Today, the Church celebrates two Martyrs of the Church; Saints Blaise and Ansgar. Saint Blaise was a Bishop and a physician of Sebastea, which is now Turkey. St. Blaise is known to have performed many miracles. One of them is the miraculous removal of a fishbone from a young boy’s throat. Therefore, he is venerated as the patron saint of those who suffer from throat diseases. He is said to have been tortured to death for the faith; after refusing to deny the Faith, he was beheaded in 316. Saint Ansgar was an ascetic, mystic and a missionary. His conversion took place when he, as a young boy, learned in a vision that his mother was in the company of Mary, mother of Jesus. He was devoted to the poor and the sick, imitating the Lord in washing their feet and waiting on them at table. He persevered in difficult times to bring the faith to a pagan land.

The lives of these two saints and martyrs are beautifully summarized in the first reading of today. The trials set before us by God are truly for our own discipline and God will not give us something that cannot be handled by us. These martyrs have gone to the extent of giving up their lives for the Lord. We may often lose our focus from God and get entangled with the things of the world. But the Lord is inviting us to return; we have the four steps, we can always use this tool given by the Lord to return to Him. Our focus in life is not to collect treasures of the world but rather to labour for the kingdom of God; our aim in life should be eternal life with Him after our lives end here on earth. When our eyes are set on this, things thrown at us in the worldly realm do not matter. What matters is to overcome these snares, trials and live a life with God. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. (Heb 12: 12-13) In today’s Gospel proclamation we see that the eyes of the people are focused on the worldly realm, they’re unable to see the goodness of God in others and things around them because their mind is only set on the world. Is it the same with us today?

Prayer: Abba Father, the work that You have assigned to us, may we see that as our duty and our vocation. We are born to do Your will and we believe this. Amen.