12 March
Blessed ALOYSIUS ORIONE,
priest
In Lent, this memorial gives way to the Mass of the feria, in which the Collect can be substituted by that of the Beatus.
Aloysius John Orione was born in 1872 at Pontecurone, Italy. In 1886 he was at Don Bosco's Oratory in Turin, and offered his own life to the Lord for the Saint during his last illness. After Don Bosco's death he was on the point of becoming a Salesian, when he felt a different calling. He became a seminarian at Tortona and in 1892 set up a college, gathering about him a number of clerics and later also some priests. After his own priestly ordination he began an apostolate which became ever wider, drawing his inspiration from Don Bosco and Leonard Murialdo in his work for boys, and from Cottolengo in his work for the sick. Gradually he extended his works of charity to meet the needs he discovered in Italy, Europe and America.
He founded the Little Work of Divine Providence and the Little Missionary Sisters of Charity, and then a further group within the same religious Institute for those wanting a life with more prayer, the Hermits or Recluses of Divine Providence. At Tortona he built the sanctuary of the Madonna della Guardia as the powerhouse for all his work. He died at Sanremo on 12 March 1940, and was beatified by John Paul II on 26 October 1980.
The collect is an invitation to contemplate God and give him thanks for the many gifts of his boundless mercy. Among these the Church recognizes the life and work of Blessed Aloysius Orione who served Christ in the young and the poor, spending himself tirelessly for the good of the People of God.
The sharing in the memorial of the infinite love of the Son becomes for the assembly a renewed commitment to the daily exercise of works of mercy, for an ever greaterCedication of themselves to God and their neighbour. This is the condition for a living experience of the tenderness of God's love, and for sharing after death the crown of glory promised to the good and faithful servant.
OPENING PRAYER
God of boundless mercy,
you empowered your priest, Blessed Aloysius Orione,
to serve Christ your Son
in the young and the poor;
grant that we too
may practise works of mercy,
and daily experience
the tenderness of your Fatherly love.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Blessed ALOYSIUS ORIONE
God gives us the Saints to be our models and intercessors. Confident _in the knowledge that he will always grant our prayers when we ask with faith and our requests are for our true good, let us pray to the Lord.
Father most holy, hear our prayer.
For the Church: that in her concern for human and Christian advancement, she may give priority to the oppressed, the humble, the poor and those on the margin of society, we pray to the Lord.
For the world: that the redemption wrought by Christ may suppress evil, heal injuries and overcome every form of selfishness, we pray to the Lord.
For Christians: that they may work to lighten the burden of suffering and loneliness of those who are unloved, we pray to the Lord.
For those experiencing pain and sorrow: that (especially in this season of Lent) they may feel the living and active presence of Christ, the healer of souls and bodies, we pray to the Lord.
For all of us: that in fidelity to the teachings of the Gospel we may be able to draw from this Eucharist the strength needed for active mercy, we pray to the Lord.
Other intentions.
Lord our God, you never leave your Church without faithful disciples of your Son who made himself everything to everyone; through the intercession of Blessed Aloysius Orione, accept our prayers that we may continue to experience your Fatherly presence. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
