St. Aloysius Gonzaga
As a young boy, St. Aloysius always had a great desire to know and
serve God, but his family life was not always supportive of this desire.
He was born into a noble Italian family, and his father was a
compulsive gambler. He grew up in a castle and was trained from a very
young age to be a soldier and courtier, and despite the opposition of
his family, he taught catechism to poor boys.
He encountered many
holy people in his lifetime; he received his first Communion from St.
Charles Borromeo and studied under St. Robert Bellarmine. As a teen, he
suffered from a kidney disease which he considered a blessing, as it
left him with plenty of time for prayer.
At 18 he signed away his
legal claim to his title and his family's lands and entered the
Jesuits. He died shortly thereafter of the plague at the age of 23,
having devotedly cared for plague victims in Rome in the outbreak of
1591.
He was canonized in 1726 and is the patron saint of youth, AIDS patients and AIDS caregivers.
Genesis 12:1-9
1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.
2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses
you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless
themselves."
4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
5 And Abram took Sar'ai his wife, and Lot his
brother's son, and all their possessions which they had gathered, and
the persons that they had gotten in Haran; and they set forth to go to
the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan,
6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, "To your
descendants I will give this land." So he built there an altar to the
LORD, who had appeared to him.
8 Thence he removed to the mountain on the east of
Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the
east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of
the LORD.
9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.
Matthew 7:1-5
1 "Judge not, that you be not judged.
2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.
3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, `Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye?
5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own
eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your
brother's eye.
Psalms 33:12-13, 18-20, 22
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
13 The LORD looks down from heaven, he sees all the sons of men;
18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love,
19 that he may deliver their soul from death, and keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and shield.
22 Let thy steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in thee.
Lord, help me to have faith and trust
Monday June 21 2021
12th Week in
Ordinary Time
St
Aloysius Gonzaga, religious
Gen.
12:1-9; Ps. 32:12-13,18-19,20,22;
Mt.
7:1-5 (Ps Wk IV)
When we go on a trip, we make sure that we have our
documents, money, reservations, and anything else we might need. We know where
we are going and how long we will be there.
God asked Abraham to leave his homeland, people, culture,
and sense of security. He was to trust God in all things; he would not know his
destination or anything else of God’s plan. In exchange, God promised to give
him and his descendants land of their own. Not only that, Abraham’s descendants
would be countless in number, and all the people of the earth would be blessed
through him. He believed this unknown God and put his life in God’s hands.
Because of this, he is called our father in faith.
St Paul used his example to illustrate the faith and trust
of all who call themselves followers of Jesus. It is hard to trust sometimes,
especially when things seem to go wrong. That is when we are called to true
faith. God will never let us down.
It is easy to spot the faults of others, and some people
make a career out of it! But as the old saying goes, ‘If you spot it, you’ve
got it!’ In other words, we easily spot in others the faults of which we, too,
are guilty. Jesus tells us not to judge others — not because it’s not nice, but
because we are in no position to do so — we have to tend to our own faults
first! The next time we are tempted to judge another, use it as an opportunity
to look within ourselves. We will learn a lot!
Lord, help me to have faith and trust.
