Youth at the service of God

Today we celebrate Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, patron of Christian youth. Leaving behind all the perspectives offered by his family ancestry he gave himself to God when he was very young and gave his life with a reputation for holiness when he was just 23 years old. Saint Aloysius was living charity when the Jesuits cared for the victims of an epidemic that affected Rome in 1591. He contracted the fever of that epidemic carrying patients behind his back and taking care of them. - But was his earthly existence really "short"? Perhaps not so short, since "our life on earth reaches full stature when it becomes an offering" (Pope Francis).