St. Joseph Moscati
Feast Day: April 12
Born: 1880 :: Died: 1927
Joseph was born at Benevento in Italy to wealthy parents. He was the seventh of nine children. Then one of his brother's died and Joseph was filled with deep sadness. He asked Jesus in the Eucharist and Mother Mary to help him understand the reason for this suffering.
He was finally convinced that all suffering had to have a purpose. He also realized the importance of expert medical care. Most important though, he understood that our life is a journey toward eternity.
It is our duty to help people and serve them as we journey. Joseph prayed and thought about what he should do with his life. He decided to become a doctor as he wanted to help cure physical pain.
When he was twenty three, Dr. Moscati who had become a learned and famous physician began his service at the Hospital of the Incurables in Naples. Later he opened his own office. All patients were welcome whether they could pay or not. He would write prescriptions for poor patients, then pay for the medicine himself.
Every day was long and hard, but Dr. Moscati remained gentle and kind. He made the effort to listen carefully to his patients. He encouraged them and prayed for them.
Besides being an excellent doctor, he was holy too. How did he do it? Each morning he went to Mass and spent time in prayer. Then the doctor would visit the sick poor in the slums of Naples. From there he would go to the hospital and begin his rounds.
He healed, taught and supported the poor and outcast, and could sometimes tell what a patient's illness was without having seen the patient and prescribe medicines for it. He knew when and how to use a patient's faith and the sacraments to cure them.
For twenty-four years, Joseph worked and prayed for his patients. He was the director of many hospitals and medical societies and poured all his strength into his life's calling. He even served as a doctor in the front lines of World War I.
On the afternoon of April 12, 1927, Dr. Moscati did not feel well, so he went to his office and relaxed in an arm chair. There he had a stroke and died. He was forty-seven.
Dr. Joseph Moscati was proclaimed a saint by Pope John Paul II on October 25, 1987. He was the first modern doctor to be canonized. After his death many pleople who have prayed to him have been healed.
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7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed; also from Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from about Tyre and Sidon a great multitude, hearing all that he did, came to him. 9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they should crush him; 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God." 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.
13 And he went up on the mountain, and called to him those whom he desired; and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve, to be with him, and to be sent out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons: 16 Simon whom he surnamed Peter; 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, whom he surnamed Bo-anerges, that is, sons of thunder; 18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Today's Commentary:
Jesus gains widespread popularity with the crowds. Although they perceive him as a powerful healer and exorcist, the demons know his true identity as God's Son (3:11). Jesus' popular appeal here stands in contrast to 3:6 and the resentment of the Pharisees and Herodians.
he appointed twelve: Jesus spent the entire night in prayer before selecting the apostles (Lk 6:12).
The number of apostles is symbolic: as the 12 sons of Jacob were representatives of Old Covenant Israel (Gen 49:3-28), so Jesus gathers 12 patriarchs to found his New Covenant people in the Church (Mt 19:28; Rev 21:12-14; CCC 551, 765). to be sent out: An apostle is "one who is sent out" as a messenger or emissary (cf. Mt 10:5; CCC 858).