Martyrs

As we commemorate the First Martyrs on June 30, let us not forget that today, more than ever before, our brothers and sisters in Christ are going home to God because of their fidelity to the faith which saves.

The world may think that Christmas ended at midnight on Christmas Day, but the Church knows better. We celebrate an eight-day Christmas Octave, stretching from Dec. 25 to Jan. 1, with a number of special feast days, including three feasts of martyrs:

Of the hundreds of Catholic martyrs in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland during the Protestant Reformation, only a handful were women. One of these is Blessed Margaret Ball (1515-1584), one of Ireland’s patronesses, whose feast day is June 20.

What a grace we have on Dec. 28, the Feast of the Holy Innocents! What a gift!

On June 3, the Church commemorates St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, martyrs to the lust of a king who would not take no for an answer.

On Oct. 28, Catholics remember Sts. Simon and Jude, apostles. Who are they? They lived humbly in the shadows of the more well-known disciples of Christ.

Such is the life, the work, and the heart of a person who has given everything to Mary.

Saint Maximilian Kolbe, whose feast day is Aug. 14, brought mercy to many in the concentration camp, including the man in whose place he died.