We hear Jesus telling us to go through the narrow gate, as opposed to the wide gate and the broad road. As I heard this message in the Gospel, I thought about what the reality has been during the 14 years I have been a priest, how society in general and how so many people have been moving away from the faith. So many in the media have been turning against the Church and organized religion. Following the faith today is certainly going through the narrow gate.
Back when I visited Rome in 2010, I visited the church where the remains of St Aloysius are located in the Church of St Ignatius of Loyola. St Aloysius certainly exemplifies a young person who followed the values of the faith with great courage and conviction in his life. He was born in the middle of Renaissance Italy in the 16th century. His family wanted him to pursue a military career, but even as a child and a youth, he felt the call to be a priest. He chose to study to become a Jesuit priest when he heard stories of the Jesuit missionaries serving overseas. Aloysius had been crosses to bear in his young life, including kidney disease, chronic headaches, and skin disease. He died of the young age of 23 when he contracted the plague while he was nursing so patients in Rome in the midst of his studies who were suffering from that affliction. The faith of St Aloysius Gonzaga still calls out to us today many centuries after his death. May we ask for his prayers and intercession for us today.
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