Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day the Church celebrates and commemorates the memory of its first martyrs, the first ones who shed their blood and lives for the sake of the Faith, and for the sake of the Lord. Today is a reminder to all of us, that our faith in God requires not just passivity and lip service, but real dedication and commitment, for all the challenges that we will encounter as part of our faith journey.

In the first reading, we heard about the famous destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities infamous for their immorality and vice, where all their people were filled to the brim with sin and wickedness. God punished them all because they did not repent and change their ways, and they were destroyed and banished from the face of the earth forever, to suffer eternal punishment for their sins.

But God showed mercy on Lot and his family, who were the only ones to be found worthy from all the people in the two cities. They were rescued by the angels who led them out of danger into safety. Lot and his family had been persecuted for their righteous ways, and for sheltering the strangers who were truly angels, whom the sinful people in their lust desired to take upon themselves in sexual perversion.

In the Gospel, we see a parallel with Jesus and His disciples who were travelling through a great storm, and the boat was being rocked greatly by the wind and the waves, that the disciples feared that it would sink with them. They feared because they had little faith and Jesus rebuked them for their lack of faith. Jesus showed His power and authority, calming the storm before His disciples.

How does all these relate to what we celebrate today? It is because we have to remember the fact that this world and all its ways are diametrically opposite to that of the ways of our Lord. And Jesus Himself warned His disciples that the world that had rejected Him, will also reject and persecute His disciples and followers. And hence, so many of the faithful had been martyred throughout the ages, since the very beginning of the Church until now.

And what we heard in the readings today are our natural reactions to such difficulties, sufferings and persecutions. Like the disciples who were afraid of the storm, representing our challenges and the temptations of the world, we too have fear in our hearts, uncertainty and doubt. There are indeed times when we lack faith in God, and not understanding that He has the power to save us, we resort to methods to preserve ourselves, but more often than not, causing us to sink deeper into the troubles.

And we also often act like Lot’s wife, who turned and looked back at the city that was burning and being destroyed by the Lord, and she turned into a pillar of salt for her disobedience and inability to detach herself from the city. For it was likely that she enjoyed the life she had in the city of Sodom and Gomorrah, and running away into the wilderness seemed for her to be a path to uncertainty.

It is therefore her desire and her inability to part with that desire which led to her undoing, and the same also applies to us as well. We ought to therefore learn from the examples of the martyrs in this regard. They were offered the good offers of safety and goodness in the world, and they were offered good prestige and fame in the world, if only that they would abandon their faith in their God.

But they refused, for they knew that to do so would mean accepting temporary joy and happiness that do not last, and condemn themselves to an eternity of suffering, of having been separated from God. They persevered, and although they suffered, they received great consolation and the promise of eternal life which God had promised to all of us who are faithful. Their examples spurred many others to follow in their footsteps.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all follow the examples of the first martyrs and the other martyrs of the Church, those who have defended their faith in the Lord to the very end. May Almighty God bless us with faith and be with us always. Amen.