Prepared to proclaim

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today are chosen by the CCCB to commemorate Saints Isaac Jogues, Jean de Brébeuf, and Companions, the North American martyrs. (This memorial is celebrated in the US on October 19).

The place to proclaim

The text from Revelation identifies those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. The second Letter to the Corinthians declares the suffering and persecution we carry in the Body of Christ with the consequence that we live with the Life of Christ. The Gospel from Luke reminds us that those who lose their life for Christ sake will save it.

The Franciscan media comment on the Saint of the Day (for October 19) is about the Faith and heroism that planted belief in Christ’s cross deep in North America.

Faith and heroism planted belief in Christ’s cross deep in our land. The Church in North America sprang from the blood of martyrs, as has been true in so many places. The ministry and sacrifices of these saints challenges each of us, causing us to ask just how deep is our faith and how strong our desire to serve even in the face of death.

Angela Maynard encourages us to take some time to consider faith and trust by asking: When has our ability to trust been challenged?  How strong is our faith when things don’t seem to go as we want?

As I reflect further, I realize that my ability to have faith, and to trust in Jesus could use some work.  I try to surrender to Jesus and to the unique plan that was created for me. But when I really think about it, I begin to ask questions.  Why did I have to endure this pain? Why wasn’t I given the ability to fix this or that? How come I didn’t have the gift of hindsight when I had to make that important decision?  Why do bad things happen to good people?

Don Schwager quotes “Comfort for those who doubt God's providence in Christ”, by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).

"To bestow yet another means of comfort on our minds, he forcibly added that five sparrows are scarcely perhaps worth a penny, and yet God does not forget even one of them. He also said that the separate hairs of your head are all numbered. Consider how great care he takes of those that love him. The Preserver of the universe extends his aid to things so worthless and descends to the smallest animals. How can he forget those who love him, especially when he takes so great care of them? He condescends to visit them, to know exactly each particular of their state, and even how many are the hairs of their heads... Let us not doubt that with a rich hand he will give his grace to those who love him. He will not permit us to fall into temptation. If, by his wise purpose he permits us to be taken in the snare in order that we may gain glory by suffering, he will most assuredly grant us the power to bear it." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 87)

Kevin Spinale, S.J.,student of theology at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry, and moderator of the Catholic Book Club, reviews Emma Anderson’s book The Death and Afterlife of the North American Martyrs.

These are serious questions that lie at the heart of a controversial history of the deaths and subsequent cult of the North American martyrs. In her book The Death and Afterlife of the North American Martrys, Emma Anderson questions the “logic,” the “alchemy” and the “rhetoric” of martyrdom. In her argument, the term “martyrdom” implies innocence and sanctity (9). The term itself carries power, yet it is often used unreflectively. Anderson understands “martyrdom” as a concept that “always” represents the interpretation of a “given set of facts rather than being ‘a fact’ in and of itself” (8). The alchemy or the inverting logic of martyrdom turns defeat into victory—the blood of six Jesuit priests and two lay assistants anchored Christian France in its harsh new territory and sanctified the new continent’s soil.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, quotes Avideh Shashaani, an Iranian-American poet and translator of Sufi mystic texts who reflects on how Sufism points to our True Self as the image of God. Her understanding of Islam has come through Sufism—the interior life of Islam. Islam, like any religion, may be viewed as a spectrum of light—ranging from the fundamentalists to the mystics. Our place on this spectrum depends on our level of spiritual expansion and knowledge.

In the Islamic mystical tradition, the reality of “I” is not separate from the Ultimate Reality. “I” is that divine inspiration that imbues life from the Beginning. . . . Sufis often refer to a hadith [a saying of the Prophet Muhammad], “Whoever knows himself knows his Lord.” Ibn al Arabi, the 12th century Islamic mystic from Andalusia, writes [with amazing similarity to the Christian mystic Meister Eckhart’s “The eyes with which we look back at God are the same eyes with which God looks at us”]:
When my Beloved appears,With what eye do I see Him?With His eye, not with mine,For none sees Him except Himself. [4]

Martyrdom is often a consequence of conflict between cultures. Today we suffer conflict with Islam and we again find people who are martyrs in this struggle. A Way in which we can identify the Imago Dei in all is a opportunity to find common good in cultural difference.

References

(n.d.). Saints Isaac Jogues, Jean de Brébeuf, and Companions – Franciscan .... Retrieved September 26, 2018, from https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-isaac-jogues-jean-de-br-eacute-beuf-and-companions/
(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - OnlineMinistries - Creighton University. Retrieved September 26, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved September 26, 2018, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
(2014, February 7). The Death and Afterlife of the North American Martyrs: February-March .... Retrieved September 26, 2018, from https://www.americamagazine.org/death-and-afterlife-north-american-martyrs
(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archives - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved September 26, 2018, from https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/