Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Martyrs of Korea

In today’s Gospel, Jesus compares the people of his time to “children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.’” Life in Christ requires the docility, spontaneity and trust, in short, enough of the sense of play, to let God be the author of the game, and to join in as he calls it out to us in the course of our daily lives; knowing that he has nothing but our good in mind and the desire to have us share in his joy and fullness of life. The Korean martyrs, whom we remember today, are outstanding examples of believers who stuck to playing God’s game right through the most difficult circumstances and the fiercest opposition. In persecutions lasting over 100 years, over 10,000 Koreans gave their lives, giving the young church in Korea the fourth largest number of saints in the Catholic world. May their prayers help us to overcome all obstinacy and hardness of heart as we acknowledge our sins…

Painted initial from an early Cistercian manuscript. Meditation from today's Mass by Father Timothy.