Word to the Wise
Friday, July 9, 2021 - Friday in the 14th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gen 46:1-7, 28-30 and Matt 10:16-23]"Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. [Matthew]
JULY 9, [St. John of Cologne, OP, and companions, martyrs; St. Francis Capillas OP and Companions, martyrs.]
When I entered the Dominican novitiate in 1964, I learned the names of the most prominent canonized Dominican saints. They were in the stained glass windows of the chapel!! The novitiate itself was named after the first Dominican martyr, Peter of Verona. St, John of Cologne (whose feast day is today) had a window.. He and some companions were martyred during the 16th century Reformation.(1572). There was one feast day in which Dominican martyrs of the Orient were celebrated. Then along came the grand champion canonizer, Pope St. John Paul II and suddenly we Dominicans had to divide up the martyrs of the Orient into Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean venues! Anybody who thinks the "Age of Martyrs" ended with the Edict of Milan (313 AD) and official toleration in the Roman Empire simply hasn't paid attention!!
The Gospel According to Matthew has Jesus warning the disciples that they could meet considerable and sometimes lethal resistance to their preaching and ministry. It seems clear to me that what got them in trouble was their preaching and not their healing miracles, although more modern martyrs have suffered because of their actions for justice and peace in countries with oppressive political systems. The Maryknoll sisters murdered in El Salvador 1980 would be prominent examples.
Martyrs remind us of the priority of faith and the importance of sharing it. Thank God we aren't all called to martyrdom, but St. Polycarp had to tell some early Christians that it would be rather counter-productive to turn themselves in to the Roman authorities so they could be martyred!!! Bearing in mind that some of our brothers and sisters in Christ paid and continue to make "the ultimate sacrifice" for Christ can be a sober reminder of the implications of our own baptism. AMEN