From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   How peace requires a sword   
      
      "What sort of peace is it that Jesus asks them to pronounce upon   
   entering each house? And what kind of peace is it of which the angels   
   sing, 'Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace'? And if Jesus   
   came not to bring peace, why did all the prophets publish peace as   
   good news? Because this more than anything is peace: when the disease   
   is removed. This is peace: when the cancer is cut away. Only with such   
   radical surgery is it possible for heaven to be reunited to earth.   
   Only in this way does the physician preserve the healthy tissue of the   
   body. The incurable part must be amputated. Only in this way does the   
   military commander preserve the peace: by cutting off those in   
   rebellion. Thus it was also in the case of the tower of Babel, that   
   their evil peace was ended by their good discord. Peace therefore was   
   accomplished.   
   --by John Chrysostom (excerpt from THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 35.1)   
      
      
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   June 21st - St. Aloysius Gonzaga, SJ   
      
   Born at Castiglione delle Stivieri in Lombardy, Italy, on March 9,   
   1568; died about midnight between June 20 and 21, 1591; beatified in   
   1605; canonized 1726; In 1729 Benedict XIII declared him patron of   
   young students.  An apt choice, for Aloysius won his crown as a teen,   
   dying when only 23;.and Pius XI proclaimed him patron of Christian   
   youth. Everything about Saint Aloysius conspires to make him the hero   
   of a popular romance--his noble birth, his angelic life, and his holy   
   death. But no novelist would dare to invent a life as perfect as   
   his--it would be too incredible.   
      
   He signed himself Aluigi or Luigi (Louis), this firstborn son of   
   Ferrante Gonzaga, Marchese of Castiglione. His was a major noble   
   Italian family, in an age of war, intrigue and corruption. The boy   
   learned piety from his mother, the Marchesa. Ferrante, however, a   
   worldly man, thought only of preparing Louis to succeed him as a   
   soldier and ruler. On his fourth birthday he gave him a set of   
   miniature guns and cannons. When he was only five he took him to live   
   four months in a military camp. Here he innocently picked up a coarse   
   macho vocabulary. When, on his return home, his tutor told him these   
   expressions were improper, the gently lad was much chagrined.   
      
   Aloysius was only 7 when he had a strong religious experience, and   
   began to double his prayer-time and penances. At age 9 he was sent to   
   Florence for schooling. Florentine courtiers lived splendid but   
   violent and sensual lives. Exposed to their obvious sexual excesses,   
   Louis learned to fight valiantly to maintain purity of heart. Later   
   on, St. Robert Bellarmine, one of his confessors, would say that he   
   believed young Gonzaga never committed a mortal sin.   
      
   Ferrante next placed Aloysius and his brother Ridolfo in the court of   
   the Duke of Mantua. A sickness there gave him an excuse to lead a more   
   private life, visiting churches and teaching catechism to poor boys.   
   He was already set on joining the Jesuits. That would mean forsaking   
   the title of marquis, bit he figured he could resign in favor of   
   Ridolfo.   
      
   In 1581 Don Ferrante was requested by the Empress Maria of Austria to   
   accompany her on a visit to Spain. When there, Aloysius, now 13, was   
   named, with Ridolfo, to be a page to the Spanish crown prince. He   
   fulfilled his court duties, but also kept up his devotions and acts of   
   self-denial. Now he told his mother of his desire to become a Jesuit.   
   When the Marchesa told her husband, he was furious, and threatened to   
   flog the boy. He did not, but the battle continued when they returned   
   to Castiglione in 1584, Ferrante trying every method of dissuasion.   
      
   Only when the imperial commission arrived to process the transfer of   
   title to Ridolfo did the old marquis give up his efforts.   
      
   The contest won, Aloysius set out joyfully for Rome, and at the age of   
   19 entered the Jesuit novitiate on November 25, 1585, taking his first   
   vows in 1587. He passed through his philosophy studies with flying   
   colors at the Roman College and began theology. The Jesuit rule fitted   
   him like a glove, and he advanced from strength to strength in his   
   prayer-life and acts of humility. In stability of character he was   
   mature beyond his years.   
      
   Only once after leaving Castiglione did he return home. By then his   
   father had long since died, much changed for the better. Back in Rome   
   in 1591, when the plague struck the city, Aloysius devoted his full   
   strength to the care of its victims. He himself caught the disease,   
   and although he seemed to have recovered from it, it left him with a   
   persistent low fever that gradually wore him down. On June 21, 1591, a   
   day that God had revealed to him as his last, Aloysius Gonzaga, Jesuit   
   scholastic not yet a priest, breathed his last. He was happy to die:   
   “We are going gladly, gladly,” he had said. He knew that he had   
   accomplished all that God wanted him to do. As the Book of Wisdom   
   says, “Having become perfect in a short while, he reached the fullness   
   of a long career” (4:13).   
      
   St. Louis Gonzaga remains a model of purity of soul that we hope all   
   young people will struggle to maintain. But for those who fail, young   
   and old alike, there is this touching prayer in his Mass: “By the help   
   of his prayers, may we who have not followed his innocence follow his   
   example of penance.”   
      
   In art, Saint Aloysius is generally portrayed as a young Jesuit with a   
   crucifix, lily, and scourge. He may also be shown (1) with a crucifix   
   wreathed in flowers, IHS, and a crown at his feet; (2) with his hand   
   on his heart and a guardian angel near; (3) in ecstasy, supported by   
   angels, and a lily, book and coronet nearby; (4) crowned with flowers   
   by an angel; or (5) kneeling before instruments of the Passion   
   (Roeder).   
      
   Aloysius is the patron of young students, those choosing their   
   profession (Roeder), and Catholic youth (White). He is invoked against   
   eye troubles and the plague (Roeder).   
      
      
   Quote:   
   Love is a mighty power, a great and complete good; Love alone lightens   
   every burden, and makes the rough places smooth. It bears every   
   hardship as thought it were nothing, and renders all bitterness sweet   
   and acceptable. The love of Jesus is noble, and inspires us to great   
   deeds; it moves us always to desire perfection.   
   --Thomas a Kempis   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   God is wonderful in his saints: the God of Israel is he who will give   
   power and strength to his people.   
   Blessed be God.   (Psalms 67:36)   
      
      
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   Memorare to Jesus, Mary and St. Joseph    
      
      
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