Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 507

Then I saw thrones; those who sat on them were entrusted with judgment.
I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded
for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God,
and who had not worshiped the beast or its image
nor had accepted its mark on their foreheads or hands.
They came to life and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 

 S aint Martin of Tours (316-397 AD) was revered for almost a thousand years as the only universally recognized saint who did not die a martyr's death. If Europeans like Saint Francis of Assisi aspired to sainthood they had to figure out ways to be put to death despite their surroundings in a Christian civilization. Saint Francis went to Egypt for that purpose, and came home disappointed. The Muslims treated him like a saint! However, the pain of his stigmata was so severe that he might be called a martyr.

I am reminded of these two saints who didn't die a martyr's death by the responsibility given to "those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God." They not only set the standard for sainthood, they were also "entrusted with judgement," apparently over the rest of us. Disciples of Jesus hope to be accepted among them and worthy of their company. 

Martyrdom is a pretty high standard! It's one thing for sixth graders to imagine themselves defying all the evil people who do bad things. It's something else for those who spend a lifetime of going along to get along, who have been proven wrong on many occasions, and have sometimes hurt others thoughtlessly, accidentally, or with unconscious malice. How do we stand in the company of the beheaded? 

Evil people are not them anymore. The enemy is us, as Porky Pine said. We're the ones who have made a mess of this world; we're the ones who, whether we know it or not, decapitate saints in our desperate search for security, prosperity, success, or status. Nor do our regrets about our checkered past prove our worth. 

With the Solemnity of Christ the King of the Universe behind us, and the First Sunday of Advent ahead; with the elections of 2024 fading into the inaugurations of January 2025, we ask the Lord to overrule the martyrs if necessary, and judge our best effort with forbearance. The Hebrew prophets and scriptures teach us to pray often, saying, "We have sinned, we and our ancestors have sinned." And we remember God's mercy as we pray the twenty-fifth psalm:

Remember your compassion and your mercy, O LORD,

for they are ages old.

Remember no more the sins of my youth;

remember me according to your mercy,

because of your goodness, LORD.