Feast of the Holy Canadian Martyrs - St. Jean de Brebeuf et al

I loved celebrating mass this morning. Up until this year we Canadian priests have had to rely on a supplement for prayers for today's feast of the Holy Canadian Martyrs.

For most Canadians this feast will pass without much thought. However, this feast is also the co-patronal feast for our nation. (The Feast of St. Joseph being the other).

I was reflecting today on the role of martyrs in our current climate. The Church witnesses episodes of martyrdom every year throughout the world - although seldom within our own North American culture. Nevertheless, what can the witness of martyrs teach us?

Today we have the feast of the Holy Canadian Martyrs who were killed between 1646 and 1649. I have great admiration for the many men and women who founded our church in this nation. The devotion they had for Jesus and real love for the Gospel should inspire us to make our daily witness the best it can be each day.

The "Good News" of our relationship with Christ is always leading us to conversion. It is full of second chances for us to make things "right" with one another. To look at how tirelessly and thanklessly our ancestors in faith worked to promote the Gospel invites me to do likewise. To not waste any opportunity I have to make Christ known in this world, through my words or actions; in what I do each day or in what I may fail to do.

May we all seek, like the martyrs, to give of our spiritual lives entrusted to us by virtue of our baptism. Let us make Christ known and reveal the Good News so that others might see and hear.