One Minute Reflection – 20 January – The Memorial of St Sebastian, Martyr (Died C 288)
What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? …No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.…Romans 8:35,37-39
REFLECTION – “From the very beginning of the life of the Church, Christians have always believed that the blood of martyrs is a seed for Christians, as Tertullian said. Today too, in a dramatic way, the blood of a great number of Christian martyrs continues to be shed on the field of the world,with the certain hope that will bear fruit in a rich harvest of holiness, justice, reconciliation and love of God. But we must remember that one is not born a martyr. Archbishop Romero remarked, ‘We must be willing to die for our faith, even if the Lord does not grant us this honour. … Giving life does not only mean being assassinated; giving life, having the spirit of martyrdom, means offering it in silence, in prayer, in the honest fulfillment of one’s duty; in this silence of everyday life, giving life a little at a time.’”...Pope Francis 30 October 2015
PRAYER – Grant us, Lord, the spirit of fortitude. Teach us, by the example of St Sebastian, to render obedience, to you rather than to men and by his prayer, may we gain courage in the face of evil. We make our prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ in unity with the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever, amen.
AnaStpaul 