Reflection on the Feast of St. John the Baptist

Reflection on the Feast of St. Aloysius Gonzaga

GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may go marry:
For having lost but once your prime
You may for ever tarry.

So wrote an English romantic poet and lover of life, Robert Herrick,
as he dedicates these verses To The Virgins, To Make Much of Time.
His poem emphasizes the shortness of life,
the beauty of the world,
the glory of love
and our inescapable human need of finding our one, true, lasting commitment
that we will keep for the rest of our lives.

***

Last Friday, we honored the Most Holy Spirit,
with a Celebration of the Eucharist.

Before one another,
in front of our parents, teachers and friends,
we made a commitment to form ourselves
according to the vision of the school
described by the 5 C’s.

We asked the Spirit of God to strengthen our resolve
to put Christ, our Lord, at the center of our lives
and thus, from there, influence
the quality of our learning,
the practice our conscience,
the way we relate to one another,
and the effort we put into fulfilling our different promises.
Life is short.
Non habemus tempus.
We have no time.

***

What if, one day, God sends one of his angels
to tell you that you have only one more year to live?

Will you still go to school or just stay home?
Will you start asking people to pray for you
and take care of you while life slowly drifts away?
Will you begin to list every human experience
that you would have wanted to feel and enjoy
and make sure to fulfill them one after another?

An angel saying: “Here comes your last year on earth”
-- was how Aloysius Gonzaga
exactly received the vision of Archangel Gabriel.

The Gonzagas were a rich clan from Northern Italy.

Aloysius, humble of his origins,
avoiding often the attention caused by his surname,
would often sign his name simply as “Louie” or “Luigi.”

Aloysius’ father, who was a famous military person,
exacted from him the same kind of discipline
yet provided him with the best education.
It was through his studies
that he learned about saints and priests.
Thus, at an early age,
Aloysius expressed a desire
that he will be a priest and a saint one day.

His father having learned about this,
sent Aloysius to a military camp at age 5
to ensure that only a military life
will take root firmly in his heart.

So much was expected from this young man,
that initially his father
and his relatives discouraged him
from pursuing his dreams to become a priest.

After a fierce battle of wills,
and only after several years, Aloysius won his father’s approval.
He entered the Society of Jesus with a strong resolve of finishing his priestly studies.

Non habemus tempus.
We have no time.

Archangel Gabriel told him: “Here comes your last year on earth.”

Even before finishing the course,
St. Aloysius faced the inevitable
yet beautiful design of God’s plan.

A serious plague broke out in Rome.
Aloysius volunteered at once to help in the hospital.
During his time, hospitals were not clean, orderly places
that we are familiar with today.
It was very easy to catch an illness.
That is what happened: Aloysius became very ill.
No medicine could help him.
He died when he was only 23 years old.
He was not afraid to die.
During his life, he had focused himself
on doing what Christ wanted:
serving and loving God, our Father, and His big family.

What if, one day, God sends one of his angels
to tell you that you have only one more year to live?
What will you do?

We now have one new school year.
What will we do?

Dum tempus habemus, operemur bonum.
While we have the time, let us do the good.

***
GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer…


***

Let us pray, +
Good Father in Heaven,
thank You for Your gift of life.
Help us, while our youth and blood are warmer,
to gather the many graces
You give us each day and everyday.

That even when your lamp, the sun,
has neared its setting or finished its race,
we have rendered you greater glory
by using our time well. Amen.

All you, Jesuit Saints and Beati, pray for us.
St. Aloysius Gonzaga, pray for us.

+

Sources:
Saints and Feast Days (Loyola University Press, 1985), pp. 133-4.
www.wikipedia.org on St. Aloysius Gonzaga and Robert Herrick

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloysius_Gonzaga
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Herrick
Images seached through www.google.com

Our Faith Journey: A Reflection at the Beginning of a New School Year

“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb 11:1)

Let me begin this reflection by sharing the story of a family mansion that caught fire one night. The parents rushed out into the garden, holding their two smaller children in their arms, and shouting to their eldest, a boy of five, to follow them. However, frightened by the flames, he rushed up the stairs to the attic, and from its balcony began to shout, “Daddy, Daddy, save me!

The man shouted back, “It’s alright, Johnny, jump down from there and I’ll catch hold of you!” Standing just 20 feet below, his father could see him clearly, but because the smoke billowing up, the boy couldn’t see anything below! Anxiously, the boy sobbed, “But Daddy, I can’t see you!” His father replied persuasively, “

Johnny, it is more important that I can see you. Please jump!” And taking courage, the boy jumped into the safe, strong arms of his father.

The story you just heard is a story about faith. As we formally begin another school year, it is most fitting that we start the school year by reflecting over our own faith journey as a school community.

Last year, we started the school year with challenges we have never expected. The AH1N1 scare during the first week, the devastation of typhoon Ondoy and Pepeng and many other political and economic turmoil we faced as a community and as a nation, but we remained steadfast, because we have kept the faith. Like the boy in the story, we dared to jump though we grapple with uncertainty, into the loving arms of God.

After a challenging year of jumping into the unknown we have all the reason to remain hopeful and keep the faith alive. This is because we know that God is with us and will always be with us, He is most trustworthy. We only need to have faith and dare to jump to his loving embrace.

Today, as we begin another school year, we carry within us our desires and hopes for the coming year. The opening of classes marks the beginning of new projects, new discoveries and learning. To put it more concretely, we desire better grades, more involvement in school activities and better relationship with our peers and many other things. We present to God all of these desires and let us continue to ask for the gift of faith, to jump not only to the unknown that we fear most but to all His possibilities and blessing He desires to give us. Let us keep in mind that the future always brings hope, promises and possibilities of abundance and blessings.

Fueled by our faith that the Lord is with us in all that we do, let us pray too that He may grant us the courage to rise from our mistakes, the strength to carry our many duties and responsibilities. May He give us the courage to face what is ahead of us with renewed hope and inspiration.

Let us also not forget how St. James reminds us that “faith without works is dead” (Jas 2:17). At the beginning of this school year, it is also good that we go back to the roots of our identity as a Jesuit school: that we are trained not only to be men of faith, but to be men who put their prayers and faith into action. By this, we become truly what we desire most – to become Lux in Domino, Light of the World.

And so we begin the year with grateful hearts, keeping in mind all the blessings and graces the Lord has given us the past years and look forward to another blessed year. Let us beg for the grace of faith to ‘jump’ to whatever is ahead of us, knowing very well that we have Someone trustworthy and loving to catch us in His loving arms. Amen.