Jesuit Saint: Aloysius Gonzaga, SJ

Born: Mar. 9, 1568 / Died June 21, 1591 / Canonized: Dec. 21, 1726 / Feast Day June 21

A Prayer to St Aloysius Gonzaga, Patron Saint of Youth

"Dear Christian youth, you were a faithful follower of Christ in the Society of Jesus. You steadily strove for perfection while generously serving the plague-stricken. Help our youth today..."

St. Aloysius of Gonzaga was born in Castiglione, Italy. As the eldest son of the Marquis of Castiglione, an Italian nobleman, his father had great hopes that he would embark on a military career. From the age of four, his father took him on military training expeditions. But Aloysius was also deeply faithful, pious and given to prayers.

He contracted malaria at the age of seven. It was during this time that he was converted from the worldly and courtly way of life to the interior life. By the age of ten, he had privately decided on a religious life and made a firm determination never to offend God by sin. He developed an affinity for study of the saints, and recited the psalms daily. He received his First Communion from Cardinal Charles Borromeo of Milan at the age of twelve. After that he looked forward to weekly Communion (daily Communion was not then the custom). He also fasted three days a week and meditated morning and evening.

At the age of fourteen he was convinced that the princely life of honour and riches was not for him. He thought of becoming a Jesuit and this desire was confirmed when he was fifteen, while praying before an image of Our Lady in a Jesuit church. After much opposition and unhappiness from his parents, he finally obtained his father’s consent to enter religious life, having renounced his inheritance in favor of his brother.

He became a novice at seventeen and a half, after presenting himself to Father General Claudio Acquaviva. The maxim that led him to the novitiate remained with him throughout his years: “I am a piece of twisted iron; I entered religion to be untwisted straight.” Aloysius gave himself totally to the process of becoming a Jesuit. He was an excellent student with a penetrating mind.

When famine and plagues broke out in Italy, Aloysius, then studying Theology, begged alms for and worked with the plague-stricken. Those he found dying in the streets, he carried to a hospital, washed and fed them and prepared them to receive the Sacraments. He caught the plague a year later and was confined to bed. He received a revelation in prayer that he would not live long and would die on the octave of Corpus Christi. The young twenty three years old Aloysius died that evening with his eyes fixed on the Crucifix in his hands. The last word he spoke was the holy name of Jesus just as the first words he spoke as an infant were the holy names of Jesus and Mary.

St. Aloysius makes a great example for our youth considering he faced the same kind of challenges they do today such as peer pressure, struggles with remaining pure, and difficulties in choosing and pursuing a vocation. Despite being among very rough and impure people, and despite great parental objections , St. Aloysius maintained a pure heart and became a Jesuit priest.

May's Day of Prayer & Fellowship

Our next Day of Prayer and Fellowship is on Saturday, 24 May. The theme for prayer and reflection is "Surrender."














The day's programme is:
2.00pm: Opening Prayer
2.30pm: Individual Prayer
3.30pm: Tea
4.00pm: Small group sharing
5:00pm: Recreation
6.30pm: Mass, followed by dinner

You are welcome!

Please let us know if you are coming so that we can make the necessary arrangements.



photo: leaf by bossbob50

Light a single candle

Stanley Goh is seeking God's Will in his life. Presently, he is in India working with the poor. He shares with us the following reflection of his time there.

I came to India with high hopes to do good for the local community that I’m living with and to effect as much change as I can for the time that I’m here. I've been here for about 3 months. Recently, I was starting to get a little disillusioned with the work that I’ve been doing and the people that I’ve met. As with all places in India, yone is faced with the huge disparities in income and lifestyles and feel that there has to be something one can do for the people around.

I work with about 70 students from the villages around where I am and conduct classes to help them get ahead in whatever they may do – some may go on to higher education while many others are preparing to start working pretty soon. I felt that I could do more, that I could try to work with a bigger and broader group of students from a wider area. I see poverty along the streets and people living in canvas tents by the roadside. Sometimes, I feel a sense of loss, of being useless, of not being able to do much there. There’s much to be done and here I am stuck with this programme to work with my group of 70 students. This got me down for a while and I kept wondering where and how I could go beyond this count of 70. It seemed that I came all this way for just a small little project.

This sense of not being able to do more was put into perspective over the past week by a few events that made me re-examine these thoughts. First was a conversation I had with friends who told me that our work should not be subject to the normal calculus of the corporate secular world. The fact that we can help 70 means that the 70 have benefitted and we should not look at the fact that we are unable at the moment to help the 71st. It’s not about an all or nothing game but something that we do. If I can serve one more person then great but one should strive to do one’s level best for the 70 that I’m working with and not worry so much about the others that I’m missing for the moment.

This idea is echoed in a book that I just finished reading. In Wise & Otherwise, Sunda Murty recounts little vignettes and anecdotes of her work in an NGO and has this to say. Faced with a number of situations where traditions and inertia thwarted her work, she began to lose hope in her ability to help others. It was her father who told her that every one extra person that she helps counts. She ends the section by writing,

It is more difficult to recognise our weaknesses than our strengths. Don’t aim for the sky. Keep your feet firmly on the ground and work around you. There is so much misery and gloom, but it is better to light a single candle than to remain in darkness. Try to light as many candles as possible.

This helps me see things in perspective. There’s always something else that we want to do and there’s always another person that we think we can help, but in the process we might lose sight of what we’re supposed to do in the first place. By worrying about helping more, we can lose sight of those that we are here to serve in the first place.

The image of the candle and of lighting as many candles as we can struck me as something that we should always try to do. One should not worry about lighting a roomful of candles when we’re sometimes momentarily unable to. Rather, being able to shed light on a room with one’s work will allow us to spread God’s love. After all, Jesus said, ‘I am the light of the world; anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark; he will have the light of life’. (Jn 8:12) We’re called to spread this light so that others need not walk in the dark. I’ve learnt that one shouldn’t worry about how much light we’re spreading for the moment as long as we are actually in the act of spreading that light.

In our unworthiness we continue to strive. Peter publicly acknowledged his sinfulness at the shores of Lake Gennesaret but at the same time found the strength to leave his life as a fisherman to follow Jesus. Sometimes we need to be able to look beyond this unworthiness and inability to do more and do what Peter did, follow our Lord unreservedly. Only then will we be able to fully do the work that we are called to. My reflection some days back about that very scene helped me to put things in perspective. This has given me to a better sense of purpose in my work here. As long as I know that I’m doing my best for the people I’m working with here, then I can continue to explore ways in which I can help more candles to stay lit. In this way I’m contributing to the lighting process. Indeed, I don’t worry about the number; all I am asked to do is to focus on the act of lighting.

You may wish to keep Stanley and his work in your prayers.

Ignatian Charism for Today

"What is a charism? A charism is a gift of grace not for one’s personal sanctification but for the benefit of others. St. Paul has a list of charisms in the twelfth chapter of First Corinthians, including the gifts of prophecy, speech, miracle-working, and the interpretation of tongues. What if any are charisms given to St. Ignatius of Loyola?"

Read more about the charisms of Ignatius as seen through the eyes of Avery Cardinal Dulles, SJ by clicking on the image of Ignatius.

Jesuit Saint: Peter Canisius

Born: May 8, 15 21 / Died: December 21, 1597 / Beatified: 1864 / Canonized : May 21, 1925

Peter Canisius was born in Nijmegen, though a Dutch town today, was at the time of his birth in the ecclesiastical province of Cologne, had the rights of a German city. Hence both Holland and Germany claim him as their son.

His father, a Catholic and burgomaster of Nijmegen, sent him at the age of fifteen to the University of Cologne where he earned a master’s degree in 1540. He changed his original plan to remain at the university and studied theology when he heard about a newly-founded religious order, the Society of Jesus. One of its founders, Fr Peter Favre, was then in Mainz. Canisius traveled there to meet him, who recognized Canisius’ potential and agreed to lead him through the 30-day retreat known as the Spiritual Exercises. During the second week of the retreat, Canisius decided to join the Society and Fr Favre accepted him as a novice on his 22nd birthday.

Canisius returned to Cologne, finished his studies in theology and was ordained in 1546. Prior to his ordination, he taught Scripture and published new editions of texts of Cyril of Alexandria and Leo the Great. He also served as theological consultant to Cardinal Otto Trushess at the Council of Trent before he took up Fr Ignatius’ assignment to teach in the very first school the Society founded in Messina, Sicily.

In 1549, Pope Paul III asked him to return to Germany to head an effort to defend the Church against the attacks of reformers. Fr Canisius’ challenging mission was to halt the defections of Catholics and win back those who had left the Church. Fr Canisius started in Ingolstadt, Germany where he began teaching at the university as well as devoting great efforts to preaching so that he could explain the fundamental truths of Catholic teaching from the pulpit. His work had an immediate impact on Catholics there.

Fr Canisius was equally effective with Catholics in Vienna, Prague and Fribourg, using the pattern he adopted in Germany. He also founded seminaries and colleges and took on duties as an educator and a court preacher. In Vienna, Fr Canisius developed and produced his famous book, his Catechism, titled Summary of Christian Doctrine which later became Germany’s and Austria’s most popular book because it satisfied a most urgent need and provided questions and answers especially to topics disputed by the Protestants. This book was intended as a manual for college students and later adaptations were published for secondary and primary schools.

As the first provincial of Germany, Fr Canisius made a huge contribution to Jesuit Governance in Swabia, Bavaria, Austria and Hungary. He visited Jesuit houses, supervised expansion and made the Society of Jesus a leading force in the Counter Reformation. He also took part in ecumenical gatherings such as the one in Regensburg and returned to the Council of Trent in May 1562. Fr Canisius continued as provincial for fourteen years and later devoted his time to writing and preaching until poor health forced him to stop. Fr Canisius lived a full life and died peacefully at the age of 76 in Fribourg, Switzerland.

He was canonized by Pope Pius XI on May 21, 1925 and declared a Doctor of the Church in recognition of his writings in defence of the faith.

icon of st peter canisius by fr hart mcnicholas, sj

April's Day of Prayer & Fellowship

Our next Day of Prayer & Fellowship is on 26 April.

The theme for prayer and reflection is "A Trusting Heart."

The day's programme is:

2.00pm: Opening Prayer

2.30pm: Individual Prayer

3.30pm: Tea

3.45pm: Small group sharing

4.30pm: Film & discussion

6.30pm: Mass, followed by dinner

You are welcome!

Please let us know if you are coming so that we can make the necessary arrangements.

photo by 001fj

All Night Vigil

The Novitiate held the annual All Night Vigil on Saturday, 12 April to pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

Friends of the Novitiate and parishioners from St Ignatius gathered in the Center for Ignatian Spirituality and Counselling for this gathering. Also present with the good sisters from the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary.

The Vigil began at 9pm with a Mass concelebrated by Jesuit Frs Philip Heng, Paul Goh and Colin Tan. In his homily, Fr Philip invited us to reflect on God's invitation to be more fully ourselves in whatever vocation we live by responding more totally to God's love.

After Mass, we welcomed the Blessed Sacrament into our midst. Then, at hourly intervals, different groups led the faithful in prayer. The prayer sessions took took different forms, from contemplation to charismatic prayer. At the end of each prayer session, there was time for quiet prayer and reflection.

The Vigil ended at 6.00am with Morning Prayer. This was led by the Jesuit Novices. A hearty breakfast for all who stayed the night followed!

Here is a reflection from Lance Ng, who helped out with a prayer session the Companions led:

I'd just like to share this short little para that I came up with about coincidence and "God-incidence," which was inspired by a talk given by Fr Richard Ambrose.

"Nothing that happens is a coincidence,
Everything that happens is for a reason,
If GOD allows it to happen,
It's a God-incidence!"

I truly felt God's wonderful hand a work that evening, right down to the "boo boo" that ocurred out of the switch of laptops during one of the prayer sessions. As I reflected the events of the evening, I realized that this "boo boo" was a learning lesson because I notice the grace of God working through Aunty Dorothy... the serenity, the peace and graciousness she had throughout the unfortunate incident. For me, her example is a lesson in what it takes to make us God's light in this world. From the eyes of faith, this is truly a gem of a God-incidence!