"Martyr" means witness, and fewer martyrs in the history
of our church were more famous and faithful than St. Justin. Way
back in the early 2nd century, this philosopher turned apologist
and "one of the noblest personalities of early Christian literature"
gave witness to Jesus Christ at the cost of his life. We actually
have an authentic account of his martyrdom at which Justin said:
"Yes, I am a Christian...I hope that I shall enter God's
house if I suffer ... for I know that God's favor is stored up until
the end of the whole world for all who have lived good lives."
Hope in eternal life is the defining virtue of a Christian, and
in no passage of the Gospels is this hope more clearly and strongly
stated than in today's reading from Mark's Gospel. Contradicting
the Sadducees, who preached against resurrection, Jesus proclaims
as plainly as can be the truth of the resurrection: "As
for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses,
in the passage about the bush, how God told him, I AM THE GOD OF
ABRAHAM, THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB? He is not God of
the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled."
We have moved from the season of resurrection, Easter and Spring,
to the "everyday-ness" of ordinary time. The Holy Spirit
who guides us through the routines, challenges, ups and downs of
our ordinary lives is, we should never forget, the same Spirit who
raised Jesus from the dead--Jesus who is the first fruits, and is
leading all of us to the same glorious destiny. Both Tobit and Sarah
remind us that it sometimes seems to all of us that it is better
to die than to live in insults and shame. At such times, in anguish,
we need to give ourselves over to the prayer of supplication. We
would do well today to carefully attend to the poignant and universal
prayer of Tobias, as well as the shorter but equally heartfelt prayer
of Sarah, and then try to put into words our own prayers flowing
out of what we suffer, desire, need, and hope for. For we have been
given every assurance that our prayers will be heard just as "the
prayer of these two suppliants was heard in the glorious presence
of Almighty God."
At the end of our prayer period, let us echo the beautiful words
that poured out of Sarah's heart: "Blessed are you, O Lord,
merciful God, and blessed is your holy and honorable name. Blessed
are you in all your works forever!"