Monday --  St Alphonsus Rodriguez

The man the Church and the Society of Jesus honor and remember today was an extraordinary individual.  Following in his father's footsteps, Alphonsus became a cloth merchant in Segovia, Spain.  Shortly after his father's death, he married.  His first two children died very early.  A third lived a little longer.  His wife died within a few years of their marriage.  Alphonsus did not know what to do.  Eventually he entered the Society of Jesus.  Because of his advanced age (at that time) the Jesuit Provincial determined it would be best for him to serve the Jesuit community.  The astute Provincial realize Alphonsus was too weak to perform the usual duties of the Jesuit Brother.  It was the man's holiness that captured the Provincial's mind and heart.  For this reason he had accepted him into the Society.  He was a Jesuit brother for more than 40 years when he died.  Those forty years were dedicated to the front door at the Jesuit college in Majorca, Spain.  In this position he served the Jesuit community as well as the students at the college.  He was not impressed with academic degrees and awards.  For Alphonsus the  real work was deepening his insights into who he was in relation to God.  Within a few years there were numerous people coming to him for spiritual advice and direction.  He was responsible for the young Father Peter Claver's decision to request a missionary assignment from the Father Provincial.

There are not many Jesuit Brothers in the United States today.  I dare saying this:  in the many that I have come to know or worked with, these are men with two great characteristics:  genuine men of prayer and men most obedient to their superiors.  I treasure the friendships I have with some of the Brothers.  It is easy to see the place of prayer in their lives.

Let Alphonsus Rodriguez be a model for you.  He did what he was assigned to do and did it so well.  He came to know so much about himself that prayer became his treasury.