Today May 6

Today, besides being the 5th Sunday of Easter, is the feast of St. Dominic Savio. I think I would have liked to have him for a son -- but not for a friend. Reading his life I find he really comes across as a goody two-shoes. He was so sugary sweet and so very, very critical of anyone who even occasionally -- even, God forbid, ONCE -- said a swear word or forgot to say grace or went skinnydipping. Come to think of it, St. Dominic Savio wouldn't want ME for a friend either! Okay, okay, at 5 years old sans mom and dad (though he was not an orphan), we are to believe he knelt on the church stairs in the snow and rain, waiting for the priest or assistant to unlock the doors. Even by 15, when he died, he was trying to commit all kinds of violent mortifications on himself (wow!) and St. John Bosco had to restrain him (Dominic Savio was in his Oratory in Turin): "The penance God wants is obedience. . . . Religion must be around us like the air we breathe; boys must not be wearied by too many devotions and observances." All of which goes to show why I'd be much better friends with St. John Bosco than with TODAY'S saint! Okay, okay, I need to focus on what I LIKE about today's saint. I said before, and I meant it, that I would like Dominic Savio as a son . . . he never gave his folks any trouble, he mystically knew when they were unwell, he loved them and he died in their arms (his dad's, anyway -- his mom couldn't take it and left the room). He loved to read -- I like that about him. He had great organizational skills (he started the Company of the Immaculate Conception -- to do menial tasks around the Oratory and to visit the boys most in need of help), he loved the Virgin Mary with a real affective love, and his motto was a good one worthy of a martyr: "Death, but not sin." Amen, brother. He wouldn't get defensive and he even took the punishment for others in an effort to save them. He died of a mysterious illness (though he'd had frequent ecstatic "spells" in which he'd seize, and he had developed a persistent cough -- though not tuberculosis), and his last words were: "Oh, what a beautiful thing I see." So, all in all, a good saint. Forgive me, St. Dominic, lest I have offended you, my child. Happy feast day.