ST. CAMILLUS DE LELLIS, Priest
After a rather turbulent youth and a military career, Camillus of Lellis had to stay in a Roman hospital for a prolonged treatment. There he discovered for himself the incompetence and lack of dedication of the nurses of his time. He became a priest and founded a congregation for helpers of the sick, especially the incurable ones. One of his companions wrote his biography and describes there how he treated the sick as other Christs, even asking forgiveness of them.
Reading 1: Gn 46:1-7, 28-30
46 So Israel set out on the journey with everything he owned. He arrived at Beersheba and worshiped, offering sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
2 God spoke to Israel in a vision that night: “Jacob! Jacob!”
“Yes?” he said. “I’m listening.”
3-4 God said, “I am the God of your father. Don’t be afraid of going down to Egypt. I’m going to make you a great nation there. I’ll go with you down to Egypt; I’ll also bring you back here. And when you die, Joseph will be with you; with his own hand he’ll close your eyes.”
5-7 Then Jacob left Beersheba. Israel’s sons loaded their father and their little ones and their wives on the wagons Pharaoh had sent to carry him. They arrived in Egypt with the livestock and the wealth they had accumulated in Canaan. Jacob brought everyone in his family with him—sons and grandsons, daughters and granddaughters. Everyone.
28-29 Jacob sent Judah on ahead to get directions to Goshen from Joseph. When they got to Goshen, Joseph gave orders for his chariot and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. The moment Joseph saw him, he threw himself on his neck and wept. He wept a long time.
30 Israel said to Joseph, “I’m ready to die. I’ve looked into your face—you are indeed alive.”
Gospel: Mt 10:16-23
16 “Stay alert. This is hazardous work I’m assigning you. You’re going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don’t call attention to yourselves. Be as shrewd as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.
17-20 “Don’t be naive. Some people will question your motives, others will smear your reputation—just because you believe in me. Don’t be upset when they haul you before the civil authorities. Without knowing it, they’ve done you—and me—a favor, given you a platform for preaching the kingdom news! And don’t worry about what you’ll say or how you’ll say it. The right words will be there; the Spirit of your Father will supply the words.
21-23 “When people realize it is the living God you are presenting and not some idol that makes them feel good, they are going to turn on you, even people in your own family. There is a great irony here: proclaiming so much love, experiencing so much hate! But don’t quit. Don’t cave in. It is all well worth it in the end. It is not success you are after in such times but survival. Be survivors! Before you’ve run out of options, the Son of Man will have arrived.
Prayer
God, loving Father,
we thank you today for St. Camillus,
who visited your Son in the sick.
He would have loved to take upon himself
their illness and afflictions,
could he but ease their pain
and relieve their weaknesses.
This is the kind of love we pray for
and of which we are not capable.
But let Jesus your Son appear
behind the face of people who suffer
and perhaps we too will be touched
by his self-forgetting love.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.