2 September 2021 - Thursday of the 22nd week in Ordinary Time - French Martyrs of September - Psalm 98 - Colossians 1:9-14

      Most of you know how much I love learning about the saints.  When I converted to Catholicism, I was just fascinated by the saints throughout history and the many different ways they lived out their Catholic faith.  Even though I feel connect with the saints and am always looking up the saints of the day, not only those famous saints of the day that are recognized in our Church’s liturgical calendar, but also those saints who are not as well-known by the faithful.  Today is a group of saints who I had never heard of before.  In different periods of history, especially where there is great political upheaval, such as in the Spanish Civil War or World War II, there were many consecrated religious or ordained clergy who were persecuted and put to death for the faith.  Today, we commemorate the September Martyrs who were put to death in connection with the French Revolution on the dates September 2 and 3, 1792.  In response to their refusal to take an oath in support of the civil constitution of the clergy, an act which the Vatican condemned because it put Catholic priests and professed religious under the authority and control of the French government, these priests and religious brothers and sisters were imprisoned in a Carmelite convent and then massacred in the space of two days by revolutionary mobs.  These included 3 bishops, 127 priests, 56 brothers and nuns, and 5 lay people, 191 people in total. For this act of martyrdom and for the way they stood up for the faith, they were beatified in 1926 by Pope Pius XI.

     The psalm today declares that the Lord has made known his salvation.  Yes, we put our trust and confidence in God, in the salvation we receive as a freely given gift as disciples of Christ.  However, that does not mean that our journey of faith is going to be easy or that we are called upon to stand up for our faith and to make sacrifices for our faith.  Paul wrote the letter to the Colossians that we hear in our first reading during a time of incarceration.  Even in his time in prison, Paul gave thanks for the joys of his faith and the blessings he had received from God.  May the witness of the martyrs of our faith encourage us during the difficult times of our own journeys.