Tuesday of the Thirty-Fourth, or Last Week, in Ordinary Time

Saints Andrew Dung-Lac and his Companions, Martyrs (17th-19th centuries)

Other saints: Saint Chrysogonous, Martyr (? c. 304); Saint Colman of Cloyne, Bishop (c. 530-606); Saint Enfleda, Abbess (c. 704); Saint Albert of Louvain, Bishop and Martyr (c. 1166-1192); Bd Mary Anna Sala (1829-1891)

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 45 Mistakes in the Oratory

Mass: Rev 14:14-19; Resp Ps 96; Lk 21:5-11

Let the sea and what fills it resound.

JESUS, STRENGTH OF MARTYRS,

HAVE MERCY ON US.

As we remember the Vietnamese martyrs and pray for their intercession, we look first to the period of intense persecution of Christians in Vietnam. One source states that from roughly 1625 to 1886, over the whole territory of Vietnam, about 130,000 Christians were killed. Today we remember "117 of these heroes (those whose sufferings were cruellest and best documented)" who were canonized by Pope Saint John Paul II on June 19, 1988. The following account is well stated: "Each one of them was a soul individually created and loved by God, with a life and gifts uniquely his or her own; but with such a huge crowd one can only classify. By nationality, there were 96 Vietnamese, 11 Spanish and 10 French. By status, there were 8 bishops, 50 priests, and 59 laymen and women. By mode of death, 75 were beheaded, 22 strangled, 6 burned alive, and 9 died of torture in prison" (Universalis). All I can do is stop and pause. What faith. What courage. What witness. 

It may be that we won't suffer at the hands of such cruelty. However, if we want to be disciples of Jesus Christ, we have to pick our crosses and follow Him, and this entails suffering. And sometimes it will be in the most unexpected places and from the most unlikely people. All the while, though, each one of us is individually created and loved by God, with a life and gifts uniquely our own. Jesus Christ loves us; He gave His life to save us; and now He lives at our sides, every day to enlighten, strengthen and free us (EG 164). May we too, as reminded by today's Gospel versicle, remain faithful until death and receive the crown of life. Mary, Queen of martyrs, pray for us.

May we never boast, except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the word of the Cross is the power of God to us who have been saved.

(Entrance Antiphon, Mass)

Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

(Communion Antiphon, Mass)

ALL VIETNAMESE MARTYRS,

PRAY FOR US.

© Gertrude Feick 2020