Memorial of Saint John Bosco, priest

Terrazzo floor

Yet all these, though approved because of their faith,

did not receive what had been promised.
God had foreseen something better for us,
so that without us they should not be made perfect.

The Author of Hebrews sums up his reinterpretation of Salvation History with an exhortation. We must keep the faith for those who kept the faith, for “without us they should not be made perfect.”

He lays a heavy obligation upon his own contemporaries, who have already known persecution and will face it again. Perhaps some of them will hear his letter read in the Church assembly and be taken from there to the Roman coliseum.

He reminds us, twenty centuries later, that we share a costly privilege with martyrs of all time.

His exhortation is similar to one I hear in the VA hospital, “Freedom is not free.” If we are grateful to our military and our veterans for their vigilance and sacrifice, we vote, we pay attention to political developments, and we conduct our personal and public lives in upright fashion. Their sacrifice is void if their country is not faithful to its principles.

Hebrews reminds us that the faithful who lived before Jesus, from Abraham to John the Baptist, did not receive what had been promised. Rather they saw it and greeted it from afar.
In one sense, we live in that city God prepared for them. That is our Church. In another sense, we too watch for that Holy City Jerusalem to appear. In either case gratitude and fidelity to our ancestors should guide us daily.

I believe the challenge of our time is to maintain a civil and high tone in our political and social discourse. Whether we claim to be conservative or liberal, or we eschew categories, we seek the truth in conversation. It takes a martyr’s courage to honor the intelligence and integrity of others, especially when they seem to act with neither intelligence nor integrity. It takes courage to maintain composure when the temperature of debate is rising.

A martyr does not seek suicide, nor does he or she antagonize opponents. The word martyr originates in the Greek language and means witness, and that is the first obligation of those who claim the martyrs’ faith. We bear witness to the holiness and integrity of everyone from the self-satisfied to the despised aliens, addicts and convicted criminals.

Today is the feast of Saint John Bosco, a man of astonishing faith, courage, patience and generosity. He saw in despised street urchins the image of God. As he struggled to build a safe place for the children where they could find food, protection, warmth and education he was tainted with the tar brush of their foolishness. He recognized on which side of the social divide Jesus stood, and he took his stand with the children. Only gradually did his contemporaries recognize that his regard for the children might profit the whole society.

Today, as we discover that a quarter of children in the United States live in poverty, we remember the words of Hebrews. If we do not provide our children the discipline, love, patience and opportunity Saint Don Bosco gave his children, his work will not be made perfect.