Dear friends,
It is a great privilege for me to take part in this Eucharistic celebration together with all of you on the Feast of the Patron of our parish, Saint Roch.
It is held that Saint Roch lived in the 1300s. He came from France and travelled through many cities of Italy, caring for the sick and healing them with the sign of the cross. He himself contracted the plague and, according to legend, when he withdrew into a hut to die alone, he was looked after by a dog that brought him bread every day. Roch returned to France and died after some years of imprisonment, wrongly accused. From the 1400s onwards he has been invoked everywhere as a protector during outbreaks of plague, and in our own day too, during the Covid-19 pandemic. His cult has spread from Europe to the whole world.
Today, as we celebrate his feast, what message do we take home with us? The first is undoubtedly Roch's faith in the power of the Cross over every form of suffering. Through the cross we obtain the victory over all those forces which in life threaten to overwhelm us. Saint Paul reminds us that the Cross is the power of God: upon it a man is crucified in weakness, but the One who was crucified there is no ordinary man. He is God himself, and he is on the Cross solely out of love for me and for you, and by dying on the cross he has cancelled the document written against us, the record of all our sins. We receive grace and strength every time we truly affirm our faith in the death of Jesus on the Cross. This is exactly what we do during Holy Mass: when we recite the Creed, and when in a mysterious way we witness at close hand the death of Jesus on the Cross, at the moment in which the Bread and the Wine are consecrated as his Body and his Blood, offered out of love for each one of us.
Secondly, the power of prayer. Once someone asked Mother Teresa: “Mother, how do I learn to pray?” And she replied: “By praying.” To be able to pray, to be able to experience the closeness of God, is a gift. To know that in life we are never alone; to feel that the Almighty is near to us at every moment and that in all our trials he reassures us: “Do not fear, I am with you”, “I will come to save you”, “Do not be afraid.” This voice of Jesus we hear in prayer. Prayer begins in a very simple way: it can begin even with a sigh. The psalmist says: “I remember God and I groan.” God listens not only to our words, but also to every small movement of our heart towards him. Saint John Mary Vianney tells us that God is like a loving mother who runs towards us the moment we raise our hands towards him. This is prayer: to lift up our heart and our hands to God, who loves us immensely. Sometimes, as we know, we can have a mistaken image of God, as of a judge who waits only to punish us. Never! Scripture says: “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through him. God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him may not perish, but may have eternal life.”
Today's readings teach us that the divine plan of salvation extends to all the peoples of the earth. The foreign woman, the Canaanite woman, had a greater faith than any Israelite. She did not move from Jesus' side until she obtained what she desired. She persisted. This is faith. We too must not move from Jesus' side, not even when everything seems to be against us. Blessed are those who believe! The Lord tells us: “Whoever perseveres to the end will be saved.” God's heart is moved when he sees that we have faith. That we trust him whatever may happen. When he sees our faith, his tone changes immediately: “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you desire.”
In this Mass on the Feast of Saint Roch, let us draw near to the Lord with the same faith with which she drew near. May the holy faith of our fathers and our mothers go on living in us, and may we too receive the grace to spread around us the joy of faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Mary, our Mother, pray for us. Saint Roch, pray for us.
Amen.
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