28 September – Memorial for St. Wenceslaus, Martyr; Memorial for St. Laurence Ruiz and Companions, Martyrs
Wenceslaus (907-929) was the son of Vratislav I, Duke of Bohemia, whose family had been converted by St. Cyril and St. Methodius, and Drahomira, daughter of a pagan chief, who was baptised on her wedding day but apparently never seriously took to the faith. He was the grandson and student of St. Ludmilla.
When his father was killed during a pagan backlash against Christianity, Wenceslaus ascended to power as the Duke of Bohemia and fought the pagans with prayer and patience. He was murdered by his brother Boleslaus at the door of a church. Though he was killed for political reasons, he is normally listed as a martyr since the politics arose from his faith. Miracles have been reported at his tomb, and he is the subject of the Christmas carol Good King Wenceslas.
Laurence Ruiz (1600–1637) had a Chinese father and a Filipino mother, both of whom were Christians. He learned Chinese and Tagalog from them, Spanish from the Dominicans whom he served as altar boy and sacristan. He was a professional calligrapher and documents transcriptionist. He was a member of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary. He was a married layman, and the father of two sons and a daughter.
For unknown reasons, Laurence was accused of murder. He sought asylum on board ship with three Dominican priests, St. Antonio Gonzalez, St. Guillermo Courtet, and St. Mguel de Aozaraza, a Japanese priest, St. Vincente Showozuka de la Cruz, and a layman St. Lazaro of Kyoto, a leper. Only when they were at sea did he learn that they were going to Japan during a time of intense Christian persecution.
Laurence could have gone to Formosa (modern Taiwan), but fearer the Spaniards there would hang him, and so stayed with the missionaries as they landed at Okinawa. The group was soon exposed as Christian, arrested, and taken to Nagasaki. They were tortured in several ways for days. Laurence and the Japanese priest broke at one point, and were ready to renounce their faith in exchange for release, but after their moment of crisis, they reclaimed their faith and defied their tormentors. He was the first canonised Filipino martyr.
– Patron Saints Index
Job spoke to his friends:
Indeed, I know it is as you say:
how can man be in the right against God?
If any were so rash as to challenge him for reasons,
one in a thousand would be more than they could answer.
His heart is wise, and his strength is great:
who then can successfully defy him?
He moves the mountains, though they do not know it;
he throws them down when he is angry.
He shakes the earth, and moves it from its place,
making all its pillars tremble.
The sun, at his command, forbears to rise,
and on the stars he sets a seal.
He and no other stretched out the skies,
and trampled the Sea’s tall waves.
The Bear, Orion too, are of his making,
the Pleiades and the Mansions of the South.
His works are great, beyond all reckoning,
his marvels, past all counting.
Were he to pass me, I should not see him,
nor detect his stealthy movement.
Were he to snatch a prize, who could prevent him,
or dare to say, ‘What are you doing?’
God never goes back on his anger,
Rahab’s minions still lie at his feet.
How dare I plead my cause, then,
or choose arguments against him?
Suppose I am in the right, what use is my defence?
For he whom I must sue is judge as well.
If he deigned to answer my citation,
could I be sure that he would listen to my voice?
As Jesus and his disciples travelled along they met a man on the road who said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ Jesus answered, ‘Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’
Another to whom he said, ‘Follow me’, replied, ‘Let me go and bury my father first.’ But he answered, ‘Leave the dead to bury their dead; your duty is to go and spread the news of the kingdom of God.’
Another said, ‘I will follow you, sir, but first let me go and say goodbye to my people at home.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’
“Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
In yesterday’s reflection, we saw how God is our hope. But we can acknowledge Him as our hope but do we trust Him? In the Gospel today, we see how the different people replied Jesus, “Let me go and bury my father first” and “I will follow you, sir, but first let me go and say good-bye to my people at home.”
We all know that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We know that only He can give us eternal life. But for many times on earth, it seems so hard to choose God over the world, mainly because we are unable to see Him in our lives, how He is loving us day to day. Because of the lack of conviction and trust in Him, we tend to still be unable rely on God. We say we follow Him but technically, only when our life is in order. There is always the pre requisite of ensuring that our careers are stable, that we are sufficient financially, our relationships are well, excel in our studies, a loving family, before we start our donating, before we start serving, before we start praying, before we start making God the centre of our lives.
If this is so, then who is this God we are following? And why are we following Him?
The readings are timely for me personally where my job is unstable, I’ve decided to drop out of my course in University. I know that God will provide, that He will show me the way, that He will open the best door for me. It is always in such uncertainty that God is the only one that’s certain. But do I trust in Him fully? How do I know where He is leading me?
The response for the responsorial psalm for both days “Let my prayer come into your presence, O Lord” shows us the importance of prayer. And I’ve realised that I haven’t been making time for prayer to see where He’s leading me.
Many times, we see ourselves as unworthy, maybe because we haven’t met those pre requisites or we know we will still fall into sin, hence we choose not to acknowledge God till we are ready to give our lives fully. But the truth is, unless we trust in God and make Him the centre of our lives, we will find it hard to live our lives to the full, for there are many things that we will fail to understand.
Let us turn to Christ, to His Word, to prayer and in searching for Him, help us to trust, to live out our faith every single day of our lives.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Benjamin Mao)
Prayer: Dear Lord, we ask for courage, courage to face the many temptations that tries to separate us from you and the love you have always showered upon us. Help us not to take for granted. Help us to be grateful. Help us to trust you. Help us to love all. Amen.
Thanksgiving: Thank you Lord for your patience with us. It must be frustrating to see your loved ones rejecting you or only turning to you as a last resort. We thank you for putting us first even when we haven’t done the same for you. Thank you Lord for your love.