Learn from the Martyrs

Gospel Reflection For The 16th day of April in the year of Our Lord, 2024

Gospel

John 6:30-35

30 They said therefore to him: What sign therefore dost thou shew, that we may see, and may believe thee? What dost thou work?

31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat. 32 Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say to you; Moses gave you not bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life to the world. 34 They said therefore unto him: Lord, give us always this bread. 35 And Jesus said to them: I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall not hunger: and he that believeth in me shall never thirst.

In today’s Gospel we are reminded of the incident when most of the followers of our Lord left Him. Able only to understand His words with “uncircumcised hearts and ears”, as Saint Stephen said in today’s first reading, they could understand the physical only, not the spiritual. Suddenly, the Jesus whom they thought to be the Messiah seemed a madman who was discussing cannibalism. We can hardly blame them as our Lord made no effort to explain the Eucharist He would institute. But, we must wonder how after seeing Him perform so many miracles that they could still lose faith in Him. Let’s look at today’s first reading from Acts chapter 7:

51 You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do you also. 52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them who foretold of the coming of the Just One; of whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers: 53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. 54 Now hearing these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed with their teeth at him. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looking up steadfastly to heaven, saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And he said: Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

56 And they crying out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and with one accord ran violently upon him. 57 And casting him forth without the city, they stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man, whose name was Saul. 58 And they stoned Stephen, invoking, and saying: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 59 And falling on his knees, he cried with a loud voice, saying: Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep in the Lord. And Saul was consenting to his death.

Just as it was humanly impossible for the people to understand that our Lord would, indeed, give His flesh and blood to be consumed in the Eucharist, it was impossible those who killed Saint Stephen to realize that Jesus is God and that He had been resurrected and was with the Father in Heaven. They could neither accept His divinity nor acknowledge their fault. Rather than listen to Stephen, they killed him. Moreover, they through that killing him was a righteous act. Saul would go on to persecute the Christians, believing himself to be a warrior of God, enforcing the Mosaic Law and the true religion of Abraham. Of course, we know the story of Saint Paul, of his conversion and his work to spread the Gospel. But, how often do we think of Saint Stephen?

It is a true shame that many Catholics no longer study the lives of the martyrs. Saint Stephen was the first Christian martyr, but many… many more than we even know, died for the faith that is too often taken for granted in our time. Saint John was the only Apostle not to die a martyr’s death. The others were tortured and killed in horrific ways. So many of the Early Church Fathers died as martyrs, as did many regular Christians whose names we do not remember. Men, women and children were willingly torn apart by animals, burned to death, skinned alive, dismembered and disemboweled without complaint. So great was their love for God and their faith in Jesus as God, that they rejoiced and even sang or preached as they died.

We should all study the martyrs and learn from their examples. What better way to strengthen our faith than to have them as heroes? Were the lives of the martyrs still taught to school children, we would likely have a much better world today. But, heroic virtue is the opposite of what is taught in both secular and modernist religious schools. God willing we will soon have a heroic pope and heroic bishops who will stand up boldly for Catholic morals and doctrine even though that will mean that their reputations, at least, will be martyred in our secular and Godless culture. We desperately need men of character and integrity to be leaders and examples for us to follow.

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Judson Carroll is the author of several books, including his newest, A Daily Catholic Devotional Reflections on the Daily Mass Readings January-June, 2024. It is Available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CPD1DC7Q

and

Confirmation, an Autobiography of Faith. It is also Available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47Q1JNK

His new podcast is The Uncensored Catholic https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-uncensored-catholic