Servant of the Gospel – St. Didacus Feast Day

The first lay brother of the order to canonized, the city of San Diego named after him, miracles accredited to him, today the church remembers St. Didacus of Alcala. We remember him not because of these things but because he was a witness to the gospel and lived his life with a constant desire to serve Christ in all he met.

It is not easy to give witness to the gospel. It is not easy to serve Christ in everyone we meet. We can all share stories about this in our life. We fall short, we let our will take over, we boast about the work done and great feats accomplished, we, like the disciples at the last supper, debate who is the greatest. How easily we lose sight of Jesus among us and the call of the kingdom.

St. Didacus reminds to reorder our perspective. When we begin to count the works, we have done, he reminds us to serve with a humble heart. When we fail to love well, he reminds us to not become trapped by false hopes. As a simple brother he does this because his heart was always focused on Christ. He went about his living with Christ before him. He served the people of God with a heart fixed on Christ. Do we?

I know I struggle to keep my life centered on this core value and essential foundation to being a Franciscan brother. And yet in each Eucharist Christ meets me, meets us and strengthens us. He gives us his heart, his very self and reorientates our vision. May we be brave enough to allow our hearts to be reorientated. May we be brave enough to be humble in all we do. May we be brave enough to know we can begin again each day to give witness to the gospel and serve Christ in all we meet, knowing we have St. Didacus as a brother and Christ with us.

 

St. Didacus, pray for us.

 

 

Art by Francisco de Zurbarán – Own work, Public Domain