The Feast of St Charles Lwanga and Companion Martyrs.

FEED MY SHEEP.
AN AFRICAN MAXIM STATES THAT LOVE ENTERS THROUGH THE STOMACH. FOOD & FEEDING ARE IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN THE SCRIPTURES.
IN THE EUCHARIST, THE LORD JESUS FEEDS US THROUGH THE PRIESTS WITH THE BREAD OF LIFE & NOURISHES US WITH THE WORD OF GOD. FEED MY SHEEP.

"After Jesus had revealed himself to his disciples and eaten breakfast with them, he said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He then said to Simon Peter a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep." (John 21: 15.....19).

Friday 3rd June 2022, in the 7th Week of Easter is the feast of St Charles Lwanga and 22 companion martyrs. (+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 African theologian, Tertulian. Martyrdom is the greatest testimony/witness to the 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 most of them were teenagers and  some were catechumens. Yet they all chose to die for the faith they had come to love.

Our key Scripture for today recalls the triple denials of Peter.  After the Resurrection, Jesus met the Apostles on the shores of Lake Tiberius. Jesus offered Peter the opportunity for complete reconciliation. Peter confirmed three times that he loves Jesus dearly. Jesus confirmed Peter's leadership of the Church. "Feed my lamb."

What if Jesus asks us: Do you love me more than your family? Do you love me more than your country? Consider carefully how you respond to the Lord. Peter was very presumptuous before the Passion of Christ to claim that he loved Jesus more than anything in the world.

Our love for Jesus may not be perfect. But this love can grow through our openness to receive the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. The highest proof of love is for a man to lay down his life for his friends. This is what our saints of the day did. St Charles Lwanga and his companion martyrs died for the Catholic faith. As Tertulian prophesied: "The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christianity." The Church is flourishing today in Africa, a continent of over a billion souls.  

6. 3. "Lord Jesus, I present myself before Thy Eucharistic Face today, placing myself in spirit close to that tabernacle in the world, where Thou art most forsaken, most ignored, and most forgotten. Since Thou hast asked me for it, I offer Thee my heart, the heart of a priest, to keep company with Thy priestly and Eucharistic Sacred Heart. I adore Thee in a spirit of reparation for all the priests of the Church, but especially for those who never, or hardly ever, stop in Thy presence, there to put down their burdens, and to receive from Thee new strength, new lights, new capacities to love, to pardon, and to bless. I do not want to leave this tabernacle today."  (IN SINU JESU).

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