9/12/2017 – Tuesday of 23rd week in Ordinary Time - Luke 6:12-19

       As Jesus descends from the mountain with the twelve apostles he had chosen, a great crowd gathered around him to hear him speak and to receive healing from him.  In the Year of Mercy that we recently celebrated in our Church, one of the main messages we heard from Pope Francis during that year was as to how we ourselves were asked to bring Christ’s message of mercy into the world, as to how we are chosen to be his healing presence.  How are we experiencing God's mercy and in our own lives and how are we bringing that mercy to others?  

     A saint whom we celebrated over the weekend really lived out that Gospel message of mercy and healing in the reality of his life.  He is a saint whom I admire tremendously.   In the age of the explorers and conquistadors, many young men were leaving Spain and the other countries Europe for Asia, Africa, and the Americas in order to seek out a fortune, with the dream of becoming rich in a very material way.  Peter Claver, a young Jesuit priest, arrived in Cartegena, a port city in the county of Columbia, in the early 17th century in order to minister to the slaves who were brought there to work in the fields and the mines. When the slave ships entered the port, Peter Claver would go aboard in order to minister to the slaves; they were exhausted from the long journey from Africa. Many of them were sick and malnourished.  After the slaves were herded out of the ships and placed into nearby yards for buyers to inspect them for purchase, Peter Claver would bring them medicine, food, bread, and other items that would help them survive in this new land.  With the help of interpreters, he gave the slaves basic instructions in the faith; he assured them of their human dignity and the salvation that awaited them in God's kingdom.  Although it is hard to imagine, during the 40 years of his ministry in Columbia, it is estimated that Claver baptized more 300,000 slaves.  Peter Claver preached Christ’s Gospel message  to many of those who arrived in Cartegena, including the sailors, the tradesmen, and those living in the countryside.  Claver was a witness for social justice and the values of the Gospel. 

     What a great example we have in Peter Claver in being an evangelizer and being on fire for the Gospel message. May we hear the Lord calling us to bring the joy of the Gospel to others.