Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
Our rich history is full of martyrs who gave their earthly lives for the Lord. Already this month, we’ve celebrated the deaths of 190 martyrs of the French Revolution; Emilias and Jeremiah of Cordoba; Felix and Regula of Zurich; and more.
Denying ourselves, taking up our crosses, and following, however,
By Superhero Scramble, LLC [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons
- A woman who in coping with a rare, life-threatening illness shares her progress in hopes of helping others rather than retreating from friends.
- A woman who cared for an ailing spouse for years without a complaint, never leaving him overnight.
- A priest, often regarded as less than pastoral, who made sure an unemployed parishioner’s rent was paid for several months.
- A man, and off-the-charts introvert, who continues to say yes when asked to step up to public roles at work and as a volunteer.
The parts of us that need to be denied are not always mortal sins. More often, they’re the little things that are hard for us to leave behind as we struggle to follow. But they are noticed. The best evangelization tools are not flowery speeches or grand gestures. They’re the small things that we struggle to do on a daily basis. They’re the small things that the Lord turns into big things, sometimes without us even knowing it.
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