SURVIVORS

Memorial of St. Agnes, Martyr
Mk 3:20-21

Today we celebrate the blessed memory of one of the ancient martyrs of the Church: Agnes, whose name came from the Latin word “agnus”, meaning “lamb”. According to legend, Agnes was so beautiful that many young men wanted to marry her. But wanting to get back on her for refusing him, one of her suitors reported her to the authorities as being a Christian. Christianity that time was a crime against the empire. Thus, she was arrested and locked up inside a prostitution den. A story says that a man who looked upon Agnes lustfully went blind, but was cured by her prayer. Nonetheless, she was condemned, executed for the faith, and was buried in a catacomb outside Rome. Agnes was only 12 or 13 years old when martyred in the second half of the third century.
As Jesus was judged in the Gospel today to be out of His mind, so are His martyrs. In a world where survival at any cost is the name of the game, martyrdom is madness. But who really survives: those who compromise their faith for earthly years or those who die for their faith for heavenly glory?
The martyrs are the real survivors. They are far from being crazy. Those who save their lives at the expense of their faith are!