Sep
28
The River Runs Red
September 28, 2007 |
Today is the feast of St. Lawrence Ruiz and his companions. Who is Lawrence Ruiz and why is he important to the church . . . to us?
Imagine you are in your home, nestled in for the night with the kids in bed . . . and the police arrive. They search your home and confiscate your Bible, rosary, crucifix, religious medals, spiritual books, prayer books, mass bulletins, flyers left over from your parish’s fish fry and festival, and your kid’s RFC materials. The next day, you find that the doors of your church have been locked and your parish pastor arrested. The police return a couple of nights later and arrest you for possession of banned materials. You are thrown into jail. You are then tortured and told you are going to die . . . unless you deny Christ and your Catholic beliefs . . . unless you promise never to exercise your faith again.
We’ve grown accustomed to hearing the stories of the early Church martyrs who established the faith despite withering persecution from the pagan authorities that controlled the Roman Empire. We’ve also heard throughout Church history about singular and small group instances of saints that have given their lives in defense of the Cross.
But have we realized the extent of the bloodshed in recent history . . . the wholesale martyrdom of Catholics in the last few centuries.
St. Lawrence Ruiz and his companions were martyred while trying to establish the faith in Japan in the 17th Century. This feast day is a complement to those large groups of the faithful who died either establishing or defending the faith – Charles Lwanga and companions (19th Century Uganda – June 3rd), Edith Stein (20th Century Holocaust – August 9th), Maximilian Kolbe (20th Century Holocaust – August 14th), Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang and companions (19th Century Korea – September 20th), Miguel Pro (20th Century Mexico – November 23rd), and Andrew Dung-Lac and companions (19th Century Vietnam – November 24th). All of these feast days exemplify the mass martyrdom of the faithful that occurred during times of true national ugliness and bloody persecution against Catholics – all in the last 200 years.
Add to these feast days, those of Thomas More and John Fisher (16th Century England – June 22nd), the martyrs of the 1930’s Spanish Civil War, the martyrs of the early 19th Century French Revolution, and those murdered in the upheaval in El Salvador in the 1970’s and ’80’s (remember the murder of Archbishop Romero and the four nuns?).
These feast days memorialize the lost lives of the multitudes of Catholics who gave their lives for Christ and had to do so because government policy dictated that they should not be allowed to practice their faith under the pangs of death . . . some in recent enough history. And the martyrs weren’t just the clergy and those in religious orders. They were people like you and me . . . regular, ordinary Catholics, just trying to live out their faith and follow Christ . . . those who never really thought they might have to die for the Cross but did so willingly when the time came.
Are we as strong? Are we as faithful? In America, we are truly blessed with real religious freedom. I don’t think most of us really realize how lucky we are. We may have to face opposition and derision, but we have never been truly and bodily persecuted for our faith. But let’s reflect for a moment . . . if things got truly ugly here and we were truly persecuted . . . how would we react? . . . what would we do? . . . would we tighten up the chin straps and stand fast in our faith? . . . or would we deny our Saviour, betray our faith, and sacrifice our church?
What would we do?
