Today the Church remembers St. Ignatius of Laconi, a Capuchin friar who lived from 1701 to 1781. He had two near death experiences that convicted him of his vocation and eventually persuaded his father. Most of his life was spent going around town begging for food for the friars. He didn’t always make much headway, because he would stop and chat with the children and the sick and all sorts of folks he found as he walked around. It is said that plenty of miracles happened along the way.

Our first reading today talks about “relief missions.” Interesting—St. Ignatius went about seeking “relief” for his friars, but he ended up giving far more relief to the people he met along the way. He was never too busy for the people he met and he looked for Jesus in each, and served Jesus in each, and loved Jesus in each.

The one phrase or quote attributed to him is quite short but quite powerful: “Trust God”