Moved by the Mercy of God- Reflection from St. John of God

On March 8th the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of St. John of God. He founded the Hospitaller Order of the Brothers of Saint John of God. He is the patron saint of hospitals and the dying. This text is from a letter to a Spanish duchess.

When I am troubled I find no better antidote or consolation than considering and contemplating Jesus Christ crucified and reflecting on his most holy Passion and the troubles and toils he suffered in this life—and all for us…. When we consider that the spotless Lamb suffered so much toil and torment without having deserved it, how can we seek or want rest and pleasure on this earth where they inflicted so many evils and sufferings on Jesus Christ, who created and redeemed us? The world attracts us with vices and riches, promising us long life and saying: “Now you are young, give yourself over to pleasure, and then in old age you can mend your ways.”

The devil attracts us by constantly laying traps and snares for us to make us trip and fall and thus prevent us from doing good and being charitable, and by making sure that we are taken up solely with worldly matters so that we forget God…. This goes on until the hour of our death, when everything the world and the devil have promised is revealed as false. Since the Lord will judge us as he finds us, it would be wise to mend our ways in time and not be like those who keep saying, “Tomorrow,” but never actually begin….

We need the presence, help, and grace of Jesus Christ. We must count ourselves as nothing for the sake of the everything which is Jesus Christ, trusting only in him, confessing the truth and all our sins at the feet of our confessor….

In this way each one of us will be able to overcome the enemies of which I have spoken. We must not trust in ourselves, because we shall fall into sin a thousand times a day, but trust only in Jesus Christ.

St. John of God, pray for us