"For words without works never have power to touch or change hearts."
310 days until World Youth Day! I am getting excited! One of the patron saints of WYD is Teresa of Avila and today's saint Louis Bertrand was friends with Teresa and helped her reform her order. Louis was also a relative Saint Vincent Ferrer (they were baptized in the same baptismal font 150 years apart!). Saint Louis was a deeply religious child and joined the Dominicans in 1544 at age 18. He was ordained three years later by St Thomas of Villanova. He was a preacher and master of the novices for 30 years while he worked with plague victims. He was a missionary to Central and South America and the Caribbean. He survived being attack with poison when he thought he would be martyred. It was reported that he converted over 15,000 people and had the gift of tongues (he only spoke Spanish, but when he spoke to the natives in the Americas they were able to understand him). After working in the Americas for seven years he returned to Spain and reported on the bad actions of the Spaniards in the region and he was reassigned to preachings and training the novices in Valencia, Spain. He died in Valencia on October 9, 1581. He was canonized by Pope Clement X on April 12, 1671.
PRAYER
Almighty and merciful God, You filled the heart of St. Louis Bertrand, the patron of novitiates and formation personnel with a zeal of preaching through good deeds and words. Enkindle in us the virtues of humility and patience so we too may obediently do your will faithfully. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect example of obedience, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever.
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