Gospel Reflection

September 19, 2012

Wednesday

St. Francis Mary of Camporosso (Memorial)

St. Januarius, patron saint of Naples, Italy (Memorial)

by Rev.  Fr. Matthieu Dauchez

Morning Mass at EDSA Shrine, Our Lady of Peace Quasi-Parish

Reading 1 1 Cor 12:31-13:13

Brothers and sisters: Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.

But I shall show you a still more excellent way.

If I speak in human and angelic tonguesbut do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 33:2-3, 4-5, 12 and 22

R. (12) Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten stringed lyre chant his praises.
Sing to him a new song;
pluck the strings skillfully, with shouts of gladness.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
For upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.
R. Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

Gospel Lk 7:31-35

Jesus said to the crowds: "To what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another,

'We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.'

For John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine, and you said, 'He is possessed by a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said, 'Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.' But wisdom is vindicated by all her children."

HOMILY

My dear brothers and sisters, the Gospel says that  "wisdom is vindicated by all her children". God's love is shown to be true, and the ones who accept it are His children.

I was wondering what is the meaning of these mysterious words at the end of the Gospel today, and I believe that they are aimed at helping us to prepare our hearts. We cannot be convinced by the message of the Gospel, without making it a reality in our life. We cannot understand what is true, if we do not welcome it first. We cannot understand life, if we do not welcome it first. And we remember the words of Jesus who said "I am the path, the truth and the life". We cannot fully and deeply understand Jesus if we do not welcome Him first, really, in deed, in our life, through prayer, and actions of love - true love, Amen.

St. Francis Mary – Pray for us

 

St. Januarius – Pray for us

 You may also want to see: A Holy Life - St. Francis Mary of Comporosso
                                              A Holy Life - St. Januarius

A Holy Life

Saint Francis Mary of Camporosso

Capuchin Lay Brother

Feast day – September 19

In the cemetery in Genoa a statue of Blessed Francis Mary may be seen which bears the following inscription:  “Francis of Camporosso was born December 27, 1804, and died on September 17, 1866.  This poor man in Christ was more blessed in giving than in receiving.  With bread and advice and consolation, he was ever prepared to minister to the sufferings and needs of all who came to him.  His austere and holy life he crowned with the sacrifice he made of himself at the beginning of the epidemic of 1866.  The sorrow and gratitude of the people prompted them to immortalize his image in this marble statue.”

It needed but a few words to say all that one could wish to have said of this apostle of the people.  As a shepherd in the little village of Camporosso near San Remo he was obliged to contribute to the support of his family.  Later he joined the Capuchins an Genoa.  There he clothed his ideals and intentions in the words: “I came to the convent to be its beast of burden.”

The opportunity was presented to him to carry out his intentions when he was made infirmarian, and especially when he was appointed to collect alms.  He called at the palaces of the nobles, but oftener at the huts of the poor in order to distribute to them the alms he had just begged.  He ventured to go into the ill-famed quarters of the seaport, where he would pick up the stones thrown at him and kiss them.  Soon it was reported of him from all sides that he was working miracles, cures, and conversions of a most unusual kind.  People of rank as well as the lowliest souls came to him to seek advice.

His love for our Blessed Lady was most touching.  He spent entire nights on his knees before the Blessed Sacrament.  When an epidemic broke out in 1866, he was seized with the desire to make his last and most magnanimous sacrifice.  He knelt before the altar of the Immaculate Virgin, and through her hands offered himself to God as a victim of expiation.  On September 17th, he departed this life as a victim.  The epidemic ceased that very day.  He was beatified by Pope Pius XI and canonized in 1962 by John XXIII.

Prayer

O God, who didst cause Thy humble servant Francis Mary to distinguish himself in an extraordinary way by works of charity, grant that by his merits and intercession Thy love may ever be increased in our hearts. Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Saint Francis Mary – Pray for us