Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Today, the Church remembers Saint Alphonsus Ligouri, a Bishop, philosopher, theologian, musician, composer, poet, artist, and lawyer. In addition to all of these, he was also the founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, also known as the Redemptorists. The Redemptorists have a special charism: to accompany the abandoned and rejected. It is, therefore, not at all a coincidence that today’s Gospel tells of Jesus being rejected by the people of Nazareth, his home town. Jesus was no stranger to being abandoned. Just as Jesus was abandoned and rejected in his own lifetime (even to the point of being killed), Jesus remains abandoned in all the people whose dignity is not honored (the poor, the migrant, the incarcerated, the unborn, the orphan, etc.). Yet Jesus, being an outcast himself, served the outcast among him. The Redemptorists, in imitation of Christ, serve the abandoned and rejected and, by doing so, they serve Christ abandoned and rejected. May we follow their example; may we always be attentive to those who are ignored.