The sermon was given in the Pontifi cal High Mass according to the usus antiquior in the
Franciscan Shrine Church of Sümeg on Laetare Sunday on 6 March 2016 Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ pro-claimed solemnly before His redeeming death on the Cross in the presence of the unbelieving authorities of this world: “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world – to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37). All the life and mission of our Lord consisted in being a witness to the eternal Divine truth, and this even to the extent of offering His own life for the sake of the truth. The greatest contrast to the spirit and to the life of Christ would be the fear of confessing truth, the compromise even the slightest compromise in the matter of truth.
Our Lord says to all his disciples of all times: “You will bear witness about Me” (John 15:27). We, who believe in Jesus Christ, are called Christians. Thus, we have the great honor and privilege to be named after Christ. Hence, Christians not only bear the name of Christ, they have the holy duty to imitate Christ. Pope Saint Leo I said: “Christian, recognize your dignity!” (Serm. 21,3). We are called Christians also after the holy perfumed oil, named chrism, with which we were anointed in the sacra-ment of the Confi rmation. In this sacrament, the oil signifi es the abound-ing grace, which is diffused over the soul of the Christian to confi rm him in his faith; and the balsam, which is fragrant and prevents corruption, signifi es that the Christian, strengthened by this grace, is enabled to give forth a good odour of Christian virtue and preserve himself from the cor-ruption of vice. The anointing is made on the forehead, where signs of fear and shame appear, in order that he who is confi rmed may understand that he should not blush at the name and profession of a Christian, nor fear the enemies of his faith. A light stroke is given to the person confi rmed to show him that he should be ready to bear all insults and endure all suffer-ings for the faith of Jesus Christ” (Catechism of pope Saint Pius X).
To be a true Christian and that means to be a Catholic, signifi es to be a soldier of Christ, to be a confessor of Christ, to be even a martyr of Christ, if God so wills. In other words, to be a Catholic signifi es to be courageous,
to allow that the grace of fortitude, received in Holy Confi rmation, bears fruits in one’s life. To make compromises regarding the Catholic truth, to be political correct either inside or outside the Church, would directly contradict the name Christian, the name Catholic.
In our days, there is no need of evidence for the fact that the Christians are living in a time of a persecution at an almost global level. This our situation presents similarities with the era of the general persecution of the Christians in the fi rst centuries. From time of the fi rst persecutions we can hear such encouraging words: “Christians love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and re-stored to life. They are dishonored, and yet in their very dishonor are glo-rifi ed. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justifi ed; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honor; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life. They are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the pagans; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred. ... Don’t you see them exposed to wild beasts for the purpose of persuading them to deny the Lord, yet they are not overcome? Don’t you see that the more of them that are punished, the greater the number of the rest becomes? This does not seem to be the work of man. This is the power of God. These are the evidences of his appearance” (Letter to Diognetus, 5; 7).
One of the most important and specifi c contributions of the Second Vatican Council consists in its teaching on the universal call of all faithful to holiness (cf. Lumen gentium, 39–42), and the same Council says that the summit of holiness is the martyrdom (cf. Lumen gentium, 42).
In order to remain faithful to our noble vocation to be Christians, to be Catholics, to be soldiers of Christ, we also do need to know the examples of courageous Christians and Martyrs. We can be inspired be the example of Saint Philip Howard, a family father from the 16th century in England.
In one of the dungeons of the Tower of London Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel, suffered for over ten years for the fi delity to the Catholic faith.
Queen Elizabeth realized that it was not right that his noble earl should die in a dungeon. She therefore sent her fi rst minister to him in order that he might try to change the earl’s mind. The most alluring offers were made, if only he would renounce the Catholic faith. Saint Philip had a young wife and a baby boy who had been born after his imprisonment and whom
he had not yet seen. They promised him the complete restoration of all his property and the reunion with his young family. Saint Philip replied:
“Nothing in the whole world, not even the persons dearest to me, can make me renounce the Catholic faith. Indeed, it is shameful to lie in the chains of sin, but it is glorious to bear bonds and chains for the love of Jesus Christ”.
On the wall of his cell he wrote with a piece of charcoal the words which are still visible today: “The more suffering for Christ in this life, the more glory with Christ in the life to come.” These were his last words. He suf-fered for ten years and dies at the age of forty in the year 1595.
From the fi rst centuries of the Church we possess a moving example of the martyrdom of an entire parish in the city of Abitene in North Africa during the persecution of Diocletian. The priest saint Saturninus was cele-brating the Holy Mass on Sunday at which assisted his parish, yet secretly, because it was forbidden for Christians to gather for worship. The police suddenly raided the room and arrested all. The children of Saint Saturni-nus, a widower, who we borne to him before his ordination, were present, they were: Saturninus and Felix, lectors, Maria a consecrated virgin and Hilarion a six year old child. All parishioners and their priest were led to the judge and then to prison for execution. On the way to the tribunal they met with their bishop Fundanus, who just returned from committing the act of apostasy. The little boy Hilarion, when asked by the judge an-swered: “I am a Christian and I have been at the liturgy. I went of my own accord, nobody made me go.” The judge, who was sorry for him, tried to frighten him by threatening him with childish punishments, but the little boy only laughed. Then the governor said: “I will cut off your nose and ears”. Hilarion answered: “You may do it, but anyhow I am a Christian”.
When the proconsul ordered them back to prison to be executed, little Hilarion with all the parishioners cried out: “Thanks be to God”. These little boy, the other teenagers and fathers and mothers of family with their priest Saturninus made also amends for the apostasy of their bishop. By this fact we see that God permits that in some periods of the history of the Church the little ones, the faithful, have more strength and fi delity of faith than some members of the high clergy.
In the beginning of the Church the Holy Spirit spoke through the mouth of the Apostle saint John to the Christians the following words, which are directed today to each of us as well: “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Apoc 2:10). Amen.
Athanasius püspök atya csendesmiséje.
(Budapest, 2016. március 5.)