Memorial of Saint Andrew Düng-Lac, and martyrs of Vietnam

Lectionary: 502

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/112412.cfm

A woolly mammoth
at the Minnesota State Fair. 

If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths
and devours their enemies.
In this way, anyone wanting to harm them is sure to be slain.

When they have finished their testimony,
the beast that comes up from the abyss
will wage war against them and conquer them and kill them.

The eleventh chapter of the Book of Revelation describes a strange story about two martyrs. First they are invulnerable and irresistible. Then suddenly, they are destroyed by their enemies. How is that those who are obviously loved by God, who are both righteous and powerful, so wrapped in security -- are suddenly stripped of their invulnerability, apparently abandoned by God and handed over to their vicious enemies?

This might sound very strange until we notice their story copies that of Jesus. He went about freely announcing the gospel and healing people left and right. Even when they picked up stones to hurl at him he passed through the crowd and walked away. Then suddenly, they arrested him and crucified him, and his career ended as abruptly as it began.

Going further into the history of prophets, however – and martyrs are nothing if they’re not prophets – there is the story of Elijah. He called down fire out of heaven to scorch and consume the sacrifice he had drenched in water. Then he personally cut the throats of five hundred prophets of Baal. And then he fled into the desert because Jezebel was after him!

So is the prophet powerful or not? (I’d like to know because I’ve thought about applying for the job.)

The answer is no. God is powerful, the prophet is only his obedient servant, a human who has voluntarily given his life and will over to the care of God, to be used as a tool of God’s mighty works.

Ordinarily, the martyr sees the road ahead well enough. He or she knows where this is going. But as a witness the prophet can speak only the truth. When the world needs to hear the truth but also hates it, the martyr is given the ferocious courage and irresistible strength to say it. Then, to make certain the world understands the martyr dies. His words are writ in blood.

Today we celebrate the feast of Vietnamese martyrs, and recall one of the most brutal campaigns of torture and murder against Catholics in the history of the Church. Even as we thank God that a similar massacre of Christians is not likely to fall upon us in the United States, we pray that our faith will be as strong as that of the Vietnamese. 

We should pray especially for those whose faith is lukewarm, who claim to be Catholic and misrepresent the Church and our God. They are like dead wood. But perhaps they are kindling. We pray they will catch fire and burn for the love of God.