Tuesday – St. Aloysius Gonzaga

Gospel – Matthew 7:6, 12-14

Narrow Gate

Old City, Jerusalem

We celebrate today the Feast of St. Aloysius Gonzaga.  He was raised in a wealthy and powerful noble family in northern Italy in the 16th century.  As a youth, he served as a page for King Philip and afterwards trained to be a soldier.  However that career path was cut short by kidney disease.  After he recovered, he gave up all his wealth and title and entered the Jesuit order at the age of 19.  When the plague broke out in Rome, he volunteered to care for the sick.  Unfortunately he fell victim to the disease and died a scant 4 months later at the age of 22.

He could have easily kept his title and wealth; he could have enjoyed a comfortable easy life.  But instead he chose a different path, a path that was not only uncomfortable but extremely difficult and  challenging.

In terms of today’s Gospel, Aloysius chose the ‘narrow gate.’  He realized that the only benefit of taking the wide gate was that it was easy and nothing more.  So the question for us today is what gate shall we take in our spiritual life – the narrow or the wide?  Our faith challenges us (or it should challenge us) to step out of our comfort zone, to work, to get our hands dirty.  It means that being a disciple can be difficult; it requires courage and the faith that the narrow gate leads to the Kingdom of God.     

 

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