Don’t judge, lest you be judged, warns Jesus in today’s Gospel. Jesus tells us that we often point out a small fault of our brother’s, while we ignore the large faults that we have. We in the United States fight for freedom in other countries and criticize other countries for what we see is a lack of freedom, but are we paying attention to the way that religious freedom is being eroded in our own country? Tomorrow we will begin Religious Freedom Week, which has become an annual occurrence in our American Catholic Church, highlighting the importance of religious freedom in our faith and in our country. We will be reflecting on this during this week’s Masses.
St Aloysius Gonzaga is the saint whose feast day we celebrate today. He was born into a very influential aristocratic family in Northern Italy in 1568 as the eldest of seven children. Aloysius studied to become a member of the Society of Jesus in spite of very poor health. He was admired by his professors and fellow seminarians for his holiness and for his devotedness to the faith. When the plague broke out in Rome in 1591, he helped nurse and care for the victims, even when his superiors forbid him to do so because of his poor health. He came down with the plague and died after being confined to his bed for several months. He died at the age of 23. He is buried in the Church of St Ignatius of Loyola in Rome and was beatified only 14 years after his death by Pope Paul V. Pope Benedict XIII declared St Aloysius as the patron saint of young students in 1729. In 1926, he was named the patron saint of all Christian youth. Due to his death from the plague, he is the patron saint of plague victims and the patron saint of both AIDS sufferers and their caregivers. May we unite our prayers with the prayers of St Aloysius Gonzaga today.
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