Wednesday, 24 November 2010
Wednesday of the Thirty-fourth week in Ordinary Time
SAINTS ANDREW DUNG-LAC
Priest,
AND HIS COMPANIONS
(18th and 19th centuries)
Priest,
AND HIS COMPANIONS
(18th and 19th centuries)
This feast day celebrates all of the martyrs of the 17th, 18th, and
19th centuries (1745-1862) who shed their blood in the remote Far East,
particularly in Vietnam. Many of the martyrs were priests of the
Dominican order. Others belonged to the Paris Society for Foreign
Missions, while still others, including Andrew Dung-Lac, were
Vietnamese.
Collect: O God, the source and origin of all fatherhood, you kept the blessed martyrs Andrew and his companions faithful to the cross of your Son even to the shedding of their blood. Through their intercession enable us to spread your love among our brothers and sisters, that we may be called and may truly be your children. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
To
begin Mass this morning, the symbolism of the colour of red had the impact of
FIRE.
To
mind came the quote: “If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world on free. Let
the truth be you delight… proclaim it… but with a certain congeniality.” (St.
Catherine of Siena. http://www.catholicfire.blogspot.com/).
As St
Catherine of Siena
says challenges us Faith, Truth, Congeniality.
The
Memorial is of the Vietnamese Martyrs, and not only Vietnamese, but in particular
the Vietnamese Saint Andrew and his companions.
The
117 Vietnamese Martyrs canonizes by Pope John Paul II in 1988 are
representative of a much larger phenomenon. Thousands upon thousands of
Christians in both Vietnam
and neighbouring countries such as Chine and Japan have died for their faith
over more than four centuries.
Pope
John Paul choose the Month of the Holy Souls for the canonization of the martyrs in the
context of the crossing of lines of Confucian worship, cult of the ancestors
and Catholic devotion to the Holy Souls.
The
Gospel reading today repeats that of 33rd Sunday, Lk 21:18-19, “…
not a hair of your head will be lost. Your endurance will win you your lives.”
2 comments:
Thank you for the update. We will keep them in our prayers.
Care for some Coffee with Jesus any one?!
thanks for the post. I was looking for the history of Vietnamese memorials and I found this post very informative
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