SACRIFICES OF PRAISE TO GOD


SAINTS PAUL MIKI AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS   

Ecclesiasticus 47:2-13; Ps 18:31,47,50-51; Mk 6:14-29

The Offering of Our Lives to God

The knowledge or awareness that we are nothing before God makes us humble and fosters the sacrifice of our lives to God, our creator. This prerequisite knowledge we need to come to God is gained only when God sends his word to enlighten us. As we have already noted, we cannot know ourselves without the light of God’s word. Hence, the coming of the Eternal Word to us was never an afterthought but a necessity that is associated with our being rational creatures; that is, our bearing the image of God. But that he assumed our human nature and came as man was as a result of our sinful state, whereby we live enslaved to the senses. As slaves of the senses, we could not see nor understand our deplorable spiritual state. Hence, the Word assumed our nature and came as man to reveal our sinful condition to us in relation to God’s love and mercy. Hence, the Son of Man tells us that he is the way, the truth, and the life. If we do not contemplate him in his human nature and the sacrifice he made of it to God, we will never know the truth about our human condition, and without knowing the truth, we will never come to spiritual life in God.

The life of David illustrates this truth for us. David’s early and consistent devotion to the word of God opened his eyes to man’s weakness and strength. He understood that sins, which are committed in disobedience to the injunctions of the Lord, are our greatest undoing, and that contemplation and keeping of the word of God is our greatest strength. Sirach sings his praise in these words: “As the fat is set apart from the communion sacrifice, so David was chosen out of all the sons of Israel. He played with lions as though with kids, and with bears as though with lambs of the flock. While still a boy, did he not slay the giant and relieve the people of their shame, by putting out a hand to sling a stone which brought down the arrogance of Goliath? For he called on the Lord Most High, who gave strength to his right arm to put a mighty warrior to death, and lift up the horn of his people.” David’s good acquaintance with the word of God gave him an understanding of man’s purpose in life. He understood that we exist to praise and worship God, and to do His bidding. Thus, he devoted his time to the formulation of songs of praise and worship of God. As Sirach confirms: “In all his activities he gave thanks to the Holy One, the Most High, in words of glory; he put all his heart into his songs out of love for his Maker.” His songs and praises to God demonstrated the personal offering or sacrifice of his life to God.

The same character of singing is evident in every soul enlightened by the Word of God. The precursor of our Lord, John the Baptist, was not in any way the least in the proclamation of God’s goodness and the singing of his praises. Even though his proclamation or worship of God was not in songs, the offering of his life for the truth was the greatest act of sacrifice and worship to God. Herod and Herodias were two people who reacted differently to his praise of the truth. “As for Herodias, she was furious with him and wanted to kill him; but she was not able to, because Herod was afraid of John, knowing him to be a good and holy man, and gave him his protection. When he had heard him speak, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him.” This consistency in praising the truth cost him his life. The saints we celebrate today similarly praised God and the Lamb through the offering of their lives and rejection of sin and evil. As David attached his life to the stone which he slung to destroy Goliath, so they slung their lives to the faith they had in the Word of God to praise God in communist Japan. Saint Paul Miki was born in Japan between 1564 and 1566. He joined the Society of Jesus and preached the Gospel to the Japanese people with great success. When persecution of the Catholics arose, he was arrested together with twenty-five others. They were mocked, tortured, and taken to Nagasaki, where they were bound to crosses and speared to death on 5 February 1597. May their prayers help us to offer our lives as pleasing sacrifices to God, our Creator.

Let us pray: O God, strength of all the Saints, who through the Cross were pleased to call the Martyrs Saint Paul Miki and companions to life, grant, we pray, that by their intercession we may hold with courage even until death to the faith that we profess. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.             

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