Jesus uses an analogy in today’s Gospel, speaking of a grain of wheat, telling us if that grain of wheat dies, it will produce much fruit. The willingness to sacrifice and to work for a cause and to give ourselves over to something greater than ourselves is what being a follower of Jesus is all about. If we are concentrated on ourselves, if we just think about the pleasures and joys of this life, if we think only about world success and accomplishments, then we lose something of what our faith is about. The martyrs in the early Church had a very special place in that time of persecution and trial. The believers in the faith saw them as models and as true examples of the faithful who were willing to walk with Jesus on his way to the cross. When I served a missionary in Ecuador and in Canada, when I served as teacher in a mission school in South Texas and in the Mississippi Delta, my heroes were those missionaries who sacrificed everything for the Gospel, where they were will to lay down their lives in order to serve God and serve his people. In the past few months, many non-believers have been criticizing these faithful missionaries, humble servants of the Lord such as St Damien, who served the lepers of Hawaii, and St Junipero Serra, the founder of the California missions. But, to me, I am not ashamed to say that they are my heroes in the faith, that their example of service, their faithfulness, and their courage speak to people throughout the world. I think of how we are only able to practice our faith today because of the sacrifices of the fathers and mothers of the Early Church, of those believers throughout history who have passed down the faith to us. We are going through a very challenging time during this COVID-19 pandemic. We are facing a lot of challenges in society right now as well. We are called to have courage in defending our faith, in living out our faith, to preserving the faith to pass down to others. May we have courage and strength in today’s Gospel message.
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