Today, we celebrate the feast of St Aloysius Gonzaga. He was born into a wealthy family in Florence Italy in the 16th century in the midst of the Italian Renaissance. His family wanted him to join the military, but as a child and a youth, he felt called to the priesthood. He chose to enter the religious order of the Jesuits, inspired by the stories of the great Jesuit missionary who brought Christ’s Gospel to the remote corners of the world. However, Aloysius was a very sickly child and youth, having suffering from kidney disease, skin disease, chronic headaches, insomnia, and other maladies. He died at the young age of 23 in Rome after he contracted the plague while nursing patients. I remember being in Rome with the St Richard youth choir in 2010, where the choir sang in the Church of St Ignatius of Loyola in that city, where St Aloysius is buried. I remember being asked by a lady who entered the church where he tomb was located. Again, I saw his tomb when we visited the Church of St Ignatius of Loyola when I visited Rome with the Notre Dame group several weeks ago. Even though Aloysius died at a very young age, his holiness and deep faith continue to inspire many today.
In the second letter to the Corinthians today, St Paul tells us that if we sow sparingly, we will reap sparingly, but if we sow bountifully, we will reap bountifully. God loves a joyful giver. For those who are in service to the Lord and for those who sow bountifully for the harvest of the Gospel of the Lord, God makes his graces abundantly to us. I thought of St Aloysius Gonzaga in the context of these words from St Paul, how he served with a joyful and generous heart in the midst of all his heath struggles, his young age, and his lack of experience. May God draw us beyond our short comings and our limitations to serve him with humility and joy.
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