5 Feb 2016
Memorial of St Agatha, Martyr
It’s a perennial image in human history: A powerful leader
who makes things happen by strength. But
that’s just an image. Hitler was
powerful, but he wasn’t strong. Saddam
Hussein was powerful, but he wasn’t strong either. Thugs and murderers and rapists are powerful,
but none of them are strong. They’re all
like Herod: powerful, but very weak.
After all, they have no resistance to temptation; they fall
prey to the influence of the devil quite easily. They live in fear: they’re always afraid of
losing power. And they’re constantly on
edge that somebody else is going to overthrow them. The image of a powerful leader who makes
things happen by strength is just . . . an image. They’re really very weak.
But the martyrs, well they’re just the opposite. They appear to be weak, but they act and they
live with strength—even supernatural strength.
John the Baptist is an obvious example: there he was in prison—defenseless,
weak. But I imagine the executioner
lopped his head off so quickly because John freely handed over his head . . .
with strength of faith. Something
similar could be said of St Agatha, a young woman who accepted torture and
mutilation—not because she was weak, but because she was strong in mind and
heart.
The executioners and the tortures have long since died, and
their names are forgotten. But John the
Baptist, Agatha, and all the martyrs and saints who lived and died with strength
. . . they continue to live on. Their
names are remembered. They were not
powerful people, but they were strong . . . strong in their faith in God’s
abiding care.
Whenever we’re tempted to think we’re too weak, that’s the
time to embrace our weakness and say
to the Lord: I need you. That’s the time
to sing our psalm today: “The Lord live!
And blessed be my Rock! Extolled
be God my savior.” Praise be to God who
makes the strong weak . . . and the weak strong.
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