From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

March 8th - Saint John of God, Founder, Visionary
(1495-1550)

Nothing in the early life of John Ciudad, born of a poor couple in a town o=
f Portugal, foreshadowed his future sanctity. Following a traveler whose de= scription of Madrid had captivated his imagination, this only son of his pa= rents ran away from his home. Soon regret and misery overtook him, but he w=
as ashamed to return to his abandoned parents. In effect his mother, struck=
with a fever, but advised by an Angel that John would have to undergo long=
trials which would strengthen his virtue, departed this life only a few da=
ys after his adventure began.

For several years the renegade was engaged in tending sheep and cattle in S= pain; his employer eventually offered him his only daughter in marriage and=
thereby a rich heritage, but John was interiorly advised that such was not=
his vocation. He left in secret the next day, joined the army of Spain aga= inst the French, later against the Turks. When he was about 40, feeling pro= found remorse for his life which lacked order and purpose, he returned to h=
is home village, only to learn of the death of both his parents. =E2=80=9CI=
am not worthy to see the light of day!=E2=80=9D exclaimed the grief-strick=
en voyager. He visited the cemetery, suffocated by his sobs, and cried out,=
=E2=80=9CPardon, pardon! O mother! Eternal penance!=E2=80=9D

He resolved to devote himself to the ransom of Christian slaves in Africa, = and on his way served the sick in a hospital. Meeting an aged nobleman at G= ibraltar, unjustly exiled and on his way to Africa, John offered to go ther=
e as his servant, to remain with him and his family and support them by his=
labor. Count DaSilva fell ill in the new climate and soon died, thanking J= ohn for his unfailing aid, and predicting he would some day be one of Spain=
's greatest apostles. His family received amnesty and returned to S=
pain.

John, too, returned there by the advice of his confessor, and sought to do = good by selling holy pictures and books at low prices. Finally the hour of = grace struck. At Granada a sermon by the celebrated John of Avila shook his=
soul to its depths, and his expressions of self-abhorrence were so extraor= dinary that he was taken to the asylum as one insane. For a time he acted t= his role purposely, in order to be whipped daily as a remedial measure. His=
confessor was John of Avila, who when he learned of this told him to cease=
his pretense and do something useful. Thereafter he employed himself in mi= nistering to the sick.

He began to collect homeless poor, and to support them by his work and by b= egging. One night Saint John found in the streets a poor man who seemed nea=
r death, and, as was his wont, he carried him to the hospital, laid him on =
a bed, and went to fetch water to wash his feet. When he had washed them, h=
e knelt to kiss them, but was awestruck: the feet were pierced, and the pri=
nt of the nails shone with an unearthly radiance. He raised his eyes, and h= eard the words, =E2=80=9CJohn, it is to Me that you do all that you do for = the poor in My name. It is I who reach forth My hand for the alms you give;=
you clothe Me; Mine are the feet that you wash.=E2=80=9D And then the grac= ious vision disappeared, leaving Saint John filled at once with confusion a=
nd consolation.

The bishop became the Saint's patron and gave him the name of John =
of God. When his hospital was on fire, John was seen rushing about uninjure=
d amid the flames until he had rescued all his poor. After ten years spent =
in the service of the suffering, the Saint's life was fitly closed =
when he plunged into a river to save a drowning boy, and died in 1550 of an=
illness brought on by the attempt. He was 55 years old.


Reflection.=C2
God often rewards men for works that are pleasing in His sight, by giving t= hem grace and opportunity to do other works higher still. Saint John of God=
often attributed his conversion, and the graces which enabled him to do hi=
s works of love, to his self-denying charity in Africa.


Saint Quote:
When we must do something we dislike, let us say to God, "My God I
offer You this in honor of the moment when You died for me."
-- Saint John Vianney

Bible Quote:
"Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the = kingdom of heaven. And who ever welcomes a little child like this in my nam=
e welcomes me. =C2 (Matt..18:4-5)


<><><><>
Carrying our own cross:

In the gospel Christ commands us all to take up our cross. He does not tell=
us to take up another's, but bids us to carry our own. He does not wish a = nun to neglect her duties as a religious and burden herself with the cares =
of a =C2 married woman; nor does it please him for a married woman to neg=
lect her household duties and turn into a nun. The married man pleases God =
by being a good husband; the friar by being a good religious; the merchant =
by running his business properly. Even the soldier serves God by showing co= urage when circumstances demand it, and by being content with his pay, as S= aint John says. And the cross which each of us has to bear, and by means of=
which we are to attain union with Christ, is the very duty and obligation = imposed on each one of us by our =C2 state of life. Those who fulfill the=
duties of their condition do God's will and accomplish his purpose. They w=
in an unblemished name and reputation and, as though by the labor of the cr= oss, reach the rest they have merited. On the =C2 other hand, those who n= eglect their obligations, however hard they may labor to fulfill others whi=
ch they have taken upon themselves, waste their efforts and forfeit their r= eward.=C2
--Luis de Le=C3=B3n, O.S.A.=C2

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