“His mercy endures forever.” We hear this declared in the psalm today, but sometimes it is difficult to understand how God’s mercy works in our world.
August 16th is the day in the liturgical calendar that we traditionally celebrate one of my favorite saints – St Roch. (He is celebrated on August 17th by the Third Order Franciscans.) He is known as St Rocco or St Rock or St Roque in different countries. He lived way back in the 13th century in France. His dad, the noble governor of Montpellier, died when Roch was 20, spurring Roch to go on a pilgrimage to Rome. Legend has it that Roch cared for the victims of the plague in Rome and in various other cities until he came down with the plague himself. He was banished to the forest, where he set up a small shelter where he lived. The dog of one of the villagers came to visit Roch each day, bringing him a piece of bread in his mouth to eat and licking his sores. Roch recovered, but was imprisoned when he came back to Montpellier, having been accused of being a spy. Roch refused to divulge his true identity, not wanting to revel in world glory, and he died while imprisoned. Roch’s interesting story and example of holy life made him a very popular saint in Europe in the Middle Ages. He was particularly popular during the late 15th century during the time of the Bubonic Plague, which killed a large percentage of the population of Europe .
We pray to God for courage and strength. We pray that we have the ability to praise God in whatever circumstances we experience in our lives. We pray for the intercession of St Roch, that we might have the courage to serve God and our brothers and sisters no matter where we are on our journey.
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