Thursday, February 6, 2025

Memorial of Saint Paul Miki and companions, martyrs

(I Kings 2:1-4.10-12; Mark 6:7-13)

An old Shaker hymn reminds us that it is a gift to be simple and free.  Today’s gospel points to the efficacy of such a lifestyle.

Jesus sends his apostles to preach the good news.  They are not to carry anything “just in case…”  Rather they are to cast themselves on God’s Providence.  Nothing is said either about teaching the truths of the faith or morality.  The apostles are simply to proclaim God’s love by word and deed.  Regarding deeds, they will anoint the people to strengthen their faith which facilitates healing.  The people will learn what a right relationship with the Lord is.  That is, they will recognize how God provides for those who care about others.

St. Paul Miki and companions were apostles to the people of Japan.  They announced God’s love by word and deed.  They did not turn away at the threat of suffering for giving testimony to their faith.  Rather, they knew that such faith would bring both their people and them to complete intimacy with God in eternal life.

Monday, February 6, 2023

 Memorial of Saint Paul Miki and companions, martyrs

(Genesis 1:1-19; Mark 6:53-56)

Although the story of creation in Genesis is not scientifically or historically accurate, it gives an important lesson about God.  Unlike other creation myths, Genesis does not mention God slaying other gods to create.  Rather, He creates peacefully and simply by His word.  This truth has repercussions in the Judeo-Christian inclination to peaceful resolution of conflict.

Today we remember the Japanese martyrs, St. Paul Miki and companions. They worshipped God in the highest way possible.  They gave their lives in testimony to God’s greatest creation, the humanity of His Son, Jesus Christ.  The martyrs taught Christ’s love and compassion in an oppressive society where warlords ruled the people.  In time, no doubt influenced by the martyrs and the Western Christian tradition, Japan gave up its militaristic form of government.

The legacy of Christ understands the world as created in peace and redeemed by love.  Like the Japanese martyrs, we are to claim and to pass on this legacy.  We can be sure that it will lead to happiness in a limited way now and an infinite way upon entering fully into God’s kingdom.

Thursday, February 6, 2020

Memorial of Saint Paul Miki and companions, martyrs

(I Kings 2:1-4.10-12; Mark 6:7-13)

An old Christian hymn reminds us that it is a gift to be simple and free.  Today’s gospel points to the efficacy of such a lifestyle.

Jesus sends his apostles to preach the good news.  They are not to carry anything “just in case…”  Rather they are to cast themselves on God’s Providence.  Nothing is said either about teaching the truths of the faith or morality.  The apostles are simply to proclaim God’s love by word and deed.  Regarding deeds, they will anoint the people to strengthen their faith which facilitates healing.  There will be a return to physical wholeness in many cases.  More importantly, the people will experience a right relationship with the Lord.  That is, they will recognize how God provides for them as they look out for God’s creation.

St. Paul Miki and companions were apostles to the people of Japan.  They announced God’s love by word and deed.  They did not flinch with the threat of suffering for God.  Rather they knew that death for God would strengthen their testimony.  It would also bring them complete intimacy with him in eternal life.

Monday, February 6, 2017

Memorial of Saint Paul Mike and Companions, martyrs

(Genesis 1:1-19; Mark 6:53-56)

The recent motion picture Silence infuses some drama into today’s commemoration of saints.  The movie shows lay Japanese Christians giving their lives as martyrs of Christ.  Meanwhile European missionaries agonize over whether they should collude with the executioners to stop the torture.  Those who died for Christ are the real heroes of the story.  They are virtually the same as Paul Miki and Companions.

Today’s gospel indicates why people sacrifice their very lives for Christ.  It shows him tirelessly blessing and healing the sick who come to him.  Especially Mark’s gospel relates Jesus as God’s emissary capable of curing the most traumatic of diseases.

We are all sick in one way or another.  Some of us deal with serious ailments.  They turn to Jesus for spiritual support as well as physical healing.  They need him to trust in God’s Providence, to follow their doctors’ prescriptions, and to mend broken relations.  Others among us are in more dire need although they do not suffer acute physical distress.  They are sick with self-absorption.  They and the rest of us should look to Jesus as a model of living – humble, helpful, and thankful.

Friday, February 6, 2015

Memorial of Saint Paul Miki and companions, martyrs

(Hebrews 13:1-8; Mark 6:14-29)

How have the Japanese Catholics reacted when they hear the last words of today’s first reading?  Have they cringed where it says, “Consider the outcome of (your leaders who spoke the word of God to you) and imitate their faith”?  Certainly some at least have in their minds the fate of Saint Paul Miki and companions, Japan’s first martyrs.  But perhaps the outcome they have remembered first is not their forbearers’ gory death but their entrance into glory!

Paul Miki was baptized as a child not long after Francis Xavier preached in Japan.  He joined the Society of Jesus and preached to his people about the Lord.  When the persecution of Christians started (according to one report out of reaction to a threat made by Europeans), Paul Miki and twenty-five others were arrested, tortured, and crucified.  But the persecution did not end Catholic Christianity in Japan.  Although the nation closed itself to foreign influence for more than two centuries, over two hundred thousand Catholics were found in Japan when the country reopened during the nineteenth century.

We are wise not to aspire to martyrdom for we do not know whether we will be strong enough to undergo the ordeal.  But we pray for courage to live our faith every day in imitation of Jesus.  We also pray that we will never withdraw our commitment to him even if it means giving up our lives. 

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Memorial of Saint Paul Miki and companions, martyrs

 (I Kings 2:1-4.10-12; Mark 6:7-13)

 A famous theologian of the second century (Tertullian) wrote, “The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.”  But perhaps it would be more poetically justified to say that the blood of martyrs waters the seed sown by missionaries who are sent forth as Jesus commissions his apostles in today’s gospel.  The preachers assure their hearers of what their hearts are afraid to believe: that the creator loves them so much that he has worked out a way for them to share his eternal life.  This message is then verified by martyrs like St. Paul Miki and his twenty-five companions in Japan at the end of the sixteenth century.  These saints testified to God’s love by choosing death at the hands of the shogun rather than recant their belief in so gracious a creator.  Japanese Christians could not publicly practice their faith in Japan for the next two hundred and fifty years as the country closed itself to the rest of the world.  But when Japan finally welcomed foreigners in the nineteenth century, Christians there numbered more than two hundred thousand! 

 We would be incorrect to think that the age of martyrdom is ended.  Hundreds if not thousands of Christian martyrdoms are documented every year.  These occur largely in Africa and the Middle East.  As always, the victims do not die in vain.  First, they experience eternal life.  Second, their stories germinate the faith in others to accept that same message of God’s efficacious love.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Memorial of Saint Paul Miki and companions, martyrs

(Hebrews 12:4-7.11-15; Mark 6:1-6)

There seems to be no bottom to the depths that humans can go in torturing others. Dr. Tom Dooley in the 1950s wrote of finding Vietnamese peasants with chop sticks hammered into their ears. Americans have recently used waterboarding which causes the victim to experience the sensation of drowning. At the end of the sixteenth century the Japanese shogun had St. Paul Miki’s and twenty-five others’ ears cut off. Then they were paraded through streets as a warning to their countrymen of the consequences of becoming a Christian. Finally, they were crucified with their abdomens and hearts pierced.

Although Christianity was forbidden in Japan, the faith did not die. The blood of Paul Miki and companion seemed to take root so that when Japan became open to the West in the nineteenth century, over two hundred thousand Christians were practicing the faith. The selection from the Letter to the Hebrews today reflects such a phenomenon. The author exhorts his readers not to give up the faith that their ancestors shed blood to maintain.

Although contemporary humans like to think of themselves as enlightened, an honest appraisal will note that torture and religious persecution are still prevalent. Unfortunately faith in Jesus’ message of peace and forbearance is waning. More than ever the world needs Christ, not just lip service paid to the gospel, but conversion of heart to his way.

Homilette for Friday, February 6, 2009

Memorial of Saints Paul Miki, martyr, and his companions, martyrs

(Hebrews 13:1-8; Mark 6:14-29)

Despite a relatively small number of adherents, Japanese Catholicism has a glorious history. St. Francis Xavier was one of the pioneer missionaries to the land in the middle of the sixteenth century. For a while the shoguns tolerated the thriving religion, but a minor incident triggered a major persecution at the end of the century. When Spanish missionaries trying to save a shipwrecked compatriot sea captain made what was no more than an idle threat about a Spanish invasion, the reigning shogun clamped down. He had Paul Miki, a talented native Jesuit preacher, along with twenty-five mostly Japanese other Catholics, martyred on a cross. Christianity went underground for more than two centuries. When Japan opened its doors to the world again in the nineteenth century, over two hundred thousand Catholics were practicing their faith clandestinely.

Japanese Catholics heeded the reading that we hear in the first reading today. They remembered their leaders who spoke the word of God and imitated their faith. Although only about one half of one percent of Japan is Catholic, there have been several prominent Japanese Catholics. Shusaku Endo, who died in 1996, was one of the finest contemporary novelists exploring spiritual themes. Taro Aso, the current Prime Minister of Japan, is also a Catholic.