THE PATTERN OF OUR LIFE

Memorial of St. John of God, Religious
Lk 11:29-32

Today is my birthday. Let me speak to you about my patron saint, St. John of God. We celebrate today his blessed memory.

As the Gospel today mentions the sign of Jonah, this reflection also wishes to direct our attention to three signs. I refer to them as the Three Signs of John of God. They are events in the life of John of God that point to three realities that every disciple of Christ must consider.

The first sign points to the day of John’s birth and death. The day John of God was born and the day he died fell on the same day and month, with fifty-five years between them. Born in Portugal on March 8, 1495, John died in Granada, Spain, on March 8, 1550.

That the days of their birth and death fall on the same day, whether in the same year or not, happens to very few people. But the reality to which this first sign of John of God points is true to every man and woman: here on earth, the beginning of life is also the beginning of death. We took our first step towards death on the very day we were born. We do not know how many steps we have to take to reach the final one, but it is certain that our birthday is always the first step. To be born is to die. To die, we must first be born.

Our Faith, however, tells us that death in this life means birth unto eternal life. St. Francis of Assisi said, “It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” In the First Preface for Christian Death, the priest says, “Lord, for your faithful people, life is changed, not ended. When our earthly dwelling lies in death, we gain an everlasting dwelling place in heaven.” Each time we remember our birthday, we should also be reminded that we are another step closer to the day to eternal life. Celebrating a birthday here on earth is really anticipating our birthday in heaven. If all that a birthday commemoration does is celebrate an earthly life, what is there to rejoice about when earthly life ends nonetheless after so and so years? No, we celebrate our birthday because we are getting closer to eternal life. Thus, our birthday should also be a special time for us to examine how well we are preparing for our birthday in heaven.

The second sign of John of God is best expressed by a cliché: Life begins at forty. John of God was successively a farmer, a soldier, and a merchant. When he heeded God’s call to the religious life, John was already forty years old. He spent thirty-nine years of his life for himself. But when he finally responded to that restless call within him, he spent all of himself for God. From forty years old onwards, he literally became John of God as he allowed himself to be totally owned and used by God. God used him to show his preferential love for the poor and the sick. Eventually, he founded the Order of Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God that is devoted to the care of those who are infirmed in body and soul. He spent only fifteen of his fifty-five earthly years in the service of God who was in the distressing disguise of the poor and the sick, but he found his greatest joy in those years compared to the forty-years he spent all for himself. When he was born, life began for him, but at forty, he began living his life because he committed himself to a cause greater than himself, greater even than life itself; he became a sign of God’s preferential love for the sick and the poor.

Unless we commit our selves to a good greater than our selves, we have not yet lived our lives to the fullest. If our life is all about self-preservation, self-advancement, and self-fulfillment, it is not a life worth living. A life finds its worth in others as it is spent for them for love of God.

The third sign of John of God is rather uniquely dramatic. On the day he was to pass from this life to the next, the brother attending to him left the room to get something. John of God, very sick though he was, managed to kneel before a crucifix to pray. While on his knees, absorbed in prayer, John of God breathed his last. When the brother returned, he found Bro. John still kneeling before the crucifix, with hands folded in prayer, motionless. He came into the world crying as a baby, he left it praying as a servant of God. He was delivered from his mother’s womb, he returned to God on his knees.

When people die, they are normally lying down or else they fall down on the floor. John, however, died on his knees. His manner of dying ran counter to the normal way death comes to any man or woman. In itself, the posture he took in death was a sign that contradicted the logic of the human body. It points to the reality that every Christian, like Christ, is a sign of contradiction against the usual and convenient ways of the world. That reality manifests itself in various manners not only as the Christian lives but also as he dies and even beyond.

Moreover, John’s leaving earthly life and entering eternal life while on his knees signified the lesson that we must never unlearn: There is no other way by which we can approach God except on our knees. This does not mean that we go to a church and walk on our knees from its main door to its sanctuary. This means more and beyond a particular body posture. To bend our knees means to live our lives humbly and in complete surrender to the loving mercy of God. It was John’s final act of self-resignation to God. It is our daily struggle yet. And my experience tells me that as you advance in age and your desires are tamed, your pride mellows, and your view widens, God has His unique ways of bending your knees, many times excruciating but always loving.

These are the three signs of St. John of God. Like Jonah’s sign as mentioned in the Gospel today, these three signs point to the reality of the Lord’s Paschal Mystery. The reality behind these signs is the Lord’s passion, death, and resurrection. Because the Lord is central to us and His Paschal Mystery is central to the Lord, our life is likewise a series of dying and rising again for the life of the many. This is our Paschal Mystery. This is the pattern of our Christian life.