Today we celebrate an important bishop of the early Church, St Ignatius of Antioch. Ignatius was a protégé of St John the Evangelist who was chosen as Bishop of Antioch in middle of the First Century. He was martyred during the prosecutions during the reign of the Roman Emperor Trajan in the year 108.
The first verse of our psalm today stated this: “Sing joyfully to the LORD all you lands; serve the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful song.”
The martyrs in the early Church were recognized for the sacrifices they made and for their willingness to give their lives for the faith, for the risks they undertook in passing down the faith to the people of their day and to future generations. Probably, we would not necessarily associate a martyr with singing a song of joy to the Lord, but the joy and courage that the martyrs employed in their life of faith help them persevere. I sense joy and commitment in this following quote from St Ignatius of Antioch: “Please pray for me, that I may have both spiritual and physical strength to perform my duties; that I may not only speak the truth but become the truth; that I may not only be called a Christian, but also live like a Christian…. Christianity is not a matter of persuading people of particular ideas, but of inviting them to share in the greatness of Christ. So pray that I may never fall into the trap of impressing people with clever speech, but instead I may learn to speak with humility, desiring only to impress people with Christ himself.”
We have heard so many stories about the Early Church during our time in Rome, about the martyrs and their commitment to their faith. May we thank the Lord for the examples of early Church fathers and mothers who passed down the faith to us. May we ask the Lord to bless us on these last day of pilgrimage here in Italy.
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