+(Intro) This morning we have the memorial of saints John de Brebeuf, Isaac Jogues and their companions martyred for their faith. They are wonderful examples for us of persons willing to suffer much for their faith. Let us pause a moment to be mindful of our sins and failings.
(After the gospel) Jesus warns us this morning of storing up treasures for ourselves and not being rich in what matters to God. We monks are in the process, at least many of us, of moving into a renovated part of the monastery. It is perhaps a good time to get rid of things we really don’t need so as to live our life more simply.
Certainly, the Jesuit martyrs we are remembering today are a wonderful example of poverty and who were rich in what matters to God. Their lives as missionaries among the Algonquins, the Hurons and Iroquois Indians often left them living in appalling discomfort, all of which they saw as a sharing in the sufferings of Christ for the conversion of the natives among whom they lived.
What we celebrate at this altar is a call to each and all of us to enter ever more deeply into the mystery we celebrate. May our lives, like those of the martyrs we remember, be filled with the love of Christ so as to be ever more rich in what matters to God.
Eph 2:1-10; Luke 12:13-21