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.
