Call & Response

The Call: Book Learning — Jessica

It is one of the paradoxes of life that the more you read and learn the more you realize how little you know. Which, in my case, prompts me to order more books from Amazon.

Response: Beauty in Death — Cheryl

Equating death with beauty seems paradoxical, but in the Gospel of John, Jesus tells us: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

I never fail to draw strength from reading about Christian martyrs, who saw death not as an ending, but as a much-anticipated beginning. The martyrs featured in today’s Magnificat took Jesus’ words to heart and were fortified by them as they faced death:

Among the valiant victims of anti-Catholic persecution that swept through Japan in 1613 stands a married couple, Adrian and Joanna. Adrian Takahashi Mondo was a Catholic officer whose prince he served commanded him and seven others to deny their faith or incur the death penalty. Adrian and two fellow officers steadfastly refused, whereupon they were condemned to die by immolation in Arima together with their families. Adrian’s wife Joanna was among those to be executed in the flames. When on October 7, 1613, the martyrs were led out to die, their executioners begged for their forgiveness, a forgiveness that was joyfully granted by Adrian and his companions. A fellow Catholic among the spectators named Gaspar held up an image of the scourging of Christ to give the martyrs courage. The condemned Catholics as well as the faithful among the onlookers recited together the Creed, the Our Father, and the Hail Mary. Afterward, the martyrs’ remains were buried at the foot of a cross in a cemetery of Jesuit missionaries.