feel it and be confident about the fact that we are special. We do not lose anything by being happy about others' happiness. Our happiness comes when we are a blessing to them. A jealous person cannot be blessing.

Secondly, comparison gives way to jealousy. We always try to compare ourselves with others and try to do better. This competitive attitude is destructive and makes us bitter, not better. People who feel inadequate, insecure, or overly dependent tend to be more jealous than others. When competition, comparison and feeling of inadequacy are combined, it is a negative force. When we see someone excelling at something or threatening, we become jealous. Stop comparing ourselves to other people. We are unique and we do not have to compete and defeat anyone to be a winner. Be happy that we have qualities that others do not have and try to be a blessing to someone else. We experience happiness only when we are a blessing to someone else. God has given us so many wonderful gifts that many other people do not have. Focus on using those gifts to help someone else.

Learn this art soon. Do not delay. Otherwise, whenever someone gets something that we wanted, we will feel insecure and jealous, and we will be continously unhappy and disturbed. If we are confident about ourselves and if we have a good heart there will be no jealousy in us.

By The Side of The Suffering

A Mysterious Paralysis

When 14 year old Shane Roof told his dad Darrel Roof that he was not feeling well as they both mowed the lawn before a family cookout for Mother's Day at their home in Louisville, Kentucky, he did not think anything of it, recounts Caitlin Keating.

"I told him to go into the house and lay down," Darrel says of the incident. "When I walked in about  an hour later he said his leg was feeling funny."

Not even three hours later, Shane, a straight - A athlete who had no prior medical history and was looking forward to his upcoming 8th grade graduation, would be rushed to Norton's Children Hospital after those mild symptoms quickly took a turn for the worst: A mysterious paralysis.

Endless unknowns

At the hospital, Shane was struggling to breathe and move his body. After ruling out a tick bite or lyme disease, he was diagnosed with a spinal cord infarction, which is an interruption to the blood supply in the spinal cord. The infarction was the result of either a viral attack or stroke.

While he continues to regain more and more movement in his lower extremities, they are still at a loss over what happened.

"The prognosis is unclear and we expect a challenging road to recovery", says Dr. Montgomerry.

Darrel, 40, says they are struck in a gray area, but they are trying to remain hopeful. "We have our ups and downs because we sometimes get those bad thoughts," he says. "What if he doesn't recover from this? What the future for him?"

We want him back. They cannot give us any answers. There is no set plan. We just have unknowns, but Shane is so strong. According to his mom, Alexandra Roof, Shane is now able to move his right leg and toes, right wrist and fingers and will hopefully be moving to the Frazier Rehab Institute in Kentucky in the next week or two.

He also has a cuffed tracheostomy that blocks his vocal cords. When his lungs get stronger, they will switch it out for a speaking valve, but for now, they are forced to lip read. When they cannot understand what he is saying, Darrel made a headband with a laser light so Shane can spell out a word from a poster board that has the alphabet written on it.

"It's so hard as a parent to see our child in pain and not be able to comfort him," she says. "We are moving forward, which is a good thing. We continue to remain positive and help him stay strong."

Pushing Forward

Darrel & Alexandra have spent everyday with Shane at the hospital and sleep in his hospital room each night. "We have had an unbelievable amount of friends and family supporting us," he says. "We want to be here and we want to be comforting for our son."

It also helps Shane's parents to see how strong he has been through the entire ordeal. "Shane is amazingly tough. He has expressed to us that he wants to go home," says Darrel. "I think he understands and is staying optimistic. He is taking it really well. He is super strong willed and loving." This case is but one of the many unresolved enigmatic ailments.

The Why of Suffering

It sounds mysterious, but God is always on the side of the suffering. In the local scene, garbage dump disaster and floods left many people suffering in its wake. Hundred of families lost  their loved ones. Others have been displaced from their homes. Then came the dengue epidemic. In the face of all these, we may be wondering about the why of such human sufferings?

The chain of whys and wherefores  will be interminable,  unless we turn our gaze to Christ crucified. The final answer is found in Jesus Christ who "emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross". (Phil 2: 7 - 8)

Why did Jesus suffer so much bloody tortures as He went through His Passion and Death on Calvary? What evil has He done to deserve all these?

Suffering was transformed by God into a means of redemption. It would be the instrument by which God will show His almighty love and power. He will lay down His life for our sake and will take it up again.

Jesus' omnipotence is manifested precisely in the fact that He freely accepted suffering. He could have chosen not to do so. He could have chosen to demonstrate His omnipotence even at the crucifixion. In fact, it was proposed to Him: "Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe." (Mrk 15 : 32)

But He did not accept that challenge. The fact that He stayed on the cross until the end, the fact  that on the Cross He could say, as do all who suffer: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mk 15:34), has remained in human history the strongest argument. If the agony on the Cross had not happened, the truth that God is love would have been unfounded.

Yes! God is love & precisely for this He gave His son, to reveal Himself completely as Love. Christ is the One who "loved to the end" (Jn 13:1).  "To the end" means to the last breath. "To the end"means accepting all the consequences of man's sin,  taking it upon Himself.

All these happened exactly as Prophet Isaiah affirmed: " It was our infirmities that he bore. We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way. But the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all." (Is 53: 4 - 6).

Suffering Servant of Yahweh

That mysterious "Suffering Servant of Yahweh" in the book of Isaiah is Jesus. The "Man of Suffering" is the revelation of that Love which "endures all things" (1 Cor 13: 7), of that Love which is the "greatest" (Verse 13). It is the revelation not only that God is love but also the One who "pours out love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit" (Rom 5:5).

In the end, before Christ Crucified, the man who shares in redemption will have the advantage over the man who sets himself up as an unbending judge of God's actions in his own life as well as in that of all humanity.

Thus we find ourselves at the centre of the history of salvation. The judgement of God becomes a judgment of man. The divine realm and the human realm of this event meet, cross and overlap.

Christianity is a religion of salvation. It is a soteriological religion, to use the theological term. In the New Testament the Greek, word Soteria means rescue or safety whether physically or morally, deliver, save, health.

Christian soteriology focuses on the Paschal Mystery. In order to hope for salvation from God, man must stop beneath Christ's Cross. Then, the Sunday after the Holy Sabbath, he must stand in front of the empty tomb and listen, like the women of Jerusalem: "He is not here, for He has been raised" (Mt. 28:6)

Contained within the Cross and the Resurrection is the certainty that God saves man, that He saves him through Christ, through His Cross and His Resurrection.

Thus, when we choose to identify ourselves with the suffering of Jesus in His Passion and Death on the Cross, we find meaning in our sufferings, trials, ailments, etc. God transforms them and grants them redeeming value.

Please, Lord, even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.

Prophet Isaiah proclaims the goodness of the Lord. He wants all to be faithful and obedient to the covenant and thereby live a righteous life. God will take to His kingdom those who live a good and a dedicated life.

St. Paul preaching to the Jews wants them to turn to the Lord so that the other Jews who look at them too would come back to the Lord. He speaks of their rejection and their disobedience which brought about the salvation of mankind.

Jesus is moved by the faith of the Canaanite woman and cures her daughter, thus proving that salvation is not only for the Jews but also for the Gentiles.

The Jews at first were of the opinion that they were an exclusive race because they were named the chosen race; the Promised Land was theirs. Besides the patriachs, prophets and kings are from among them and lastly the Saviour too was to come from among them. So the Jews thought that salvation, God  and the kingdom of God, heaven...etc, were only for them. But today we are showed that salvation is not only for the Jews but also for the Gentiles. Being a Jew alone will not save us but being  faithful to God and being good will save us. There are certain divine standards that are expected of us to be saved. That could be observed both, by the Jews as well as the Gentiles. Therefore, whoever remains  faithful will be saved.

Prophet Isaiah announces to the people the message of the Lord: that God would save us all those who lead righteous lives. Even the foreigners, who serve the Lord with dedication, observe the Sabbath and hold fast to His covenant will be saved. He will bring them to the Holy Mountain and make them joyful in His house of prayer and their offering would be accepted at His altar. For His house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.

St. Paul ministers to the Gentiles so that through shame at least the Jews would turn to the Lord and be saved. He wants them to be faithful and obedient. He recalls their disobedience, which brought about their salvation and imagines what faithfulness and obedience could bring.

It is not a Jewish woman but rather a Canaanite woman who came to Jesus begging  him to cure her possessed daughter. Here He makes it clear that His ministry is for Jews only but is moved by the faith that was shown by this Canaanite woman. It is not the bother of this Canaanite woman; not the request of the Apostles that made Jesus perform that miracle but rather  it was the tremendous faith that was shown by the Canaanite woman which moved Him to save her.

Therefore whether Jews or not, let us turn to the Lord in faith and He will do the needful for us so that we would be with Him in the kingdom of God.

"O Woman, Great is your Faith! Let it be done for you as you wish!" - Matthew 15 : 21 - 28

We see how a Canaanite woman incessantly cries out to Jesus, " Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.... Lord, help me!"In answer to her, Jesus seems to be silent,  while His disciples show their reluctance to entertain her presence, "Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us." Then Jesus breaks His silence only to say "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of the Israel... It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs."  But she does not seem  to  have lost her courage, for she replies, "Please, Lord, for even  the dogs eat the scraps  that fall from the table  of their masters." Then Jesus acknowledges the depth  of her faith and grants  her request, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done  for you as you wish!"

Jesus heals Jews as well as non-Jews and males as well as females. He heals in and out of Palestine. Jesus' healing power goes beyond all man-made boundaries of ethnicity, gender and geography.

The repeated cries and the undaunted following of  the Canaanite woman have to be noted. More not worthy and remarkable  is her reply to the Lord: " Please, Lord, for even the dogs  eat the scraps  that fall from the table of their masters." They all manifest the depth of  faith and confidence she has  had in Jesus  the Healer.  She neither doubts nor questions  what Jesus says. She acknowledges her littleness or nothingness and the Master's greatness. She accepts her "dog role" of waiting for God's mercy as dispensed by Jesus. She is a faith - filled mother. It is this faith, professed in a Gentile land by a Gentile woman, which is rewarded at the end. It is this prrsistent, dogged spirit that is paid  off dramatically.

How ready are we to confront the odds to achieve something we esteem? "What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - It's the size of the fight in the dog" says Dwight D. Eisenhower.

How are we to respond when God seems distant and does not answer our prayer? Faith impels us to keep calling to God, even it may seem futile. Jesus seems to be silent, ignoring and unfavourable while the disciples show reluctance or annoyance. But the woman keeps crying out after them. She is persistent!

The Canaanite woman comes to Jesus not for herself but for another, her own daughter. She comes out of love.  She comes as a loving and faith-filled mother.  Following her example, today  we need to go to Jesus in praying asking His blessings  upon our own children, parents, brothers & sisters. Let's also ask, "How often do we approach God with selfish and self-centered demands that He do what we would like done?"

The apparently harsh language of Jesus needs clarification. "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel... It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs." It is true Israel is God's chosen people. Hence they need to be found and fed first. But does Jesus exclude the Gentiles from mission? It is clear Jesus observed the limitation of "only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" during His ministry. It was kept for practical reasons since His ministry was very much limited by time. It was not that He excluded the Gentiles on ethnic grounds as His fellow Jews would do. He had the Gentile mission already in mind to be given to the disciples in future. In fact, by healing the centurion's servant and the Canaanite daughter He anticipated the mission to the Gentiles.

Out of contempt, the Jews called the Gentiles dogs or swine. Does Jesus despise the Gentiles with the term, "dogs"? Can He be charged with bigotry and racism? What Jesus uses here is a diminutive form, 'kunarion',  which refers to lap or house or little dogs, not street dogs, 'kuon'. So He seems to use the word so affectionately just as we today use the word 'rascal' so affectionately, when we say, "You, my little rascal!".

The woman's response indicates this affection of Jesus. She seems to say, "I know your priority must now be with Israel. But as you feed Israel, could you not slip food to their pets when their parents are not looking?"

There are various other views which need some attention:
1. In the encounter, Jesus is deliberately provocative so as to evoke faith on the part of the woman. He doesn't mean what He says. He tries to draw more from her.
2. Jesus takes this opportunity to teach His disciples something new. He voices deliberately the typical Jewish attitudes about the Gentiles so that the disciples could recognize their inadequacy.
3. Jesus the Jew learns and grows from this encounter. He realizes that God has bread for Gentiles too. His horizons are widened at this threshold moment.

Jesus Went to the Cross for Sinners, not to the Perfect

Pope Francis has said the Church does not exist for people without faults, but for sinners in need of God's Mercy - a point he often returns to - and lamented the fact that there are many Catholics who believe the opposite.

We who are accustomed to experiencing the forgiveness of sins, perhaps too much like 'a cheap market', we should at times remind ourselves of how much we cost the love of God.

Jesus didn't go to the Cross because He heals the sick, because He preaches charity or because He proclaims the beautitudes. Rather, the Son of God goes to the Cross above all because He forgives sins, because He wants the total, definitive freedom of man's heart.

He does not accept that the human being consumes their entire existence with this irremovable 'tattoo', with the thought of not being able to be welcomed by the merciful  heart of God.

And this, is how sinners are forgiven. Not only are they reassured at a psychological level, feeling free from a sense of guilt, but Jesus does more: "He offers the people who have erred the hope of a new life, a life marked by love."

After Jesus forgives the sins of a woman who anoints his feet with oil, Simon the Pharisee asks "who is this who even forgives sins?"

Jesus' act of forgiving the woman's sins was a scandalous gesture, noting that to have a known sinner come into the house of Simon to anoint Jesus was startling, because at the time the mentality was between the holy and the sinner, the pure and the impure, the separation had to be clear.

But the attitude of Jesus is different, noting that from the beginning of His ministry, Jesus embraced lepers, the sick and the marginalised.

Such behaviour was by no means normal, so much so that Jesus' sympathy for the excluded, for the untouchables, will be one of the most disturbing things for his contemporaries. Whereever there is a person suffering, Jesus cares for them, and that suffering becomes his own.

Rather than following the stoic philosophers, who linked physical suffering to sin and believed such punishment had to be endured with heroism, Jesus shared in human pain, and when He encounters it, from the depths of His being bursts that attitude which characterises Christianity: Mercy.

Jesus shows compassion, but literally: Jesus feels His inside quiver. This is often referenced in the Gospels, where Jesus incarnate reveals the heart of God and offers healing to those who are suffer.

It is for this reason that Jesus extends His hands to sinners. There are many people today living a life of error because they can't find anyone willing to  look at them in a different way, with their eyes, or better,  with the heart of God, which is hope. At times we forget that Jesus did not act with an easy love that comes  for a cheap price. Jesus understands not only the physical pain of those who suffer, but also the internal pain of those  who feel that they are bad people or that there is something essential "wrong" with them because of their faults.

How God did not choose people who have never done wrong as the first dough to form His church. Rather, the Church is a people of sinners who experience the mercy and forgiveness of God, St Peter understood the truth about himself when the cock crowed, instead of his generous works, which swelled his chest, making him feel superior to others.

The Church is not for the perfect, but for sinners. We can think of a lot of Catholics who think they are perfect and they despise others and this is sad.

We are all poor sinners in need of God's Mercy,  which has the strength to transform us and radiate hope to us every day.

And to the people who understand this, God gives the most beautiful mission in the world, which is to tell of God's Love  for their brothers & sisters,  and the announcement of a Mercy  that God does not deny to anyone.

A dog named Grigio

Many are the strories and even books that have been written about special dogs.

There were dogs who saved their owners lives, dogs who helped bring criminals to justice, dogs who fought in wars and dogs so loyal to their masters and who served them so well so that their stories become part of history.

Such was a dog called "Grigio"

Grigio was much like other dogs we have heard or read about, with this difference; no one ever knew where he came from and no one will ever knew for sure where he went.

Let me tell you his story ...

Saint John Bosco, the beloved founder of the Salesians and boys' schools, was returning home late one day. Because he did much good, and was a true and great saint, there were many evil people who hated him and wanted him to see him dead. He has already been attacked morw than once and on this particular night, as he walk through the deserted streets of Turin, in northern Italy, he was prudently anxious, even though he was an extraordinarily strong man.

Suddenly, he saw a great big dog approaching him. In size and appearance he looked like a wolf, with a long snout,  pointed ears, and gray fur. At first, Don Bosco feared  the dog would attack, but drawing near, he showed every sign of friendliness. Wagging his tail, he snuggled his nose into Don Bosco's hand and gently pawed at his cassock. For the rest of the Saint's homeward journey  the burly hound walked behind him up to the gate of the Oratory of the Saint Francis de Sales.

And then he vanished!

From then on, every time Don Bosco was out late, the hound appeared out nowhere and followed him to and Fr. Don Bosco named him Grigio, which means gray, because that was the colour of his fur. One of the boys at the Oratory, Don Bosco's school, described him: "I saw a large, strong-looking beast that made me think of a wolf. He had gray fur and a big head; his ears were straight and pointed and he stood a little over three feet high."

One night, Don Bosco was making his way aback to the Oratory in the company of a good friend. They walked together for most of the journey, but at a certain point they had to go their sperate ways.  Before the two men parted company, Don Bosco  prayed to Our Lady for her protection  and recommended  the rest of the trip to his guardian angel. No sooner had he said this prayer then Grigio trotted up to them.  At the sight  of the dog, Don Bosco's friend  was terrified. "Don't worry", said Don Bosco "Grigio is my friend".

Unconvinced, his compannion tried to chase the dog away and even hurled a few stones at him. Grigio was struck several times but showed not the slightest  reaction. Don Bosco's friend was amazed, " Don Bosco, it can't be a real dog! It's a ghost!"

The man was so intrigued  that he accompanied Don Bosco to the entrance of the Oratory.There, suddenly, Grigio was gone.

"What is this?" the man wanted to know. "Where did he go?" "Was it a real dog?!" By this time he was so upset  and frightened that he was trembling. Don Bosco had to ask two  his bigger boys to accompany his friend home!

Grigio in Action

Now we shall see Grigio in action. Don Bosco himself tells us about it.

"Around the end of the November of 1854, one dark, rainy night, I was returning from the city. Avoiding the desolate and lonely places,  I took the road that leads from  the Consolata to the Cottolengo.

At a certain point I realised  that two men were walking a short distance in front of me. When I quickened my steps, they quickened theirs; when I slowed down, they slowed down. When I tried to pass them, they deftly barred my way. I then tried to retrace my steps but it was too late; suddenly, taking two leaps towards me, they quietly threw a dark cloak over my face. I struggled to free myself, but it was useless. One was trying to gag me. I tried to shout, but in vain.

At that moment, Grigio appeared, growling like a bear. He sprang with his paws towards the face of one and with his fangs towards the other  in such a way that they were  entangling the hound   instead of me.

"Call off your dog! Call off your dog!" they shouted in terror.

 "Yes, I will, but you must leave travelers alone."

"Allright, Allright," said the bandits, "but call him off, call him off now!"

Grigio continued howling like a furious wolf  or bear. I called him and he immediately left them.

They went their way and Grigio, walking beside me, kept me company until we reached the Cottolengo."

Every time Don Bosco went out he saw Grigio coming to meet him just as soon as he passed all the houses and buildings and began to tread isolated areas. Many times he was seen by the boys at Oratory and they even played with him and stroked his gray coat he was known among them as Don Bosco's dog  and, therefore, much liked. And he liked them. With Don Bosco's friends he was the gentlest of creatures, but with the saint's enemies he was like a lion.

Not only did Grigio escort Don Bosco on dangerous trips, he sometimes kept him from setting out on them. One evening Don Bosco had to go into the city for something important his saintly mother, Margarita, who lived with him until her death, insisted that it was too late and thus too dangerous for such a trip. Bound by his sense of duty, Don Bosco insisted on going. Calling a couple of his boys, he set out, but at the gate of the Oratory lay Grigio.

"He has been there quite a while," explained some of the boys. "We tried to make him go away and even took a stick to him, but he kept coming back."

"You don't have to worry about Grigio," said Don Bosco. "I can leave without fear now. Let's go, Grigio!".

Instead of following Don Bosco as he usually did, Grigio stiffened, his lips curled into a menacing snarl and he let out a deep growl. Surprised, Don Bosco nudged the dog lightly with the tip of his shoe. Grigio growled a second time. Don Bosco tried to climb over him, but the dog retreated and kept on growling. When Don Bosco tried to go around him, the dog rose up and blocked his path. The boys shouted at the mastiff but dared  not say anything further against an angry Grigio.

Hearing the noise, his Mother Margarita came out to see what was happening. "The dog has more sense than you John!" she scolded. "I would not go out if I were you!"

Don Bosco was finally persuaded. to stay home.  A little later he heard a commotion outside. Someone was saying, "Don't let Don Bosco out tonight! Some men are hiding  in the old house at the end  of the road and they have sworn to kill him as soon as he leaves the Oratory!"

 How did Grigio know? Grigio was  certainly a very unusual dog.

A dog that did not Eat, Age or Die

Another oddity about Grigio was that he would never take any food that was offered to him. One evening, Don Bosco had arrived  at the Oratory much earlier than expected because a friend, the Marquis Fasatti,  had lent him his coach. Don Bosco was having supper  when he overheard someone outside say, "Leave him alone! That's Don Bosco's dog!"

A little later some of the boys led the mastiff into the dining room. He immediately dashed to Don Bosco, bounding around his chair in delight. The saint offered him something to eat but the dog paid no attention to it. "You are a very proud dog." Don Bosco chided. "If you won't eat this, what will you eat?"

Placing his front paws on the table, Grigio looked mutely at Don Bosco for a moment. That done, he trotted to the back of the room and ran out the door: It seems he had expected to find Don Bosco on the road that day. Since our Saint had come by coach, Grigio had only wanted to make sure that he was safely home. 

Grigio accompanied Don Bosco for many years, so many that a lady once told him that it was impossible for a dog to live that long. Don Bosco only smiled and said, "maybe he is the son or the grandson or the first one."

But, as Grigio had come, so Grigio left. One day, Don Bosco went to visit an old friend, Luis Moglia. He had been invited to dinner, but having been detained he started our later than he had wished. As he walked, the sun began to set and he suddenly found himself wishing that Grigio were by his side. At that moment, he spied the dog joyfully running towards him!

Upon reaching his friend's house, Don Bosco and his host visited and talked and then the whole family went into the dinning room for dinner: Grigio came in with them and lay down in one corner of the room.

After a while someone remembered the dog and said, "We should give Grigio something to eat." The person turned toward the corner where the dog had been lying, but it was vacant. They looked for him around the room and then throughout the house, but he was nowhere to be found. 

Everyone was amazed, for neither the door nor. any window had been opened and the other dogs outside had never barked. 

Grigio was never seen again.