Word to the Wise
Wednesday, November 24, 2021 - Wednesday in the 34th Week in Ordinary Time
[Dan 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28 and Luke 21:12-19]"They will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. You will be even handed over by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives." {Luke]
NOVEMBER 24 ST. IGNATIUS DELGADO,OP, ST, VINCENT LIEM, OP AND COMPANIONS, martyrs in Vietnam.
In 1988, Pope St. John Paul II canonized 117 men and women, out of some 130,000, who were martyred in Vietnam over the course of the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. The Roman liturgical calendar entitles the day after a diocesan priest, Andrew Dung-lac, but we Dominicans place our brothers, Ignatius Delgado OP and Vincent Liem OP at the front in our calendar. This does have the effect of warning us Dominicans that our mission to preach the gospel can be very dangerous, indeed. The description of a missionary disciple's possible fate in today's gospel applies, however, to all the baptized, and was, in fact, what was happening to the missionary community for whom Luke composed his gospel and Acts.
These incidents in a faraway land might be vaguely inspiring, but they should remind us that in the USA in the 19th century, there were anti-Catholic riots in places like Boston, Philadelphia and Louisville. In the early 20th century, when the Ku Klux Klan was politically powerful, it could be dangerous to be a Catholic in the Midwest and South! In this very century, churches and synagogues and temples have been the scene of shootings and violence. Christianity is not alone in suffering martyrdom.
All of this is a stark reminder to us of the value placed on faith by those whom we celebrate as martyrs. Is our own faith that strong? The now classic book of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, martyred by the Nazis in 1945, THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP, is worth a read in this regard. Jesus can be a dangerous person to follow. Are we courageous enough? AMEN