Biographical Information about St. Aloysius Gonzaga[1]
Readings for the Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga[2][3]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 2 Cor 11:1-11
In the first part of this selection we hear St. Paul being somewhat ironic as he chastises the Church in Corinth about listening to false prophets and those teaching an unorthodox vision of Christ. He goes on to ask them if they reject the message because it was brought to them free of charge and refers to his support coming from other Christian communities while he stayed in Corinth.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 111:1b-2, 3-4, 7-8
R. Your works, O Lord, are justice and truth.
Psalm 111 is a hymn of thanksgiving. In this selection we find the singer giving thanks for God’s guidance and His works of creation and salvation.
Gospel Mt 6:7-15
The Gospel passage from St. Matthew today actually jumps back and fills in a gap in the reading from yesterday. Today we go back and pick up right after Jesus was telling the disciples to pray in private. He continues his instruction saying to pray clearly and goes on to give Matthew’s version of the Lord’s Prayer.
Homily:
Our Gospel today gives us a more refined version of the Lord’s Prayer than the one represented in St. Luke’s Gospel. The family prayer of the Church is one we use reflexively. We use it in our devotions to Mary in the Rosary. We will use it in Mass today. It is the most repeated prayer in all Christian denominations and sects, used by Protestants and Evangelicals (in two forms, one saying “trespasses” the other saying “debts”). It is used by the Eastern Rite Churches and even by the smallest fringe elements of Christianity.
While it is so commonly and frequently used, not many of us who use it pray it from the heart. It is so well know to us that we repeat it without thinking about the words we are praying. Since whole books have been written about this prayer and have used its phrases as chapter headings we will not go into any sort of exegesis in this space. Instead we suggest a simple exercise, today, whenever and however many times we use the Lord’s Prayer, let’s slow it down and really think about the words we are praying. And while we are at it, let’s through in another piece, let’s think about how the life of St. Aloysius Gonzaga responded to that prayer.
He gave up a life of leisure and wealth to serve the poor and the infirmed, dying of the plague whose victims he was tending. He was so devoted to the Lord that he is remembered by the Church as one of the great religious Saints.
A number of years ago a young parishioner named at St. Thomas in Ann Arbor, Eric Liepa, passed away. Eric had been trying to enter priestly formation, having felt a call to the vocation very strongly. Due to health reasons (he suffered from a rare disease that affected his immune system) he was rejected. While still attempting to find an order that would accept him he died. He was about the same age as St. Aloysius. In my homiletic remarks at his funeral, I proposed that, had he been able, his words to his family might have echoed those of the letter from St. Aloysius to his mother as he lay dying of the plague. Even though it makes this post longer than usual, I offer that letter, used in the Office of Readings, for your contemplation today:
A letter from St Aloysius Gonzaga to his mother
May the comfort and grace of the Holy Spirit be yours for ever, most honored lady. Your letter found me lingering still in this region of the dead, but now I must rouse myself to make my way on to heaven at last and to praise God for ever in the land of the living; indeed I had hoped that before this time my journey there would have been over. If charity, as Saint Paul says, means to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who are glad, then, dearest mother, you shall rejoice exceedingly that God in his grace and his love for you is showing me the path to true happiness, and assuring me that I shall never lose him.
The divine goodness, most honored lady, is a fathomless and shoreless ocean, and I confess that when I plunge my mind into thought of this it is carried away by the immensity and feels quite lost and bewildered there. In return for my short and feeble labors, God is calling me to eternal rest; his voice from heaven invites me to the infinite bliss I have sought so languidly, and promises me this reward for the tears I have so seldom shed.
Take care above all things, most honored lady, not to insult God’s boundless loving kindness; you would certainly do this if you mourned as dead one living face to face with God, one whose prayers can bring you in your troubles more powerful aid than they ever could on earth. And our parting will not be for long; we shall see each other again in heaven; we shall be united with our Savior; there we shall praise him with heart and soul, sing of his mercies for ever, and enjoy eternal happiness. When he takes away what he once lent us, his purpose is to store our treasure elsewhere more safely and bestow on us those very blessings that we ourselves would most choose to have.
I write all this with the one desire that you and all my family may consider my departure a joy and favor and that you especially may speed with a mother’s blessing my passage across the waters till I reach the shore to which all hopes belong. I write the more willingly because I have no clearer way of expressing the love and respect I owe you as your son.
Pax
[1] The picture today is “The Gonzaga Family Worshipping the Holy Trinity” by Pieter Pauwel Rubens, 1604-05
[2] Note – the link provided at the USCCB web site to the first reading is incorrect it should read 2 Cor 11; 1-11. The text posted is correct.
[3] After Links Expire
Readings for the Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga[2][3]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Commentary:
Reading 1 2 Cor 11:1-11
In the first part of this selection we hear St. Paul being somewhat ironic as he chastises the Church in Corinth about listening to false prophets and those teaching an unorthodox vision of Christ. He goes on to ask them if they reject the message because it was brought to them free of charge and refers to his support coming from other Christian communities while he stayed in Corinth.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 111:1b-2, 3-4, 7-8
R. Your works, O Lord, are justice and truth.
Psalm 111 is a hymn of thanksgiving. In this selection we find the singer giving thanks for God’s guidance and His works of creation and salvation.
Gospel Mt 6:7-15
The Gospel passage from St. Matthew today actually jumps back and fills in a gap in the reading from yesterday. Today we go back and pick up right after Jesus was telling the disciples to pray in private. He continues his instruction saying to pray clearly and goes on to give Matthew’s version of the Lord’s Prayer.
Homily:
Our Gospel today gives us a more refined version of the Lord’s Prayer than the one represented in St. Luke’s Gospel. The family prayer of the Church is one we use reflexively. We use it in our devotions to Mary in the Rosary. We will use it in Mass today. It is the most repeated prayer in all Christian denominations and sects, used by Protestants and Evangelicals (in two forms, one saying “trespasses” the other saying “debts”). It is used by the Eastern Rite Churches and even by the smallest fringe elements of Christianity.
While it is so commonly and frequently used, not many of us who use it pray it from the heart. It is so well know to us that we repeat it without thinking about the words we are praying. Since whole books have been written about this prayer and have used its phrases as chapter headings we will not go into any sort of exegesis in this space. Instead we suggest a simple exercise, today, whenever and however many times we use the Lord’s Prayer, let’s slow it down and really think about the words we are praying. And while we are at it, let’s through in another piece, let’s think about how the life of St. Aloysius Gonzaga responded to that prayer.
He gave up a life of leisure and wealth to serve the poor and the infirmed, dying of the plague whose victims he was tending. He was so devoted to the Lord that he is remembered by the Church as one of the great religious Saints.
A number of years ago a young parishioner named at St. Thomas in Ann Arbor, Eric Liepa, passed away. Eric had been trying to enter priestly formation, having felt a call to the vocation very strongly. Due to health reasons (he suffered from a rare disease that affected his immune system) he was rejected. While still attempting to find an order that would accept him he died. He was about the same age as St. Aloysius. In my homiletic remarks at his funeral, I proposed that, had he been able, his words to his family might have echoed those of the letter from St. Aloysius to his mother as he lay dying of the plague. Even though it makes this post longer than usual, I offer that letter, used in the Office of Readings, for your contemplation today:
A letter from St Aloysius Gonzaga to his mother
May the comfort and grace of the Holy Spirit be yours for ever, most honored lady. Your letter found me lingering still in this region of the dead, but now I must rouse myself to make my way on to heaven at last and to praise God for ever in the land of the living; indeed I had hoped that before this time my journey there would have been over. If charity, as Saint Paul says, means to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who are glad, then, dearest mother, you shall rejoice exceedingly that God in his grace and his love for you is showing me the path to true happiness, and assuring me that I shall never lose him.
The divine goodness, most honored lady, is a fathomless and shoreless ocean, and I confess that when I plunge my mind into thought of this it is carried away by the immensity and feels quite lost and bewildered there. In return for my short and feeble labors, God is calling me to eternal rest; his voice from heaven invites me to the infinite bliss I have sought so languidly, and promises me this reward for the tears I have so seldom shed.
Take care above all things, most honored lady, not to insult God’s boundless loving kindness; you would certainly do this if you mourned as dead one living face to face with God, one whose prayers can bring you in your troubles more powerful aid than they ever could on earth. And our parting will not be for long; we shall see each other again in heaven; we shall be united with our Savior; there we shall praise him with heart and soul, sing of his mercies for ever, and enjoy eternal happiness. When he takes away what he once lent us, his purpose is to store our treasure elsewhere more safely and bestow on us those very blessings that we ourselves would most choose to have.
I write all this with the one desire that you and all my family may consider my departure a joy and favor and that you especially may speed with a mother’s blessing my passage across the waters till I reach the shore to which all hopes belong. I write the more willingly because I have no clearer way of expressing the love and respect I owe you as your son.
Pax
[1] The picture today is “The Gonzaga Family Worshipping the Holy Trinity” by Pieter Pauwel Rubens, 1604-05
[2] Note – the link provided at the USCCB web site to the first reading is incorrect it should read 2 Cor 11; 1-11. The text posted is correct.
[3] After Links Expire
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