30 October 2025 - St Alphonsus Rodriguez - homily for Thursday of the 30th week in Ordinary Time - Romans 8:31b-39

St Alphonsus Rodriguez was born in Segovia, Spain in 1532 in a wealthy merchant family. He was prepared for first holy communion by Peter Faber, one of the founders of the Jesuits and a good friend of his father. He studied with the Jesuits in Alcala, Spain, but was forced to return home when his father died and to take over his family’s business. He married and had three children. When his wife and children died, he sold his business and applied to enter the Jesuits. He had very poor health and did not have much of a formal education, so he was accepted as a Jesuit brother, not as a priest. He spent his time in the Jesuits working as a porter at a house of formation. He was overlooked by the Jesuit authorities as insignificant, but he had a great influence on many of the Jesuit students, including Peter Claver, who would later become a great Jesuit missionary and who Rodriguez encouraged to go to South American to serve as a missionary and to minister to the slaves there. He also received visits from many local governmental and community leaders, who would come to him for advice and spiritual direction. His faith was characterized by obedience and penance, and a strong devotion to the Immaculate Conception, centuries before that characteristic of Mary was declared dogma. He wrote many spiritual treaties that was simple yet very profound in their doctrine. He died at the age of 85 and was canonized a saint with Peter Claver in 1888 by Pope Leo XIII.  

We hear a very famous passage from St Paul’s letter to the Romans today, in which Paul states, that no calamity or affliction can separate us from the love of Christ. We let things separate us from Christ sometimes in our weaknesses and in the way we stray from the faith. But in Christ, we can remain strong and not let those things separate us from him. I love learning about the saints. They are one of the things that so strongly connect me to my Catholic faith and to the love of Christ, by their example and their prayers. I had not heard of St Alphonsus Rodriguez before, but just learning about his example of faith, how he overcame so many obstacles and stayed firm in his faith, it certainly inspires me on my journey. May we not let anything separate us from the love of Christ.