Aloysius Gonzaga was born to a wealthy family in Florence, Italy in the middle of the Renaissance in 16th century Europe. His family wanted him to have a military career, but growing up, he felt the call to the priesthood. He chose to enter the Jesuits after being inspired by stories about their missionary work in India. However, he suffered from many ailments as a youth, including kidney disease, skin disease, chronic headaches and insomnia. Young Aloysius had many crosses to bear. The life of Aloysius Gonzaga was cut short. He died in Rome at the age of 23 after he contracted the plague while nursing patients with this dreaded affliction. When I went to Rome in December 2010 with the youth choir from St Richard, the choir sang at the Church of St Ignatius of Loyola in Rome where Aloysius Gonzaga is buried. I remember a young lady coming into the church wanting to see where he was buried. Even today, more than 4 centuries after his death, the faithful still are inspired by the holy life by which St. Aloysius lived.
When we hear Jesus warn us about storing up all of treasure that are the things of this earth and in the process disregarding those treasures that are of God’s kingdom, we may think about all the different earthly treasures people put their trust in: not only the accumulation of material possessions and material wealth, but also power, control, accolades and accomplishments. When we look at the need for power and control in our society, we see acts of intolerance and violence spill into our daily reality. So many of us are disheartened when we see all the violence around us, as we try to understand how someone could be motivated to carry out an act of violence that affects so many innocent lives.
Saints like Aloysius Gonzaga show us that there is another way, that we don’t have to store our treasure in the values of the world.
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