Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga,
Religious
Lectionary: 368
Lectionary: 368
Like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijah
whose words were as a flaming furnace.
Their staff of bread he shattered,
in his zeal he reduced them to straits;
By the Lord's word he shut up the heavens
and three times brought down fire.
How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds!
Whose glory is equal to yours?
You brought a dead man back to life
from the nether world, by the will of the LORD.
You sent kings down to destruction,
and easily broke their power into pieces.
You brought down nobles, from their beds of sickness.
You heard threats at Sinai,
at Horeb avenging judgments.
You anointed kings who should inflict vengeance,
and a prophet as your successor.
You were taken aloft in a whirlwind of fire,
in a chariot with fiery horses.
You were destined, it is written, in time to come
to put an end to wrath before the day of the LORD,
To turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons,
and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob.
Blessed is he who shall have seen you
And who falls asleep in your friendship.
For we live only in our life,
but after death our name will not be such.
O Elijah, enveloped in the whirlwind!
Then Elisha, filled with the twofold portion of his spirit,
wrought many marvels by his mere word.
During his lifetime he feared no one,
nor was any man able to intimidate his will.
Nothing was beyond his power;
beneath him flesh was brought back into life.
In life he performed wonders,
and after death, marvelous deeds.
whose words were as a flaming furnace.
Their staff of bread he shattered,
in his zeal he reduced them to straits;
By the Lord's word he shut up the heavens
and three times brought down fire.
How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds!
Whose glory is equal to yours?
You brought a dead man back to life
from the nether world, by the will of the LORD.
You sent kings down to destruction,
and easily broke their power into pieces.
You brought down nobles, from their beds of sickness.
You heard threats at Sinai,
at Horeb avenging judgments.
You anointed kings who should inflict vengeance,
and a prophet as your successor.
You were taken aloft in a whirlwind of fire,
in a chariot with fiery horses.
You were destined, it is written, in time to come
to put an end to wrath before the day of the LORD,
To turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons,
and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob.
Blessed is he who shall have seen you
And who falls asleep in your friendship.
For we live only in our life,
but after death our name will not be such.
O Elijah, enveloped in the whirlwind!
Then Elisha, filled with the twofold portion of his spirit,
wrought many marvels by his mere word.
During his lifetime he feared no one,
nor was any man able to intimidate his will.
Nothing was beyond his power;
beneath him flesh was brought back into life.
In life he performed wonders,
and after death, marvelous deeds.
Responsorial
PsalmPS 97:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7
R. (12a) Rejoice
in the Lord, you just!
The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice;
let the many isles be glad.
Clouds and darkness are round about him,
justice and judgment are the foundation of his throne.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
Fire goes before him
and consumes his foes round about.
His lightnings illumine the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
before the Lord of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his justice,
and all peoples see his glory.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
All who worship graven things are put to shame,
who glory in the things of nought;
all gods are prostrate before him.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice;
let the many isles be glad.
Clouds and darkness are round about him,
justice and judgment are the foundation of his throne.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
Fire goes before him
and consumes his foes round about.
His lightnings illumine the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
before the Lord of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his justice,
and all peoples see his glory.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
All who worship graven things are put to shame,
who glory in the things of nought;
all gods are prostrate before him.
R. Rejoice in the Lord, you just!
AlleluiaROM 8:15BC
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
You have received a spirit of adoption as sons
through which we cry: Abba! Father!
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You have received a spirit of adoption as sons
through which we cry: Abba! Father!
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMT 6:7-15
Jesus said to his disciples:
"In praying, do not babble like the pagans,
who think that they will be heard because of their many words.
Do not be like them.
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
"This is how you are to pray:
'Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.'
"If you forgive others their transgressions,
your heavenly Father will forgive you.
But if you do not forgive others,
neither will your Father forgive your transgressions."
"In praying, do not babble like the pagans,
who think that they will be heard because of their many words.
Do not be like them.
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
"This is how you are to pray:
'Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.'
"If you forgive others their transgressions,
your heavenly Father will forgive you.
But if you do not forgive others,
neither will your Father forgive your transgressions."
Meditation: Your heavenly Father knows
what you need
Do you believe that God's word has power to change and
transform your life today? Isaiah says that God's word is like the rain and
melting snow which makes the barren ground spring to life and become abundantly
fertile (Isaiah 55:10-11). God's word has power to penetrate our dry barren
hearts and make them springs of new life. If we let God's word take root in our
heart it will transform us into the likeness of God himself and empower us to
walk in his way of love and holiness.
Let God's word guide and shape the way you judge and
act
God wants his word to guide and shape the way we think, act, and pray. Ambrose (339-397 AD), an early church father and bishop of Milan, wrote that the reason we should devote time for reading Scripture is to hear Christ speak to us. "Are you not occupied with Christ? Why do you not talk with him? By reading the Scriptures, we listen to Christ."
God wants his word to guide and shape the way we think, act, and pray. Ambrose (339-397 AD), an early church father and bishop of Milan, wrote that the reason we should devote time for reading Scripture is to hear Christ speak to us. "Are you not occupied with Christ? Why do you not talk with him? By reading the Scriptures, we listen to Christ."
We can approach God our Father with confidence
We can approach God confidently because he is waiting with arms wide open to receive his prodigal sons and daughters. That is why Jesus gave his disciples the perfect prayer that dares to call God, Our Father. This prayer teaches us how to ask God for the things we really need, the things that matter not only for the present but for eternity as well. We can approach God our Father with confidence and boldness because the Lord Jesus has opened the way to heaven for us through his death and resurrection.
We can approach God confidently because he is waiting with arms wide open to receive his prodigal sons and daughters. That is why Jesus gave his disciples the perfect prayer that dares to call God, Our Father. This prayer teaches us how to ask God for the things we really need, the things that matter not only for the present but for eternity as well. We can approach God our Father with confidence and boldness because the Lord Jesus has opened the way to heaven for us through his death and resurrection.
When we ask God for help, he fortunately does not give
us what we deserve. Instead, God responds with grace, mercy, and
loving-kindness. He is good and forgiving towards us, and he expects us to
treat our neighbor the same. God has poured his love into our hearts through
the gift of the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Romans 5:5). And that
love is like a refining fire - it purifies and burns away all prejudice,
hatred, resentment, vengeance, and bitterness until there is nothing left
but goodness and forgiveness towards those who cause us grief or harm.
The Lord's Pray teaches us how to pray
Consider what John Cassian (360-435 AD), an early church father who lived for several years with the monks in Bethlehem and Egypt before founding a monastery in southern Gaul, wrote about the Lord's Prayer and the necessity of forgiving one another from the heart:
Consider what John Cassian (360-435 AD), an early church father who lived for several years with the monks in Bethlehem and Egypt before founding a monastery in southern Gaul, wrote about the Lord's Prayer and the necessity of forgiving one another from the heart:
"The mercy of God is beyond
description. While he is offering us a model prayer he is teaching us a way of
life whereby we can be pleasing in his sight. But that is not all. In this same
prayer he gives us an easy method for attracting an indulgent and merciful judgment
on our lives. He gives us the possibility of ourselves mitigating the sentence
hanging over us and of compelling him to pardon us. What else could he do in
the face of our generosity when we ask him to forgive us as we have forgiven
our neighbor? If we are faithful in this prayer, each of us will ask
forgiveness for our own failings after we have forgiven the sins of those who
have sinned against us, not only those who have sinned against our Master.
There is, in fact, in some of us a very bad habit. We treat our sins against
God, however appalling, with gentle indulgence - but when by contrast it is a
matter of sins against us ourselves, albeit very tiny ones, we exact reparation
with ruthless severity. Anyone who has not forgiven from the bottom of the
heart the brother or sister who has done him wrong will only obtain from this
prayer his own condemnation, rather than any mercy."
Do you treat others as
you think they deserve to be treated, or do you treat them as the Lord has
treated you - with mercy, steadfast love, and kindness?
"Father in heaven, you have given me a mind to
know you, a will to serve you, and a heart to love you. Give me today the grace
and strength to embrace your holy will and fill my heart and mind with your
truth and love that all my intentions and actions may be pleasing to you.
Help me to be kind and forgiving towards my neighbor as you have been towards
me."
A Daily Quote for Lent: Pardon your brother and sister, by
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"Pardon, that you may be pardoned. In doing this,
nothing is required of the body. It is the will that acts. You will experience
no physical pain - you will have nothing less in your home. Now in truth, my
brothers and sisters, you see what an evil it is that those who have been
commanded to love even their enemy do not pardon a penitent brother or
sister." (quote from Sermon 210,10)
THURSDAY, JUNE 21, M, MATTHEW 6:7-15
(Sirach 48:1-14; Psalm 97)
KEY VERSE: "This is how you are to pray..." (v. 9).
(Sirach 48:1-14; Psalm 97)
KEY VERSE: "This is how you are to pray..." (v. 9).
TO KNOW: The pagans sought their god's approval by lengthy repetition of their prayers; however, Jesus taught his followers a simple prayer, which we call "The Lord's Prayer." Jesus told his disciples that they could approach God as "Father," a loving parent who was intimately present and already knew their needs. At the same time, they were to reverence God's name and obey the divine will of "Heaven" so that God's reign would be established "on earth." Just as Israel had to depend upon God's providential gift of manna during their wilderness journey (Ex 16:4, 15), Jesus' disciples were to put their trust in God for their daily bread, the Eucharist, as they journeyed to their eternal home. Since God's mercy is bestowed on sinners, Jesus' disciples must offer forgiveness to others, and pray that they will not fail God in the final test.
TO LOVE: Do I pray the Lord's Prayer with faith and trust in God's loving care?
TO SERVE: Abba Father, help me to follow your Son each day.
Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, religious
Aloysius Gonzaga was an Italian noble who grew up in a castle. The son of a compulsive gambler, he was trained from age four as a soldier and courtier. Aloysius suffered from kidney disease which he considered a blessing as it left him bed-ridden with time for prayer. While still a boy, he taught catechism to poor boys. The cousin of Saint Rudolph Acquaviva, Aloysius received First Communion from Saint Charles Borromeo. At age 18 he signed away his legal claim to his family's lands and title to his brother, and became a Jesuit novice. A spiritual student of Saint Robert Bellarmine, Aloysius tended plague victims in Rome in the outbreak of 1591. He died in 1591 at Rome of plague and fever.
FIRST DAY OF SUMMER
The summer solstice marks the first day of the season of summer (on June 20th or 21st). In the northern hemisphere, the longest day of the year is when the sun is farthest north. The declination of the sun on the (northern) summer solstice is known as the tropic of cancer. In the southern hemisphere, winter and summer solstices are exchanged. The solstice is an astronomical event, caused by Earth’s tilt on its axis, and its motion in orbit around the sun. The summer solstice is the longest day of the year, since the length of time elapsed between sunrise and sunset on this day is a maximum for the year.
Thursday 21 June
2018
St Aloysius Gonzaga.
Sirach 48:1-14. Psalm 96(97):1-7. Matthew 6:7-15.
Let the just rejoice in the Lord—Psalm 96(97):1-7.
‘Blessed are those who will see you, and those who have
fallen asleep in love; for we too shall certainly have life.’
Jesus, your prayer encapsulates our relationship with God. This
relationship is a reflection of your own experience of your Father, an
experience that was not based on a remote transcendental God or a God who
patronises and controls his creatures.
This prayer is a two-way invitation. It gives us the recipe to
invite our loving Father into the details of our daily lives, to satisfy our
ordinary physical, psychological or moral needs.
But it also extends an invitation to become involved in the
loving, caring, totally trusting relationship with our Father and the challenge
of establishing his and your kingdom.
Saint Aloysius Gonzaga
Saint of the Day for June 21
(March 9, 1568 – June 21, 1591)
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| The Vocation of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga | Guercino |
Saint Aloysius Gonzaga’s Story
The Lord can make saints anywhere, even amid the brutality and
license of Renaissance life. Florence was the “mother of piety” for Aloysius
Gonzaga despite his exposure to a “society of fraud, dagger, poison, and lust.”
As a son of a princely family, he grew up in royal courts and army camps. His father
wanted Aloysius to be a military hero.
At age 7 Aloysius experienced a profound spiritual quickening.
His prayers included the Office of Mary, the psalms, and other devotions. At
age 9 he came from his hometown of Castiglione to Florence to be educated;
by age 11 he was teaching catechism to poor children, fasting three days a
week, and practicing great austerities. When he was 13 years old, he traveled
with his parents and the Empress of Austria to Spain, and acted as a page in
the court of Philip II. The more Aloysius saw of court life, the more
disillusioned he became, seeking relief in learning about the lives of saints.
A book about the experience of Jesuit missionaries in India
suggested to him the idea of entering the Society of Jesus, and in Spain his
decision became final. Now began a four-year contest with his father. Eminent
churchmen and laypeople were pressed into service to persuade Aloysius to
remain in his “normal” vocation. Finally he prevailed, was allowed to renounce
his right to succession, and was received into the Jesuit novitiate.
Like other seminarians, Aloysius was faced with a new kind of
penance—that of accepting different ideas about the exact nature of penance. He
was obliged to eat more, and to take recreation with the other students. He was
forbidden to pray except at stated times. He spent four years in the study of
philosophy and had Saint Robert Bellarmine as his spiritual adviser.
In 1591, a plague struck Rome. The Jesuits opened a hospital of
their own. The superior general himself and many other Jesuits rendered
personal service. Because he nursed patients, washing them and making their
beds, Aloysius caught the disease. A fever persisted after his recovery and he
was so weak he could scarcely rise from bed. Yet, he maintained his great
discipline of prayer, knowing that he would die within the octave of Corpus
Christi, three months later, at the age of 23.
Reflection
As a saint who fasted, scourged himself, sought solitude and
prayer, and did not look on the faces of women, Aloysius seems an unlikely
patron of youth in a society where asceticism is confined to training camps of
football teams and boxers, and sexual permissiveness has little left to permit.
Can an overweight and air-conditioned society deprive itself of anything? It
will when it discovers a reason, as Aloysius did. The motivation for letting
God purify us is the experience of God loving us in prayer.
Saint Aloysius Gonzaga is the Patron Saint of:
Catholic Youth
Teenagers
Teenagers
LECTIO DIVINA: MATTHEW 6:7-15
Lectio Divina:
Thursday, June 21, 2018
Ordinary Time
1) OPENING PRAYER
Almighty God,
our hope and our strength,
without You we falter.
Help us to follow Christ
and to live according to Your will.
Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
our hope and our strength,
without You we falter.
Help us to follow Christ
and to live according to Your will.
Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) GOSPEL READING - MATTHEW
6:7-15
Jesus said to his disciples: "In
praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard
because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you
need before you ask him. "This is how you are to pray:
'Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed
be thy name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive
those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us
from evil.'
"If you forgive others their
transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not
forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions."
3) REFLECTION
• The Gospel today presents the prayer
of the Our Father, the Psalm which Jesus has left us. There are two versions of
the Our Father: Lk 11:1-4 and Mt 6:7-13. The wording of Luke is briefer. Luke
writes for the community coming from paganism. He tries to help the people who
are beginning a path of prayer. In the Gospel of Matthew, the Our Father is
found in the part of the discourse on the mountain, where Jesus guides the
disciples in the practice of the three works of piety: almsgiving (Mt 6:1-4),
prayer (Mt 6:5-15) and fasting (Mt 6:26-18). The Our Father is a personal
prayer that forms part of a catechesis for the converted Jews. They were used
to prayer, but they had certain vices which Matthew wanted to correct. In the
Our Father, Jesus summarizes all of His teaching in seven petitions addressed
to the Father. In these seven petitions, He takes the promises of the Old
Testament and orders us to ask the Father to help us to realize them. The first
three refer to our relationship with God. The other four have to do with the
community relationship that we have with others.
• Matthew 6:7-8: The introduction to the
Our Father. Jesus criticizes the people for whom prayer was a repetition of
magic formula of strong words addressed to God to oblige Him to respond to
their petitions and needs. Anyone who prays has to seek, in the first place,
the Kingdom, much more than personal interests. The acceptance of prayer by God
does not depend on the repetition of words, but rather on the goodness of God
who is love and mercy. He wants our good and He knows our needs, even before we
pray.
• Matthew 6:9a: The first words: “Our
Father in Heaven!” “Abba, Father, is the name which Jesus uses to address
Himself to God. It expresses the intimacy that He has with God and manifests a
new relationship with God which should characterize the life of people in the
Christian communities (Ga 4:6; Rm 8:15). Matthew adds to the name of Father the
adjective our and the expression in Heaven. The
true prayer is a relationship which unites us to the Father, to brothers and
sisters. Familiarity with God is not self-centered, but expresses the awareness
of belonging to the great human family in which all people participate, of all
races and creeds. To pray to the Father is to enter in intimacy with Him. It is
also to be in harmony with the cry of all the brothers and sisters. It is to
seek the kingdom of God in the first place. The experience of God the Father is
the foundation of this universal fraternity.
• Matthew 6:9b-10: The three petitions
for the cause of God: the Name, the Kingdom, the Will. In the first part of the
Our Father, we ask to restore our relationship with God. To do this Jesus asks
(a) for the sanctification of the Name revealed in Exodus on the occasion of
the liberation from Egypt; (b) for the coming of the Kingdom, expected by the
people after the fall of the monarchy; (c) to ask for the fulfillment of God’s
Will, revealed in the Law which was in the center of the Covenant. The Name,
the Kingdom, the Law: three terms taken from the Old Testament which express
how the new relationship with God should be. The three petitions indicate that
it is necessary to live in intimacy with the Father, making His name known,
making Him loved, doing it in such a way that His kingdom of love and communion
becomes a reality that His will may be done on earth as it is in Heaven. In the
heavens, the sun and the stars obey the law of God and create the order of the
universe. The observance of the law of God “on earth as it is in heaven” should
be a source and a mirror of harmony and of well being for the whole creation.
This renewed relationship with God becomes visible only in the renewed
relationship among us, which on His part is the object of other four petitions:
our daily bread, the forgiveness of debts, not to fall into temptation, to
deliver us from evil.
• Matthew 6:11-13: The four petitions
for the brothers: bread, forgiveness, victory, liberty. In the second part of
the Our Father we ask to restore and renew the relationship between people. The
four petitions indicate how the structures of community and society should be
transformed such that all of God’s children may live with equal dignity. “Daily
bread” (Mt 6:11) recalls the daily manna in the desert (Ex 16:1-36). The manna
was a “test” to see if the people were capable of following the law of the Lord
(Ex 16:4), that is, if they were capable to store food only for one day as a
sign of faith that Divine Providence passes through the community. Jesus
invites them to walk toward a new Exodus, toward a new way of fraternal living
together which can guarantee bread for all. Forgiveness of debts: the request
of “forgiveness of debts” (6:12) recalls the sabbatical year which obliged
creditors to forgive all the debts to the brothers (Dt 15:1-2). The objective
of the sabbatical year and of the jubilee year (Lev 25:1-22) was to do away
with inequalities and to begin anew. How to pray today: “Forgive us our debts
as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us”? Not to fall into temptation:
the petition “not to fall into temptation” (6:13) reminds us of the errors
committed in the desert, where the people fell into temptation (Ex 18:1-7; Nb
20:1-13; Dt 9, 7-29) and to imitate Jesus who was tempted and obtained victory
(Mt 4:1-17). In the desert, the temptation pushed people to follow other paths,
to go back, not to undertake the road of liberation and to be demanding to
Moses who guided them. Freedom from Evil: the Evil One, Satan, seeks to cause
deviation and who, in many ways, seeks to lead people to not follow the path of
the kingdom, indicated by Jesus. He tempted Jesus to abandon the plans of the
Father and to be the Messiah according to the idea of the Pharisees, the
scribes, and other groups. The Evil One takes us away from God and is a cause
of scandal. He also entered into Peter (Mt 16:23) and he also tempted Jesus in
the desert. Jesus overcame him. (Mt 4:1-11).
4) PERSONAL QUESTIONS
• What is the hardest part of forgiving
someone?
• How do you usually pray the Our
Father: mechanically, or putting all your life and all your efforts in the
words you pronounce?
• “Protect us from evil” and “protect us
from the Evil One” have different nuances. Which is better? Which do you ask
and why?
5) CONCLUDING PRAYER
The mountains melt like wax,
before the Lord of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim His saving justice,
all nations see His glory. (Ps 97:5-6)
before the Lord of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim His saving justice,
all nations see His glory. (Ps 97:5-6)
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