The Korean Martyrs: The Seed of Christianity in Korea

Saturday, September 20th Readings Reflection: Memorial of Saint Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Priest, and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs

Today is the Feast of Saints Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang, and their martyr companions. This group of martyrs, totaling at least 103 people, was comprised of some bishops and priests, but it consisted primarily of laypeople, including children and the elderly. St. Andrew Kim Taegon was the first native Korean Catholic priest; he met his death by being beheaded in 1846 at the age of 25. St. Paul Chong Hasang was a lay catechist who was martyred in 1839 after a period of torture. The other martyrs were likewise executed, many by beheading.

Tertullian, an early Christian theologian, famously said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. Appropriately, today’s Gospel is the Parable of the Sower. In this parable, some seed fell on the path and was eaten by birds. Other seed fell on rocky ground and grew only briefly before dying from dryness. Still other seed fell among thorns, which choked it. The last seed fell on good soil, grew, and produced a hundredfold fruit.

The martyrs of the Church’s history, such as those we commemorate today, are an example of seed falling on good soil and producing fruit a hundredfold. Pope St. John Paul II referred to this fact at the canonization of these Korean martyrs in 1984, stating, “From this good seed was born the first Christian community in Korea.”

The Korean martyrs gave their lives for the Catholic Faith, and by their courageous witness to the truth, many souls were won for Christ throughout Korea. Their example and today’s Gospel reading give us the opportunity to examine our consciences and evaluate whether our souls are good soil, cultivating the seed of faith and virtue, or whether we are like the other locations upon which seed was scattered and ultimately died.

We are all fallen and have defects in our souls that must be rooted out in order that we may better live out our Faith. By the grace of God, we are not alone in this task; He has given us the sacraments by which we may restore our souls to grace and be strengthened in our work to uproot sin and vice. By a life of continual repentance and penance, we can cultivate good soil in our souls so that we are ready to meet Him in the state of grace at the end of our lives. In addition to the sacraments, we also have the assistance of the prayers and spiritual merits of the saints who have gone before us. The prayers and merits of the martyrs are particularly efficacious in strengthening us for spiritual warfare.

On this feast day of the Korean martyrs, may they pray for us, that we may cooperate with God’s grace and cultivate good soil in our souls, so that we may courageously and unwaveringly live out our faith and one day join them in the Communion of Saints.

The Korean Martyrs. Source