Sharing in the Chalice of Christ

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Polycarp, Bishop and martyr. In the collect of the Mass we pray that, like St. Polycarp, may we be given a place in the company of holy martyrs who share in the chalice of Christ.  As I think of St. Polycarp’s martyrdom,   I cannot help but think of what led to his death. It had to be a very difficult time, a time fraught with clashes, threats, and risky situations that pointed to the possibility of a tragic end, no less real that Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem, his clashes with the authorities of his day, and his ultimate face-to-face encounters with his executioners.  

Martyrdom, for most of us, involves a bloodless dying to selfishness, pride, arrogance, resentments and sin of any kind.  It involves the quiet heroism of the housewife/husband of an alcoholic/drug-addicted spouse. It involves the “bleeding,” agonizing heartaches of the parents of missing children, mentally ill children, children with terminal or chronic, debilitating illnesses, and much more. It involves the sufferings  that tear at the heart strings of so many in the world of today where we encounter human traffickers, slave laborers, and corrupt persons preying on the young and old in so many ways.

Our bloodless martyrdom also includes resisting Satan’s deceptive schemes and being driven out into the desert to face our inner demons and saying “no” to sin. The desert for millions is the prison cells that they occupy as the result of a crime against humanity.  In our “deserts,” wherever those may be, may we be converted to the ways of the Lord and experience what the psalmist says to us in today’s responsorial psalm:  the “law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The decree of the Lord is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple” (Psalm 19).