The Good Word

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St. John of God was born at the end of the 15th century, but he is very much a saint of today. His story reads like an adventure novel filled with visions, mental illness, incarcerations, rejections, and, ultimately, peace.John Duarte Cidade was born in Portugal. His parents had recently lost their wealth but held onto their faith. John mysteriously disappeared when he was only eight years old. He may have been kidnapped or seduced to leave home in another way. His mother, not knowing John’s fate, died from grief. His father, grieving the loss of his son and his wife, joined the Franciscans. Young John turned up begging for food on the streets of Spain, near Toledo. A kind man offered John a job at his farm, overseeing his sheep. He worked for the man for many years and proved so industrious and disciplined that the man offered John his daughter in marriage. John had other plans, however, and joined a traveling band of soldiers fighting for the Holy Roman Empire. In the course of his duties, he was asked to guard a treasury. Before he was relieved of his post, the treasury was looted. John came under suspicion and was condemned to death. A more tolerant officer came to his aid and was able to spare his life.John returned to the farm in Spain and worked for four more years. Impulsively, he joined another band of soldiers heading off to war and spent the next eighteen years serving throughout Europe. At the end of this time, he again returned to Spain and took up the life of a shepherd. During the long hours alone, he had time to examine his life. He decided he wanted to use his military background to help free enslaved Christians in Africa. Before he could embark on the final leg of this journey, it is said that he had a vision of the infant Jesus, who gave him the name, John of God, and directed him to go to Granada.It was around this time, in 1537, that Johannes Guttenburg invented the printing press. Soon many devotional books were being printed and John saw this as an opportunity to spread them around to as many people as possible. His religious conversion deepened after hearing a sermon preached by St. John of Avila, also known as St. John of the Cross. They began a spiritual friendship and John Cidade was encouraged to work directly with the poor. This, however, began a troubling time in John’s life. He began to publicly beat himself and beg people’s forgiveness for his past sins. He was institutionalized, and, with the unhelpful treatment of the day being more beatings and starvation, he was only helped by a visit from St. John of the Cross who, again, encouraged John to focus on others rather than himself. John regained his peace and left the hospital to work for the poor. John faced rejection and misunderstanding because of his mental breakdown, but he soon gained the trust of certain priests and physicians who helped John in tending to the sick. The bishop gave John a religious habit because John would automatically give away his cloak to someone in need. The bishop also said that John should be known as John of God. Soon he attracted a circle of disciples and they became Brothers Hospitallers of John of God. John died on this day, March 8th, from pneumonia after saving a man from drowning in a river. He was fifty-five years old. Today, the Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God serve in over fifty countries and three hundred hospitals. They are even entrusted with the medical care of the pope. St. John of God, patron of the sick, pray for us.Blessings, Fr. Kevin MacDonald, C.Ss.R.

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