Homily for Memorial of St. Camillus de Lellis

Homily for the Memorial of
St. Camillus de Lellis
Thursday, Week 15 of O.T.

Collect
Is 26: 7-9, 12, 16-19
July 18, 2024
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.

God “adorned the priest St. Camillus with a singular grace of charity toward the sick,” the collect acclaims.  In that prayer, we ask God to give us “a spirit of love” for both God himself and our neighbor, a love that will enable us to pass safely to eternal life like Camillus.  If we are wrapped in love, or rapt in love, we’ll come safely into the eternal presence of Love.

Some of you carry out a ministry toward the sick or the infirm.  In fact, all of you do, the ministry of attentiveness to the needs and concerns of your neighbor, your brother—and not only the brother in this same house but also of your brothers thruout the province and the congregation; and not only those who are sick or elder or who have special needs, but those too who labor (cf. Matt 11:28) to carry out the mission given them by our Lord Jesus.

We pray constantly that “the way of the just” may be made smooth and level (Is 26:7), that all our brothers and sisters whose spirits keep vigil for the Lord might bring an element of the Lord’s justice, mercy, and light into our world (26:9).  This is a grace of charity open to all of us, besides the daily charity of attentiveness and concern here among us.