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Here is the quote from "The Biographical Memoirs of Saint John Bosco," by Giovanni Battista Lemoyne, Volume 7, Chapter 8, Page 43:
...Don Bosco commented on the versicle "The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth" [John 4:23]. He commented that Protestants misinterpret these words as an argument against exterior worship, and he spoke about a tough debate he had five or six days before with Protestants in a private home:
"To begin with, do you know what 'in spirit' means?" I asked.
"It means that God should be adored selflessly and fervently in one's own heart, not superstitiously as Catholics do," they replied, considering our exterior worship a mere masquerade.
"Were this really so," I rejoined, "I'd agree with you. But it is decidedly not. Anyway, let's continue. What does 'in truth' mean?"
"It means that God should be adored in a 'real,' not in an empty way."
"Did you say 'real'?"
"Yes!"
"Very well. 'Real' means something concrete. How can a concrete thing be only 'in one's own heart'?"
Rather put out, my opponents had to admit that I was right.
"Well then," I went on, " 'in spirit and in truth' must also be taken to read that exterior means may and should be used in worshiping God. Furthermore they also reveal serious doctrinal and liturgical differences between Hebrew and Christian ritual and ceremony. 'In spirit and in truth' means that all Old Testament rites and sacrifices—mere figures of those of the New Testament—would one day be superseded by a 'real' sacrifice truly pleasing to God. Read the first chapter of St. Luke's Gospel, and you will see a magnificent sacrifice being celebrated with all the splendor of exterior rite and ceremony—with altar, thurible, and incense. All this foreshadowed the solemn Mass—the real, true sacrifice. The first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles tells us that they met with the disciples in the cenacle to pray. The next chapter shows them offering the Eucharistic sacrifice and partaking of Communion at that gathering. The authentic history of Christianity's first three centuries proves that Christians, following the Apostles' tradition, celebrated Holy Mass with altars, solemn rites, psalm singing, flowers, incense, and lights. Read the fourth and subsequent chapters of the Apocalypse. They describe a sacred rite so minutely that you will think you are watching the sacrifice offered in our own [Catholic] churches. You will see the altar, the censer, the incense, the candlesticks, the lamps, the scented golden vessels, the elders' golden crowns or miters, the ritual bows, the harps, the canticles, and the procession of white-clad virgins—in a word, everything the Church uses for ritual splendor."
When I finished speaking, one of the Protestants looked for a copy of the New Testament. All they had was the adulterated translation into Italian by Giovanni Diodati. I let them use it anyway, because I was certain that it would contain enough to convince them. After they had checked the passages I had quoted, I pointed out and explained a few others then and there.
They concluded, "We really had never paid much attention to these passages."
So I went on, "Now, tell me, how do your churches resemble Jerusalem's holy temple? Do you have altars, censers, incense, candles? Does your manner of honoring God resemble what the Apostles did and what the angels themselves do in heaven? Don't you think we are reasonable in imitating the saints and the angels as we adore God?"
"Of course! Truthfully, we must admit we have nothing of all you mentioned." In conclusion, one of them—an evangelical minister—remarked, "This is something we shall have to think about."
This debate and the Waldensian minister's misgivings dealt a serious blow to their position. As a result, these days many Protestants are turning to the Catholic Church. Infuriated at losing these souls, Satan vented his rage on Don Bosco by depriving him of his sleep.
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