8 February 2023 - homily for Wednesday of the fifth week in ordinary time - Genesis 2:5-9, 15-17

     When God put his breath into human beings from the clay of the earth, he breathed life into humanity and showed them how to take care of his creation. The holy season of Lent starts two weeks from today, in which repentance and turning away from our sins is a major theme. As our first reading from Genesis tells us today, man could eat the fruit of any tree of the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That tree can be likened to the many opportunities that are presented to us in life. Of those opportunities, God asks that we not choose evil. We know this in our hearts, but in the reality of daily life, it is not always easy to resist temptation. It is not just a theory, but a complicated lived reality. God’s unconditional love for us is always there, calling us to turn to the Gospel and to turn away from sin. God’s love is there for us even in the midst of our sins. 

     As we think about the complicated reality we face in our daily lives here on earth, we celebrate St Jerome Emiliani as the saint of the day. As a young man in 15th century Italy, he was a military commander in Venice in charge of a large fortress and a large number of soldiers. However, the fortress was captured by their enemies, putting Jerome in chains in a prison. At the time, God had not been a part of his life. God did not fit into his life and into his value system in which he put his values in the strength of his command and his army. However, finding himself as a prisoner in a dungeon, he let go of his worldly values and found God. After his escape from prison, he studied for the priesthood. Yet, soon after, Venice was hit with the plague and famine. In the midst of the suffering that he saw, he had a special place in heart for the children and youth who were left abandoned and orphaned.  Even after contracting the plague himself, he devoted his efforts to caring for the poor and the abandoned, establishing hospitals, orphanages, and a shelter for prostitutes. His group of priests became a religious order named the Clerks Regular of Somasca.  Jerome Emiliani died at the age of 56 after contracting an illness from the sick patients under his care. He was canonized in 1767 by Pope Clement XIII. He is the patron saint of orphans and abandoned children and youth.  We unite our prayers with his prayers today.