+ We have little reliable information about the martyr Agatha, other
than that she was young, beautiful and rich. We also know that she lived a life
consecrated to God. When Decius announced edicts against Christians in the late
second century, a local magistrate tried to profit by Agatha’s sanctity by
attempting to blackmail her into sex in exchange for not charging her. And so,
she was handed over to a brothel but refused to accept customers. She was
eventually tortured to death in 225, but not before the magistrate who tried to
use her was crushed by an earthquake. Legend says that carrying her veil, taken
from her tomb in Catania,Sicily, in procession, has averted eruptions of Mount
Etna. Her intercession is reported to have saved Malta from Turkish invasion in
1551.
The
gospel passage today tells us that we must be relentless in
professing the faith of the Church in the face of any opposition, so that the
Father in heaven will be relentless in showing us mercy, compassion and love!
St. Agatha is
the patron saint of those with breast cancer, fire prevention, nurses, rape and
sexual assault victims, and against natural disasters and volcanic eruptions.
She is patron of those with breast
cancer due to the manner in which she was tortured, having her
breasts cut off.
In
all of her trials St. Agatha prayed over and over again: O Jesus Christ, all that I am is Yours;
preserve me against the tyrant! May this be our prayer today, and every
day, because we likewise mean it and live it!
Finally, it is most fitting
that it was on this date, one year ago today, at about 4:15pm, at a hospital in
Richmond, VA, that Richard William Steinberg, RN, also known affectionately as
Br. Paul Andre (of the Joyful Servants of the Cross) breathed his last earthly
breath and was instantaneously born into the purer dimension of eternal life
(temporarily without the body) until such a time, that only God our Father
knows, when Jesus will return, wrap up human history to that point, so that it
can begin anew to exist as God intended in the first place – our bodies, now in
risen state – the form that Jesus own heavenly body now his – will be restored
to us, and we will enter the grand consummation of the Wedding of the Lamb of
God – Jesus – to his Bride, the Church, all of humanity that wants to
participate!
Into
your hands, Lord, we commend our spirits, our minds and our bodies – because we
trust you and we love you! Amen.
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