Daily Reflections

Today's readings are those recommended for Wednesday of the 14th week in ordinary time. But it is good to keep in mind that the Church also celebrates two unusual groups of martyrs: St. Augustine Zhao Rong, priest, and his companions, 120 Chinese martyrs who died between 1648 and 1930; and St. Leo Mangin, Jesuit priest and his fellow martyrs. For the blood of the martyrs remains, in many ways, the seed of faith and the hope for the future.

It is very instructive and, if we are open to it, very inspiring to see in our Church today and to recognize in Jesus, as he is presented in the Gospels, what we might call "creeping (or increasing) universalism." Jesus sent his 12 apostles (listed by name) explicitly to fellow Jews, "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," and not to Samaritans or Pagans. That might surprise us a bit, because there are other passages in Christian Scripture that manifest the universalism of Jesus.
The answer, of course, to this conundrum is that, as Scripture affirms, Jesus grew in wisdom and understanding of his mission, as we all do. Christ died and was raised for all of humanity for all time. I invite us to pray over this in light of the Chinese martyrs we celebrate today, about whom the Vatican Biography states:

For all of us who grew up Christian, whether Catholic or not, it is essential for us to be reminded that God, at least, has no religion and "is good to the ungrateful and the wicked." (Luke 7:35) Essential to our belief is the realization that God, Who created all men and women, not only has the merciful desire but also the mysterious power to save all women and men. Today's first brilliant reading from the prophet Hosea is a good reminder that we human beings are all alike in constructing towers, sacred pillars, ladders to God -- trying to ensure our salvation by our own efforts -- when God clearly asks of us only one thing: "Sow for yourselves justice, reap the fruit of piety." Repentance, reformation, renewal, transformation -- all the work of God's Spirit, all completely gratuitous, all graces we can only seek and beg for -- are required constantly of us all. None of us has any advantage over the others. It's all mercy and grace, and we are all beggars. Find solidarity in that!

Let us pray with heartfelt desire these words of Hosea: "...break up for yourselves a new field, for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain down justice upon you." As our Psalm today directs us, "Seek always the face of the Lord."