12th March is the Anniversary of the death of St Luigi Orione.
If you would like to read a short biography of St Luigi Orione please click on Daily Gospel
His Feast Day is celebrated on 16th May, which marks the Anniversary of his Canonization in 2004.
From the words of Saint Luigi Orione (the Founder)
“But in order worthily to serve the Lord, and to love Him crucified and on the cross – as we can only love and server Jesus thus, on the Cross and Crucified – it is absolutely necessary, with the grace of God, the Blessed One, to have a great will and generosity of soul. A firm will towards good and towards keeping one’s good intentions: a constant and strong will: as those who are not constant “are displeasing to God and are His enemies.” What is needed is generosity, not an ordinary generosity, however, but a great and courageous generosity, founded in our God and accompanied by true humility, a generosity burning with the spirit of faith and youthful boldness in the Lord.
Our little congregation must be, with great heart and a willing spirit, a religious family of strong character and generous members; a Congregation of the humble and the strong in the faith and in the will to sacrifice themselves with Jesus Christ, in full self-denial and in a loving sacrifice to God, sustained by the grace of the Lord, who will not fail to encourage us: everything jut for the glory of God and the encouragement of the Church.
Our character must be ardent, loyal, honest, noble, but also gentle, and alive with the charity of the Lord and, in Charity, always most generous. Most generous with God, boundless, and most generous with the souls of the brothers, for the love of Christ.
My dear sons, we must give ourselves to serving God and our neighbour with a holy, most gentle love , with intelligence and a great heart, burning with sublime enthusiasm, even to the consummation of ourselves, in a most generous manner!
Without generosity we will do things without spirit, or half heartedly; we will go back, instead of going forward in the practice of virtue…”
A Priceless Treasure – Don Orione, pp. 208-209.