Wednesday, November 24, 2021

 Memorial of Saint Andrew Dung-Lac and companions, martyrs

(Daniel 5:1-6.13-14.16-17.23-28; Luke 19:12-19)

As in many places, Catholics in Vietnam have prospered.  Only 7 percent of the population, Catholics have held the position of president of South Vietnam when the country was divided.  No doubt, some of the Church’s influence was an outcome of Catholic schools.  But Catholics have also suffered for their faith.

Today’s patron saint, Andrew Dung-Lac was a Vietnamese priest-martyr of the nineteenth century. He was killed with one hundred sixteen others between 1820 and 1862.  It is said that between 100,000 and 300,000 Vietnamese Catholics were either killed or suffered extreme hardship in the nineteenth alone.  Christ predicts such suffering for his followers in today’s gospel.

How does one square Jesus’ statement that some disciples will be put to death and another that not a hair on a disciple’s head will be destroyed?  One commentator thinks that the second statement is misplaced.  More provocative, however, is Jesus’ command that Christians not prepare in advance a defense for themselves in front of their accusers.  What he seems to want is our trust in him rather than in our own logic or cleverness.