Commentary: Wayback Machine. Quoth the Holy Redeemer bulletin:
St. Kim was the first Korean-born Catholic priest & is the patron saint of Korea. At the age of twenty-five, he was tortured & beheaded near Seoul on the Han River. Pope [St.] John Paul II [22 October] canonized Kim along with one hundred two other Korean Martyrs, including Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, during this trip to Korea.Quoth the Holy Family bulletin:
Andrew Kim Taegon was the first native Korean priest. He was the son of converts. His father, a farmer, was also martyred. Andrew was baptized when he was fifteen. He then attended the seminary in Macao, China, one thousand three hundred miles away from home. After six years Andrew returned to Korea & assumed the job of bringing missionaries into the country secretly. Almost immediately he was arrested, tortured, & beheaded. In a letter written to fellow Christians, Andrews started, "We have received baptism, entrance in the Church, and the honor of being called Christians. Yet what good will this do us if we are Christian in name only & not in fact?"'Tis also the festival of Saints Fausta & Evilasius, Martyrs (died 311, of Cyzicus), martyred in the reign of the emperors Maxentius & Galerius: Martyr-link Foxtrot & Wikipedia-link Foxtrot; Martyr-link Echo & Wikipedia-link Echo.
Commentary: Evilasius martyred Fausta, but was so impressed with her courage that he himself converted to Christianity & was subsequently martyred. CatholicSaints.info still has the names Fausta & Evilasius backwards. I've matched each entry up with the right life, the name Evilasius with the life of Fausta & the name of Fausta with the life of Evilasius.
'Tis also the festival of Blessed Thomas Johnson, Priest & Martyr, O.Cart. (died 1537), martyred in the reign of the king Henry VIII, one of the Carthusian Martyrs of London: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link London.
Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Feria
The First Letter to Timothy, chapter three, verses fourteen, fifteen, & sixteen;
Psalm One Hundred Eleven, verses one & two, three & four, five & six;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter seven, verses thirty-one thru thirty-five.
Commentary: Reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):
Friends, in today's Gospel the Pharisees compare the eating habits of John the Baptist, who fasted, and Jesus, who dined with sinners. In the carefully stratified society of Jesus' time, a righteous person would never associate with the unrighteous for fear of becoming unclean.Video reflection by Jem Sullivan, Ph.D.: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
But here is Jesus, scandalizing everyone because he does indeed break down these barriers. How would you feel if you saw me socializing with prostitutes and drug-dealers, eating and drinking with terrorists? Would it shock you, dismay you, disappoint you? But this is what Jesus did, precisely because he is the Incarnation of the God who aggressively seeks out the lost.
God looks for us, comes running after us, never lets go, never relents, never gives up. The more we run, the more he runs after; the more we hide, the more he looks; the more we resist, the more he persists. God loves sinners and associates with them.
Mass Readings—Memorial of Ss. Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, & Companions
The Book of Wisdom, chapter three, verses one thru nine;
or, the Letter to the Romans, chapter eight, verses thirty-one(b) thru thirty-nine;
Psalm One Hundred Twenty-six, verse five;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter nine, verses twenty-three thru twenty-six.
Bible Study—Proverbs in a Month
The Book of Proverbs, chapter twenty (verses one thru thirty).
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