The Feast of St Charles Lwanga and companion martyrs.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’  The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Mark 12: 30 - 31).

Thursday 3rd June 2021, in the 9th Week in Ordinary Time is the feast of St Charles Lwanga and 22 companions. (+1886 - 1887). Ugandans. On the feast of Ascension 1886, the powerful but corrupt King Mwanga of Uganda mercilessly killed Charles Lwanga and 14 teenage companions who resisted resolutely his homosexual advances. Eight of the companions were killed later.

The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christianity, said the erudite theologian, Tertulian. Martyrdom is the greatest testimony/witness to faith.  The Greek word martyr actually means witness. The testimony of the absolute love of Jesus for us is that He gave His life to prove it. What is most impressive about the martyrs of Uganda is that all of them are teenagers and Catechumens. Technically, they are not yet Christians since they had not received Baptism. Yet they chose to die for the faith they had come to love.

In our key Scripture for today, Jesus answered the scribe:  Do you want to know the greatest commandment? To fulfill the law perfectly, love God with all your heart and all your being and love your neighbor likewise. Genuine love for God is inseparable from genuine love of neighbor.

If we desire to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength, we must love God as Jesus loves Him. How?

Embrace God's holy, gracious and mysterious will in everything, everywhere and always. We must believe and act like Jesus: "My food is to do the will of God." We must believe firmly and repeat often: "Father, in Your will is our peace."

St Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church writes:
"When we will what God wills, it is our own greatest good that we will; for God desires what is for our greatest advantage. Let your constant practice be to offer yourself to God, that He do with you what He pleases."

Daily Bible Verse @ Seekfirst.blogspot.com