First Friday Holy Hour - February 2021 - Courage in uncertain times comes from the Eucharist

 This morning we celebrated the feast of the virgin martyr St. Agatha of Sicily, so widely venerated by the early Church. For resisting the advances of a degenerate civil official, she was arrested, and when she refused to offer pagan sacrifice to save her life, she was tortured and martyred. 

In 2005, Pope Benedict made a pastoral visit to St. Agatha’s native Sicily and celebrated mass for the people in Palermo. He acknowledged that in Palermo, as in the whole of Sicily, problems and worries and difficulties, he said, “are not lacking” in particular unemployment which gives rise to uncertainty and worry about the future, and also the physical and moral suffering caused by organized crime. Today I am among you, the Holy Father said, “to witness to my closeness and my remembrance in prayer. I am here to give you strong encouragement not to be afraid to witness clearly to the human and Christian values that are so deeply rooted in the faith and history of this territory and of its people.”

In a way, it sounds a lot like our own country, now in 2021. Unemployment, the breakdown of the family, organized crime in the form of vast corruption in government. We come here tonight, uncertain about the future. 

The Holy Father recalled how in past centuries the Church in Sicily was enriched and enlivened by such fervent faith, seen particularly in the lives of Sicily’s saints, like St. Rosalia, St. Lucy, and of course, St. Agatha. And how has inspired and guided family life, fostering values such as the capacity of giving of themselves, and the respect for life that constitutes a precious heritage to be jealously guarded. 

Again this makes us think of our own country, how the Christian faith so shaped and guided the early history of this country and family life. And now, religion is banished from public life, banished from schools, faith is replaced with materialism in many families, Catholic tradition is not kept or upheld or passed on. 

And I think that reading from mass this morning from the letter to the Hebrews is just so pertinent. Let brotherly love continue. Let marriage be honored among all. Let your life be free from love of money. Remember with confidence that the Lord is your helper. And where does true brotherly love come from, but the Eucharist. Where does honor for God's holy institutions like marriage come from, but from the Eucharist. Where does freedom from the love of money and all that keeps us from holiness, but from the Eucharist.

Do not do not fear, Pope Benedict said to the lay faithful of Palermo,  to live and to witness to the faith in the various contexts of society, in the many situations of human existence, especially in those that are difficult! May faith give you the power of God in order to be ever confident and courageous, to go ahead with new determination, to take the necessary initiatives to give an ever more beautiful face to your land. And when you come up against the opposition of the world, may you hear the Apostle’s words: “Do not be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord” (v. 8).

In difficult and confusing times, it is always best to return here, to the Blessed Sacrament, to receive the courage and guidance and inspiration we need to live with the courage we need to testify to the truth, and to remain faithful when faced, like St. Agatha, and the martyrs, with the opposition of the world. May our time with the Lord tonight bear fruit in this life and the life to come, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.