Liturgical Colour : White or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we are all called to listen to the words of the Lord contained within the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded that those who remain in the Lord and hold steadfastly to His truth will always be strong and steady amidst all the challenges that they may face, and with God by our side, ever constantly providing for us and for our needs, we will be triumphant in the end, overcoming all of our struggles and hardships, and through His guidance to us all, to His beloved Church and people, we will never falter, and we will continue to be united in God, our one and only True Lord and Master. Meanwhile as history has shown it, those who seek their own worldly ambitions and desires would end up being divided and scattered, and sadly, this has happened to the Church itself, and why divisions remained in the Church and the world up to the present day.

In our first reading today, taken from the continuation of the Acts of the Apostles, we heard of the moment when St. Paul was in Jerusalem to be present in the hearing before the assembly of the Jewish High Council or also known as the Sanhedrin, composed of all the most influential members of the Jewish community, both the Pharisees and the Sadducees and other elites within the community. Many among them were bitterly opposed against St. Paul and all that he had presented and taught, all the truth and witness that he has brought to the many people, both Jews and Gentiles alike, on the Saviour, Jesus Christ, teachings about Whom the members of the Sanhedrin and the chief priests tried so hard to silence and prevent from spreading, but no matter what they did, the Apostles and the other missionaries like St. Paul continued to work hard to proclaim the Lord in all of their missions.

That was why they were so fiercely against St. Paul who had been spearheading the efforts and missions of evangelisation in many communities, especially amongst the Gentiles but also among the Jewish diaspora communities. And while he encountered quite a lot of welcome from many of those, he also faced quite significant opposition from the Jewish communities in some places, the tensions and frictions which eventually led to him being persecuted and harassed by the many Jewish authorities, leading to them lodging an accusation and complaint against St. Paul, who therefore went to Jerusalem to face up against those accusations and complaints, standing up courageously and firmly for his faith in the Lord and for everything which he had proclaimed and worked for.

We heard how then the Pharisees and Sadducees were quickly divided once St. Paul incited them with the statement that he himself was a young Pharisee once and he believed in the resurrection. In order to understand the reason for this great strife and the riot that happened afterwards, we must first understand just how bitterly divided the Jewish community at that time, with the Pharisees and the Sadducees as two of the most influential groups within the Jewish community. The Pharisees represented the intellectual elite of the community, all the learned scholars and many of them were experts of the Law, who were very much strict and rigid in their interpretation and application of the Law, but they also represent the segment of the community that were very much spiritual, believing in the resurrection of the dead and in the spiritual beings like Angels.

Meanwhile, the Sadducees represent the rich and the powerful members of the community, including that of the caste or group forming those known as the chief priests and those elected to be the High Priests, the ones running the Temple of Jerusalem and the rest of the priestly caste. Ironically, while they were the ones who were entrusted with the running of the Temple, but their connections with many worldly matters and pursuits, their entanglements with power actually ended up causing them to be the ones that placed much of their lives’ focus and emphasis on worldly matters and refusing to believe in outworldly matters like the resurrection and life after death. That was likely because they were so focused on the life in this world that they did not want to put any focus on what happened afterwards.

And the divisions that arose and had by then become crystallised between the two groups that they were always treating each other with distrust, perhaps with equal enmity like those that also existed then between the Jews and the Samaritans. Each of them thought that they were the right ones, and that the ideas of the other ones were wrong. While St. Paul was being pitted against both of these groups, both of which were united in their hatred and opposition against him and the Christian faith, he therefore wisely used their divisions against them, and immediately as we all have heard, the two groups’ unity dissolved into their old enmity and bickering, fighting one another and ending up in great quarrel against one another, revealing just how weak their arguments against what the truth of God had been representing.

Then, from our Gospel passage today, we continue to hear from the Gospel according to St. John the Apostle and Evangelist in which the Lord Jesus prayed for His disciples and followers, asking the Lord God, His heavenly Father to protect and take care of them, as the Son was about to be handed over to His enemies and persecutors just before He embarked on His Passion, His suffering and death on the Cross. He reassured them all that He would be with them regardless of the challenges that they would face, and that through God’s grace and guidance, they would all be united and strengthened amidst the trials, challenges and difficulties that they might be facing in their faith and journey. This is therefore a reminder for all of us so that we will continue to have trust and faith in the Lord at all times and never to lose hope in Him, because He is always with us.

Today, we remember the great examples set by the faithful servants of God, St. Christopher Magallanes and his companions in faith and martyrdom, as they dedicated themselves to the works of the Lord and in defending their faith against those who sought to force them to abandon and betray their Lord and Master. St. Christopher Magallanes was a priest who ministered to the people of God and carried on his works in Mexico during the time of great persecution against the Christian faith at the turn of the twentieth century, against the Church, and especially against the clergy, priests and religious at a time of great suffering and sorrow for the Church. It was truly a very difficult time to be a Christian, and even more so to be a member of the clergy, actively being oppressed and made to endure various laws that threatened the very existence of the Church in Mexico.

At that time, the Mexican government was very hostile against the Church and its clergy, as well as to any expression of Christian faith and the faithful. Many of the clergy and the laity had to suffer a lot of persecution, being arrested and tortured, because of the government’s opposition against the Church, and the antipathy and disagreements they held over the missionaries and servants of God like St. Christopher Magallanes and many others, both the clergy and laity alike, many of whom were arrested and put in prison, and many were eventually martyred for remaining firmly true to their faith. But many among these martyrs continued being inspiration for many others who were persecuted and their examples of courageous faith strengthened those who were suffering as well.

St. Christopher Magallanes himself was arrested and accused of helping the rebellion of the government, which was a false charge, and he was eventually sentenced to death, enduring martyrdom for his love for God. Many others shared his fate, dying from the persecution of the Church and the faithful which lasted for more than a decade and resulting in the destruction of many of the Church’s structures and the deaths of countless people to the persecution by the authorities. That however did not dampen the spirit and courage of many among the faithful who welcomed suffering and martyrdom in remaining faithful to God, becoming great inspiration even for us today.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all do our best to serve the Lord faithfully, commit ourselves to the great works entrusted to us by God. May God empower us to walk with faith and to be great role models and faithful witnesses in the same manner that St. Christopher Magallanes and his companions in faith and martyrdom had inspired us all. May all of us continue to put our faith and trust in the Lord, believing that He will always provide for us in our time of need, and He will give us the necessary wisdom and strength to carry on the journey.  May God bless us all, now and forevermore, and bring us all ever closer to His throne of grace. Amen.