St Aloysius Gonzaga: A Call to be Holy

St Aloysius Gonzaga: A Call to be Holy

                               

Holiness is the sweetest word in the practice of Christianity. It poses a challenge to everyone irrespective of their age. The word itself denotes something extraordinary. If we sit back and ponder on this word holiness, we automatically link it to priests and religious and those who have dedicated their life for the service of God. For some holiness portrays the Pope and nothing more.

True. But it is not as abstract as we really imagine. It is a call to be different. It stretches us to move into zones of discomfort. At times it compels us to go against the norms. It evokes a feeling of difference in thoughts, words and in being. The modern world is led by ideologies. People generally especially the youth respond to situations of life collectively in a group. Today, in the religious practices young people fear to ‘stand out’ in the crowd. They are terrified to ‘stand out’ in the practice of religion. It seems very hard to be set apart.  It is a matter of being faint-hearted. A great example is the life of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, the patron of youth whose feast we celebrate every year on 21 June. A brief history of his life is enough to give us an insight into holiness.

Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, was born on March 9, 1568, in Castiglione delle Stiviere, Republic of Venice, Italy. He was the son of Ferrante, marchese di Castiglione, Aloysius was educated at the ducal courts of Florence and Mantua and at the royal court of Madrid, where he was page to King Philip II’s son Diego. In 1585 he relinquished his inheritance and joined the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) at Rome.

His spirituality was manifested in his change of ideas and plans for his life at the tender age of seven. Aloysius experienced a profound spiritual awakening. His prayers included the Office of Mary, the psalms, and other devotions. At age nine he came from his hometown of Castiglione to Florence to be educated; by age eleven he was teaching catechism to poor children, fasting three days a week, and practicing great austerities. When he was thirteen 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 instilled in him the idea of entering the Society of Jesus, and his decision firmed up in Spain. Since then began a four-year tussle with his father. Eminent churchmen and laypeople were pressed into service to dissuade Aloysius to stay away from his “normal” vocation. Finally his spirituality prevailed, and he renounced his right to succession, and was received into the Jesuit novitiate.

Unlike other seminarians, Aloysius was confronted 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 along with other Jesuits rendered personal service to the needy. He nursed patients, washed their wounds, their beds. In the process, Aloysius caught the disease. The fever persisted.  After his recovery, 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, he died at the age of 23.

A true model for the young is found in Saint Aloysius. Aloysius belonged to a society that was ‘air-conditioned’. He was bestowed with all the comforts that life could offer. His father had great plans set for his son. Yet Aloysius opted to leave behind everything,  and do what is more pleasing to God. Truly that was the greatest quality of Aloysius. He took the courage to ‘stand-out’.

It is more important to reflect how did Aloysius ‘stand out’. Aloysius believed that to serve God is to have a touch of human reality. He said no to worldly pleasures and a joyful yes to the heavenly pleasures. How? - To the extent of dying for his people.  “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13).

Pope Francis in his annual message for local celebrations of World Youth Day said, “Do not allow the spark of youth to be extinguished in the darkness of a closed room in which the only window to the outside world is a computer and smartphone,” He continued, “Open wide the doors of your life! May your time and space be filled with meaningful relationships, real people with whom to share your authentic and concrete experiences of daily life”.

How to heed the drumbeat of holiness today?

In the digital noisy world it is hard to get intoxicated with God's spirit and effervescing with God's nature. Yet we need to realize that it is a need to keep oneself anchored in Jesus, the source of life. Like Saint Aloysius we need to take the person of Jesus Christ and his Word seriously. We need to constantly turn towards saints to follow Jesus. Our soul becomes beautiful emanating goodness to others and makeing us pure. It impels us to go against the tide of societal behaviour and accepted norms.

One of the simplest ways to be holy today is to keep our conscience clean by having pure thoughts. “For as he thinketh in his heart so is he” states the Proverb (Prov 23:7). We need to think positive good and true. The prayer of St Aloysius may inspire us to turn to Jesus and be holy as He is.

“O Holy Mary, my Lady, into your blessed trust and safe keeping and into the depths of your mercy, I commend my soul and body this day, every day of my life, and at the hour of my death. To you I entrust all my hopes and consolations, all my trials and miseries, my life and the end of my life. By your most holy intercession and by your merits, may all my actions be directed and disposed according to your will and the Will of your divine Son”. Amen.

https://sites.google.com/site/examinersite/issues-vol-169/vol-169-no-24-jun-16---22-2018/12staloysiusgonzagaacalltobeholy-anushpdcunhasj