Our help is in the name of the Lord. — Psalm 124:8 

Mass readings: Romans 6:12-18 / Luke 12:39-48 

Horrendous Details 

Both saints memorialized today along with others were French Jesuit priests who undertook a mission to convert the indigenous peoples of what is now New York state and the Great Lakes region. They were martyred during the period of 1642 and 1649. 

One of my grade-school teachers was prone to describing the unspeakable tortures and horrendous deaths they experienced in far more grisly detail than we cared to hear. Today, most homilists would shy away from mentioning them even to adults, for reasons of decorum and to avoid casting dark shadows on the descendants of those peoples. However, those difficult to read accounts are a real wakeup call for times when we feel like “martyrs” because our faith inconveniences us a bit. 

Prayer: Dear Lord, make me willing to undergo anything for the sake of my faith.