Thought for the Day – 1 October – The Memorial of Bl Luigi Maria Monti
“I saw water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple… everything will live where the water goes” (Ez 47: 1, 9).
The image of water, which brings everything back to life, illuminates well the life of Bl Luigi Maria Monti, entirely dedicated to healing the physical and spiritual wounds of the sick and the orphaned.
He loved to call them “Christ’s poor ones”and he served them, enlivened by a living faith and sustained by intense and continual prayer. In his evangelical commitment, he was constantly inspired by the example of the Holy Virgin and placed the Congregation he founded under the sign of Mary Immaculate.
How relevant is the message of this new Blessed!
For his spiritual sons and for all believers, he is an example of faithfulness to God’s call and to the proclamation of the Gospel of charity.
He is a model of solidarity towards the needy and of affectionate entrustment to the Immaculate Virgin.”
“What does love look like?
It has the hands to help others.
It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy.
It has eyes to see misery and want.
It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men.
That is what love looks like. (St Augustine)
“Have charity – first for our own souls and then for our neighbour.
For as water quenches fire, charity quenches sin.” (St John of God)
And so we are called! “Mary, Mother of Christ and our Mother, is our strength and guide in this commitment. May the new Blessed Luigi Maria Monti, whom we contemplate today in the glory of Heaven, intercede for us. May it also be granted to us all that we one day find ourselves in Paradise, to experience together the joy of everlasting life. Amen!
(St John Paul at the Beatification of Bl Luigi Monti, Founder of the Sons of the Immaculate Conception, 9 November 2003)
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