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| Saint Joseph Moscati (1880-1927) |
THE BEATITUDES – THE POOR IN SPIRIT
First of all, try to be free with regard to material things. The Lord
calls us to a Gospel lifestyle marked by sobriety. We should not give in to
consumerism. This means focusing on the essentials and learning to do without
all those extra, useless things that suffocate us. Let us distance ourselves
from the longing to possess things, from the idolatry of money, and from
wastefulness.
Let’s put Jesus first. He can free us from the kinds of idol worship
that enslave us. Put your trust in God! He knows us. He loves us, and He never
forgets us. Just as He provides for the lilies of the field (Matthew 6:28), so
He will make sure that we lack nothing.
...Just as we need the courage to be happy, we also need the courage to
live simply.—Papa Francesco, Message for
World Youth Day, January 21, 2014
Saint Joseph Moscati – His favorite patients were the poor, the
homeless, the religious and the priests—all from whom he would never accept
payment. He actually went as far as secretly leaving his money within a
patient’s prescription or under a patient’s pillow. He clearly saw his work as
an apostolate. One day he even refused payment from all his patients saying
“These are working folk. What have we that has not been given us by Our Lord?
Woe to us if we do not make good use of God's gifts!” As Blessed John Paul II
said, “In addition to the resources of his acclaimed skill in caring for the
sick he used the warmth of his humanity and the witness of his faith.”
—Dr. Adrian Treloar, “Great Medical Lives; Saint Joseph Moscati (1880-1927),” Catholic Medical Quarterly (February 2012) 62(1):7-8
Not all Christians are called to the destitution of a Saint Francis of
Assisi or a Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, but all Christians are called to
poverty of spirit manifested in simplicity of life.
Photo courtesy of Inviaggio
ReplyDeletePhoto link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:San_Giuseppe_Moscati.jpg
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SAINT JOSEPH MOSCATI (1880-1927)
ReplyDeleteHe was known for his skill in diagnosing his patients, and many interns studied with him, hoping to learn his techniques.
Dr. Moscati would pray before seeing each patient, putting himself in the presence of God. He encouraged his patients to receive the sacraments often, especially before they underwent surgery.
Dr. Moscati was known for his charity, often donating his medical services to the poor, or paying for his patients’ prescriptions. He helped evacuate a nursing home when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 1906, moving the sickest patients just minutes before the building collapsed. During World War I, he treated nearly 3,000 soldiers.
He prayed for priests often, because, as he said, “They are easily forgotten by the living, since Christians often think that they do not need prayers.”
Dr. Moscati always carried a rosary in his pocket as a reminder to seek help from Mary and Jesus when he had to make important decisions.
https://angelusnews.com/faith/saint-of-the-day/joseph-moscati/
—Angelus Staff, “Saint of the day: Joseph Moscati,” Angelus, November 16, 2022
Someone whom I believe lived an ideal of lay spirituality without the obligation of obedience to a religious superior. A good example to reflect upon and follow. He lived what I might describe as “freedom of the discernment of spirits.”
All kinds of problems arise when you extend religious spirituality to the laity. I’ve already discussed some pitfalls—clerical authoritarianism, brainwashing, Jansenism.
Religious and laity are different in the understanding of the Roman Catholic Church. They’re not the same. We should keep it that way.
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It was revealed to Abba Anthony in his desert that there was one who was his equal in the city. He was a doctor by profession and whatever he had beyond his needs he gave to the poor, and every day he sang the Sanctus with the angels.
ReplyDelete—The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, transl. with a foreword by Benedicta Ward, SLG, preface by Metropolitan Anthony (Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications, 1984), page 6
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The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that man is a “beggar before God” (No. 2559) and that prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst and our own thirst (No. 2560).
ReplyDeleteSaint Francis of Assisi perfectly understood the secret of the Beatitude of the poor in spirit. Indeed, when Jesus spoke to him through the leper and from the Crucifix, Francis recognized both God’s grandeur and his own lowliness. In his prayer, the Poor Man of Assisi would spend hours asking the Lord: “Who are you? Who am I?” He gave up a comfortable and carefree life in order to marry “Lady Poverty” to imitate Jesus and to follow the Gospel to the letter. Francis lived in imitation of Christ in His poverty and in love for the poor. For him the two were inextricably linked—like two sides of the same coin.—Papa Francesco, Message for World Youth Day, January 21, 2014
In the Old Testament, the poor (anawim) are those who are without material possessions and whose confidence is in God (see Isaiah 61:1; Zephaniah 2:3; in the New American Bible the word is translated as lowly and humble, respectively, in those texts). Matthew added in spirit in order either to indicate that only the devout poor were meant or to extend the beatitude to all, of whatever social rank, who recognized their complete dependence on God. The same phrase poor in spirit is found in the Qumran literature (1 Qumran 14:7).
—The New American Bible (Iowa Falls, Iowa: World Bible Publishers, 1986), page 1014
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