1 June 2021 - St Justin Martyr - Tuesday of the 9th week in Ordinary Time - Tobit 2:9-14

     Our first reading today comes from the book of Tobit, giving us a description of a righteous man of faith who sticks to his faith even in the midst of sufferings and adversity.  In our reading today, Tobit buries a dead man and gives him a proper burial, even though the consequences may be dire for him.  However, rather than receiving blessings for such an act, he endures great suffering through a freak accident, as droppings from a bird fall on his eyes while he is asleep in his courtyard.  When Tobit accuses his wife for falsely acquiring a goat for the work she had done, his wife cuts to the heart of what she and his friends believe: What have your good deeds gotten you, Tobit?  How are you being rewarded for the good that you do?

      St Justin Martyr, the saint whom we celebrate today, must have been recognized in a special way for his dying for the faith, since the term “martyr” is officially attached to the way he is remembered in the Church as a saint.  Just like the story of Tobit, the story of Justin Martyr is a story of a righteous man of great faith. Justin was born into a pagan family in the year 100.  Even though he was initially attracted to Plato and the Greek philosophers, these philosophies led him to Christ and to conversion to Christianity. Justin is primarily remembered for his Christian apologetics, for the way he defended the faith against other religions and other philosophies.  In a letter Justin Martyr wrote in 155, he gives us a detailed description of a liturgy in the Early Church, one of the earliest descriptions of such a liturgy.  Justin’s description is similar to the flow and elements that we have in mass today.  In particular, what strikes me about his description of mass is his description of the Eucharist:  “This food we call the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake except one who believes that the things we teach are true, and has received the washing for forgiveness of sins and for rebirth, and who lives as Christ handed down to us. For we do not receive these things as common bread or common drink; but as Jesus Christ our Savior being incarnate by God’s Word took flesh and blood for our salvation.”  Justin Martyr was beheaded in Rome in 165 as a martyr for the faith.  St Justin Martyr, pray for us.