Hebrews 9:2-3, 11-14 / Mark 3:20-21
Jesus is our new high priest; By his blood, we have been cleansed.
Traditionally today in Rome, two lambs are offered during offertory symbolically as "agnus" meaning lamb in Latin. The "pallium" (from "palla" meaning woolen cloak) given to the archbishops or metropolitans is made from the wool of these lambs, symbolizing shepherds of the sheep and lambs, the people of God.
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Years ago, divers located the wreckage of a 400-year-old Spanish ship buried off the coast of Northern Ireland. Among the treasures found in the wreckage was a man’s gold wedding ring.
When it was cleaned up, it revealed a very striking inscription. Etched into the wide band was a hand holding a heart and these words: “I have nothing more to give you.” The same image and words could have been etched into the stone that was rolled across the entrance to the tomb of Jesus. Jesus, indeed, had given us everything, including the blood of his own heart. He had nothing more to give us.****
What have we done for Jesus in the past? What are we doing for Jesus in the present? What ought we to do for Jesus in the future?
“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13
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If you have children of your own, then let us speculate on this scenario. Let's say that one of your children tells you that he or she wants to go to some under-developed country to do missionary work and to help the people improve their lives and to share with them the love of Jesus. What will be our reaction? Whatever our reactions might be, they are certainly more than mixed. We might be asking questions like: Why can't you do something more normal like most people? What is there to gain from it? How does it help your future? What would people think?
Maybe that was why the relatives of Jesus were worried about Him and thought that He was not thinking right. He had already done certain things that they were not prepared for and didn't know how to handle.
He threw away the security of a job and a home to become an itinerary preacher. He hung up His safety when He took on the scribes and Pharisees. (You can't get away with that and in fact, He didn't.)
He didn't bother about what would people say regarding His company of friends. Following Jesus involves taking risks. We may have to throw away our superficial security, hang up our flimsy safety precautions and turn a deaf ear to the criticisms and discouragement around us.
But when others think that we are out of our minds, or maybe when we wonder if we ourselves are out of our minds, then Jesus will come and take charge of us.
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The Temple worship of the Old covenant could not save because it did not demand personal commitment of the one who sacrificed. But the sacrifice of Jesus was deep and total. He sacrificed himself. His blood brought us salvation.
The few verses of today’s Gospel: tell us no more than that the crowd was so eager to hear Jesus’ message that they left him and the disciples not even the time to eat.
Let us pray: Our saving God, you have shown your people mercy in your Son Jesus Christ. May we belong to him, that we may come to love him deeply and, in this way, know him as he is, and also know you as our Father. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen
Saint Agnes
“A new kind of martyrdom!” exclaimed St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan. The assembly cheered and applauded. He was celebrating St. Agnes because she was a virgin, a martyr—and a child. She was executed at Rome in 304 during the Emperor Diocletian’s vicious persecution. Here are Ambrose’s observations on her death:
St. Agnes is said to have suffered martyrdom at age 12. The cruelty that did not spare so young a child was hateful, but the power of faith in the child was greater. Was there room for a wound in that small body? The sword could barely strike her, yet she had the inner strength to strike back. Girls of her age usually can’t even bear a parent’s angry glance. They cry at needles’ pricks as though they were wounds. Agnes, however, faced her persecutors fearlessly. When they attempted to force her to worship at the pagan altars, she stretched out her hands and made the sign of the cross over the sacrificial fires. She was not fazed by the heavy weight of the chains they wrapped around her. And she freely offered her body to the executioner’s sword.
The executioner used both threats and allurements to try to change her mind. He encouraged young men to beg her to marry them. But she answered, “I already have a spouse, and I will not offend him by pretending that another might please me. I will give myself only to him who first chose me. So, executioner, what are you waiting for? Destroy this body that unwanted eyes desire.”
Agnes stood and prayed. Then she bent down her neck. The executioner trembled as though he himself had been condemned. His right hand shook and his face grew pale, but the virgin showed no fear at all.
So in one victim we have a twofold martyrdom of purity and faith, for Agnes both remained a virgin and also obtained martyrdom. Historians say that legends have embroidered the few facts we know about Agnes. But the stories are rooted in actual events and convey kernels of truth about her. These legends tell that Agnes was a beautiful and soon-to-be-marriageable young woman. Many eager young men pursued her, but she rebuffed them because she had consecrated her virginity to Christ.
One spurned suitor took revenge by reporting to the authorities that Agnes was a Christian. She was brought before a judge who tried to persuade her to recant. He threatened her with fire and torture, but she did not flinch. Then he had her stripped at a brothel and urged young men to seduce her. “You may stain your sword with my blood,” she said, “but you will never profane my body that I have consecrated to Christ.” All were so stunned by her presence that only one boy tried to touch her. Legend says he was struck blind, and that Agnes healed him.
Exasperated and egged on by her first accuser, the governor ordered her execution. Agnes was taken to the Stadium of Domitian, where she courageously faced a nervous soldier who hacked her to death with his sword. Over the centuries the little virgin martyr became one of the most popular saints in Christian history.
St. Agnes’s death was “a new kind of martyrdom!” She taught us adults the meaning of valor while she was still a child. Agnes hurried to the place of her execution more joyfully than a bride goes to her wedding. And she was adorned not with plaited hair, but with Christ himself.
