Truth & Mercy Series - November 8th 2026

Do you have any “saint” or person from your family in heaven right now? In my own case, I do have an elder brother who died six months after his birth. His name is Charles. A kid baptized and died after 6 months must actually be in heaven. I consult him and pray to him occasionally when the going is tough. In my last battle with ill health, I talked to him very often and I do believe he came through. The prayers of little children pierce the skies. These “saints” in heaven not only pray for us but they also introduce us to other friends of theirs in heaven to intercede for us. 

In my friendship with my heavenly brother, he has brought me in touch with other saints. This time I mean canonized saints. For some time now, I have been drawn to Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, first because of his love for his guardian angel and helping us develop a wonderful devotion to our guardian angels. He is also a saint for purity, which I desire to grow in too. In the process of growing to know him more, I started a devotion of five Sundays in honor of St. Aloysius Gonzaga. I faithfully did last year. In doing this one is able to receive plenary indulgencies throughout those five Sundays. I loved reading about him and his many devotions. This has been having an enormous influence on me. 

One thing stuck out to me was that the day chosen by my physician for my surgery was November 26 and I decided to cross-check whose feast we celebrate on that day. I found out it is the feast day of St. John Berchman. He is the patron saint of altar servers. He was from Belgium (where I did my canon law study) and his greatest mentor was St. Aloysius Gonzaga. I found it very interesting that God will assign an “altar server” to me on the day of my surgery. The day I was going to be “spilling” my own blood as a priest on the “surgical altar”. Meanwhile that last person who wheeled me to the surgical room was named “saint”. I have never heard a person have that name before. The surgery was a part of God’s plan to make me a saint and to make more saints from and through it. 

The final icing on the cake was finding out that it was Saint Charles Borromeo, who prepared St. Aloysius Gonzaga for his First Holy Communion. Saint Charles Borromeo met Aloysius when he was 12 years old and realized he had not received his First Holy Communion yet set out to prepare him. He eventually became his spiritual mentor and confessor. This led to Aloysius' deep devotion to the Holy Eucharist. He eventually changed his mind from joining the military to dedicating his life to God. I was 12 years old before receiving my first Holy Communion too. My brother Charles is doing a great one for me. The saints have a way to bring us in company of other wonderful saints too. 

Are you devoted to any saint in your life? Do you sense any saint bringing you into friendship with other saints? I would love to hear your story. Oh when the Saints go marching in, Oh when the saints go marching in, I want to be in that number…..

In union of prayers,

Fr. Nicholas Akindele, JCL