Jun 21 – Memorial for St. Aloysius Gonzaga, religious
St. Aloysius (1568-1591) was an Italian noble who grew up in a castle as the son of a compulsive gambler. He suffered from kidney disease, but considered it a blessing as it left him bed-ridden with time for prayer. While still a boy himself, he taught catechism to poor boys. At age 18 he signed away his legal claim to his family’s lands and title to his brother, and became a Jesuit novice. He tended to plague victims in Rome in the outbreak of 1591, and died of the plague himself with the desire to see God.
- Patron Saint Index
2 Kgs 11:1-4,9-18,20
Mt 6:19-23
“The lamp of the body is the eye. It follows that if your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light.”
I have been wondering how the first part of today’s Gospel relates to the part where Jesus says that the eyes are the lamps to the body. The first part speaks of storing treasures in heaven; so how does the eye and seeing play a part?
Reflecting on it, perhaps God is inviting us to have our eyes on the lookout for eternity. Now, eternity is really very far. A lot of us immediately focus on the day-to-day tasks because they are right in front of us. Focusing on seeing something ‘far’ requires a lot of skills and great eyesight. Not many of us has great eyesight, but the good news is that there are visual supports or enhancers to help our spiritual eyesight to be better.
Firstly, we need the grace of God so that we may see. Just like in the Bible, we can ask God to help us see. Maybe we can ask God several times a day to help us see His will, his providence, his guidance, his movements. Perhaps we can also ask for a glimpse of eternity. More importantly, maybe we can ask how we can store treasures in heaven.
Next, we need the sacrament of reconciliation to help us see God’s will and plan for us better, eternity included. When we are not in a state of grace, it’s difficult for us to connect with God. After all, mortal sins cut us off from God. Even venial sins make our vision of God blurry. So let’s make our confessions more regular.
And we also have many spiritual writings and the lives of the Saints! I’d like to imagine them being like spiritual binoculars or kaleidoscopes. Through what they have written or through their lives, we get to see how we can live our lives in a way that stores treasures in heaven. Some of them even gave descriptions of what eternity is like, so we can look forward to being with God.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Stephanie Villa)
Prayer: Dearest Lord God, help me to see.
Thanksgiving: Thank you, Lord, for sharing with us the lives of Saints as they help us see your will and your Kingdom.
OXYGEN 
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