"Then Jesus said to his disciples,
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life? " -Mt. 16:24-26
08/31/2014 Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
On the island of Sicily, in September, 252, three brothers were marched into the capitol of Lentini. Under orders of the governor of Sicily, the three brothers, Alfio, Filadelfo and Cirino, were tortured for months and told to denounce their faith in Jesus Christ and worship the pagan gods of Rome; and for months, they refused. Finally, on May 10, 253 the governor of Sicily, Tertullo, ordered the three brothers put to death. One was tied to a post and had his tongue ripped out, another was burned on a gridiron and the third was put into a cauldron of boiling oil.
Every Labor Day weekend since as long as I've been alive, my family has gone to the Feast of the Three Saints in Lawrence, Massachusetts which honors the martyred brothers. The feast this year will be the ninety-first celebration held in Lawrence and will be bittersweet for our family as this is the first year that we will be there without my grandmother who passed away in June. For that matter, this will be the first Feast of the Three Saints that has been held in Lawrence without my grandmother there. She forbid us all from mentioning her age, but if I cheat a little I can tell you that she went to the first Feast when she was just three years old.
As a child, the feast was fun every year. It was a chance to spend time with family, gather the streamers and drive my parents crazy begging for money to play the games or buy a toy. On the back of the float on which the statues of the saints ride, there was a case of different gifts from over the years in thanksgiving for miracles that had come at the intercession of the three martyred brothers. One of those was a sculpture of a heart on a cross that was given for me and I would always look to see if I made the cut every year.
The truth is, however, that I never truly understood what the feast was about, until a few years ago. As Catholics, we are regularly accused of saint worship, in some people's opinion, bordering on idolatry, but I realized while thinking about this one year, that the feast isn't a form of idolatry, just like asking saints to intercede and pray for us is not worshiping them. The feast is like a victory parade for the soldiers in God's army. These are three young men who easily could have saved themselves by denying the truth that Jesus Christ had come to us as a savior, had been crucified and had risen from the dead, but they didn't. Through months of torture they refused to deny the truth until finally they laid down their lives for Jesus Christ. And here we are, celebrating their memory, their courage and their witness to Jesus almost 2000 years later. Surely in giving their lives for Him, they found their lives with Him in eternity and have inspired many through the centuries to come to Jesus, pick up their own cross and follow Him.
As I celebrate these three brave young men tomorrow I will be missing my grandmother. I will also be thankful that when I think of losing my life for Jesus' sake it involves spiritual death to sin and not torture and physical death; and I will say a prayer for those in parts of the world where this type of bravery is still being acted out today; for those who do not have the luxury of thinking figuratively about laying down their lives for Christ, but deal with it as a concrete physical reality where it truly is life or death.
Saints Alfio, Filadelfo and Cirino, pray for all of us but most especially for those Christians who face today the brutality and agony that you faced. Pray for their strength and courage and pray for peace.
God bless,
P.D.O.
No comments:
Post a Comment