My thoughts this morning were on another subject to write about until I saw Abby Johnson's FB post referring to Masses canceled in Rome. In one simple sentence, she summed up what I'd been trying to get to in my heart these last days. I was worrying it like a bit of sand, and then Abby's post was the pearl I'd been searching for all along. While today we cancel Masses over a virus, there was a time that people were willing to die to participate in the Mass. I take that back, in some places around the world people are still martyred for their belief in Jesus Christ.
Martyr means "witness," and according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, martyrdom is "the supreme witness given to the truth of the faith: it means bearing witness even unto death" (CCC2473).
Through the abundant grace these saints received from our Lord, they were able to willingly and joyfully accept torture and horrid deaths rather than renounce their faith and their beliefs.
Abby used the word "wimps." Sometimes I wonder if I'm a wimp about my faith. Would I have the courage to be burned at the stake or crucified upside down? Luckily, my faith has not been tested to such extremes. But I do hope I can live a life inspired by their unwavering belief in our Lord.
May we all be inspired by the teenage St. José Luis Sánchez del Río and shout with our lives, "Viva Cristo Rey!" #livinglent2
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