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Brothers and Sisters in Christ specially our beloved priests, it is a blessing to celebrate this Eucharist with you to be with priests to whose generation now, I think belong. Or I am approaching very quickly to belong, and to celebrate the memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, who died at the age of 23 as a Jesuit scholastic, he comes from a noble family, he surrendered everything that he had in order to live a life of simplicity, poverty, obedience and chastity within the Society of Jesus, And as a scholastic, he help take care of the sick.
When there was a play in Rome, and this a postulate led him to a full communion with the poor and the sick that he was serving. He contacted the same disease and died, serving them. He has been proclaimed as a protector of the youth specially the young students for he died as a student and later on he was declared the patron of the youth, that’s why we cannot help but be youthful at least on this day.
The opening prayer on the memorial of St. Aloysius focuses on two virtues, his innocence and his penance. Penitence and the way the prayer is crafted is quite realistic, realistic to the point of being funny says, the prayer says that those of us who had kept our innocence may be granted the spirit of penance. So every year some priests or bishops greets me a happy birthday by reminding me we know you have not kept your innocence so please maintain a life of penance. But what is innocence? The innocence that we associate with the youth, the innocence that what we want the youth to maintain, which sadly is being lost so early. Parents and grandparents tell us our young people, lose their innocence very early, too early for their frail minds and hearts to handle. But innocence is a gift that we asked God to give us no matter what our age, our stage of life is. In the gospel and in the life of St. Aloysius we learned that innocence means freedom. Freedom to love, freedom to be renounce whatever could block the capacity to love God and neighbor. Innocence is that God given quality to be single hearted to know that my heart belongs not to myself but to others especially to God in a loving relationship. And for that I am willing to take the narrow gate the narrow road for I know this road maybe dreaded by others. But when I am empowered by love and the freedom to love that innocence that the world might even consider adventurism. I will dare take that narrow gate. That innocence of loving that innocence of freedom that innocence is nurtured by over and over again, not just by the capacity to love but by the capacity to repent. Innocence and penance come together, for it is in a life of penitence that we go back to the narrow gate where we intend to be free to love again. And even if we cannot recover fully the innocence of youth we know that we can by the grace of God. Grow into it develop into it, innocence thru penance. And the more we gained in age the more we longed for that innocence and we longed also for true penance. This is a gift that is being offered to us, and St. Aloysius is hard act to follow, he had the career before him, everything was laid out for him as a member of the nobility even if he did not need to work for it he would inherit a good life. But inheritance is a given but he work in a response an innocent response. The reckless response of innocent lover saying no, to the promises of a good life and embracing what the world would consider, a life that is be myth what his family could offer. And then volunteering to take care of the sick, at the moment w hen he knew he could be endangered again some sort of recklessness but it is recklessness that is fueled by the innocence of love , nothing could prevent them from embracing the sick the stricken, nothing could prevent him from identifying himself with the suffering. And that innocent love led him to his death. In the office of readings we have for today he was saying goodbye to his mother, and look at that he is the one consoling his mother, the innocent love of a son towards the grieving mother and telling the mother ..
You should let go, and let us accept this with love and with freedom. Our world not only the youth, for the priest parishes who are taking the youth the seminaries we are undergoing, how could be the spirit of St. Aloysius be promoted in our times. Freedom to love, pure love, and yet not losing hope because penance, this humble acceptance of our frailty of our sinfulness could be our way to grow in innocence. Thanks for being here and thanks for the seminar and thanks for this Eucharistic celebration as I also celebrate life. When I learned that I was named after St. Aloysius and Luis Gonzaga and learned a bit of his life I relay trembled I said wow what a hard a tall order to have this figure as once personal saint. especially when I turned 23, I remember when I turned 23 June 1980 I remember saying, I was assigned to give some points for meditation that evening I remember that distinctively, I was turning 23 and St. Aloysius died at the age of 23. And I Said wow this is not a pleasant birthday first, I’m afraid I reached the age of my patron saint.
Will I move on to my 24th birthday? He died at 23. Will this be may last birthday? And the second fear I said, “Wow! He is patron saint of youth in love, in service, and penance. Could I follow him in all of that?” But I said the third cause of my fear is he died a Jesuit. Will that happen to me too? I was spared by God. And here I am beyond 23 neither innocent nor penitential at times, and at the — but then you look back and say yeah… As I shared with the younger priests yesterday, more and more of life of the great saints are really a gift to us and even our lives mere mortals weak and thumbing followers of Christ even our broken lives are a gift. Everyday, we wake up to that mystery, the mystery that probably will never be answered as we our here on earth. Why did god create us? Why did god give us life? What is this for? But we know that since it is God-given then its purpose is in God. This is not so much in our purpose but purpose of the one who has given it. And trying to find that purpose of God trying to connect to that purpose I guess is our way of recovering innocence for it is our way of being free making ourselves available to the one who has given us that life. And everyday to be repentant for every day we fail for living that life to the full. I am 59 years old today but I cannot claim to be an expert in living. If I am asked now, “What does it feel to be 59?” I will sincerely say I am just probably learning how to live and just beginning to discover how it means to be gifted by life. But it is not always an easy journey in learning for I have to confess before you brother priests in a very intimate manner that I’m still very much confused why am I, who I am right now. When I was attending that World Humanitarian Summit organized by the United Nations in Istanbul a few weeks ago, before facing the daunting, the frightening crowd to deliver my speech, I sent a text to Fr. Reggie, to Clem and some priests, and I said “You know, I still do not understand what I am being asked to, why I am here.” I did not want to be there but they responded, “God is merciful. God will be merciful to you.
May awa ang Diyos.” And everyday, you just live what Jesus said to Peter. The time will come when somebody will dress you up and lead you where you would rather not go. It’s becoming very real to me, and some people ask, “Is that the way to live when it is not your will, when you are just being led?” But maybe… maybe that’s how it is to live. Yesterday, somebody sent me a French translation of an interview that I did with an American author who published an interview or some sort of a biography of me and others in French translation, there is an Italian translation. I could not even open it I said I don’t want my life to be a public commodity but then you are led where you would not want, where you do not want to go. We were not asked to be born. We were given life and that life will unfold before us as God wants it to unfold. We just pray that would be that innocent lovers that would allow the giver of life to use us fort God’s purposes for that when we fail we don’t hesitate to ask our god and to be humble repentant lovers. Yesterday, I shared with the priests that these past years have been quite rough. Coming to Manila being an Archbishop for the first time. And in less than a year, named being a cardinal and a member of a number of congregation and after two months in a Cardinalate, the Pope resigning, attending a conclave that I did not know how to attend. I did not know how to behave in a conclave. I even brought candies and one cardinal saw it and said, “You brought candies to the Sistine Chapel!” I said “Yes I don’t want to get hungry.” “This is a conclave!” “But I’m a little boy.” But he asked candies too so I gave him some. What am I doing here? I’m behaving in the wrong way. Trying our best here and then now, I’m a member of eight offices in the Vatican and then last year, being elected in absentia as president of Caritas International and elected in absentia also as president of the Catholic Biblical Federation. I don’t know where my life is going or whether it is going somewhere. As I shared with the priests yesterday, especially with caritas and the biblical federation, I’ve seen a lot of suffering, I’ve seen a lot of misery that I thought I was not prepared to see. Because it is on the global level but the I also see the dignity of the human spirit the power of love and I am amazed seeing that innocent love is still present. If refugee camps, in detention centers, among the illegal migrants, it could only be gift, it could only be grace. And I guess that’s what we are asked to live for– to contemplate the presence of innocent love wherever it is present.
To praise God and to sing the praises of god so that there will be hop, in the midst of suffering and pain.
So we ask the Lord also to accept the offering of life of Cardinal Jaime Sin offered totally to god and to the service of the Church. May the lord accept him into his bosom and let us also offer our lives and ask St. Aloysius Gonzaga to give us a share in his innocence and in his life of penitence.
