Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord is driven to compassion for the sake of all of us, because of our poverty, the poverty of our souls, of our sinfulness, and our lack of leadership. That is because we are all like sheep without a shepherd, going in all directions and getting lost. Christ came into this world, and painstakingly taking all of us into His fold, as the Good Shepherd, seeking the lost ones one by one, until all of us are found once again and reunited.
The Lord our God does not wish us to be lost or forever separated from Him. He came down Himself and suffered for our sake, that eventually we can be reunited with Him for eternity. For there is no other option besides salvation, other than eternal damnation. That is why Christ came to us to offer us the other option that is salvation and eternal life. He became our shepherd, the Good Shepherd, so that we will no longer be lost. He became our guide, our leader, the light of our path, and our God.
Today we celebrate the memorial and feast of St. Augustine Zhao Rong and his companions, who are the Catholic martyrs from China, and many of them were martyred during the Boxer Rebellion at the turn of the twentieth century, when a severe persecution against Christians in China occurred. Many Christians, including St. Augustine Zhao Rong and his companions were murdered brutally for their faith, because they refused to renounce their faith and kept holding steadfastly to their faith.
St. Augustine Zhao Rong himself was a Chinese diocesan priest who served in several areas in China before he was arrested, tortured until his death in the defense of his Christian faith. He did not give up on the Lord and remained faithful. The same case had happened for many other martyrs of China, many of whom were repeatedly asked and offered to reject the Lord and reembrace pagan practices, but they refused and were received into heaven with a martyr’s glory.
These martyrs, the local Chinese and the Western missionaries, were joined in death for the sake of their faith in Christ, and they embody to us, the virtues of a faithful life dedicated to the Lord. A life lived with zeal and love for the Lord and His people, and with purpose. Opposition and persecution will naturally come, but they will be able to subvert the faith of the just ones.
Indeed, brothers and sisters in Christ, even today, the Church throughout the world, particularly in China, where St. Augustine Zhao Rong and companions met their martyrdom, where religious freedom, superficial as it is, is very limited and bordering on being non-existent. The Church was forced to serve the atheistic government, who views the Church as a hostile entity, and therefore they tried to destroy it. When the attempts to destroy the Church had not been successful, they resolve to weaken the Church by seizing it out of the Universal Church.
Many people there still suffer today, and Christians in the Church suffer an even greater suffering, being seen as ‘hostile’ by the government, and as a ‘threat’ that needs to be eliminated. Yet, as the saying goes, that the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians, persecution and opposition brings fervour and zeal to the people of God, that they may not just persevere through the tough times, but indeed prosper and grow.
But seeds cannot grow without proper care and provision, as we need labourers to constantly care and give all their time into the effort. That is why the Lord said that though the harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few. We need more labourers to harvest the field of the Lord, and these harvests are simply the people who come to know the Lord, and to be saved. The labourers are none other than our priests, supported by all of us, the laity.
All around the world, including in China, there are increasing shortage of priests to serve the people of God. The number of the people in the Church has grown significantly while the number of priests had been stagnating for quite a long time. This makes it increasingly difficult, especially in the areas where the Church is growing, to project itself through love and service, and also to conduct worship in the Mass, in which priests are badly needed.
It is more and more difficult to gain new priests nowadays, brethren, because the world increasingly shut the Lord out of the minds of the young people, many of whom are called by the Lord. Yes, many are called, but few responded, and among those who responded, even fewer followed his calling through to the end in service of the people of the Lord. It is important that we bring the zeal and devotion, and the love for God back to all of us, especially those whom the Lord had called and entrusted with His flock.
Even priests and religious brothers and sisters must also be growing in faith and love. All of us cannot be complacent otherwise we would be caught unprepared by the devil, whose works are many, and whose deceit and trickery threatened to corrupt many people and turn them away from the Lord their God.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, inspired by the devotion and zeal of St. Augustine Zhao Rong, his companions, the martyrs of China, let us persevere against the opposition and the persecution of the faith in any form that is there in this world, in our society, and even in our families. Let us foster a prayerful and loving atmosphere in our homes, in our communities, in our parishes, that we can allow the faith to grow strong in all of us, especially our youths, some of whom may be future priests and servants of God and His people.
Pray, brethren, and pray hard, for the sake of our Church, for God’s people, and especially a special intention for the Church in China, for our brethren in faith unjustly treated and persecuted for their faith and obedience to the Lord rather than to the secular and Godless authority. May the Lord strengthen them in faith, give them courage, and remain with them through their ordeal, and may He also be with us, at all times. Amen.
