We are recording this homy because the roads here are completely impassable and so I’m celebrating mass in a private chapel and offering the mass with the intention of the parish that was scheduled for today and um it’s just a difficult situation because so many of your roads are impassible and even
Outside uh the roads are as slick as can be I couldn’t make it out the driveway without sliding down the driveway I almost lost my footing so we have to uh record this at least this homy as we celebrate this holdy mass today on this very cold January day and today January
Uh the 15th you see me 16th I’m wearing red today uh because we’re celebrating the martyrs of The Franciscan order now there have been many many many Martyrs over the past 800 years and uh in 1220 which would have been 804 years ago today uh these first Martyrs of The
Franciscan order gave their lives for Christ we call them the Proto Martyrs the first Martyrs of The Franciscan order and uh there have been thousands upon thousands sins who have offered their lives for Christ up until the recent years uh these franciscans who boldly proclaimed the gospel no matter
What most of our Martyrs I believe from The Franciscan order uh were murdered at the hands of Muslims St Francis had a great Love and Desire that the Muslim people should come into the fullness of the faith he was living during the times of the Crusades and although he preached
The Crusades supported the Crusades uh St Francis himself decided the best way to end the Crusades was to bring the Muslims to conversion and so a couple of times he tried himself to go and then was sick uh got sick along the way or wasn’t able to make a second Journey
Because of a shipwreck um but he did send Friars to the Muslim people in order to bring them to the faith now this wasn’t because St Francis was just trying to put a notch in the belt and say look I made converts right he had a great desire to bring them to the
Fullness of the faith that they might find in the waters of baptism the beautiful Grace of becoming free of sin becoming children of God and come to the full knowledge of Truth and so his desire was for them to enter into the fullness of life in God it was not
Because he had a hatred for the Muslim on the contrary he had a great love for them and so in 1220 he himself not being able to go he sent uh brother Vitalis brother barad and other companions uh to preach to the Muslims in Morocco and they made their way there
Brother Vitalia got sick along the way and told him to keep going don’t wait for me and so brother Bard and companions made their way first to sevil where they went into the mosque because the Muslims were in charge of civil at that time uh because of the invasion
Into Spain and so they went into the mosque and began to preach and uh they were about to be killed until the son of the king stopped them from being killed and decided that they should be sent to Morocco well they went on to Morocco and in Morocco there they preached the
Gospel so forcefully that they were brought before the uh I guess the sultan or the head of the the Muslims the king of that time there and they were told to stop preaching the name of Jesus and they refused they refused because they wanted the people to know the love of
Christ they wanted to know Christ Jesus they wanted them to know the freedom that comes in the great gift of the Waters of baptism and so they were imprisoned for about 20 hours uh no was two weeks I think it was without food or drink maybe it was 20 days it was some
Long time without food or drink uh where they barely survived that and then they were beaten and slashed and so forth and then because they still refused to denounce their faith Faith broken glass was laid on the ground and they were rolled in the broken glass uh and then
After that the uh the King was so impressed by their Fidelity that he decided that uh he would uh ask them to convert and offer them women and so forth and money and um and they said no you can keep your women you can keep your money uh we only want the kingdom
Of our Lord Jesus Christ and they again proclaimed the the gospel to him at which point he took his sword and struck each of them killing each of them and then their bodies were eventually uh due to a little bit of arrangement here were taken back to Portugal now this is an
Interesting thing here these Martyrs gave their lives for Christ and they offer themselves in sacrifice to the Lord and so forth and they just wanted the faith to be caught they wanted the faith to be received and they gave their lives for Christ in proclaiming the gospel and then their bodies were
Brought back to Portugal and they get to Portugal they get put into this Monastery in Co umra and as they’re being in tuned there’s a young priest there by the name of brother father Ferdinand and father Ferdinand this augustinian monk was so moved by the witness of these Friars these
Franciscans so moved by the love of Christ so moved by their willingness to lay down their lives for Christ so moved by their willingness to proclaim the gospel fearlessly and he was to suffer death for Christ that he decided that he too was going to leave the austinian m
And become a Franciscan and join the order of Friar minor and when he did he decided to take a name of his favorite Saint and that was Anthony of the desert and so this young augustinian monk turned Franciscan uh took the name of Anthony he is now known forever as
Anthony of padaa um he tried to go to the mions himself and then both got blown off course and whatever that’s a story for St Anthony’s Feast Day but St Anthony’s entrance Into The Franciscan order came because of these incredible witnesses to the faith these Great Men
St barard and companions who gave their lives for Christ you know St Francis when he heard about the death of s STS barard and companions uh he said now I can truly say I have Friars minor less a Brothers in other words he can truly say that these brothers really laid down
Their lives they truly saw themselves as the least because they entered into the sacrifice of Christ and they themselves were offered with Christ in the gifting of their lives in holy martyrdom you know people don’t understand how serious St francis’s uh desire for the Muslim people actually were uh in his rule that
He wrote for us he doesn’t mention anything about us going forth and serving the poor and so forth but he de devotes the last chapter of the rule chapter 12 to those Friars who wish to go among on the infidels the sacristans and other sacristans that’s an old joke
Sarens and other infidels sacristans are not infidels sarasins and other infidels um he had really a great love for the people of the Muslim people and he really wanted them to know the fullness of the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ he wanted them to enter into the fullness
Of the faith the word sarason which is very much used in the time of St Francis uh came because the Muslims believed themselves to be descendants of Hagar uh the woman whom Abraham first had a child with she was the slave or the servant of Abraham and Sarah and they had Ishmael
With he had ishma with Hagar and they believe themselves to be the descendants of Hagar and uh then of course you know Sarah gives birth to Isaac Isaac is the child of the promise and so the word sarason meant those who did not consider themselves descendants of Sarah Sarah
Sin not of Sarah in other words of Hagar so that was the term that was used back then now why would St Francis have such concern for them well because the Muslim people see themselves as property of God right just as a a slave owns a piece of
Property they have a love for God but as a master uh they love him as a servant loves his good Master but they don’t know him as father right it’s actually from what I understand illegal to call god father in Muslim countries why because they will claim that God is a
Master and not a father and what St Francis really wanted for the Muslim peoples to come to know the beautiful love of God the father he want them to know the Blessed Trinity that there is one God three distinct persons Father Son and Holy Spirit and that God the
Father so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that his son actually became man and then offered himself in sacrifice offers himself on the cross is buried raises rises from the dead sends the Holy Spirit upon us and then through the sacraments you and I receive freedom
From the slavery of sin and death that we are no longer slaves that through the beautiful gift of our baptism you and I have become Sons and Daughters of God heirs to the kingdom of heaven and by that gift of the State of Grace we receive this beautiful amazing
Relationship with God the Father where he is no longer some sort of Master he is now our father yes of course he’s always Master he’s always Lord he is always God and we reverence him as our King our Lord our Master but he’s also now through the gift of our adoption our
Father so beautifully our Lord Jesus Christ taught us to to pray and when he said when you pray you say our father and he meant father 15 times in The Sermon on the Mount Jesus uses the phrase your heavenly father kept driving home that point that through the gift of
The sacraments of baptism we now have become children of God even St Paul says this that we have received the spirit of adoption right the spirit that allows us to cry out ABA father most this gift of adoption and St Francis wanted the Muslim people to receive that adoption to come into the
Fullness of the life of Faith you know our Lord Jesus Christ after rising from the dead did not send the apostles out to make friends uh there’s this strange contemporary idea that somehow when St Francis himself went to speak to the head of the Muslims the head of the sarens Milo Al
That somehow he was just going to make friends just going to make peace he just wanted to be buddy buddy with Malo El Camille no he was not going there to make friends he was not going there to build fraternity uh he was not going there to build the universal Brotherhood
Of Man and bring all into great you know Wonderful coexist bumper sticker people you know he was going there because he wanted Mal Al camil and the Muslim people to receive the fullness of truth cuz he was following command of our Lord Jesus Christ the command of our Lord
Jesus Christ who said to the apostles go forth go forth right and baptize All Nations baptize All Peoples right teach them everything that I have taught you right they were sent out to teach they were sent out to baptize they were sent out to further the kingdom of God and
That’s what St Francis was doing he was going out uh to proclaim the gospel he was going out to baptize he was going to call others into the kingdom of God and that’s why he was sending the Friars out in the very same way that our Lord Jesus
Christ sent the disciples out to make Nations uh to make to make of all Nations uh children of God and to bring forth the Kingdom so today as we reflect upon St baric companions these wonderful Martyrs of the faith who gave their lives to the faith we consider perhaps
Our own missionary efforts we don’t need to go to the missions anymore to find infidels to find people who don’t believe in the faith we just needly walk out our door perhaps go to Walmart or take a walk down the street right we’re now living in a postchristian
Culture our culture is no longer Christian uh the level of people who the amount of people who now claim to be um uh spiritual but not religious or claim to be um you know uh atheist or agnostic and so forth uh these people need to receive the beautiful gift of truth they
Need to receive the beautiful gift of faith uh someone needs to bring it to them we have to ask ourselves you know how are we doing with that am I someone who’s promoting the faith am I someone preaching the faith am I someone sharing the faith or am I uh putting that light
Under a bushel basket and not sharing it keeping it for myself right our Lord never told us to keep it for ourselves he told us to share it right we need to consider how can I bring people to church how can I bring people to the
Faith how can I share my faith with them how can I bring ex Catholics back to the Catholic Church how can I bring my friends back to the sment of confession uh these are things we need to ask the Lord to give us the wisdom and the
Prudence and the knowledge in order to be able to bring the faith to them to the other people we know who are outside of the faith and we need to also ask for the gift of courage and fortitude so that we will have that courage to
Actually stand up for our faith even if it comes to the point like our first Martyrs and giving our Franciscan martys by giving our lives for the faith May St barad and companions intercede for us today that you and I might have such joy in the gift of our faith we would have
Such enthusiasm for our faith that we will not be able to hold it for ourselves that we would have such love of our neighbors such love of those outside the faith such love for the kingdom that every soul should share in it that we be given the grace to be true
Evangelists in this postchristian culture may God bless you and merry keep you
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