Readings & Reflections: Wednesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time & St. Cajetan, August 7,2019

Readings & Reflections: Wednesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time & St. Cajetan, August 7,2019

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Opening Prayer

“Lord Jesus, your love and mercy knows no bounds. May I trust you always and pursue you with indomitable persistence as this woman did. Increase my faith in your saving power and deliver me for all evil and harm. ”

Reading I
Nm 13:1-2, 25–14:1, 26a-29a, 34-35

The LORD said to Moses [in the desert of Paran,] “Send men to reconnoiter the land of Canaan, which I am giving the children of Israel. You shall send one man from each ancestral tribe, all of them princes.”

After reconnoitering the land for forty days they returned, met Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation of the children of Israel in the desert of Paran at Kadesh, made a report to them all, and showed the fruit of the country to the whole congregation. They told Moses: “We went into the land to which you sent us. It does indeed flow with milk and honey, and here is its fruit. However, the people who are living in the land are fierce, and the towns are fortified and very strong. Besides, we saw descendants of the Anakim there. Amalekites live in the region of the Negeb; Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites dwell in the highlands, and Canaanites along the seacoast and the banks of the Jordan.”

Caleb, however, to quiet the people toward Moses, said, “We ought to go up and seize the land, for we can certainly do so.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We cannot attack these people; they are too strong for us.” So they spread discouraging reports among the children of Israel
about the land they had scouted, saying, “The land that we explored is a country that consumes its inhabitants. And all the people we saw there are huge, veritable giants (the Anakim were a race of giants); we felt like mere grasshoppers, and so we must have seemed to them.”

At this, the whole community broke out with loud cries, and even in the night the people wailed.

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:
“How long will this wicked assembly grumble against me?
I have heard the grumblings of the children of Israel against me.
Tell them: By my life, says the LORD, I will do to you just what I have heard you say. Here in the desert shall your dead bodies fall. Forty days you spent in scouting the land; forty years shall you suffer for your crimes:
one year for each day. Thus you will realize what it means to oppose me.
I, the LORD, have sworn to do this to all this wicked assembly that conspired against me: here in the desert they shall die to the last man.”

The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 106:6-7ab, 13-14, 21-22, 23
R. (4a) Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

We have sinned, we and our fathers;
we have committed crimes; we have done wrong.
Our fathers in Egypt
considered not your wonders.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

But soon they forgot his works;
they waited not for his counsel.
They gave way to craving in the desert
and tempted God in the wilderness.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

They forgot the God who had saved them,
who had done great deeds in Egypt,
Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,
terrible things at the Red Sea.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

Then he spoke of exterminating them,
but Moses, his chosen one,
Withstood him in the breach
to turn back his destructive wrath.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

Gospel
Mt 15: 21-28

At that time Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out,
“Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!
My daughter is tormented by a demon.”
But he did not say a word in answer to her.
His disciples came and asked him,
“Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”
He said in reply,
“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.”
He said in reply,
“It is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs.”
She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps
that fall from the table of their masters.”
Then Jesus said to her in reply,
“O woman, great is your faith!
Let it be done for you as you wish.”
And her daughter was healed from that hour.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Reflection 1 – Have pity on me

It may have appeared that Jesus had deep contempt for people outside the Jewish nation as He initially responded to the Canaanite woman’s request for help as her daughter was being tormented by a demon. When Jesus’ said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”, it seemed Jesus was way out of line and His action quite a contradiction from what He preached. The balance of the story showed that this was not actually the case. As a matter of fact, it was exactly the opposite.

Jesus showed His apostles and all men who shall believe and come after His time, that no barriers should be placed among peoples in their faith with Him. Rich or poor, learned and illiterate, Jew or gentile, all have a special place in His heart. The faith of the Canaanite is so touching as she spoke, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters”, and to which Jesus responded, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

Our gospel today highlights the great faith of the Canaanite. Despite what was set before her, she persevered and believed in Jesus. We too in our desire to be with God, in our struggle to seek His will should be faithful even amidst great difficulties.

As instruments of God in His work to bring ALL to His kingdom, we should follow Jesus and remove every obstacle and barrier from everyone’s spiritual path. Race, social status and rank should not be of any importance. The sinful, broken and wounded should never be received in a different way as those who appear to be holy and pious. They should be given more love, care and mercy. Nothing should be in the way of every man who seeks God and His will.

As our faith teaches, our Church is Catholic which means UNIVERSAL and as such should be open to ALL, with no ‘if’s and buts’! The same applies to all Christian spiritual communities… it applies to our very own church!

Let us ask ourselves the following:

Is our community free of any discrimination?
Do we give every one equal opportunities to serve God and His people in community?

Direction

Encourage every church /community member to be fruitful. Open up ways by which everyone can serve and be fruitful in our Lord’s name.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, remove my self-righteousness and enable me love and serve all despite our differences. I pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Reflection 2 – Great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire

Do you ever feel “put-off” or ignored by the Lord?
This passage (Matthew 15:21) describes the only occasion in which Jesus ministered outside of Jewish territory. (Tyre and Sidon were fifty miles north of Israel and still exist today in modern Lebanon.) A Gentile woman, a foreigner who was not a member of the Jewish people, puts Jesus on the spot by pleading for his help. At first Jesus seemed to pay no attention to her, and this made his disciples feel embarrassed. Jesus does this to test the woman to awaken faith in her.

Jesus first tests the woman’s faith
What did Jesus mean by the expression “throwing bread to the dogs”? The Jews often spoke of the Gentiles with arrogance and insolence as “unclean dogs” since the Gentiles did not follow God’s law and were excluded from God’s covenant and favor with the people of Israel. For the Greeks the “dog” was a symbol of dishonor and was used to describe a shameless and audacious woman. There is another reference to “dogs” in Matthew’s Gospel where Jesus says to his disciples, “Do not give to dogs what is holy” (Matthew 7:6). Jesus tests this woman’s faith to see if she is earnest in receiving holy things from the hand of a holy God. Jesus, no doubt, spoke with a smile rather than with an insult because this woman immediately responds with wit and faith – “even the dogs eat the crumbs”.

Seek the Lord Jesus with expectant faith
Jesus praises a Gentile woman for her faith and for her love. She made the misery of her child her own and she was willing to suffer rebuff in order to obtain healing for her loved one. She also had indomitable persistence. Her faith grew in contact with the person of Jesus. She began with a request and she ended on her knees in worshipful prayer to the living God. No one who ever sought Jesus with earnest faith – whether Jew or Gentile – was refused his help. Do you seek the Lord Jesus with expectant faith?

Reflection 3 – Heretics

A priest once met with a young woman and it came out in the conversation that she was having premarital relations with her boyfriend. The priest asked her what she was planning to do to end that, but she said she had no plans to end it. She said, “I have a agreement with God and it’s going fine.” The priest responded, “You may have an agreement, but it’s not with God. It’s with Satan. God doesn’t make agreement like that.”

Every age has its controversies and its heretics. In this age it’s about sexuality: premarital sex, contraception, in vitro fertilization, even abortion. The Church has made its teaching clear, but there are some who would like to change that teaching or ignore it.

When Pope Paul VI published his prophetic encyclical Humanae Vitae in 1968 many theologians and others tried to undermine his teaching, but all his predictions have come true. He warned of more “infidelity and the lowering of morality”; that the man “may lose respect for the woman” and see her as “an instrument of selfish enjoyment,” not “his respected and beloved companion”; and that governments might impose contraception on their peoples, interfering with “the most personal … sector of conjugal morality” (HV, n.17). All of these things have happened.

Meanwhile, those who have practiced Natural Family Planning have experienced increased communication and a divorce rate of one in twenty-five or less, compared to the national average of one in two. And, as a method, it is 98 percent effective or better.

In vitro fertilization has been surpassed by natural procreation technology (known as NaPro technology) both in success rate and in economy. Couples who are having difficulty in conceiving have been delighted with this highly scientific, moral and effective way of helping them conceive naturally.

Regarding premarital sex, secular studies have shown that the divorce rate among those who live together before marriage is, surprisingly, 74 percent, compared to the national average of 50 percent. And according to a 1992 study published by the University of Chicago, men who have had premarital sex are 63 percent more likely to get divorced than if they had not. Women are 76 percent more like to divorce if they have had premarital sex (The Family Portrait, Washington, DC: The Family Research Council, 2002, p.63)

And today, we see many women coming forth to proclaim that their abortions hurt them deeply. There is an association of such women called Silent No More.

Every age has its controversies. In the early Church, the controversies were about who Christ was. Arianism claimed he was more than man but less than God. This error was so widespread that St. Jerome wrote, “The whole world groaned and marveled to find itself Arian,” yet the truth of Christ’s divinity won out in the end. There were controversies over the number of wills in Christ, the number of natures and the number of persons (there are two wills, two natures, but just one divine person).

In the first three or four centuries there was the Gnostic heresy, which claimed that the body was not important, only the spirit. This error, known as dualism, prompted some Gnostics to treat sexual promiscuity lightly. This same error reappeared in the 1970s and beyond when dissenters from Humanae Vitae claimed it was “physicalism” to describe certain acts as immoral. One of the key points of Pope John Paul II’s theology of the body was to deny such claims and proclaim that “the body expresses the person” and thus is of great significance.

In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, as well as the sixteenth century, the issue was corruption in the Church. Did the fact a number of priests were living with women or that bishops were grabbing for all the money they could get mean that people could, in essence, form their own Christian churches? The Albingensians and Waldensians, although they began as dedicated, poverty-living Catholics, decided to start preaching without the permission of the bishops, and in time fell into all sorts of errors, including dualism and denying many of the sacraments and the existence of purgatory. The same sort of thing happened with the reformers of the sixteenth century who broke from Rome.

Thus, we can see that every age has had its controversies in the Church, but despite the weaknesses and faults of her leaders, the Church has survived and remained the “pillar and bulwark of truth” as she is described in 1 Tim 3:14-15. Those who have tried to reform the Church by breaking with the pope have fallen into all sorts of errors. In our time, it will be no different with those who try to change the teachings on sexuality.

Jesus loves his Church, and will continue to guide it until the end. This was his promise: “I will be with you always until the end of time” (Mt 28:20). (Source: Rev. Thomas G. Morrow, “Homilies on the Liturgies of Sundays and Feasts,” Homiletic & Pastoral Review, Vol. CVIII, No. 10. New Jersey: Ignatius Press, July 2008, pp. 38-40; Suggested readings: Catechism of the Catholic Church, 285,495,817-821,2089,2127-2128).

Reflection 4 – Bold Persistence

Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” —Matthew 15:28

In 1953, a fledgling business called Rocket Chemical Company and its staff of three set out to create a line of rust-prevention solvents and degreasers for use in the aerospace industry. It took them 40 attempts to perfect their formula. The original secret formula for WD-40—which stands for Water Displacement, 40th attempt—is still in use today. What a story of persistence!

The gospel of Matthew records another story of bold persistence. A Canaanite woman had a daughter who was possessed by a demon. She had no hope for her daughter—until she heard that Jesus was in the region.

This desperate woman came to Jesus with her need because she believed He could help her. She cried out to Him even though everything and everybody seemed to be against her—race, religious background, gender, the disciples, Satan, and seemingly even Jesus (Matt. 15:22-27). Despite all of these obstacles, she did not give up. With bold persistence, she pushed her way through the dark corridors of difficulty, desperate need, and rejection. The result? Jesus commended her for her faith and healed her daughter (v.28).

We too are invited to approach Jesus with bold persistence. As we keep asking, seeking, and knocking, we will find grace and mercy in our time of need. — Marvin Williams

Something happens when we pray,
Take our place and therein stay,
Wrestle on till break of day;
Ever let us pray. —Anon.

Persistence in prayer pleases God (Source: Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries).

Reflection 5 – Christ leaves no one outside

Sometimes it seems that this must be the age of the greatest disputes within the Church. Catholics argue about many things with each other, and the media would like the world to believe that in the United States we rebel against everything the Pope says. When disputes end in hatred and disunity, we know that they are serious.

The fact is that nothing in our contemporary Church can compare in seriousness, and bitterness as well, with the dispute in the early Church between Jewish and Gentiles converts to the faith. Jewish Christians, who came to be called Judaizers, believed that for the Gentiles to become disciples of Jesus, they had to be circumcised and follow the Law of Moses. In other words, they had to become Jewish. The Gentiles insisted that Jesus had done something new. He had extended an invitation to everyone without distinction to embrace the God of Israel, the one true God.

His invitation was prefigured in the book of Isaiah the prophet (Is 56:1,6-7). It was composed for those Jews who returned from exile in Babylon only to find their homeland occupied by foreigners whom they deeply resented. The returning Jews could either attempt to expel the foreigners or they could follow the teaching of Isaiah who proclaimed that the foreigners who joined themselves to the Lord should be accepted. The Lord said through the prophet, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Is 56:7).

This universalism was a hard lesson for the Jews to learn. That is why at the time of Jesus and even afterwards there was a bitter dispute about the place of the Gentiles. The Canaanite woman in today’s gospel (Mt 15:21-28) was not Jewish; she was a Gentile. Jesus’ disciples wanted him to have nothing to do with her, to send her away. When the woman persisted in asking Jesus to heal her daughter, Jesus said, “It is not right to take the food of sons and daughters and throw it to the dogs.” How could Jesus say such a harsh and mean thing? Actually his words are an echo of the Judaizers who wanted nothing to do with the Gentiles and looked upon them as dogs. St. Matthew who wrote the Gospel story hoped that hearing these harsh, cruel words on the lips of Jesus would shock his readers into realizing how improper it was to reject the Gentiles. The woman by her faith won the favor of Jesus.

Today we do not think that people have to become Jewish in order to become Catholics. But maybe we practice other forms of exclusiveness. In some instances roles have become reversed; the anti-Semitism of today has replaced the “anti-Gentilism” of the first Christian century. Racism is a serious problem in our society. Hatred for immigrants, many of whom are fellow Catholics, has given meaning to that strange word, “xenophobia” (that means disliked of foreign people).

The word we should concentrate on is “Catholic.” It reminds us that ours is a universal, world-wide Church, which embraces everyone. Every Catholic Church is a house of prayer for all peoples. Here the Lord offers to all of us, not the scraps from the table, but the precious body and blood of the Lord of all. To be faithful to him is to accept all peoples without exception. (Source: Rev. Charles E. Miller, Sunday Preaching. New York: Alba House, 1997, pp. 106-107).

Reflection 6 – Going beyond the box

In the Gospel reading today, Jesus deals with a request that came from outside the parameters of his mission. When the Canaanite woman asks him to heal her daughter he replies, “No. My mission is only to the Israelites.” However, he gives her what she asked for when her persistence proves that her desire comes from true faith in Christ and his mission. Jesus is not one to say “no” when our faith is real and our request allows him to fulfill his mission.

Parameters are always getting in our way. It’s called, “thinking inside the box.” We neatly box up our understanding of the world, of God, of the Faith, of others, and even who we are and what our potential is. This is a trap. There is much more to Christian life than what’s inside familiar parameters. We need to dare to think outside the box.

What are the limitations that trap you inside your box? Once we identify our limitations, we can grow beyond them.

In what ways are you trapping God inside your box? Let God exceed your limits!

Here’s a spiritual exercise: When you enter church and dip your fingers into the holy water to make the sign of the cross, do it with your left hand. (I wonder, which hand do lefties use?) Does it seem somehow sacrilegious to cross yourself with the “wrong” hand? Why would it be? Get out of the box!

One day, a woman came up to me in church asking if I had change for $20, because she didn’t have any singles to pay for the votive candle that she wanted to light for a prayer request. I didn’t have the cash, so I said, “God doesn’t mind if you light a candle without paying for it. It’s the prayer he’s interested in.” (If she really wanted to help the church, she could increase her donation in the Sunday collection.) But my comment shook her up. It didn’t sound “proper”.

These are examples of little ways that we stay trapped inside our boxes. There are much larger ways, parameters that impact our lives and others’ lives so much that we’re actually sinning when we choose to stay inside the box. To grow in holiness, we must pay attention to how often we hold fast to what is simply habitual or expected or prescheduled or “this is how everyone else does it”.

We need to dare to follow Jesus beyond our boxes. We also need to have faith like that of the Canaanite woman to knock down the walls of pre-set parameters. This is important, because out there, in the great beyond, is where we discover that God is bigger than we’ve imagined him to be. We’re so used to staying inside our little boxes that our trust in God is based upon an unconscious assumption that he’s as limited as we are.

The truth is: When God seems to fail us, it only seems so because we’ve boxed him into our perceptions of all the humans who have failed us. To discover that God has not failed us at all, we have to break free of our preconceived expectations. – Read the source: http://gnm.org/good-news-reflections/?useDrDate=2017-08-09

Reflection 7 – Finding God in the desert

Have you ever escaped from or resolved a conflict, only to find yourself feeling alone and weary, like you’re trudging through a wide desert? The Lord seems far off. He helped you get through the trial, but now where is he? This is how the Israelites felt in today’s first reading. After being enslaved and oppressed and conquered in war, they felt defeated by God rather than loved; they needed his reassurance.

A great wonder of God’s kingdom is that the more abandoned we feel, the more he is actually trying to help us. When we’re tired from our troubles, God has the restoration we seek. However, since he seems so far away, we take matters into our own hands. In this scripture, we read that we’re going “to be given rest.” To receive it, we must simply stop. Stop whatever you’re doing. Stop running after what you think you need. Stop complaining. Stop reacting to your feelings as if they accurately portray the truth.

It was in the desert that the Israelites were strengthened and prepared for the Promised Land; they had to stop running toward their destination and wander slowly around the desert, stopping for long periods. It was in the desert that Jesus was strengthened and prepared for his battle against Satan; he had to take a forty-day sabbatical to get ready for his public ministry.

“I will restore you, rebuild you,” God says to us in this reading. The desert time is a period of resting before the rebuilding. If we believed God’s Word, we would be celebrating with festive tambourines (or guitars or pianos or mp3 players or whatever we’ve got), shouting for joy, proclaiming God’s goodness.

In today’s responsorial psalm, God recommends dancing and merriment. Why? Because he is guarding us like a shepherd. In the Holy Land, shepherds still guide their flocks across the desert. There are long walks between patches of nourishment, so they take it slowly. There’s no rush. Hurrying would increase their thirst and wear them out under the burning sun. The sheep don’t scramble madly in search of getting their needs met, like we do. They simply trust their shepherd.

God is a great Shepherd. He cares more about us than human shepherds care about their sheep. He is with us every step of the way. If we panic and run, he doesn’t run with us, because he’s not panicking, and this is why to us it feels like he’s far off. But as soon as we stop — as soon as we dare to trust our Shepherd and let ourselves rest, accepting the desert conditions instead of darting this way and that way in search of a different landscape — we can notice his peaceful nearness. – Read the source: http://gnm.org/good-news-reflections/?useDrDate=2018-08-08

Reflection 8 – St. Cajetan (1480-1557 A.D.)

A native of Vicenza, Italy, Cajetan studied law, and worked in the Roman Curia before he sought ordination. He desired to live his priestly life in total dependence on God’s providence. “I see Christ poor and myself rich,” he said. “He is mocked, and I am a guest of honor. He is suffering, and I am delighting. I am dying to take a step towards meeting him.” In 1524 A.D. he and three others founded the Congregation of Clerks Regular, or the Theatines, priests devoted to prayer and the care of the poor. The last four years of his life were spent at Naples, where he offered his sufferings for the end of civil strife. He died in 1547 A.D. Like most of us, Cajetan seemed headed for an “ordinary” life—first as a lawyer, then as a priest engaged in the work of the Roman Curia.

His life took a characteristic turn when he joined the Oratory of Divine Love in Rome, a group devoted to piety and charity, shortly after his ordination at 36. When he was 42 he founded a hospital for incurables at Venice. At Vicenza, he joined a “disreputable” religious community that consisted only of men of the lowest stations of life—and was roundly censured by his friends, who thought his action was a reflection on his family. He sought out the sick and poor of the town and served them.

The greatest need of the time was the reformation of a Church that was “sick in head and members.” Cajetan and three friends decided that the best road to reformation lay in reviving the spirit and zeal of the clergy. (One of them later became Paul IV.) Together they founded a congregation known as the Theatines (from Teate [Chieti] where their first superior-bishop had his see). They managed to escape to Venice after their house in Rome was wrecked when Emperor Charles V’s troops sacked Rome in 1527. The Theatines were outstanding among the Catholic reform movements that took shape before the Protestant Reformation. He founded a monte de pieta (“mountain [or fund] of piety”) in Naples—one of many charitable, nonprofit credit organizations that lent money on the security of pawned objects. The purpose was to help the poor and protect them against usurers. Cajetan’s little organization ultimately became the Bank of Naples, with great changes in policy.

Story:

When Cajetan was sent to establish a house of his congregation in Naples, a count tried to prevail upon him to accept an estate in lands. He refused. The count pointed out that he would need the money, for the people of Naples were not as generous as the people of Venice. “That may be true,” replied Cajetan, “but God is the same in both cities.”

Comment:

If Vatican II had been summarily stopped after its first session in 1962, many Catholics would have felt that a great blow had been dealt to the growth of the Church. Cajetan had the same feeling about the Council of Trent (1545-63). But, as he said, God is the same in Naples as in Venice, with or without Trent or Vatican II. We open ourselves to God’s power in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, and God’s will is done. God’s standards of success differ from ours.

Read the source: http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1100

SAINT OF THE DAY
Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives. Each saint the Church honors responded to God’s invitation to use his or her unique gifts. God calls each one of us to be a saint.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Cajetan

This article is about Saint Cajetan. For Cardinal Cajetan, see Thomas Cajetan. For Saint Cajetan Catanoso, see Gaetano Catanoso.

SAINT CAJETAN
Saint Cajetan
CONFESSOR
BORN	October 1, 1480 Vicenza, Veneto, Republic of Venice (now Italy)
DIED	August 7, 1547 (aged 66) Naples, Campania, Kingdom of Naples
VENERATED IN	Roman Catholic Church
BEATIFIED	October 8, 1629, Rome by Pope Urban VIII
CANONIZED	April 12, 1671, Rome by Pope Clement X
FEAST	August 7
PATRONAGE	bankers; gamblers; unemployed people; workers; non-gamblers; document controllers; job seekers; ; Albania; Italy;Ħamrun (Malta); Argentina;Brazil; El Salvador; Guatemala

Gaetano dei Conti di Thiene (October 1, 1480 – August 7, 1547), was an Italian Catholic priest and religious reformer, who helped found the Theatines. He is recognised as a saint in the Catholic Church, and his feast day is August 7.

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Life[edit]

St. Cajetan was born in October 1480, the son of Gaspar, lord of Thiene, and Mary Porta, persons of the first rank among the nobility of the territory of Vicenza, in Lombardy.^[1]

His father died when he was two years of age. Quiet and retiring by nature,^[2] he was predisposed to piety by his mother. Cajetan studied law in Padua, receiving his degree as doctor utriusque juris (i.e., in civil and canon law) at age 24. In 1506 he worked as a diplomat for Pope Julius II, with whom he helped reconcile the Republic of Venice.^[3]But he was not ordained a priest until the year 1516.

With the death of Pope Julius II in 1513. Cajetan withdrew from the papal court.^[3] Recalled to Vicenza by the death of his mother, he founded in 1522 a hospital for incurables there.^[4] By 1523 he had established a hospital in Venice, as well. His interests were as much or more devoted to spiritual healing than the physical kind, and he joined a confraternity in Rome called the “Oratory of Divine Love“.^[1]He intended to form a group that would combine the spirit of monasticism with the exercises of the active ministry.

Theatines[edit]

A new congregation was canonically erected by Pope Clement VII in the year 1524. One of his four companions was Giovanni Pietro Carafa, the Bishop of Chieti, elected first superior of the order, who later became pope as Paul IV. From the name of the city of Chieti (in Latin: Theate), arose the name by which the order is known, the “Theatines“.^[4] The order grew at a fairly slow pace: there were only twelve Theatines in 1527 during the sack of Rome in 1527, during which Cajetan was tortured by the Spanish soldiers of Charles V.^[5]The Theatines managed to escape to Venice.^[4]

There Cajetan met Jerome Emiliani, whom he assisted in the establishment of his Congregation of Clerks Regular. In 1533 he founded a house in Naples. The year 1540 found him in Venice again and from there he extended his work to Verona.^[3] He founded a bank to help the poor and offer an alternative to usurers (loan sharks).^[6] It later became the Bank of Naples.

Cajetan died in Naples on August 7, 1547.^[6] His remains are in the church of San Paolo Maggiore in Naples; outside the church is Piazza San Gaetano, with a statue.

Veneration[edit]

He was beatified on October 8, 1629, by Pope Urban VIII. On April 12, 1671, Cajetan was canonized^[6] together with Rose of Lima, Luis Beltrán, Francis Borgia andFelipe Benicio. Saint Cajetan’s feast day is celebrated on August 7.

Patronage[edit]

He is known as the patron saint of Argentina, the unemployed,^[7]gamblers, document controllers, and good fortune.

PagadianDiocese.org

Readings & Reflections: Wednesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time & St. Cajetan, August 7,2019

Contents

Life[edit]

Theatines[edit]

Veneration[edit]

Patronage[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

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