John Berchmans is a saint we celebrate today. Born in Belgium in 1599, he entered his studies for the Jesuits at the age of 17. Studying at the Jesuit college in Rome, he became ill, and after contracting dysentery, died suddenly at the age of 22 in 1621. The miracle that helped his cause for canonization occurred in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, when in 1866 his apparition appeared to a young woman who was sick and she will cured of her illness. He was devoted to his prayer life and to the Blessed Mother. He is the patron saint of altar servers, Jesuit scholastics, and students.
Today's Gospel from Luke speaks about the end times, in which Jesus presents us some very dark images of the days to come. This Gospel was written in a time of great persecution in the Early Church. Images of the end times can be very disturbing. Some of the apocalyptic messages we have been hearing in the book of Daniel this past week have also been dark and disturbing. A life of discipleship does not promise us an easy journey here on earth. We are all to take up our cross and to follow Jesus. We can be disturbed by these messages in the context of the Bible Belt in which we live, in the way some of Evangelical and Baptist Christians interpret them. However, these messages were meant to provide us with all the answers as to when the end times are coming. Instead, we are called to pray for each other and to reach out to fellow believers who are persecuted for their faith. We are to reflect upon what it means to live as Christ’s disciples, to be willing to speak out from the perspective of faith in an increasingly secular world. May we feel encouragement from the message Jesus give us today, empowering us to live out our faith and to bring Christ’s message to the world.
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