>>> Aloysius Gonzaga – Pray For Us!
Enter Through The Narrow Gate
Introduction
Perhaps few saints have been as misrepresented as St. Aloysius Gonzaga (1568-1591). Of high noble birth, he became a Jesuit at the age of 17. He was not at all a devout dreamer, but had a dynamic, impatient temperament. He radically renounced power, wealth, prestige and marriage. His ideal was to make God’s goodness visible by dedicating himself entirely to God and the service of people. Before he reached the age of 24, he died from the pest as the result of attending to the sick and the dying during an epidemic.
Opening Prayer
Our God and Father,
we learn to know and appreciate you better
through the life of saints
like St. Aloysius Gonzaga.
May his life and death inspire us.
Help us to be austere and frugal like him,
yet strong of character.
Help us to put our life totally
in the service of others.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord. Amen!
1 Reading: 2 KINGS 19:9B-11, 14-21, 31-35A, 36
Sennacherib, king of Assyria, sent envoys to Hezekiah with this message: “Thus shall you say to Hezekiah, king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria. You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all other countries: they doomed them! Will you, then, be saved?'” Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; then he went up to the temple of the LORD, and spreading it out before him, he prayed in the LORD’s presence: “O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned upon the cherubim! You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the e arth. You have made the heavens and the earth. Incline your ear, O LORD, and listen! Open your eyes, O LORD, and see! Hear the words of Sennacherib which he sent to taunt the living God. Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and cast their gods into the fire; they destroyed them because they were not gods, but the work of human hands, wood and stone. Therefore, O LORD, our God, save us from the power of this man, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God.” Then Isaiah, son of Amoz, sent this message to Hezekiah: “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, in answer to your prayer for help against Sennacherib, king of Assyria: I have listened! This is the word the LORD has spoken concerning him: “‘She despises you, laughs you to scorn, the virgin daughter Zion! Behind you she wags her head, daughter Jerusalem. “‘For out of Jerusalem shall come a remnant, and from Mount Zion, survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.’ “Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not reach this city, nor shoot an arrow at it, nor come before it with a shield, nor cast up siege-works against it. He shall return by the same way he came, without entering the city, says the LORD. I will shield and save this city for my own sake, and for the sake of my servant David.'” That night the angel of the LORD went forth and struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. So Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, broke camp, and went back home to Nineveh.
Responsorial PSALM 48:2-3AB, 3CD-4, 10-11
R. (cf. 9d) God upholds his city for ever.
Great is the LORD and wholly to be praised
in the city of our God.
His holy mountain, fairest of heights,
is the joy of all the earth. R.
Mount Zion, “the recesses of the North,”
is the city of the great King.
God is with her castles;
renowned is he as a stronghold. R.
O God, we ponder your mercy
within your temple.
As your name, O God, so also your praise
reaches to the ends of the earth.
Of justice your right hand is full. R.
Alleluia JOHN 8:12
Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel MATTHEW 7:6, 12-14
Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces. “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the Law and the Prophets. “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.”
Commentary
Golden Rule
Matthew begins the Golden Rule with the word “so”, thus indicating to us that the Rule is, in fact, the summary of the whole Sermon on the Mount, which began in the fifth chapter. Everything Jesus said before is concluded here: That we must do to others what we would normally expect others to do for us. This is not the same as the converse of it, which had existed in some ancient civilizations: That we shall not do to others what we do not want done to us. That negative rule can leave us pretty cold to the needs of others and totally absorbed in ourselves. We just refrain from doing anyone any harm… and any good either! That would be too easy, as a walk through a wide gate. What Jesus demands is a narrow gate, a harder path: of consciously taking the lead to act, to do good for others. It is a harder challenge, because, in doing so, there is no guarantee that our act would be reciprocated.
Intercessions
– That we may not become demanding on others but ask the Lord to make us generous and mild in the way we want others to treat us, we pray:
– That we may never seek an easy way out through lies or passivity when life and the good of our neighbor demand sacrifices, we pray:
– That we may not tolerate people to be exploited or discriminated against, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God,
in the signs of bread and wine
your Son Jesus celebrates with us
how he offered his life and death
in the service of people.
Help us to say with him
to one another in our communities:
Here I am for you.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen!
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God,
St. Aloysius imitated your Son
in his total self-giving,
even at the cost of his life.
Help us to rid ourselves of the fear
of putting ourselves into the hands of people
but make us love and serve them generously,
as we put ourselves with the fullest trust
also into your hands.
Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen!
Blessing
Today’s celebration showed us the example of someone who understood what it means: Love your neighbour as yourself. May the Lord make us capable of loving people deeply, even at the cost of ourselves. And may almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!