This event has been canceled for scheduling conflicts. Reflection for personal reflection below:
Strength Enough to Limp
Oblate Reflection on St. Camillus de Lellis & Bishop Maes
We tend to imagine that God does God's best work through people who are strong, certain, and seemingly unshakable. Yet the story of faith tells us something different. Again and again, God entrusts holy work to people who carry wounds.
St. Camillus de Lellis, whose feast we celebrate July 18, did not begin life as a saint. As a young man, he was a soldier and struggled with gambling before experiencing a profound conversion. Throughout much of his life, he carried a painful leg wound that never fully healed (Our relic collection actually contains a large piece of bloodied gauze that once packed this wound, obtained by Bishop Maes). Rather than allowing it to define him, God used it to shape his heart. Having known suffering himself, Camillus poured his life into caring for the sick with extraordinary tenderness, founding a Religious Order, and reminding the Church that every suffering person should be loved as Christ himself. His weakness did not diminish his vocation—it deepened it.
Bishop Camillus Paul Maes, our third Bishop of Covington, took St. Camillus as his patron and, like him, endured recurring health challenges throughout much of his ministry. In doing so, he embodied his patron's quiet trust in Divine Providence. Despite his physical struggles, Bishop Maes remained steadfast in his mission, establishing parishes, schools, and ministries whose fruits continue to bless the Church more than a century later. His life reminds us that faithfulness is measured not by physical strength, but by a heart that continues to say "yes" to God, even in the midst of weakness.
Neither man became holy because they suffered. They became holy because they allowed God to meet them in the midst of their suffering. Their wounds did not define them, nor did they become excuses for a smaller life. Instead, they became holy touchpoints, places where grace took root, transforming weakness into perseverance and hope.
Perhaps that is true for us as well.
Most of us carry something—a disappointment, an illness, a regret, an unanswered prayer, a burden no one else can see. We often ask God to remove these things before we are willing to believe He can truly use us—little old us. Yet the witness of these two "Camilli" suggests another possibility: that God is already at work, not after our wounds are healed, but even now.
The Kingdom has always been built by ordinary people who entrusted their imperfect lives to an extraordinary God. Sometimes the deepest witness we offer is simply to keep walking in faith, even with a limp. The limp does not diminish the journey; in God's hands, it can become part of our witness and inseparable from our story.
Questions for Reflection
What limp am I carrying, and where might God be using it for His glory?
Where have my limitations become excuses instead of opportunities for grace?
Whose suffering am I overlooking because it inconveniences me?
How has God used an unexpected struggle to shape me into a more compassionate, faithful, or hopeful disciple?
Prayer
Lord, when our path is marked by weakness, give us the courage to keep walking. Teach us not to fear the limp, but to trust that You can use even our wounds for Your glory. Like St. Camillus and Holy Bishop Maes, may we walk faithfully with You, knowing that Your strength is made perfect in our weakness. Amen.