Jesus calls out to his disciples in the midst
of a storm on a boat: “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?” Today’s Gospel probably sounds familiar the
account of this same story from the perspective of Mark’s Gospel on July 21st
in our Sunday mass celebration. In moments of fear, our faith is put to the
test. Today, as we hear this Gospel, we
commemorate the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome. In the years immediately after the death and
resurrection of Jesus, a large Jewish population grew in Rome. Due to
infighting between Jews and Jews who followed the Way of Jesus, the Emperor
Claudius expelled all of the Jews from Rome in 50 AD. After Claudius’ death a
few years later, the Jews started returning to Rome. After much of the city of
Rome burned down under the reign of the Emperor Nero in 64 AD, Nero put much of
the blame on the Christians. Many were
put to death. Peter and Paul were
probably among those martyred during these persecutions. Condemned to death by the Roman senate, Nero
himself took his own life a few years later.
May the example of those First Martyrs of
the Church of Rome have us courage on our own journey. Pope Francis proclaimed:
“We must not be afraid of being Christian and living as Christians! We must
have this courage to go and proclaim the Risen Christ, for he is our peace; he
made peace with his love, with his forgiveness, with his blood and with his
mercy.” May we grow in our faith and grow in our understanding during this
Fortnight for Freedom. May we proclaim
the importance of religious freedom and the right we have to practice our
faith.
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