Saint Ignatius of Antioch

On this Memorial of the great Bishop and Martyr, St. Ignatius of Antioch, through the Liturgy of the Hours, we are given these encouraging words from Saint Peter:

Rejoice in the measure that you share Christ's sufferings. When His glory is revealed, you will rejoice exultantly. Happy are you when you are insulted for the sake of Christ, for then God's spirit in its glory has come to rest on you.

If Christ Jesus dwells in a man as his friend and noble leader, that man can endure all things, for Christ helps and strengthens us and never abandons us. He is a true friend. And I clearly see that if we expect to please him and receive an abundance of his graces, God desires that these graces come to us from the hands of Christ, through his most sacred humanity, in which God takes delight.

What more do we desire from such a good friend at our side? Unlike our friends in the world, he will never abandon us when we are troubled or distressed. Blessed it the one who truly loves him and always keeps him near.

-Saint Teresa of Avila

The liturgy raises hearts to God like no other prayer, Pope says :: EWTN News

The liturgy raises hearts to God like no other prayer, Pope says :: EWTN News

The Little Way

Unless you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.

For St. Therese the word "little," which many would like to eliminate from her teaching, is the key to everything. She has made the Fatherhood of God live afresh for thousands of the faithful by calling us back from being children with a more or less independent life of our own, to become, as our Lord would have us, littlechildren, with no independent life at all, but depending absolutely on our heavenly Father. ... The present bishop of Lisieux is never weary of saying that St. Therese has shed a new light on one of the oldest and most fundamental of Catholic doctrines: God is our Father.

-From Father Vernon Johnson's Spiritual Childhood, Ignatius Press edition, 2001, pages 10-11

Jose Sanchez del Rio

Here is a real Humble Hero! Relying solely on the grace of God, Blessed Jose gave witness to Christ until the end. This Humble Hero received the martyr’s crown.

Jose Sanchez del Rio was a young Cristero soldier. Jose was horrified to witness personally the persecution of local priests and the desecration of churches in his home town of Sahuayo, Michoacan. When the Cristero War broke out in 1926, his older brothers took up arms and joined the movement, but his mother would not allow Jose to take part. The Cristero general, Prudencio Mendoza, also refused his enlistment. But in the end, Mendoza finally relented and allowed Jose to become the flag bearer of the troop. Jose was known to be one of the youngest members of the Cristero movement. He was nicknamed “Tarcisius” by the Cristeros after the early Christian boy martyr who gave his life to protect the Eucharist from desecration. During heavy fighting on January 25, 1928, Mendoza’s horse was shot out from under him. In an act of great heroism and sacrifice, Jose gave his own horse to the general so that the battle could go on. He then sought cover and fired at the enemy until he ran out of ammunition. Government troops captured the boy and imprisoned him in the sacristy of the local church. Forced to watch the execution of a fellow Cristero, Jose could not be made to break his resolve not to reveal any intelligence. The following is from an alleged eye-witness account of Jose’s gruesome martyrdom on February 10, 1928: “Consequently, they cut the bottom of his feet and obliged him to walk around the town toward the cemetery. They also at times cut him with a machete until he was bleeding from several wounds. He cried and moaned with pain, but he did not give in. At times they stopped him and said, ‘If you shout, ‘Death to Christ the King,’ we will spare your life.’ Jose would only shout, ‘I will never give in. Viva Cristo Rey!’ When they reached the place of execution, they stabbed him numerous times with bayonets. He only shouted louder, ‘Viva Cristo Rey!’” The government commander was so furious that he pulled out his pistol and shot Jose in the head. He was declared a martyr and was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on November 20, 2005.

–Rueben Quezada, For Greater Glory—The Official Companion to the Epic Film (West Covina, CA: Saint Joseph Communications, in association with Ignatius Press, 2012) 60-61.

St. Vincent de Paul, Solidarity, and Subsidiarity

… We also ought to have this same spirit and imitate Christ’s actions, that is, we must take care of the poor, console them, help them, support their cause. Since Christ willed to be born poor, he chose for himself disciples who were poor. He made himself the servant of the poor and shared their poverty. He went so far as to say that he would consider every deed which either helps or harms the poor as done for or against himself. Since God surely loves the poor, he also loves those who love the poor. -Saint Vincent de Paul

All who follow Christ are called to love the poor to care for the needy. And we humans, each being one composite unity of body and soul, have needs that are both spiritual and temporal (temporal, meaning of time and of the body while here on earth). Hence, the Church has formulated the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. It is important that we—Catholics, Christians, Members of the Mystical Body of Christ, followers of Christ—love the needy and provide assistance to them. It’s not the job of the government; it’s our job. That’s what the Church teaches: subsidiarity, try to solve the problems and meet the needs of human persons at the most basic level possible. We need brothers helping brothers—not Big Brother lording it over the helpless. “Entitlements” and government handouts have to stop. Honest, diligent work is precisely one of those activities that are in accord with the dignity of the human person. We should not be paying tribute to the government so that the government can give more handouts and make more and more people dependent upon “Big Brother” or “Uncle Sam.” The more people become dependent upon the State, the more the State has a hold on them and the more the State will be able to take away the rights of persons. The dignity and rights of each and every human person comes from God, the Creator of all, and not from the State. We pay our tribute (that is, worship) to God alone. Our trust is in God alone. Just look at the dollar bill, and hurry—before these secularists print out new bills that leave out the divine reference.

St. Bartholomew, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Paul are Humble Heroes

This reading fits right in with the idea of Humble Heroes: God using the humble to accomplish great things. As Joseph Pearce has said: "We cannot defeat evil by our own power. The triumph of the will does not defeat evil. We have to have grace in order to defeat evil. We have to have the help of an outside agent, God." (Emphasis added.)

From a homily on the first letter to the Corinthians by Saint John Chrysostom, bishop, on the Feast of St. Bartholomew, apostle:

It was clear through unlearned men that the Cross was persuasive, in fact, it persuaded the whole world. Their discourse was not of unimportant matters but of God and true religion, of the Gospel way of life and future judgment, yet it turned plain, uneducated men into philosophers. How the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and his weakness stronger than men!

In what way is it stronger? It made its way throughout the world and overcame all men; countless men sought to eradicate the very name of the Crucified, but that name flourished and grew even mightier. ... The good deeds that tax-collectors and fishermen were able to accomplish by God's grace, the philosophers, the rulers, the countless multitudes cannot even imagine.

It is very clear that today's powers-that-be are once again trying "to eradicate the very name of the Crucified." Let us pledge that we will never allow the Holy Name of Jesus to be erased from our hearts. The more He is despised by "the mighty", the more we will love Him. After all, holy Baptism has put the indelible mark of Christ's Holy Spirit on our souls!

Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever!