Telling The Stories That Matter

February 13 - Prisca and Aquila, Martyrs, Husband and Wife, Theologians

2012-02-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

Claudius had delivered an edict to be obeyed under penalty of death: all Jews must leave Rome. This meant that those of Jewish blood were forced to leave not the Roman Empire but the portion of the Empire known as "Rome." Prisca and Aquila--a Jewish couple--had conflicting emotions about it. In one sense, they had been expecting something like this for a while. It was clear that the Romans were becoming increasingly annoyed and frustrated by the Jews who didn't seem to want the pax romana they offered. The most opposed of the Jews plunged daggers into the backs of Roman soldiers and officials and the most cooperative were still less than happy to have them there. So, it wasn't surprising that the Romans would do something so rash yet it must have been surprising suddenly to be evicted not only from your home but from your city, region, and nation. They gathered up what they could carry and took enough to restart their business--making tents--and traveled to Corinth in Greece. There, they tried to start over.

We're not sure if it was before or after Paul's arrival in Corinth that Prisca and Aquila were converted but it is certain that they were involved in his ministry in Corinth regardless of when they vowed to follow after their crucified Lord. The three of them shared a profession and worked together so that they might find stability again.The preaching of Paul was infectious and soon they found themselves encourage and invigorated in their faith. Paul even lived with them for nearly eighteen months. Paul had decided to move on to Syria--to continue to preach the Gospel and found churches--and Prisca and Aquila went with him. Along the way, they stopped in Ephesus and when Paul moved on from there, they remained behind as pillars of the Church community. Often, the services would take place in their own home. They were leaders and foundational members of the Church in Ephesus. In fact, when Apollos was preaching an incomplete Gospel--he only knew about John's baptism--they took him aside and tutored him in Christian theology. In this way, they were committed to the health of the Body of Christ and were willing to spend their time and attention building up fellow believers in a world that was increasingly less accommodating for Christians--even Christians who were successful business people.

Prisca and Aquila moved back to Rome through Corinth once the ban was lifted and were known as encouragers along the way. At some point, they saved Paul's life by risking their own. This couple was united behind one cause: a Gospel that proclaimed life even at great risk and cost. After they had been returned to Rome they were victimized by the Empire. Their possessions were seized, they were beaten severely and humiliated, and finally they were beheaded. Though they had hoped to return to their home from far away, they had changed much in their travels.Their faith was a vibrant and surprising thing that led them to work alongside Paul to do great things in a rapidly expanding world. They were instrumental in the founding of the Church at both Corinth and Ephesus and although those congregations had challenges, the communities were also pillars of the Body of Christ for many years.

February 12 - Scholastica, Nun, Twin, Abbess

2012-02-12T07:00:00.000-05:00

Scholastica had a brother that everybody had heard about. In fact, he was her twin brother and his name was Benedict. Benedict was the founder of the Rule of St. Benedict and the source of a monastic group known as Benedictines. Yet, Scholastica was reported to be every bit as devoted and pious as her brother if not more so. Yet, as a woman in the sixth century her options were severely limited. She became a nun because of her incredible devotion and faith and eventually became abbess of a community of women who followed after the rule and way of life that Benedict had discerned and pioneered. Her leadership was capable and inspired and she was known for the passion that she brought to a life of prayer and work. This passion was an inspiration to the women she led.

It was her practice to meet once a year with her brother to discuss the spiritual life and to read scripture together. The communities that they led were only five miles apart but they met on some neutral ground partly to emphasize that there was some special connection between brother and sister that was worth honoring with a change in location. The last time they met they weren't certain that it would be a final meeting but Scholastica was aware of her own failing health. They met for longer than they ever had and even longer than they had intended to meet. They discussed scripture. They prayed together. They broke bread and communed with one another. They encouraged and challenged each other as only a brother and sister in the Faith can. Then, as night was falling Benedict got up to go and return to his monastery where he might rest in his cell. Scholastica asked him to stay even longer so that they might continue in their fellowship--perhaps she even intuited that this would be their last chance. He insisted that he must return home as it was his calling to be there. She simply nodded, folded her hands, and began to pray.

As Benedict watched his sister pray, he felt the sudden cold gust of wind that preceded a thunderstorm. His eyes widened in surprise and confusion. At the first peal of thunder, he went to the window and looked outside to see the first large rain drops strike the dirt outside of the building. Turning to Scholastica, he said, "May God forgive you, sister," and asked, "What have you done?”

She responded simply: "I asked you and you would not listen; so I asked my God and he did listen. So now go off, if you can, leave me and return to your monastery." With these words, she began packing up her things knowing very well that he would now stay but she wanted to indicate to him his freedom to choose. Benedict stayed with his sister and they talked later into the night. Shortly thereafter, Scholastica diedand Benedict mourned the loss of his sister but thanked God that he had had a little more time with her.

February 11 - A.J. Muste, Pacifist, Minister, Nonviolent

2012-02-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

A.J. Muste was an immigrant to the United States of America, as the 19th century slowly became the 20th, but he didn't have much say in the matter as he was only six years old when his parents moved from Holland. He received a fine education and was a proud resident and citizen of the nation of his parents' choosing. He graduated with honors first with a bachelor's degree and eventually with a master's and doctoral degree. As he matured, he became increasingly involved in social causes even as he tried to figure out the question of his own spiritual calling. He was especially involved in the labor movementand helped organize disenfranchised workers together so that they might negotiate with their employers for a safer and better job. As was expected, he received much resistance from the circles he had been raised in and in which his parents circulated. Yet, he was convinced that he must do something for those in need of help and for the cause of justice and fairness. So, he was willing to sacrifice a good reputation for his convictions.

Eventually, he became a minister in a congregational church but he was committed to non-violence after his experience of World War I and the people whom he met with and with whom he conversed. This was an odd stance for a man such as A.J. but it became a hated stance as he persisted in it through the years approaching and including World War II. But, he was convinced that God had called him to a way of peace and nonviolence that revoked any right he felt toward self-defense or preemptive violence. By A.J.'s reasoning, there was no just war and so not even World War II could be rationalized or accepted. When a son of a member of the congregation where was pastor died in the war, he did not veer from his intended topic for the Sunday sermon: "The Futility of War." It was another opportunity for him to raise his famous question: "The problem after a war is the victor. He thinks he has just proved that war and violence will pay. Who will now teach him a lesson?" By A.J.'s thinking there was no time when war or violence would pay or would be acceptable. When he had said this, he must have known he would suffer for it. That afternoon the congregation called a meeting and voted to terminate him as their pastor.He, his wife, and his children were forcibly moved out of the parsonage that night and had to find somewhere else to live.

He remained a minister, associated finally with theQuakers, and committed to nonviolence even if it had cost him his job. He was at one time an advisor to Martin Luther King, Jr. and considered an authority on nonviolent resistance. He and his colleagues and associates were arrested repeatedly for hopping fences at military facilities, paddling their boats into nuclear test sites, and sympathizing with those whom the State insisted they hate and fear. For these things, A.J. received and still receives derision but he could not more veer from these convictions than he could stop being who he was. He had become an advocate for peace and nonviolence at all costs and had proven repeatedly that he was willing to lay down anything for a chance at peace. If it is true that the peacemakers are blessed--and I do believe it so--then surely A.J. Muste has a share of blessedness for his refusal to abandon the way of peace even in the face of adversity.

February 10 - Paul, Martyr, Apostle, Preacher

2012-02-10T07:00:00.000-05:00

Paul knew sailing would be rough and so he told his captors--Roman soldiers transferring him as a prisoner to Rome for trial--that it would be a costly trip because of a storm. But the pilot said differently and the centurion was convinced that the pilot was right. The harbor wasn't a good place to be in the winter and so the crew felt pressure to get out on the water and arrive in a different port--maybe Phoenix?--to weather the winter. So, they disembarked and began their journey when a decent wind blew from the south and they became confident that they could make it to the next stop. Yet, they stayed close to the shore.

Soon after, the wind picked up and changed direction. The crew fought with the wind but were unable to gain control and were forced to go where the wind willed.The storm beat upon the poor boat for days and drove it a great distance. They began throwing cargo overboard like Paul had predicted but it wasn't enough. Each hour their hope for escape weakened until eventually the crew had given up any hope for safety. At this time, Paul came to the crew and said, "I told you that we shouldn't have sailed but it's okay. Don't worry--we'll lose the boat but nobody will lose their life because of this storm." The crew was convinced that they were facing the end and so they laughed at him and asked why he was so confidence since he was in the same place as them. Paul replied, "Last night an angel of God--whom I belong to and whom I worship--appeared and said, 'Don't be afraid, Paul, you'll make it safe to Rome where you will be tried. God is protecting the people on the ship.' So, don't worry friends--I have faith that God will do this thing that God has promised. We'll end up shipwrecked but we'll be alive."

After two weeks of persisting in the storm, Paul noticed that some members of the crew were anxious about how close they were getting to the land. They began testing the depth of the water compulsively and eventually determined that it wasn't safe to continue in their boat. They tried to deceive the rest of the crew and the prisoners by releasing anchors and saying they would wait for morning to determine what to do. Under the cover of night and storm, they also released a raft and were preparing to get into it when the centurion stopped them because Paul had said any who did not stay with the boat would die. They cut the raft loose and remained on the boat. Before morning broke, Paul was found eating while the crew continued to be anxious about what they would do. Paul encouraged them to eat and stop worrying because soon they would wreck and the food on their stomachs would be more valuable than the work they did to save a boat destined for wrecking. So, all 276 people ate while Paul broke bread and gave thanks to God for God's blessings in the midst of the storm.

In the morning, they saw land and rejoiced. Though they did not know precisely where they were the crew was prepared to land at all costs. So, the sailed the boat toward the shore. As they drew closer, they struck a reef and the ship was immobilized upon it.The waves beat against it and they were forced to abandon their boat and swim for land. The soldiers knew their duty and so they drew their swords with the intention of killing the prisoners so that none might escape. The centurion stepped in and stopped them, though, and ordered all people to swim for the shore if they were able. Those who weren't able picked up pieces of the boat to float upon and made their own way to land at a slower pace.All 276 of them made it safely to land just as Paul had insisted they would.

Upon the shore, the crew and passengers were cold and wet but greeted warmly by the native people of the island they learned was called "Malta." The Maltans built a fire and gathered the shipwrecked passengers and crew around it. Paul wanted to do his part in helping to sustain this generous act and so he gathered a bundle of wood. The warmth of the fire had roused a viper and when Paul released the wood, the serpent struck out and bit his hand. It held on and released its poisonous venom with speed. The Maltans began to speak under their breath about Paul that he must be some terrible murderer if justice would pursue him so far as to strike at him with poison after he survived a shipwreck. All eyes were on Paul as he shook off the serpent and went about his business with no anxiety of fear. All those gathered on the beach waited for Paul to succumb to the terrible venom and became increasingly surprised as Paul remained healthy and fine. They insisted he was a god. He insisted he was God's. He didn't see the big deal--God had promised he would be safe and he had no reason to doubt the one who had called him on that road to Damascus. He preached the faith that gripped him and many were converted from among the Maltans and the boat's passengers and crew.

February 9 - Apollonia, Martyr, Virgin, Woman of Prayer

2012-02-09T07:00:00.000-05:00

Apollonia was a virgin not because she had no desires for or hated men but because she had chosen to remain celibate so that she might more fully devote herself to her Lord Jesus. Those who married took upon themselves vows before God to care for and honor another person--they took uponthemselves another obligation. These vows held sway and often kept married Christians from living in the same sacrificing and devoted way that their celibate brothers and sisters were able to. Apollonia's devotion was highly respected in the Church in Alexandria but was beginning to be a cause for disfavor among the non-Christians in the city. Decius had barely taken power but the people knew he was no friend of the Christians and so they had no fear that he would outlaw their abuse and murder. Further, the thousand year anniversary of the beginning of the Roman empire was taking place. Further still, one of the non-Christian poets had predicted a great calamity within the walls of Alexandria because of the presence of Christians within. With all of these circumstances swirling together in one perfect storm, it came as no surprise when many of the non-Christians joined together as one mob to exact their own brand of justice upon the Christians.

The people of Alexandria got an early start to the Decian persecutions. They seized two well-known Christians and tortured them to the thrill of the gathered crowd. When they grew tired of the couple, they killed them. They burned down the homes of suspected Christians and brutally mugged and stripped any reported Christians they met in the streets. The mob went so far as to kick down the door of the home of a prominent and wealthy Christian so that they might loot and pillage the home.Apollonia was not only celibate but was also a deaconess--all of this conspired to make her a perfect target. They took her to an open place and held her down. They began by pounding her face and mouth with clubs and fists with the special purpose of breaking or knocking out her teeth. When this savagery proved too humane, they retrieved a pair of tongs and began slowly and painfully removing her teeth one by one.

The pain was incredible but she endured it without returning evil for their evil. Even though they were torturing her to the best of their abilities, she noticed that they had built up a pile of kindling and logs upon which they planned to burn her alive. They had already started the fire and it was roaring by the time they dragged her before it. Their plan was to throw the faithful woman upon the flames and then rejoice in her agonizing death. As they approached, they gave her an ultimatum: deny her faith or burn to death. She asked one request from a bleeding mouth: "Please give me just a moment to pray about it." Perhaps they thought it would be another great occasion to mock her or perhaps they felt she was beginning to cave to their abuse and would renounce her faith after prayer. They released their hold on her for a moment and she leaped into the flames without a scream. She died an eager martyr who could not even consider denying the faith that had gripped her all those years.

February 8 - Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs

2012-02-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

Paul had been called to preach a Gospel that the world found foolish yet was truer than any story ever told. Paul had been charged to tell the grand story of how God had created humans in God's own image but humanity had turned its back upon God. In the stunning climax, God became human to redeem those whom God loved even as they continued to reject God. For being a preacher and a storyteller, he was regarded as an oddity in Japan at first. Eventually, though, this surprise turned to hatred as those who came to power had no room in their world for a man like Paul who had turned his back upon his nation in their estimation. By swearing their allegiance to God, Paul and his fellow Christians threatened the power that the ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi--known as Taikosama--held.

Ironically, the rulers an leaders of Japan had initially been the ones who welcomed Christian missionaries to Japanese shores. They had welcomed them gladly because they knew that Western powers endorsed the Christian churches and they suspected that this would increase trade possibilities. Further, the rulers had grown somewhat uncomfortable with the Buddhist monks who would not do as they told them to do and felt that an influx of Christianity could limit the power of the monks. Yet, as Christianity grew in both Japan and the Philippines, they became aware that it demanded more and more allegiance from its members than they were comfortable with their citizens giving away. Further, it seemed that the politically savvy among the western powers knew better how to manipulate the Christian churches to gain power in foreign locations.Soon, Christianity was banned in Japan and those who swore allegiance to Jesus were executed for it. Ministers and vocal Christians were martyred and persecuted. Paul and his companions were twenty-six of the victims.

They were arrested and charged with being Christians. They refused to deny their faith and so they were gathered in chains and sentenced to march to Nagasaki while singing a hymn--for all six hundred miles. It took nearly thirty days for the soon-to-be-martyrs to arrive in Nagasaki and they greeted the day that they arrived with renewed singing and rejoicing. They were brought before twenty-six crosses and they met them with joy. One of the twenty-six, a man named Gonsalo, rushed forward unaware of how tragic this experience was supposed to be and pointed at a nearby cross, "Is this one mine?" he asked hopefully. Taken aback, nobody responded to him at first but eventually one of the soldiers indicated which cross was his. He knelt down and embraced it with tears in his eyes. Slowly, they were affixed to their crosses while they sang hymns and joked with each other. Paul was so short that when bound to the cross his feet could not reach the support and so they were forced to bind him to the cross by tying him under his arms and across his chest. One soldier stepped on Paul's chest as he tightened the knot and a minister among them complained at the brutality but Paul insisted that it was okay because the man wasjust doing his job.

Once the crosses were raised Paul began preaching to the awestruck crowd. They had come to see the power of the Japanese rulers and had found willing martyrs proclaiming life even as they slipped into death. The soldiers were amazed and some were converted. The crowds listened to Paul as he preached and proclaimed his own forgiveness of the people and the powers who persecuted and executed the Body of Christ. All twenty-six of them died as the powers of Japan tried to prove their dominance. All they had proven was that despite their own political machinations, the Kingdom of God had arrived in Japan and could not be turned back.

February 7 - Helder Camara, Priest, Bishop, Friend of the Poor

2012-02-07T07:00:00.000-05:00

Helder was the eleventh of thirteen children born in Northeastern Brazil to a middle class family with roots in the Roman Catholic church. Much to the pain of Helder and his family, five of his brothers and sisters died from the flu epidemic that swept through Brazil claiming souls in 1905 (four years before Helder was born). Even as a child, he showed an interest in the priesthood. His priests and family would often remark to him that they felt something special about him and would ask him if he knew what it meant to be a priest. One of his priests even went so far as to tell him that to be a priest was forever and it meant he would never be his own and would always be pouring himself out for others. This didn't deter young Helder and he continued holding mock masses in his home on an alter he built out of boxes and playthings.

As he grew, he followed God's willing and ended up studying to become a priest. It wasn't especially uncommon for young Brazilian boys in Northeastern Brazil to become priests since it was a region that placed a high value upon the priesthood. But it was surprising that Helder was ordained at the age of twenty-two. He had to receive special dispensation to be ordained prior to the age of twenty-four but it was given and he took his vows. This new avowed state was a good fit for Helder and he spent his time as a minister of a church but, also, as an advocate for the poor.Like many Brazilian priests of the time he was heavily invested in liberation theology and social justice ministries. Eventually, he became bishop and then archbishop and this allowed him to set the tone and pace for ministry within Brazil. Even when he had taken on the political roles of an archbishop he still did not fail to advocate for the poor.

Helder is perhaps best remembered for a quote that summed up his professional life: "When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist." For his work as a friend of the poor he was nominated for a Nobel peace prize and received the Pacem in Terris award. Though he was not poor, he became associated with the slums. Though he was not oppressed, he became associated with the weak and disenfranchised. Being a priest was a forever commitment and Helder lived into it. When he was vilified and slandered he reminded himself that he had been called not to a profession but to a way of life and part of that way of life was a devotion to pouring himself out for the least of his brothers and sisters. Helder died in 1999.

February 6 - Dorothea of Caesarea, Martyr, Virgin, Wife of Christ

2012-02-06T07:00:00.000-05:00

Dorothea's parents had been martyrs. This filled her with a painful mixture of joy and sorrow since she rejoiced at their courage and reward but mourned the world's loss. Diocletian had ordered them dead as part of his widespread persecutions and those who were hoping to gain the emperor's favor were only all too willing to spill blood to earn it. Dorothea was also a Christian but there were other plans for her. The governor--Sapricius--had her brought before him and he demanded that she take a husband. He did this because he knew she had committed herself to celibacy and devotion to Jesus and he felt that if he could shake her from this devotion, then he would be able to bring about her conversion to the Empire and away from Christianity. She refused immediately, insisting that she was already married to Jesus, and was forced upon the rack and stretched. The tension was set high enough to bring agony but not death and she was offered a choice:take a husband, renounce her faith, and live or refuse and die. She refused.

Sapricius was not ready to kill the woman, yet, and had another idea for how he might effect her conversion. After all, Christians seemed to be producing conversions constantly--surely the emperor could convert people just as easily. He sent her to prison and had two women--Christina and Callista--visit her daily. Christina and Callista had once been Christians and had renounced their faith under threat of torture and death. When faced with the terror of the Empire, they folded and bowed themselves before the emperor as lord. After their bitter renunciations, they fell headlong into lives of sin and darkness. Their every day was marked by regret and sorrow but they didn't admit to erring by renouncing their faith--sometimes, we hold onto a bad decision because it's the only thing we feel we have left to hold onto. They sought out lives of empty pleasure and sin to fill the hole that had been left in them but found no respite in evil. Their task was to convert Dorothea away from her faith as they had been converted but it was Christina and Callista that were converted back by, Dorothea, to the faith they had abandoned. They found joy again and paid for it with their lives--being tied together and boiled to death--but this they did willingly and Sapricius brought Dorothea before him again.

When Dorothea arrived she thanked Sapricius for the opportunity to bring life to her sisters walking in death and made sure he knew she wouldn't have had the opportunity if not for his imprisonment and scheming. He offered her one last chance--perhaps hoping that the brutality of the deaths of Christina and Callista might have changed her mind--but wasn't surprised when she refused. He ordered her to be decapitated in public. As she was being taken away from Sapricius, one of his advisers called to her in a mocking voice, "You're married to Jesus, right? Please send some of your husband's apples or roses from his garden to me when you see him."

He laughed but Dorothea responded, "I shall do it." As they dragged her to the place of her execution she was met by a young girl bearing a gift of three roses and three apples on a tray. Dorothea recognized that this "young girl" was an angel sent by God and asked the girl to take the roses and the apples to the advisor who had mocked her. She was then bound and decapitated. She became a martyr. The advisor, however, was shocked to receive a gift from a young girl--three roses and three apples. He was shocked--apples and roses didn't grow in Caesarea that time of year--and shaken. Soon after, he converted to Christianity and followed after Dorothea's husband whom he had mocked. Shortly before being martyred himself, he changed his name to Theophilus--lover of God.

February 5 - Agatha of Sicily, Martyr, Virgin, Victim of Persecution

2012-02-05T07:00:00.000-05:00

Agatha had done at least two unthinkable things in polite Roman society. The first had been becoming a Christian. At the time in which Agatha devoted herself to her crucified Lord, Christianity was a persecuted and detested religion considered to be comprised of atheist (they denied the existence of the Roman gods), incestuous (husband and wife called each other brother and sister) cannibals (they met at night in secret and were said to eat the flesh and drink the blood of their Lord). For a beautiful and wealthy woman like Agatha this was unthinkable. The Romans could understand why the poor became Christians but it was incredible to them that a woman with so much to lose would risk everything by faith. They didn't understand her or her Lord.The other great unthinkable thing had been when she refused the advances of the prefect Quinctianus.

Under the persecutions of Decius, Quinctianus realized he had a unique opportunity. He lusted after young Agatha and made his carnal desires known to her. She rejected his proposals and continued on in her faith as a woman committed to maintaining her virginity before her Lord. Since she was committed to celibacy she was not going to take any husband let alone a prefect of the Roman Empire that wanted to kill her and all her brothers and sisters in the Faith. He engineered a plan to blackmail her into having sex within him whenever he wanted it. He threatened to turn her over to the authorities and have her executed as a Christian. He insisted that he would protect her if she would become his mistress. She insisted that she was a virgin and intended to remain celibate so he had her taken to a brothel so that she might be raped and stripped of the virginity that perplexed Quinctianus. She was able to withstand the advances of the men at the brothel and eventually was turned out of the brothel because she was causing too great a spectacle and distraction.

Quinctianus brought her before him again and threatened with torture and death if she would not give into this lust. She continued to refuse and so he had men come in and secure her. First her breasts were crushed and then they were savagely cut from her body. Quinctianus watched while this evil was perpetrated and Agatha had a few words for him: “Cruel man, have you forgotten your mother and the breast that nourished you, that you dare to mutilate me this way?” But Quinctianus was not deterred and ordered Agatha to be burnt to death--naked and in public.Bleeding, she was paraded before the people and brought to the place of her intended execution. Yet, as they prepared to finalize this atrocity, an earthquake shook the city. She was taken back to a prison cell and died there from her wounds. She died a martyr who did the unthinkable and refused to be deterred from her life of devotion and faith.

February 4 - Alfred Delp, Martyr, Falsely Accused, Opponent of the Nazis

2012-02-04T07:00:00.000-05:00

Alfred Delp's was born in Mannheim, Germany, shortly after the turn of twentieth century. His mother was Roman Catholic and his father was a protestant. He was baptized in the congregation of his mother but was sent to a Lutheran school for his education. At the age of fourteen he was even confirmed in a Lutheran church and it would seem that he had a relatively spiritually involved life up that point. However, he had a falling out with the minister of the congregation and soon thereafter began attending the congregation of his mother. Some time later he was confirmed in the Roman Catholic church and his faith continued to remain stable though within a different tradition. It is suggested that Alfred's ecumenism is a product of his split denominational upbringing but there is no doubt that Alfred was a man with hope for the power of ecumenical theology and fellowship. He was convinced that there was much more to ecumenism than simply pretending to get along and avoiding the points of disagreement. Instead, he advocated that we should learn to "carry the historical burden of our separated churches, as baggage and inheritance." He felt that there was little room for continued infighting between Christians when there was so much room for ministry in the world. On this piece in particular, Alfred was very right.

Alfred eventually joined the Society of Jesus and began pursuing the path of priestly ordination. He was an intelligent man and a capable student and so he asked to be allowed to study for his PhD in Munich. Painfully, he was rejected not because of lack of talent orintellect but because he was affiliated with the Jesuits and they were becoming increasingly unpopular in Germany. As the Nazis gained power, they chafed against the Jesuits and retaliated for perceived slights and injustices. At first, Alfred's resistance was literary and editorial but soon he was hiding Jews in nearby towns and helping them escape to Switzerland. In perpetrating these acts of mercy and grace, he was burning any bridges that might lead him back to the safety of silence before the Nazi oppressors--he had made an indelible statement in his resistance and in his associations and friendships. Eventually, it cost him his life.

Alfred's mentor and guide was retaliated against as an individual Jesuit and this led the man to become increasingly involved in underground resistance to the Nazis. He introduced Alfred to the Kreisau circle and he continued to form friendships with people who recognized what great evil was being committed in the name of nationalism. Alfred's involvement was as a religious adviser and teacher who dreamed of a day when the Third Reich would fall and prepared for the aftermath of its collapse. He worked with his mentor and two Lutheran pastors, as well. But the Nazis brooked no resistance and soon had arrested the members of the Kreisau circle and imprisoned them. While Alfred was imprisoned, he continued to offer pastoral care and say mass for the interested. He continued ministry even though he knew his own death was fast approaching. One day a Jesuit priest was sent by Alfred's mentor to finalize Alfred's involvement with the Jesuits.Behind bars and facing certain death, Alfred took his final vows without the guards having any idea what had happened. He was tried in a mockery of justice and sentenced to die. The guards agreed to set him free if he would deny his faith and the Jesuits but he refused. They murdered him on February 2, 1945. His body was cremated and his ashes were scattered across sewage fields near Berlin.

February 3 - Blaise, Martyr, Physician, Healer

2012-02-03T07:00:00.000-05:00

To be honest, the crowd was a little shocked to see the woman at the parade with her child. Didn't she know there would soon be blood and screaming? They were further shocked when she pushed her way to the front of the crowd. What kind of mother was so keen to see the gory death of a man at the hands of the Roman Empire? The greatest shock, however, was to watch her step across the unspoken boundary that separated audience from spectacle and willingly interpose herself upon the death story being written for Blaise. She carried the child before him and knelt down at his feet.What a sight! A free woman kneeling at the feet of a condemned criminal! She even raised up her young son before the man and implored him to help the child who was choking on something. Blaise halted as best he could and considered the situation briefly. To the surprise of the crowd, he simultaneously prayed for the child while manipulating the child's throat. Soon, the child was fine thanks to Blaise and Blaise was kicked forward by the guards to continue upon the previously schedule death march. Blaise was more than willing to insert a little life into the story because that's what he had been doing for years.

Blaise was a physician in Caesarea who practiced his profession differently than so many others. Instead of promising great cures and healing, Blaise did not make a spectacle of himself and his talents. Yet people came from miles around to be healed and cured by his gifted hands and under his gifted prayers. He was known to be a Christian when Christianity was a crime but his goodness and benevolence were able to win over many from their uninformed biases against the Body of Christ. Whereas other physicians offered help at a very dear cost, Blaise offered very dear help at little to no cost for those who needed it most. This kind of radical and ridiculous benevolence and love rankled those who stood to gain by doing the opposite. Then, one day, the bishop of the area died and Blaise was appointed the next bishop to great acclaim from the Christian population.

Blaise was not the bishop of the area for long, though, as he was turned in by those who opposed him and his charity. He was well known for healing and curing the people whom Rome would rather forget and so he was an easy target for the powerful. They marched him to the appointed place of his execution and then raked over his body with iron combs. Each vicious stroke raised fresh blood to his skin that would never be healed by human hands. He died a martyr--having saved a child on his way to his own death--because he refused to deny the faith that caused him to give his life away in small gifts of health and prayer. Blaise died proclaiming life in the face of death and even taking a small break in the midst of a spectacle of execution to bring life to one more person.

February 2 - Cornelius, Centurion, Recipient of Visions, First Gentile Convert

2012-02-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

In Caesarea was a man name Cornelius. Cornelius had a life that people desired--he was a centurion among notable soldiers--but something felt out of place in his life. He prayed as best he knew how and he gave alms because he suspected it was right. He was eager to live the best life he possibly could. Then, one afternoon, he had a vision: a messenger from God came into his home and called out to him. Cornelius was petrified in fear of the angel but was able to muster up enough courage to ask, "What is it, Lord?"

The angel said, in a voice both soothing and discomforting, "All your prayers and gifts offered in ignorance have made their way to God. So, send some people to Joppa to find a man named Peter--they'll find him in the home of Simon the Tanner--near the sea. After God's messenger faded into the crowds surrounding Cornelius' home, he called two of his servants with a shaky voice and one soldier who was like him in prayer and the giving of alms. He told them what had happened with a mix of fear and hopeful anticipation and then sent them to Joppa to do their part in the unfolding story.

Meanwhile, Peter was in Joppa, by the sea, at the house of Simon the Tanner and he went to the top of the house to pray at about noon. As he was praying, hunger gnawed at him and demanded to be sated but as his thoughts turned to food for his body, his thoughts were turned to a vision from God. He saw the clouds parted and a great swath of fabric being lowered down like a heavenly picnic. On the sheet were many different animals--fat and ready for slaughter. He heard a voice that sounded like it could be his own or it could be the voice of Jesus saying, "Get up, Peter. It's time for you to kill and eat."

Perhaps thinking this was a test, Peter said, "You know I won't do that, Lord. I don't eat what you have labeled unclean.

The voice insisted, "If God has made it clean, then don't call it unclean." In Peter's vision this exchange happened three times and then the sheet and all its food were gone in a flash. Peter puzzled over the vision all throughout his lunch and then all throughout the rest of the day. As he replayed the vision in his mind, he suspected that God was trying to tell him something. He was still puzzling the vision when Cornelius' men arrived at the gate of Simon's house looking for him. He heard a voice again say to him, "Peter, there are three men outside who are waiting for you. They've come because I sent them to you."

Peter was eager to find some resolution to all of this and so he hurried down to the gate and said, "I'm Peter. Why has God sent you?"

They responded, "Cornelius has sent us to find you. He is a good man who fears God and is highly respected among the Jews. He received a vision and one of God's messengers told him to seek you out and hear what you have to say." Peter took the men into the home and made them his guests and when the sun rose again, he and some of his fellow Christians went with the men back to the home of Cornelius.

Eventually, they reached Caesarea and found that Cornelius had prepared quite the event and audience to hear Peter's words. As Cornelius' messengers went out seeking Peter, he had become anxious and eager to hear what words might come. So eager was Cornelius to know how and who he should worship, he fell at the feet of Peter and offered worship on the spot to Peter. Peter tapped him on the back and said, "Not me Cornelius. I'm human just like you."Cornelius led Peter in to meet the audience and when Peter saw all the ones gathered to hear him, he remarked, "You all know well how Jews do not associate with other nations and have strict laws concerning purity. Well, God has shown me that no person is unclean.So, when Cornelius sent for me I came quickly without knowing why. I was responding to God's guidance, what were you doing?" Hearing this, Cornelius told the story of the vision and the message and asked Peter if he would be so kind as to share what God had laid upon his heart.

So, Peter cleared his throat and said: "I know well that God is not partial to nations but instead looks at the hearts of individuals. But as for the word he sent to Israel--the good news that Jesus is Lord of all--you already know what happened in Judea and how it began with John baptizing Jesus in the wilderness. Jesus was anointed and went about doing good things and casting out evil and the enemy wherever he went. You saw it and so did I. They put him to death by crucifixion thinking it would be an end of him but he was raised again on the third day. After this resurrection, he appeared to many and he was close to us again. He told us what it is that we should do: preach to the people and bear witness that he is the one called to judge the living and the dead. After all, it was Jesus that all the prophets talked about when they said that all those who trust in him receive forgiveness from sin through his name."

But there was more to it than words. While Peter was speaking, the Holy Spirit fell on Peter and upon the audience and redemption and salvation came very near to the audience who found themselves transformed by the gospel message of forgiveness and life in the face of sin and death. The fellow Jewish Christians that came with Peter were surprised to see Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit. But they couldn't deny that the gentiles were speaking in tongues and offering praise to God who had made Jesus Lord of all. Peter turned to his fellow Christians and said, "Surely none of you can hold the baptismal waters hostage from ones such as these men and women who have heard the good news and been filled with the Holy Spirit." So, they were baptized in the name of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and Peter remained with them for a while.

February 1 - Brigid of Kildare, Convert, Nun, Abbess

2012-02-01T07:00:00.000-05:00

At first, Dubhthach attributed the missing flour and pantry supplies to a variety of sources including simply poor estimations of how much they had left. Yet, he hadn't been pestered by a beggar in some time for food and this made him start to wonder. Then, one day he caught his daughter Brigid hastily giving away flour and oil to a beggar at the front door who thanked her profusely. He was furious that she would give away the family's things to beggars and those in particular need. When he confronted her for what she was doing, she reminded him that she felt a calling to do ministry and that she would do it wherever she was with whatever she had access to. He seethed privately over her confident brand of charity and wondered if the faith she shared with her mother really was enough to change lives, values, and outlooks. He had married her mother knowing she had been convert to the Christian religion who had been baptized by Patrick of Ireland. What he hadn't known was the change that had infected her heart the day she gladly accepted the baptismal waters. Their daughter Brigid had clearly been likewise converted upon hearing the Christian story and the specific story of St. Patrick.

He had left her alone because he didn't quite know how to stop her. He didn't want her to leave and become a nun like she desired because he still hoped to persuade to leave her faith. Yet, he couldn't stand the idea of her using his family's wealth to take care of people he had no desire to help. It seems the decision was made for him when she took the jewel-encrusted sword in their home and gave it to a beggar to sell to feed his family and buy medicines. His fury overran his hesitation and he insisted that she pack her things and leave. She had gone one step too far and it was apparent that she would not be happy until she had given away all that she could to help and love the poor. Even in his rage, he didn't want to see her become destitute, though, and so he sent her to a convent. When she arrived, she took her vows and became a nun under the guidance of St. Moel the Briton.

As a nun, Brigid was known for her piety, devotion, and holiness. She did not take vows to make sure she had a life provided to her but because she wanted a chance to pour herself out for others. Soon, her vibrant prayers and eager charity attracted attention of leaders of the Celtic Church. Her faith was not especially mystical or esoteric and was, in fact, focused on finding ways to live and practice her faith in the every day. Mountain top experiences were alright but they weren't the fuel that maintained Brigid's steady and passionate faith. Eventually, she was appointed abbess of a double-monastery in Kildare. As a double-monastery, it meant that she was a spiritual director and guide both to nuns and monks. As abbess of Kildare, she had the authority and influence of a bishop. Even now, Brigid is considered one of the great saints of Ireland and is remembered alongside Patrick whom she hoped to emulate in her life and faith. When she died in 524, she was buried in the abbey near the altar. Her presence among the faithful continued to inspire them toward a practice faith that called all to pour themselves out whatever the cost.

January 31 - Menno Simons, Reformer, Anabaptist, Champion of Peace

2012-01-31T07:00:00.000-05:00

His pulse quickened and sweat began to bead upon his forehead ever so slightly. He didn't think anybody noticed his momentary pause and moment of anxiety but he couldn't be sure.Menno Simons swallowed hard and picked up where he left off in the mass. As they approached the moment when the bread and wine would become the body and blood of Christ, Menno became increasingly anxious about what he was doing. "This is silly," he thought to himself, "I've done this simple thing so many times...it's no different than last time." But his inward chiding would not deter the feeling that something special was happening in the moment--it was different than the last time he had done it because he was paying particular attention to the moment and tickling, small voice of the the Holy Spirit as it spoke to his heart. As he continued in the mass, his mind was brought back to only a few days prior when he and some of his fellow priests had been taking everything so lightly in the pub. As they drank and played cards, they seemed to have a life devoid of worry or anxiety--theyhad a job to do and they were good at doing it.Plus, it paid very well for the son of a poor, peasant family who had lived in a town oppressed by imperial aims and ambitions. He cleared his head by convincing himself that he was being deceived by the devil and that what he was doing was the same thing he had always been doing.

For years, he was tormented by doubts and fears that not everything was right about what was going on in the services. Menno felt as if God was genuinely calling him to live a Christian life and not simply the relaxed life of a priest. At times, he seemed to have felt a call to follow God even if it meant not following the Church. This was a horrifying prospect for a man as loyal as Menno was. Ultimately, he decided to seek out solace and solution in the scripture. Ironically, this was a novel approach for Menno. Most of his friends and colleagues were relatively unfamiliar with the scripture because they had been provided with everything they needed to do their job. When Menno began to voraciously consume the scripture his pain only intensified. He knew that the path he was following was one that others had followed and it had led them to a position known as "the reformation" and he feared it. He didn't want to end up like Luther or Zwingli but he couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. He earnestly desired the unity of the One Church but could not escape the suspicion that reformation was needed if the One Church was to remain Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. Having become familiar with the scripture, he eventually found himself siding with the Anabaptists even if it meant being defrocked and being labeled a schismatic. This wounded loyal Menno like no other blow but he was willing to suffer it because he felt called to the vitiating faith he felt his brothers and sisters were losing. Shortly after the death of his brother Pieter as an Anabaptist martyr at Munster, he finally made the break and became a member of the Church in protest to a Church where baptism and civil citizenship were synonymous and where the sword was wielded with easiness and lightness.

Menno always rejected the sword and insisted that the Christian way was the way of peace even if it cost the individual everything. He once wrote, "True Christians do not know vengeance. They are the children of peace. Their hearts overflow with peace. Their mouths speak peace, and they walk in the way of peace." He spent the remainder of his life serving among other Anabaptists as a preacher of peaceful reformation. It wasn't that he wanted the Roman Catholics to fail but, rather, to succeed wildly and profess a life-giving faith he feared was increasingly absent. Along these lines, he insisted that his brothers and sisters take up peaceful ways of resistance and reformation although some Anabaptists did not. Eventually, as Anabaptists were persecuted and began reacting violently, Menno was asked to be an official leader and shepherd of the group. He still insisted that they renounce the sword and take up the cross. For this, he was criticized by some and lauded by others. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that later Anabaptists began referring to themselves as "Mennonites," even though Menno himself would have strongly resisted the name. He died on January 25, 1561, as a leader and reformer having failed to see the reunion of the Church but in hope that there was room for unity through peaceful reformation.

January 30 - Basil of Caesarea, Champion of Community, Theologian, Cappadocian

2012-01-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

Sainthood seems to have been a hobby for the family of Basil. One of his grandmothers was Macrina the Elder. One of his grandfathers was a martyr. His father was Basil the Elder. His mother was Emelia. One of his sisters was Macrina the Younger. Among his brothers were Peter of Sebaste, Naucratius, and Gregory of Nyssa. Beyond that, he was a close friend of Gregory of Nazianzus.Looking back over the surface of the waters of time, it is difficult not to be amazed at the inspiring family life of Basil but it's likely that he thought it normal for much of his life. His family was wealthy and generous but never lacking in goods or money. Because of their great wealth, Basil had the opportunity to receive the best education that money could buy--literally--after being educated at the knee of Basil the Elder and Macrina the Elder. He excelled in his studies while in Caesarea and had a particular talent for rhetoric and persuasive speaking. Through all of this and in spite of his holy family, Basil had no real connection to the Faith that moved and motivated so many of his kin. So, he returned to be with his family and practiced law. His life was looking like it would be successful by some standards but atypical from that of his family's history and future.

When he was thirty, a variety of circumstances assailed him. He had been educating his younger brothers but had also been hearing from his sister Macrina that he should not become puffed up with his own education. From Macrina, he heard a different set of values than he had been instructed in by his teachers and mentors--how could she say that knowledge wasn't a good in and of itself? Yet, he met a man named Eustathius and things changed. This bishop and ascetic rocked Basil's world and turned it upside down by pointing to an entirely different set of values as supreme; a set of values that prioritized love and service above knowledge and the world's standards for success. Basil described the whole event like waking up from a thirty year dream. He felt that he could now see through the illusions of life and he too picked up asceticism as a way of taming the body and mind and bringing it in line with Jesus' calling upon his disciples. Basil was changing slowly but surely and nowhis future looked very different.

After being baptized he began traveling from monastery to monastery to learn more about the monastic and ascetic way. What troubled him about the experience was the intense isolation that the men and women underwent to seek after God. To Basil, this seemed like a broken idea because he understood the Christian community to be a transformed and transforming body that should not be abandoned by any means. He began calling fellow Christians and monastics together to live in community with each other as a foretaste of the Kingdom of God. These little groups of people became powerful witnesses to a Gospel that promised not only salvation but also the redemption and healing of the world. He called to his friend Gregory of Nazianzus and the two of them worked together in transforming monasticism into a communal project before Basil found out that Gregory was avoiding his family because of a desire to be a monk. Basil encouraged his friend to return home and serve in the community that he was already connected with. It was hard to send Gregory away but Basil knew it was best for the Church and for his friend.

Eventually, Basil became a bishop and official leader within the Church. He was a skilled theologian and speaker and was given many opportunities to shape the growth of the fledgling Body of Christ. In one famine, he opened up his church's doors to provide food for any and all that would come and receive it. He spent time regularly with thieves and prostitutes so that he might not forget that Christ was among these and not a commodity that the Church could trade in. He was keenly interested in serving the God who had called him out of slumber and he did so with a passion that surprised many who had met him while a student and become reacquainted with him after his conversion. Theologically, he recanted the semi-Arianism of his youth and became a staunch supporter of the Nicene creed. His theological work was not aimed at vilifying or victimizing the Arians but, rather, at bringing them back within the warm embrace of orthodoxy. When his mentor Eustathius was found to be on the other side of a point of argument, he maintained a loving relationship with the man while all the while arguing against him and insisting he was in error. Basil died in 379 as a servant of the Church that had called and formed him. He had been raised from slumber to pursue those whom God loved furiously. Perhaps the most fitting compliment for the man: he fit in well with his family.

January 29 - Jacques Bunel, Martyr, Priest, Opponent of the Nazis,

2012-01-29T07:00:00.000-05:00

We know that Jacques Bunel was born Lucien Bunel but we know remarkably little else about his childhood. We know that he became a Roman Catholic priest and member of the Carmelite order and took the name Jacques de Jesus.Jacques served as a minister of the Faith he confessed and loved by becoming headmaster of a school in Avon, France. This school was known as Petit Collège Sainte-Thérèse de l' Enfant-Jésus. From this refuge he would engage in the activities that make him laudable but also cost him his life. As the Nazi scourge swept through Europe, Jacques found a way to resist the Nazi empire nonviolently and in a way that would save lives. Jacques began his revolutionary life saving by offering three spots at his school to three Jewish boys whom he helped assume false identities and names. These three boys were named Hans-Helmut Michel, Jacques-France Halpern, and Maurice Schlosser and would be part of the reason that the Nazis would eventually murder Jacques. Had Jacques known that protecting these three boys would cost him his life it seems that he would have done it anyway. Unlike many other clerics and Christians, Jacques was not blind to the atrocities being perpetrated and was willing to risk everything to be on the side of the righteous and loving. Looking at the faces of the children he protected, Jacques knew he was offering refuge to his savior.

Jacques' sacred work did not end with the three students--like any holy work Jacques' life saving gathered momentum and soon pushed him onward toward more of the same. He found a way to shelter a boy named Maurice Bas by providing him with a job at the school and a new identity.Maurice Schlosser's father was running out of places to hide and so Jacques found a home in the village that would serve as a nearby but disconnected refuge for the man. Finally, he dared another sacred moment when he brought Lucien Weil--a famous Jewish botanist--onto the faculty of his school. Having brought at least six people within his protective power, he knew that it was only a time until the Nazis cracked down upon him. That day came on January 15, 1944 when the Gestapo arrested Jacques and the first three boys he protected. Within the next month they had arrested the others that Jacques had worked to hard to protect. All were shipped away to work and death camps. When told he was being arrested for disobeying the law, Jacque responded: "I know only one law: that of the Gospel and Charity."

The boys and Lucien Weil died in Auschwitz. Jacques was transferred from camp to camp before ending up in Mauthausen in May of 1945. Wherever he went he was known as optimistic and hopeful for liberation. Further, he encouraged his fellow prisoners to share their food and encourage each other. Often, he would go without food so that others might eat. This was near the end of the war and liberation was steadily coming to the camps as the Allied forces beat back the Nazi empire. When Mauthausen was liberated Jacques did a curious thing. He was suffering from tuberculosis and weighed less than 80 pounds when the liberating forces came but he insisted that the others be liberated first. He waited until he knew that all others had gone before him before he consented to be liberated from the hell that the Nazis had engineered for him and other innocents. He died from his illness before he ever made it back to France. His body was shipped back to the school he loved and buried on the grounds of the refuge God had gifted him so that he might try to protect others. Those whom Jacques protected were still murdered by those whom Jacques resisted but he offered love and protection as a testament to the right place of the Church in opposition to great evil. Jacques died a martyr whose death confessed greater allegiance to the Kingdom than to himself.

January 28 - Thomas Aquinas, Doctor, Theologian, Monastic

2012-01-28T07:00:00.000-05:00

Thomas' parents had especially high expectations for how his life should proceed. As members of the southern Italian nobility, their several sons all had very precise blueprints for how their lives and ambitions should flow. Thomas was one of the youngest of his brothers and they all shared an uncle who was an abbot in a Benedictine monastery. Without every considering questions of calling and how Thomas felt about it, his family simply assumed that young Thomas would become a Benedictine abbot and monk. They provided him with an exemplary education in a great institution but a war broke out and it became necessary to send Thomas to a school in Naples where he was introduced to the works of Aristotle, Averroes, and Maimonides. Further--and to the eventual dismay of his mother and father--he was introduced to a Dominican preacher by the name of John. As Thomas heard the stories of the Faith again from the lips of John, he felt a buzzing within him that seemed to call him inexorably toward service to God. This much had been expected but to serve in a Dominican monastery would have been considered unacceptable. Their plan had been made and there was no room for God's calling within it.

The Dominicans were pleased to have an able mind like Thomas and knew well that his family would resist his desire to become a Dominican monk. Consequently, they arranged for him to be taken to Rome and sent to Paris from Rome. The plan was mapped out and executed but Thomas' mother had a plan of her own. A few of Thomas' brothers were waiting for him in Rome and they seized him and dragged him back to the home of their mother and father so that he might be dissuaded from following after God's leading. It's easy to look back and wonder why Thomas insisted on the Dominicans over the Benedictines if both are monastic groups that devote themselves to God. It's easy for our minds to think that it would have been better for Thomas to give in and become a Benedictine because it would be "close enough." But, this falls into the same trap that Thomas' family fell into: a feeling that if we can our own will "close enough" to God's will, then that will be good enough without actually having to turn over our lives and wills to God. They imprisoned their own son and brother and did everything within their power to bend his will to theirs and away from God's.

At one point, his brothers decided that it would be better to ruin Thomas then see him become a Dominican. Their dehumanization of their brother had reached its completion and they now saw him as a commodity to be traded for family honor and influence. They paid a prostitute to seduce Thomas and led her into his room where Thomas could not escape. He refused to be seduced and ran the woman out of his room with a burning stick from the fireplace. All the while, he was a tutor and teacher to his family--specifically his sisters. Eventually, Thomas' mother arranged for him to escape and leave the home because she wanted to be rid of him but did not want to go through the indignity of disowning and abandoning her own son. Thomas escaped and eventually became a Dominican monk and theologian. He served the Church as a writer and thinker. His answers to theological questions--memorialized in his master work: Summa Theologica--informed and educated not only audiences of his day but also Christians of all subsequent generations. The one who had been imprisoned and persecuted for his call became a teacher and wise man whose words and works would carry God's message into the hearts of many discerning the first inklings of God's call upon their lives.

January 27 - Marcella, Martyr, Widow, Monastic

2012-01-27T07:00:00.000-05:00

Marcella was born to wealthy parents of considerable influence in Roman society. Further, she married a man of affluence and influence, as well. She was primed for a life of pleasure, recreation, and relaxation. Yet she had only been married for seven to nine months before her husband died and she became a widow. Of course, she was a widow who lived very comfortably thanks to the wealth she had inherited but she was a widow nonetheless. This event became the catalyst that pushed her onward to consider what was truly valuable in life and what of the Roman culture and life was nothing more than illusion and delusion. She devoted herself to a brand of ascetic joy that involved renouncing herself and her own ambitions in favor of taking care of the poor and hungry. She soon found herself with plenty of work to do and many demands on her time and she couldn't have been happier.

At one point, a wealthy man became enamored with Marcella. By this time, Marcella had become a leader in the Roman Church and had become an inspiration to other women to live lives of daring faith. He decided he would woo her and make the widow his wife and he assumed it would be an easy thing since she had been widowed and widows were often of little influence and power in Roman society because of their sex. He went to her and he proposed marriage saying that she could inherit all of his fortune when he died if she would only marry him. He was a wealthy political leader and his fortune was considerable but Marcella responded: “If I wished to marry, I should look for a husband, not an inheritance.” He went away without a wife and with a new understanding of Marcella's devotion to the ministry to which she had been called.

She started a school for women to study scripture and pray. It was rather successful and soon she wasspiritual mother to many younger women who sought to follow after the same Christ who had captivated Marcella. Then the Goths came to Rome. The Goths looted and plundered the riches of Rome under the direction of Alaric and soon found their way to Marcella's school. Likely, they had heard that the old widow was a wealthy woman and that her school was highly respected. To the Goths, this meant she was an ideal target for their terror inducing savagery. They forced their way into the school and demanded all of the valuables that Marcella had. She insisted that she had nothing to offer them as she had spent her life giving herself and her things away to the poor. Her wealth, she declared, was in the stomachs of the poor people in the city. The Goths tortured her to get her to reveal her hidden stores of valuables but were not successful since she had nothing but her clothes and a few meager possessions to offer them. The soldiers seized one of her students--Principia--and informed Marcella that they would rape and kill the woman if Marcella did not give them what they wanted. Marcella dropped to her hands and knees and begged mercy from Alaric insisting that she had nothing to give and begging them to leave the woman alone. Seeing the once wealthy and powerful old woman on her knees in tears with blood streaming down her back begging for the welfare of another, their hearts were turned at last to mercy. They took Marcella and her students to a nearby sanctuary--even carrying the weakened Marcella--so that they might not be victimized any further. Marcella died from her wounds shortly thereafter with her head resting on the lap of Principia whom she had saved.

January 26 - John Bradford, Martyr, Roving Chaplain, Reformer

2012-01-26T07:00:00.000-05:00

While John Bradford was confined to the royal prison--the Tower of London to be precise--he was far away from his books and academic world but that is where all of this had started. Born to a wealthy family,he was given the gift of a good and comprehensive education. From there, John went on to study more and pursue an intellectual career emphasizing his greatest strength: accounting and mathematics. He served as an officer in King Henry VIII's army and was in the position of accounting for payroll for the soldiers who fought Henry's wars. After this, he pursued a career in law as a legal professional but while studying he had the mixed fortune of befriending a man who supported the English reformation. As he studied and talked with his new friend he found himself slowly but steadily being won over to the Anglican church in particular and the teachings of the Church in general. The earnest eagerness of his friend convinced John to take his faith ever more seriously. He could stand it no longer and so hestopped studying law and started studying theology so he might become a minister of the faith he had been infected with.

When he had received his education he began his clerical career first as a teaching fellow and secondly as an ordained priest who was given a region to rove and preach in. With Anglican leaders in control of Britain, he was not under immediate threat but tensions were high with other Christians--Roman Catholic Christians in particular. He preached and taught and served the Faith as best he knew how until Mary Tudor took control of the throne and fortunes were reversed. Soon thereafter he was arrested on charges of attempting to incite mob activity. These trumped up charges took away his freedom and imprisoned him in the Tower of London. It was from his window in the tower that he looked down upon some anonymous criminal going off to die for his crimes and remarked, "There but for the grace of God goes John Bradford." John had not lost his connection with God's grace and his need for God's forgiveness even as he had gained honor and received suffering. He knew well that it was only the grace of God that separated him from a life of unrepentant corruption. One thing he would share with that criminal, though, was a state-sponsored death.

Some time after his famous remark, he was charged and tried before a court disposed toward execution. Predictably, he was found guilty and condemned to death at the hands of an Empire that would not accept his brand of resistance. He was tied to a stake with another man and wood was piled around his feet and body. As they brought the torch, he asked for forgiveness for any that he might have wronged and publicly offered forgiveness to those who had wronged him.Enveloped in forgiveness on all sides, he was set ablaze by murderous hands. He died a martyr of the reformation of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. There with the grace of God went John Bradford.

January 25 - Gregory of Nazianzus, Doctor, Theologian, Archbishop

2012-01-25T07:00:00.000-05:00

Had Gregory ever heard the sentiment that "you can't go home again" he would have likely agreed wholeheartedly. After going away to school and studying intensely with his new friend Basil, he returned to the home of his parents full of vigor and hope for the future. Gregory's father--Gregory, Sr.--had become bishop of his home region of the Church after Gregory's mother--Nonna--had convinced him to consider conversion. Years after his conversion, Gregory's father was serving the Church in a shepherding and guidance role and expected Gregory to return from school and join him in leadership within the Church that had served as both comfort and affliction. But, Gregory came home speaking about a life of disconnection from the world and a life of ascetic joy and pursuit. His father insisted that he should serve in a role similar to his own role within the Church and was troubled by his son's change of heart--especially given the struggles between orthodoxy and Arianism that had only intensified over the last few years.Gregory was upset that his hopes were not met with excitement and left his home to go and be with his friend Basil.

Basil didn't offer the conspiring advice that Gregory hoped for. Though Basil and Gregory had hoped to become ascetics together, Basil's advice turned from encouraging to discouraging when he found out what Gregory's father had said. He advised his dear friend to follow his father's advice and teaching and become a Church leader and shepherd. Likely Gregory resisted this at first but soon found himself seeing his friend's wisdom even when he couldn't see his father's identical wisdom. So, he returned to the home of his father and became a leader within the Church--eventually becoming Archbishop. He would even help walk his father back into the embrace of orthodoxy when his aged father became persuaded by a heretic and wandered from the Church's teaching. The father who had insisted on the Church's need for Gregory found himself in need and Gregory willing to serve.

His incredible rhetorical skills made him a noted and highly esteemed leader and theologian, yet perhaps the most amazing aspect of Gregory's leadership and writing was his willingness to lay down anything and everything to reconcile others to the Faith that gripped and held him. When he was invited to councils and synods he was always eager to take a little extra time and effort to bring people back into the fold instead of simply breaking communion with them. At the Second Ecumenical council his presence there was disputed by some of those who opposed him theologically. When he was asked to moderate and mediate the meeting, he did so and reached out to his opposition but they were unpersuaded. Finding that he could not bring peace to the meeting he resigned his position and said, "Let me be as the Prophet Jonah! I was responsible for the storm, but I would sacrifice myself for the salvation of the ship." With these words, he left his position and his willingness to resign power for the sake of unity brought about momentary peace and agreement between the parties. He finished his life serving in the Church that had called and formed him even as he had fought and resisted the drive to power and drive to do solely what he wanted. He was willing to lay himself and his will down for the good of the Church he loved and that loved him.

January 24 - Babylas of Antioch, Martyr, Prisoner, Buried in his Chains

2012-01-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

Babylas had been a leader of the Church in Antioch. In fact, he was presiding over the Easter vigil and services in the year that the emperor Philip tried to coerce the Church into siding with him. Philip had feigned faith for years and continued to worship the civil religion when he thought he could get away with it. The Church was willing to have him show up but was not willing to make him an object of worship or adoration--when he walked through the Church doors he was nothing more than another sinner seeking grace. In Philip's case, it's dubious that he was ever seeking grace and much more likely that he was interested in covering over his political machinations with the clothing of the Church.Babylas was unwilling to allow it.

When Philip came to the vigil, Babylas met him at the door and tried to save him some shame. Philip asked to be let in and Babylas shook his head sadly and said, "You can only enter if you'll come as a penitent." Philip was uninterested in taking the position of one seeking forgiveness for and healing from sin. It would lower him to be with the people whom he ruled and would not give him the honor he was so confident he deserved. When Philip insisted that he be let in as an honored guest, Babylas was undeterred from his refusal. The tension in the moment only got worse as Philip waited for Babylas to crack and relent. When Philip indicated his armed guards and attempted to coerce Babylas with worldly power and threat it came as a surprise to Philip--but no surprise to those who knew Babylas--when Babylas closed the doors and barred them to the unrepentant emperor. If Philip would not repent from his sins and come seeking grace then the door was to be barred to him as the Church could not honor or esteem one who was not aware of his own sickness--after all, Jesus came for the sick and not for the well.

Babylas paid a price for this and Philip had him arrested, chained, and thrown in prison. He was left to rot in jail alone and constantly chained. He continued his life of devotion and prayer under chains and persecution because he had been called to it regardless of the cost. Occasionally, he was allowed visitors from the Church and they would secret the Eucharist to him so that he might remain part of the communion he had given himself for but he was never allowed out of his chains. His chains were supposed to serve as an ever present reminder of the Empire's ability to punish those who resisted it but for Babylas they were a reminder of the weight of sin upon the soul and the need of healing within the Empire. When Decius took power and the Decian persecutions began, Babylas was martyred as he was already within the iron grip of the Empire that wanted to eliminate Christians. He was one of the first and was buried in his chains as he had requested of his Christian brothers and sisters.

January 23 - Charles Spurgeon, Preacher, Author, Pastor

2012-01-23T07:00:00.000-05:00

It was January in England and Charles was only fifteen when he set out into a storm for some now forgotten appointment. The journey was difficult but manageable for a young man like Charles. Yet, as he drew nearer and nearer to his destination the storm grew more and more insurmountable and inescapable. It was as if the storm was offended by his continued journey and determined to turn him aside. Eventually, Charles did turn aside into a little Methodist church where he might find shelter from the wind and snow. As he waited for the storm to pass, he picked up a Bible and considered it. He had heard some of the stories contained therein but they had not had any significant effect upon his life as of yet. He opened to Isaiah--perhaps a favorite book of his at the time--and was hit by a verse: "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else." At these astounding words, Charles bucked. There is none else? Surely that couldn't be right. Yet, he was caught upon the hook of God's grace and could not escape either the snowstorm or God's furious love. It was alone in that little church that Charles would say "God opened [his] heart to the salvation message." Charles Haddon Spurgeon was converted to a faith worth talking about.

He was later baptized in the Baptist church his family attended. His passion and intensity were plain to see by the leaders and laypeople alike in the small church. He was asked to preach the following winter and he did so gladly to much acclaim and appreciation. It seemed he had a gift. Few expected the boy preacher to have much of a gift--if any at all--and were amazed to hear the way Charles spoke to them as one having authority. His style was not the cultured and educated style of many clergy but, rather, was characterized by an earnest and sincere directness that gripped the heart of the reader and begged it to reconsider what Jesus had to say. Whereas many preachers were waxing theological and earning accolades with sweet words, Charles had one powerfulstrategy: beg the listener to take Jesus seriously and at his word. It was very effective and he soon found himself a pastor (less than five years after being converted) and preacher at the largest Baptist church in all of London.

In spite of his failure among homiletical critics, soon he was regularly preaching to crowds of more than 10,000 listeners. All of this happened within ten years of finding Jesus in a little Methodist church where he was forced to take shelter from the storm. He was finding that there was "none else" but God that brought salvation and hope for many. He was soon invited to preach at the Crystal Palace and he did so gladly having just founded a preacher's academy that he had been publicizing. He entered the area to test its acoustics and determine where the platform should be placed. He picked a phrase that spoke to him and which he routinely used in sermons: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!" As he shouted it repeatedly, it fell upon the ears of a man who had been doing some renovations and repairs in the building. As the repetitions hammered upon his brain, he was struck by the incredible desperate sincerity in the voice of the preacher and he left his job to go home and think upon the sentence he had heard several times. That night the man was converted to follow after the one and only Lamb of God.

Charles' sermons became one of the most widely read publications in the history of printing and his sermons became collector's items for those desperate to hear a word from God. Though he never extended an altar call at any point in his career he did invite all who were moved to meet with him in the church building on Monday morning. Routinely, these meetings were full of people moved to tears and conversion by the sincere and hopeful words of a man who had been turned aside by a snowstorm. He died, as the end of the 19th century approached, a noted and lauded preacher not by critics but by the ones whose lives had been changed by his preaching.

January 22 - Timothy, Martyr, Shepherd, Companion of Paul

2012-01-22T07:00:00.000-05:00

Timothy had heard about the one they were talking about--Jesus. Perhaps he had even met himbut apparently he had not been persuaded to become a follower of his if he had indeed run across him in his travels. Of course, Timothy was only a late teenager when Jesus had been put to death and it was Paul who had really brought the Gospel to him later in Lystra. In fact, it was nearly two decades after Jesus' death that Timothy finally found him in the words of the traveling missionary who seemed to be calling Timothy to a higher calling than a typical life in Lystra. It had all happened when Paul and Barnabas had showed up one day to preach their message in Timothy's town and region. With much prayer and passion, they brought about a miraculous healing of a crippled child and the people were shocked. In the face of compassionate power that the Empire could not match--for it could cripple but never heal--many of the witnesses were converted to the faith of Paul and Barnabas. Timothy, his mother Eunice, and his grandmother Loida were all part of these initial converts in Lystra. Timothy became the companion of Paul and went with them on their missionary journeys.

It was at the feet of Paul that Timothy received his education in the faith that now gripped his heart and soul. As they traveled, Paul taught and Timothy learned. In this way, Timothy was immersed not only in the waters of baptism but in the ebb and flow of Christian teaching. Thus, it was no surprise when this loved one of Paul became a leader in the Church at Ephesus. Paul appointed Timothy to be a shepherd of a flock in need of guidance and leadership. Though Timothy did not look forward to leaving his cherished place of guidance by Paul's side, he knew that God had called him and prepared him for an important ministry within the Church. Paul went on with his journeys and Timothy became a leader in the Church. Indeed, Timothy received letters from his mentor advising him how to live into his calling but most of Timothy's decisions were made by focusing on the guidance of the Holy Spirit.One day, though, Timothy received a letter inviting him to a prison where Paul had been incarcerated for preaching the message he shared with Timothy. Timothy traveled and said his farewells to his mentor and Paul reminded Timothy to have confidence in his calling even if it felt overwhelming at times. Paul died and Timothy returned to his flock with the knowledge that the message that he and Paul carried could very well cost him his life. Eventually, it did.

There was a festival going on in Ephesus that involved parading idols before the people so that they might worship and appeal to the gods they were supposed to represent. Timothy could see the faces of the people who put their hopes in dead stone. They sought healing and help and they received nothing but disappointment.Recalling the day he had seen God heal a crippled boy, his heart burned at the thought of misplaced faith and so he took to the street and stood in front of the parade to preach words of true hope and effective faith. They screamed for him to stop and he continued anyway because he had been trained and taught by Paul that the Gospel was worth suffering for. So, he was beaten savagely and dragged by his clothes and arms through the street before those who had such desperate hope stoned him to death and made him a martyr.

January 21 - Agnes, Martyr, Virgin, Pure of Heart

2012-01-21T07:00:00.000-05:00

Agnes was a young Christian of maybe one twelve or thirteen years of age when Diocletian's regime came calling for her life.She was a Roman citizen living in Rome with her wealthy and influential parents when the persecutions began to claim her brothers and sisters in the Faith. As was the case with many wealthy Christian families at the turn from the third to the fourth centuries, Agnes and her family's peaceful existence was turned on its head as the Empire demanded more and more and accepted less and less resistance. However, Agnes' noble parents meant that they would simply be extorted and coerced instead of immediately killed--the time of noble death usually came after they had been bled dry of all their resources by a power-hungry ruling class that no longer cared for them. So, Agnes should have been okay--except Agnes was beautiful.

She was so beautiful that the prefect's son prized her above all the other maidens and went to his father to see what could be done about gaining Agnes as his wife. The prefect was confident that the family would be all too happy to give their daughter over to his family as the bride of their son. So, he sent a courier asking what they thought of the proposal. Amazingly for the day, Agnes' father wanted to know what Agnes thought about the proposition. She rejected the offer and word was sent back to the prefect as the family waited--holding their breath at the expected retaliation. The prefect was furious that they would dare deny him his wishes and his will. He didn't understand why her father hadn't forced her to marry his son and demanded that Agnes be brought before him. When Agnes arrived, she seemed confident in a way that surprised the prefect and so, instead of questioning her--somehow knowing she would continue to refuse even under threat--he ordered her to be killed. "But, prefect," one of his advisers interjected,"she is a virgin and cannot be executed...it would be unseemly." Everybody let out their breath feeling that surely Agnes' life would be spared. They underestimated the cruelty of the Empire.

"We'll see what we can do about that," growled the prefect. His armed and trained guards stripped a young teenage girl of her clothing and chained her hands and feet. She was taunted and mocked for her nudity and age and then led naked through the streets of Rome. The guards led the defenseless girl at sword point as if she were a dangerous criminal--shewho had refused the prefect's wishes--and brought her to a brothel to be raped so that she might then be executed. When they tried to seize her they found themselves unable even though she did not resist them. It seemed that their bodies didn't work right. When she was finally pushed into the brothel, men lined up to rape the young girl but were stricken blind as each of them tried to step forward and perpetrate that unholy act upon her. In fear, they took her from the brothel and tied her to a stake. As they tried to set the young girl on fire the wood refused to catch. In fear and panic, the commander drew his sword and drove it through Agnes' throat. The naked little girl had brought an Empire to its knees only by refusing to be shaken or coerced. Her grave became a site of adoration and prayer and yet more Christians were gathered in by the empire for martyrdom upon visiting Agnes' grave.

January 20 - Fabian, Martyr, Pope, Layman

2012-01-20T07:00:00.000-05:00

Anterus had died and so the Church needed a new bishop in Rome. Many Christians from the surrounding communities gathered in one location in Rome to select, call, and appoint a new bishop of Rome--the next pope. Of course, they were mourning the passing of Anterus but they were also busy about the business of the Church as they felt God was calling them to be. The Church did not know it at the time--though some may have seen the writing on the wall--but the next pope would be crucial for the life of Christians throughout the Roman Empire as Decius would become emperor and the Decian persecution was only a little ways away. For now, though, the emperor was Marcus Julius Philippus--remembered as Philip--and life was relatively easy as evidenced by the significant public ingathering of Christians. As they talked about who the next pope might be several notable names were passed around--until something miraculous happened. The assembly stopped talking suddenly when they saw a dove slowly circle the gathering. Every eye focused on the dove and every mind turned to the familiar story of Jesus' baptism and they wondered if this dove might mean something amazing. The bird landed gracefully upon the head of a lay Christian named Fabian.

At first, there must have been confusion as to why the dove had not landed on one of the notable people in the group--it had chosen an unknown who wasn't even a priest or deacon. But as they began to voice their confusion, their minds turned to the story of the anointing of David in the house of his father Jesse. David had been a youth of so little importance that he hadn't even been invited for Samuel to inspect when choosing a new king from the sons of Jesse. Yet, God had called David and so David became king. The people held their tongues for they felt God was calling Fabian to be pope even if they didn't see how he was qualified for it. So, they selected, called, and appointed Fabian to be the bishop of Rome--the next pope.

Fabian's papacy was tame for the majority of the time and Fabian served honorably in this exalted and humbling position. Yet, when Decius became emperor the Church became very aware that a storm was brewing. Decius was no friend of the Church and would not be baptized by the pope as emperor Philip had been with his son. Instead, Decius would baptize Fabian--in blood. With the advent of the Decian persecution, the Church was eviscerated and dwindling. Through Fabian's leadership, missionaries were sent to Gaul to carry the Christian faith out of the reach of Roman oppression. Instead of hoping to renew and maintain the Church by focusing inwardly, Fabian knew that the Church was only maintained and renewed by reaching out and spreading the Gospel given to it. So, missionaries were sent that would do the work of the Church even amid the tyranny of the Empire. This great work was essential but it came at a very high price: the life of the pope. Decius hunted down Fabian and had him burned alive in the catacombs where the Church met. The pope who had insisted upon recording the deeds and words of the martyrs--because he was aware of the power of a good story--was made a martyr himself when he refused to bow his knee at the Imperial altars.

January 19 - Absadah, Martyr, Priest

2012-01-19T07:00:00.000-05:00

The persecutions that Diocletian engineered within the Roman Empire are still looked back upon with a sickly amazement. Diocletian engaged in a dance of death that was meant to bully and coerce Christians into denying their faith or simply failing to live it out. Either of these options was fine by Diocletian since his goal was thetermination of Christ's followers and both outcomes poisoned and assassinated Christian faith. Of course, if they wouldn't do these things, then they would die at the hands of the Empire in an attempt to lessen the number of influential Christians. This is where Diocletian failed to understand his enemies--the death of a martyr may have weakened the weak but it only strengthened the faithful.Further, it propelled the martyr's story into public consideration because of the oddity of their willing death. Since most the martyrs died willingly and most died without offering any resistance, the people who witnessed or heard about their deaths began to ask the questions that led to eventual faith. Every time the Empire punished and killed a martyr they only spread the Christian infection further.

Absadah feared the coming wave of persecution in Egypt and fretted regularlyabout how to address it when it finally arrived in his small town. He had been fine being Christian when it only cost him little things and occasionally inconvenienced him. He was a priest of the Church and felt a particular pressure to lead his flock in the trying times that were clearly approaching. But, when it was going to cost him his life, he balked a little. When the decrees swept through his part of Egypt, he became anxious and frightened. He ran home and he locked himself in. His earnest hope no longer rested in a resurrected savior but now rested in a barricaded door and the chance that they might not find him if he made himself hard to find. He had barred the door against any intrusion and crept into a place of seeming security so that he might keep his life. Then something miraculous happened.

Jesus appeared to Absadah who was amazed that any could enter into his home. Speaking to Absadah Jesus said, "No security can repel me, Absadah, and no persecution can truly kill me for I am the resurrection and the life." Absadah was immediately aware of what he had been doing--trading faith, hope, and love for security, chance, and fear. Jesus called Absadah to live the life he had already committed to live as a servant and disciple of life and love itself. So, Absadah's security was infiltrated by Jesus and left him with only two options: deny his faith or learn again to trust the God who had been executed. He left his home and went to the officers. He turned himself in as a Christian and set an example for his little flock. They arrested and tried him and found him guilty of trusting a power of which the Empire did not approve. He was beheaded outside of Alexandria to frighten others--but they only succeeded in spreading a gospel that proclaimed life to the dead and hope to the frightened.

January 18 - Amy Carmichael, Missionary, Intricately Designed by God

2012-01-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

Every night before she went to bed, little Amy Carmichael prayed ardently and enthusiastically for God to turn her brown eyes blue as she slept. Like many brown-eyed Irish girls in the 19th century, she adored the typical image of feminine Irish beauty that included blue eyes and white skin. So, she prayed fervently--prayed with a hope that it seems only children can muster--for God to change the part of her that seemed to be designed wrong. She desperately hoped for God's intervention--but it never came. Amy had brown eyes from the day she was born to the day she died. Regardless of how much she begged, God was not moved to effect a change in the design of Amy. However, Amy's faith was not weakened or lessened by God's refusal. Amy still trusted God even if she didn't receive everything she wanted.

As she grew older, she began teaching a Sunday morning class at a local church for a group of women who were in need of spiritual direction and guidance. This class eventually became a congregation called the Welcome Evangelical Church in Belfast, Ireland. She helped lead in and prepare for worship and people began to seek her out more and more frequently with the hope that her dependable and seemingly unrelenting faith might prove contagious. She continued there until she had the opportunity to hear Hudson Taylor preach about mission work in China. Thoughshe suffered from various nerve conditions that ill fitted her for international mission work, she answered the call all the same.

After some preparatory time in Japan, she moved to southernmost India to serve as a Christian missionary among the people of the country. The missionaries she worked with did everything they could to fit into the culture of which they were becoming a part. Amy reflected once that she now understood why she had brown eyes--a blue-eyed missionary would have been an oddity that never could have truly fit in with the people--and was thankful that God had persisted in God's intricate and elegant design instead of catering to the wishes of a girl who had not yet met her calling. She even darkened her skin with coffee to further aid in her integration and assimilation into Indian culture. She did all of this, largely, for the children she ministered to in India.

It was not uncommon in India at the time for young girls to be given to the local Hindu temple. This saved the family of the girl money because they did not have to take care of the young one who was considered a drain on finances--unlike a son--and made money for the priests who often sold the young girls as prostitutes to help cover the expenses of the girl and the priest who controlled her. Amy couldn't bear to let this happen and so she devoted herself to rescuing these young girls and housing them in whatever way she could. Soon, she had founded the Dohnavur Fellowship and provided a safe haven for over one thousand children who might otherwise die or be forced into prostitution and/or slavery. Given her devotion to pursuing and rescuing the abandoned children of India, it was no surprise that Amy insisted: "One can give without loving, but one cannot love without giving."Amy gave much and loved much because she had been intricately and elegantly designed to share God's love with people who needed it desperately.

Amy died in 1951 due in part to complications from an earlier injury obtained in her pursuit of ministry. In accordance with her wishes, she was buried in India near the Dohnavur Fellowship without a gravestone.The children she had loved and cared for in India had to do something for the woman they loved and remembered. They put up a fountain for birds over her grave and ibscribed the hindi word"Amma" upon it. This word perfectly condensed God's intricate design into one word: "mother."

January 17 - Anthony the Great, Monastic, Ascetic, Hermit

2012-01-17T07:00:00.000-05:00

Anthony's parents were something of an exception for Egyptian citizens in the lower regions of the nation--they had money and they owned land. From their affluence, they were able to provide handsomely for son and daughter even though Egypt was under the control and dominion of the Roman empire. But, they died when Anthony was eighteen years old. This left him in charge of his family estate and inheritance. The potential conflict between Anthony's faith and his family's wealth did not come to bear until he was in charge of it and charged with providing for his unmarried sister.Anthony felt called to do something ridiculous--to live a revolutionary life of freedom and self-renunciation in the desert--but was anchored to the world that tempted him by his family wealth and obligation to his sister. So, it came as a pleasant surprise when his sister was willing to join an early convent so that Anthony could follow his calling. Anthony sold his family's possessions and gave the sum total of all his considerable wealth to friends and neighbors.With this radical act, Anthony set out for the desert to live into a calling.

As he journeyed further into the wild, he slowly became more and more detoxified from the temptations and holdings of the world he left behind but it would be silly to believe that he simply walked away and was never again tempted to the affluence and influence of his youth. It was a long process but it came to bear very quickly with a very acute temptation as he journeyed. As he thought back to the city he had left he wondered if it was possible he had made a mistake. With poetic timing, Anthony looked down and saw a silver plate--of much value--holding a mound of silver coins. With these coins, he couldgo back and nearly regain the life he had left behind. He could abandon a hard calling for an easy and comfortable existence. He thought about it. Then, he spoke to the one he knew was behind the temptation: "Give it up, Satan, I won't be tempted." As he finished his retort to the temptation, it vanished and faded as Anthony's hopes would have had he given into temptation. As he traveled further, he found a larger, golden plate with and even larger mound of golden coins upon it. Wordlessly, he built a fire and tossed the gold into it whereupon it promptly vanished. He wasn't beyond temptation but he was slowly removing the barbs of the Empire from his flesh and gaining true freedom.

Anthony's life in the desert was the life of a monastic hermit. He secluded himself first in a tomb so that he could best devote himself to a life of prayer and service but no matter how far he got into the wilderness, news traveled back to the cities and increased the amazement of the people for Anthony's deeds. When he became sick, some Christians went and gathered him up to take him to a monastery and heal him. But when he was better, he left again and this time he found an old Roman fortress and made it his hermitage. The pilgrims who came to see the holy man spoke to him through a small hole in the wall of the fortress and received very few words back from him. He offered his teachings to his disciples but refused to be a spectacle for those who were not connected to him. He accepted gifts of food and drink but mainly subsisted upon the bread he made himself. As any monastic of legendary qualities, he was soon surrounded by disciples and students regardless of whether or not he wanted to be a hermit. He taught but he was devoted first and foremost to a life of self-renunciation and denial that blossomed in prayer and worship.

When he approached the end of his life, he endeavored to finally escape one more bond upon his life and so he made his peace with his disciples. He gave away his only clothing--two cloaks. One cloak was given to Serapion his disciple and the other was given to Athanasius. He gave his abbot's staff toMacariusand then he laid down prostrate upon the ground and died having made peace and preparation.Anthony had spent a lifetime rejecting the temptations of power and influence so that he might escape the hooks they would place in his soul. He had even gone so far as to ignore a letter from the emperor Constantine before being convinced by his disciples to at least offer a blessing by letter. For Anthony, freedom and peace were found in renunciation--even if it cost him his everything.

January 16 - Raoul Wallenberg, Martyr, Victim of Oppression, Liberator of the Oppressed

2012-01-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

Raoul had wealthy parents--though he never met his father who died three months before he was born--and this afforded him many opportunities. For example, he was able to study architecture at the University of Michigan even though it meant quite a bit of travel to get there from Sweden. When he returned to Sweden with his degree in hand he soon found that there was no room for young architects among the Swedes. So, first he took a job in South Africa but eventually ended up with a job in Hungary. His boss--Kálmán Lauer, a Hungarian Jew--utilized him to help handle imports and exports between Sweden and central Europe. It was a great opportunity for a young man and he proved invaluable. Especially invaluable after Nazi coercion brought about laws restricting business done by Jews in Hungary. Lauer trusted Raoul and since Raoul had learned Hungarian he made him his representative and allowed the Christian to take care of business matters where he could not do so as a Jew. Eventually, Raoul was a partner in ownership of the company and was spending more and more of his time in Hungary. Then, one day, an emissary from a refugee organization in the United States contacted him on behalf of president Roosevelt. It seemed that the organization wanted to rescue Hungarian Jews from Nazi oppression. Raoul was just the man for the job.

Sustained by his faith and his commitment to the sacredness of life, he reentered Hungary as a Swedish diplomat. As a diplomat from a different country that Hungary hoped to keep good ties with, he was able to issue protective passes that would label the bearers as individuals preparing to immigrate to Sweden. With these passes, they were relatively untouchable by the Hungarian Nazis. He was even able to lobby with the Nazis to consider these men, women, and children to be Swedes and not required to wear the yellow star that was forced upon the Jews in Hungary. But, this wasn't enough. He purchased a building and declared it to be exempt from Hungarian law because of his diplomatic immunity. He put large Swedish flags on the front and titled it the "Swedish Research Institute." But, once inside the doors it was clear that this was a place for Jews to find sanctuary from oppression. But, this still wasn't enough for Raoul--he felt called to more. The one house became several houses and the several houses became many. Yet, there was still more to be done.

It was clear that death awaited those who could not find some escape or protection and so, again, Raoul further laid himself out for his neighbors. He took to pulling off bigger and bigger stunts to free Jews from the chains of the Nazi regime. He could not free every Jew he met--and this thought tormented him--but he tried. Once, he was atop a train headed for Auschwitz and passing protective passports through the slats to the Jews within the train car. They were unsealed and, therefore, unofficial but Raoul was willing to risk everything to save these lives. He was ordered to stop what he was doing by the guards and they fired a warning shot over his head. He stopped and considered the situation--he might lose his life if he persisted in saving a few more people but he would surely lose more if he denied them their last chance at hope. So, he began passing the passes again and the guards fired at him. Whether they had poor aim or were not trying to hit him, Raoul escaped unscathed and stepped down onto the train platform. As the guards watched, he insisted that the doors be opened and that the inhabitants be checked again for Swedish protective passes. The guards opened the doors and Raoul led the men, women, and children to waiting cars and back to safety.

When the Soviets took Hungary, it seems that Raoul would be free again to live his own life now that the Jews could hopefully be safe again. He had saved tens of thousands of Jews from imperially sanitized death. Yet, he was arrested on January 17, 1945, and charged with being an American spy. Charged with espionage he was hid away in secret prisons. Later, the Soviets first insisted that he had died of a heart attack and later that he had been killed by Zionist Hungarians. Eventually, it was uncovered the the last years of Raoul's life were filled with torture, interrogation, and eventually his own execution at the hands of the Soviets. He died because he refused to agree with empires that life was a commodity to be traded and manipulated. Because of his faith in a God who taught love for neighbors and enemies, Raoul was appropriately murdered as a revolutionary--after all, nothing is more revolutionary than love in a world that cannot stand the sight or sound of it.

January 15 - Paul of Thebes, Hermit, Monastic, "the First Monk"

2012-01-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

The persecution in Thebes had been intense for quite some time but with the way Decius and Valerianus were ruling the Roman Empire it was only getting worse day by day. Paul wasn't sure what to do as he and his fellow Christians began meeting in secret and contemplating their next course of action in those turbulent times. Paul and his friends found themselves in the middle of a precarious situation: their lives and their homes tied them to Thebes but Thebes was becoming an increasingly dangerous place to live for Christians. Paul found a way out of the situation, though, by abandoning all that tied him to Thebes and becoming a hermit.

He traveled to the mountains of the Theban desert and came across a cave that looked especially inviting. As a twenty-two year old man with a few possessions, this was a significant change of lifestyle but it represented a strange kind of freedom that few knew or understood. Near his cave was a palm tree and a hidden mountain spring. Surely the words of Jesus rang in his head nearly every day as he went to gather fruit and water--"Listen carefully, don't worry about what you will eat, or what you will drink, or about what you will wear. Isn't there more to life than food and clothing?Notice the birds of the air; they don't do plant or harvest or put away supplies for security and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you more valuable than birds? And what's worrying ever done for you--has it added one single solitary second to your life?" Time went on and Paul's life became more and more isolated and devoted toprayer and worship. His city clothes gave way to time and wear and eventually Paul was clothed in garments made from the leaves of the nearby tree. His life had become simple and divorced from need upon what the Empire could offer--Paul was an island in the midst of the Roman Empire that needed and accepted no ruler but God.

One day, however, a raven flew down to greet the mostly silent Paul and it carried a small loaf of bread in itsmouth. Paul gave the small bird his thanks and rejoiced at the bread provided for him by God's will. He broke it joyfully and consumed it. The next day he saw the raven approaching again with bread and was joyous again. This process continued for the remainder of Paul's life. After subsisting upon what he could gather for twenty-one years he became further liberated from the needs of this world and found his needs met without his own work. His needs were met because he was more valuable than the birds of the air and because Jesus had taught his disciples not to fear--knowing that fear enslaves many to the empires of the world. Paul had nothing to lose and so he had everything to gain and nothing to fear.

Paul was very, very old when Anthony came one fateful day to visit with Paul and seek his advice, Paul welcomed him gladly into his small cave. Anthony was going into the desert to become a hermit and Paul--being the first recorded Christian hermit--was the person to talk to before setting out upon the path of material renunciation that leads to true freedom. Years later, Anthony--that much venerated monk and hermit--would refer to Paul as "the first monk." That day and that night, the two men talked and broke bread together. As Anthony was leaving he had the presence of mind to turn and thank Paul for his time and he saw a vibrant old man staring back and welcoming him to return whenever he would like. When Anthony did return a little while later, Paul had died in his cave in a peaceful and comfortable position. Anthony took it upon himself to bury the old man and commit his body back to the dust as a man finally freed from sin and corruption.

January 14 - Nino, Slave, Missionary, Preacher

2012-01-14T07:00:00.001-05:00

Nino felt a calling to go to Iberia--in fact, she had had a vision commanding her to take what little she had and travel east to the land that would eventually be known as Georgia. But there was one very significant impediment to Nino's missionary calling: she was a slave and, according to the Roman powers, her life was not her own to direct. She had quite a pedigree being related to notable and powerful leaders both within the Church and without it, yet she had been taken captive from Armenia and brought to Constantinople as a servant. However, this did not lessen the intensity of her calling. The words of Mary in her vision still rung in Nino's ears: "Go to Iberia and share the good news that is accomplished in Jesus Christ. I will take every step before you do and be your shield against enemies you'll know and some you'll never know. Take a cross and plant it in a land to proclaim salvation and life through my beloved Son and Lord." So, somehow--some way--Nino risked much to leave and do God's work in a land where she had no connection.

When she crossed the border into Iberia she began looking for a town--any place where people would congregate--and she settled there. She planted the cross she carried into the ground and began preaching a Gospel that so few had heard in the little town. The fires of conversion caught in the tiny town and soon Nino's message was spreading into the larger cities and eventually arriving in the capitol. When the queen heard Nino's message she was transfixed and requested an audience. Nino--the slave--went to speak with the queen and share a faith that depended upon a crucified king. When she arrived, she discovered that the queen was ill and not responding to the cures of the greatest of the royal physicians. Nino offered a humble but earnest prayer on behalf of the queen and she was healed.The two women conversed. We don't know what was said but the queen was converted and this created a pathway to speak with the king. The king was tolerant of his wife's conversion but was not personally persuaded that day. It would take another set of circumstances.

The king--like so many other members of the royal class--had a passion for hunting. One day while he was in a nearby forest, he descended further into the forest than he had ever traveled. Soon, he was surrounded by unfamiliar streams and rocks and realized that he wasn't entirely sure how to find his way back out. He began tracking his path to discover his escape when he was suddenly struck blind. Lost deep in a forest, blinded, and surrounded by animals that would eventually overcome their timidity to inspect and perhaps kill a disabled man, he began to fear for his life. His thoughts flew to Nino and Nino's God and he prayed a simple prayer: "Jesus, if you are indeed God like the slave says, then save me from my darkness so that I might abandon all other gods and allegiances to follow and worship you." With the sounding of his "amen" his sight returned and he beat a hasty retreat to his palace. When he arrived, he called for Nino and was converted. Soon thereafter, Christianity became acceptable in Iberia and was no longer punished.

The king and queen were taught by Nino but Christianity was exploding in Iberia and the king recognized that more teachers and ministers were needed to acommodate the needs of the growing community of Jesus' disciples. Emperor Constantine sent a bishop and ministers to Iberia and a great church was built there. Nino could see that the Church had gained a foothold in Iberia and so she retired to a small hermitage in the mountains where she could again devote herself to prayer and service. When she died, the king built a monastery by her grave and continued to tell the story of the slave who had freed a kingdom.

January 13 - Mev Puleo, Friend of the Poor, One Who Lived a Life "Crammed With Meaning"

2012-01-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

Mev Puleo didn't want you to have the opportunity to look away from the unpleasant. One of her many passions was art and her medium was photography.With a point, a click, and some strange alchemy of chemicals and paper she was able to grasp the face of a child or the body racked by poverty and make a statement that could not be ignored. With the permanence of the photographic image, she was able to convict the hearts and minds of many people who would much rather simply wait a moment and forget all about the plight of the less fortunate. Mev couldn't look away from the passion that for the poor and disenfranchised and so she didn't want you to do so, either.

Mev had first been awakened to this calling after having been a Christian for several years. At the age of fourteen, she went on a trip with her parents to Brazil. While they were in Rio de Janeiro and seeing the sites as tourists, they decided to go up and see the "Christ Redeemer" atop Mt. Corcovado. As their bus made the trip up they circled the mountain a few times. On one side, Mev could overlook the homes of the wealthy and respectable. Their homes were brilliantly designed and ostentatiously expensive. In those homes lived a class of people who had little fear for their daily bread. As they came to the other side of the mountain, though, they saw shacks and dilapidated buildings that housed a different class of people. These people were the poor of Brazil and many of their waking thoughts were consumed with fear for their lack of daily bread and anxiety over how to change their circumstances. Mev found herself increasingly uncomfortable with her comfort--she wanted to look away but she couldn't. Suddenly, the chair was too soft, the air conditioning was too pleasant, and the scenery too breathtaking.Her eyes glanced upward to see Jesus standing with his arms stretched wide in the gap between comfort and fear. She feared that though Jesus had been lifted above both sides, it seemed that he had only become a convenient way to avoid looking at the needs of the poor from the comfort of affluence. So, Mev made a decision that day: she decided to change the world.

Mev became an outspoken activist and artist who shared powerful convictions and words about the ability of the Church to bridge the gap between rich and poor--between have and have not. She endeavored to increase awareness about poverty as she struggled to end it personally. Her pictures and her speeches refused to give into the temptation to overlook or forget the suffering of so many. Thankfully and gloriously, Mev wouldn't stop pestering the Church about its obligations to all people. Yet, her great benevolence was no insurance against tragedy and suffering. In 1994, a malignant tumor was discovered in her brain--she was given six months to live.

Words from the journal she kept in college came calling back to her. She had written that she would rather live a short but meaningful life--a life "crammed with meaning"--then to live long and securely without meaning. Mev ended up living almost two more years after her diagnosis and spent every day of it in service to the God who had called her to change the world. The priest eulogized over her at her funeral: "She had wanted to give the poor a face, a voice. She always wanted to be identified with them. And so it came to pass: by the time of her last days you could see them all in her face--the poor of Bosnia, the hungry of Haiti, the powerless of Brazil. She who gave them voice, lost hers. She who helped us see their faces, could finally see no more....She became the poor she loved." Mev was thirty-two years old when she passed on to rest with Christ her Redeemer.

January 12 - Alexander Men, Martyr, Priest, Author

2012-01-12T07:00:00.000-05:00

Alexander Men was the child of a Jewish family that converted to Christianity when Alexander was less than one year old. In fact, Alexander was baptized on the same day that his mother was and his initiation into Christianity was completed. Yet, there was more in store for Alexander and his family as the Soviet empire continued to grow and flourish in Russia. With the growth of the Soviet ideals, there was an expectation that Christians--clergy and lay--would swear allegiance first to the State and second to the Church.Many in the Church bought their relative safety through this idolatry but Alexander's family--and by extension Alexander--were part of the movement that refused to do so. They were part of the Russian True Orthodox movement--specifically, they were part of a group called the "Catacomb Church." This group knew they must meet in secret if they were to meet at all because they had run afoul of the imperial powers simply by existing and refusing to bend their knee before a broken and corrupt State.

Of course, such allegiances have their cost even if they are a holy and Christian thing. In 1958, Alexander was expelled from college for the sake of his allegiances and commitments. The powerful did not approve of who Alexander approved of and, so, they refused to accommodate him. He had already committed to becoming a priest and this obstacle only spurred him onwards. A few years later, he graduated from Leningrad Theological Seminary and was ordained as a priest in the Orthodox church. Alexander was known as a priest of the intellectuals and engaged in rigorous and exacting debates with Orthodox and atheists. He expressed a powerful commitment to ecumenical theology throughout his clerical life and called upon his students and spiritual children to have faith and courage in the face of both Soviet rule and denominationalism. Recognized as an intelligent man and good teacher, he routinely was invited to teach on religious topics in a variety of places but was hated by those in power because of their distrust for Christians. He was routinely arrested and questioned by the KGB in an attempt to coerce him into silence. Alexander was unchecked in his devotion.

When Soviet rule was coming to an end in Russia, many Christian missionaries were surprised to find a people thirsty for spiritual growth and Christian teaching instead of solely committed atheists. Surely, there were many who rejected the work of the missionaries but there were others who had found sustenance for their faith even from within the iron curtain--they had known men like Alexander and had found Jesus at a cost. Alexander's commitment to his faith persevered through the falling of the Soviet Empire but he was claimed as one of its victims in 1990. At the age of fifty-five, he left his home one morning bound for a teaching engagement. As he walked the path, he heard the patter of footsteps. Before he could turn around, an unknown assailant (or perhaps assailants) cleaved his skull with an axe. Alexander Men died because he refused to submit himself to the Empire or its powers. Instead, he remained committed to a Lord who was crucified and buried to conquer death. No walls fell or resolutions were passed with his death but his work continued long after his death and authentic Russian spirituality flourished because Alexander--and people like him--refused to give up on his faith even when confronted by adversity and death.

January 11 - Brother Lawrence, Lay Brother, Lover of God, Barren Yet Hopeful Tree

2012-01-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

Nicholas Herman struggled with poverty. He had trouble finding enough money to afford to live in seventeenth century France. So, he enlisted in the military and went to fight for France in the Thirty Years War. The war had been going on for nearly fifteen years by the time Nicholas joined its ranks and prepared to fight for as long as meals and a small stipend would be provided to him. It wasn't what he had wanted to do--few at the time would have volunteered to fight a war if there was no economic incentive--but it helped provide for his needs. He was devoted to the Faith he was raised in but found life unsavory and wondered if he might be missing something in his own everyday Christian life. But, while afield with the military, he had a vision that would change his life for the better.

Nicholas was looking about himself in the middle of a very cold winter. A tree barren of all leaves stood resolutelybefore Nicholas' gaze and seemed to cry out for notice and consideration. Nicholas' mind drifted toward the eventual full bloom that awaited the tree come summer and he held the image before him in tension with what he knew awaited the tree standing barren and steadfast among death and destruction. In the tree, Nicholas saw his bleak existence and in its hope he saw his own: a hope that relied upon God's good grace and steadfast love. Though life was hard and desperate for young Nicholas he was filled with hope for a life consisting in deep love between creator and creation. In a barren tree, God had reached down and touched Nicholas' heart with a vision that granted hope and strengthened his persistence.

When he was discharged from the military, he went to a Carmelite monastery and petitioned to become a brother.Because of his relative lack of education he could not become a cleric but he persisted and became a lay brother and was assigned to work in the kitchen. His duties included cooking, cleaning, and serving--in other words, he was called to sustain the monks and he did so gladly. He took the name of Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection upon entering the monastery. But, his culinary skills are not what he is best known for. Rather, he is known as a fantastic proponent of the power of love. He insisted that the many works of men and women to explain and grasp the love of God were unnecessary. There was a simple way of life and love that Lawrence called his friends and colleagues to: loving God in the everyday moments.Instead of doing great and big things to "earn" the love of God, Lawrence endeavored simply to appreciate God's steadfast love in the small things. When he was cooking a meal, he thought of himself as cooking for God and with God. When he scrubbed a pot or a pan, he was doing it for and with God.

Lawrence had an intimate and deeply personal relationship with God and advised all of his friends and colleagues to do the same no matter what else they might be doing with their lives. After all, Lawrence knew well that there was only hope for life in the love that animated and sustained all of creation. Though he was a barren tree hoping desperately for summer, he knew that God was already effecting a summer in his soul and this love informed all of Lawrence's actions. His many sayings and teachings on God's love and presence were gathered together by people who appreciated them after his death and bound together in a text known as The Practice of the Presence of God. There was no other calling for Lawrence than this: to know and be loved by the God who gave hope and faith to God's much loved creation.

January 10 - Gregory of Nyssa, Theologian, Cappadocian Father, Champion of Orthodoxy

2012-01-10T07:00:00.000-05:00

When you're a middle child (and there are many middle children when you're one of ten) and your older brother is a well-educated Church Father, it's hard to grow up. Being compared to Basil was indubitably challenging for Gregory--especially since Basil was the only one to receive a formal education. His parents--descendants of martyrs themselves--had wanted to provide education for their children but their limited means meant that they could only afford to educate their eldest son. But, Basil came back and helped his younger brothers learn--especially Gregory. In fact, as Gregory grew both in maturity and intellect, older brother Basil predicted that in the future his name would lend more notoriety to the city of Nyssa then the city of Nyssa's name would lend to him. On this count, Basil was very correct.

Gregory's education may have been indirect and informal but it was a great gift that empowered Gregory to take an important role in the Church. He became influential and persuasive and gathered the attention of the Arians within the Church power structure. Gregory insisted that Jesus was not subservient to the Father but was, instead, coequal to the Father along with the Holy Spirit. This orthodox view did not gain Gregory any friends among the Arians and soon he was deposed from his position in the Church and forced to leave. He was no longer welcome in Nyssa and in his absence more charges were leveled against him by the powerful. He was accused of misuse and abuse of Church property and was slandered to any who would hear a harsh word about him. Yet, he continued to maintain his orthodox and trinitarian stance by encouraging the people of the Church who refused to believe the slander about him. Though he was no longer officially a bishop, he was a minister to the people who would not leave him or his orthodox position. Time passed and eventually those in power died or were removed from their office andGregory was invited back to be bishop again and he gladly accepted having had his rhetoric honed to razor sharpness by his exile from the Church he loved and served.

Within a year of his return to the Church, his older brother Basil died and Gregory was emotionally and mentally crippled. Only through the care and comfort of his older sister Macrina was he able to recover and continue on with his calling as a servant of God and the Church. In 381, he was part of the Second Ecumenical Council of Constantitnople and helped draft the Nicene-Constantinopolitan creed. This master work of the Church was a shield against heresy that delineated what orthodoxy was so that members of the Church could challenge themselves further to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Further, this creed helped label and identify the dangers of heterodoxy. He spent the rest of his life working with his friend Gregory of Nazianzus to teach orthodoxy to a people hungry for understanding.

January 9 - Philip of Moscow, Martyr, Victim of the State, Opponent of the Empire

2012-01-09T07:00:00.000-05:00

Feodor Stepanovich Kolychev was born approximately 100 miles from Moscow in the city of Galich. He had the good fortune of being associated with royalty and he joined the royal court of Grand Prince Vasili III. Vasili had a son named Ivan who Feodor developed a friendship with. However, conspiracy and deception were afoot and soon Feodor was forced to flee Moscow because of his benefactor's involvement in a plot that gathered unwanted attention. So, Feodor fled from Vasili and his friend Ivan. He escaped to the mountains and spent some time consider what had transpired. The wounds perpetrated against him by political powers had driven him to painful reflection and as he stood inside a monastery, he heard the liturgist proclaim: "No man can serve two masters." At these words, he made the decision to become a monk. So, around the age of thirty, he became a monk and left the political world behind--for a while. He took the monastic name of Philip and devoted himself to prayer and discipline.

At the age of forty-one, Philip became the hegumen of his monastery and lived into the leadership role exceedingly well. It may be that his childhood in the imperial courts had trained him well in leadership and management because soon the monastery had built an impressive array of buildings and improvements and kindled a spiritual revolution in the surrounding countryside. Philip was especially notable because of his personal involvement in the projects. Instead of relaxing and allowing power to soften him, he joined in with the brothers and did the exact same work he asked of the them. Though he was the hegumen, he was unafraid to pick up a shovel. The spiritual revival was largely a work of Philip's careful work under a new and more demanding monastic rule. Contrary to the movement of so many other powers, Philip had high expectations of people and was confident that they could reach them if given time and assistance. Philip's leadership at the monastery became legendary and attracted the attention of his boyhood friend Ivan. But this time Ivan was not known as Ivan son of Vasili but as Ivan the Terrible.

Ivan wanted his friend to come to Moscow and fill the position of metropolitan but Philip had one condition: the end of Ivan's practice of oprichnina. Oprichnina had started when Ivan's paranoia over revolution had gripped him so terribly that he had fled Moscow with many Church possessions and refused to return. He returned to Moscow on the condition that he be allowed to create a secret police with power to sweep away treason from Russia. The clergy consented and Ivan returned. Soon, the secret police (known as "oprichniki") were scouring the country atop black horses and wearing black cowls. Their power was, for the most part, unchecked and they did as they pleased. If somebody became an enemy of Ivan then they often died at the hands of one of the oprichniki. The other powerful Russian people--and the Church in Russia--were held at bay by threat of men in black cowls who had a hound and broom imprinted upon the pommel of their saddle to symbolize their task: seeking out and sweeping away all who opposed the centralization of power in the hands of Ivan the Terrible. Philip agreed to become metropolitan only if Ivan would cease and desist from his politically sponsored campaigns of death. Ivan agreed and Philip was made bishop and metropolitan.

Yet, Ivan did not stop his manipulations. At first, he tried to hide the workings of the oprichniki but their murderous works were hard to conceal. Philip found out and so when Ivan came to the cathedral for a Lenten service, he publicly rebuked Ivan for his bloody works and refused to give him his blessing. Ivan was irate but it did not deter him from yet more slaughter and so he authorized the oprichniki to execute a massacre at Novgorod because of fear of treason and defection. Philip denounced Ivan again and it became increasingly apparent that Ivan could not buy the loyalty of the Church through his childhood friend. So, he decided to exercise his power and ruin Philip.

Philip was deposed and Ivan was able to manipulate various clerical professionals into arresting andimprisoning him in a monastery. Stripped of power and reputation, he spent the remainder of his life chained to a wall with less and less food every day. He was abused and punished for refusing to be bought. Then one night, shortly after taking communion, one of Ivan's most trusted minions--Malyuta Skuratov--crept into his cell and strangled him to death. Though Ivan had modeled his oprichniki after the monastic orders and even hinted at times at wanting to become a monk, it was through the manipulative work of the Empire that he put to death his childhood friend and spiritual superior--Philip of Moscow.

January 8 - Jim Elliot, Martyr, Missionary, Focused

2012-01-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

Jim's upbringing suggested that he would be a Christian. After all, his mother and father were both very committed to their faith and his father was a Baptist preacher. In their home, they taught their faith to their children. They regularly read and interpreted the scriptures with their children and worked diligently to steep them in the culture and power of the Faith that had gripped them and begun the process of redemption in their own lives. Jim, however, showed an incredible focus in his faith life. When he went away to Wheaton College, he went with the intention of becoming a missionary in another country. He excelled in the subjects that he described as useful for mission work but lagged in classes that he felt were unimportant in the development of his spiritual maturity.

He declined to be in clubs and organizations that did not offer any discernible benefit to a missionary and so he missed out on at least one year of free tuition because he felt the expectations of the group would have distracted him. He majored in Greek so that he would be fit and ready to translate the New Testament into whatever language he needed to. He began to associate himself with non-denominational groups--he had shed a denominational identity so that he could be more focused on missions and less on politics and polity. He insisted that he would be a conscientious objector if drafted and also refused to become engaged in political conversations and debates as he cast aside whatever weighed him down in his pursuit of missions. He was focused and knew that he was being called to be a missionary--he just didn't know where.

When he graduated, he had no immediate direction or goals. He felt a call to mission work but felt no specific guidance. Consequently, he was unwilling to go anywhere or do anything without God's movement and leading. He returned home and worked various jobs in churches and schools. Eventually he was offered a full-time teaching position but he turned it down to continue his own study and preparation for missions. He continued to correspond with his missionary mentors and study languages in preparation for a specific call he felt was just around the corner. When a missionary to Ecuador began telling Jim about the Quichua people. He studied their language and the process of converting a spoken language to a written language before finding another unmarried man to go with him to Ecuador as a missionary to the indigenous peoples.

While serving as a missionary in Ecuador, Jim could not shake the feeling that there was an increased depth to his calling. After getting married and serving as a missionary alongside his wife, he began to feel called further into the wilds of Ecuador. The people he knew as the Auca--that are now known as the Huaorani--had little contact with outsiders. Jim's heart broke for a people disconnected from the Faith that moved and sustained him. So, along with his friends and colleagues (Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming, and Nate Saint), he began reaching out to the people by bringing gifts and offering hospitality to a people who had no reason to know or trust him.They established a camp and started to build relationships with the very guarded Auca people. They even took one of the men--whom they called "George"--in their plane to see the jungles and terrain from above. Yet, the language barrier became a danger when George went back and maligned the men. Unexpectedly, and for no comprehensible reason to the missionaries, a party of ten men with spears approached their camp one night and murdered the missionaries brutally. When his family retrieved Jim's possessions, they read in his journals: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

The martyrdom of Jim Elliot was not the end of the outreach to the Auca people and, in fact, was only the beginning of the mission work there. Years later, even the men who murdered Jim and his friends would be converted and repent for their past sins. Jim's focused approach to mission work has been deservedly lauded by many as an atypically wonderful approach to the missionary commitment.

January 7 - Lucian of Antioch, Martyr, Theologian, Falsely Accused

2012-01-07T07:00:00.000-05:00

Lucian had received a good education and his desire was to share it with others who felt a calling to the theological life. He had been born to Christian parents with enough money to provide him with a classical education and train him further in theology. Following in the footsteps of his parents, he was active in the Church. Further, he had a significant impact as he served in different roles within the ecclesiastical structure. He was ordained as a relatively young man by the congregation in Antioch and opened a school of theology. His students were well-trained and accepted by congregations of Christians throughout the Roman Empire but somehow he became associated with Paul of Samosata. It might have been because of accusations from opponents or it might have been based on spurious evidence but, regardless, Lucian's name was connected to Paul's. When Paul's theology was labeled suspect--and eventually heretical--Lucian's reputation and influence were crippled.

Since he was rumored to be heretical, his students were less accepted by other Christians. Then, since his students were experiencing difficulty, prospective students soon found other teachers. For nearly twenty years, Lucian struggled through false accusations and mistaken impressions. As he did so, his own personal spiritual life deepened and intensified. Years later when Church historians would look back at him they would insist that Lucian had been better known for his Christian practice than for his Christian theology and that is saying something since Lucian was one of the chief proponents of literal reading of the scripture in juxtaposition to the allegorical readings suggested by the Alexandrians (in the tradition of Origen). It wasn't that Lucian felt that figurative reading was a poor practice but, rather, that literal reading was essential in understanding some passages that otherwise might be glossed over and their powerful meaning missed. In his attempt to insure that the words of the scripture not be avoided or not be overlooked, he taught a literal reading that allowed the scripture to speak powerfully and directly when appropriate.

Eventually, his students were accepted again and his reputation was cleansed by continued piety and faithful Christian practice. False accusations simply could not stick to Lucian over the long term and melted away when faced with the intense heat of his personal devotion to Jesus. But once his school of theology was regaining its notoriety and influence, it attracted the attention of the Emperor. As Maximian's persecutions continued, Lucian was arrested. Unlike many of the Church's martyrs, it was not a short process for Lucian. Over a period of nine years he was tortured as the Empire hoped to manipulate him to deny his faith. Every time they asked over nine years, Lucian refused to deny his faith--a faith that had already cost him dearly and would likely cost him even more dearly if he continued to refuse. Finally, the Empire tired of their efforts and executed Lucian with little pomp or show.

January 6 - Epiphany - The Great Revealing

2012-01-06T07:00:00.000-05:00

In the time when a corrupt governor ruled like there was no other power in the world, a little boy named Jesus was born in a backwater town. Powerful and important people--the kind who didn't spend much time with illegitimate children in backwater towns--came looking for him.They went to the big city nearby because they assumed he had to be there and asked the governor where they could find the one who was going to take his place. "We heard that this one is going to be really special," they said, "and we want to take the time to offer our respects to this one." When the governor heard that, he was wounded at the thought that he wasn't important enough and he got scared. "What if it's true?" he asked himself when nobody was around.So, he asked the men to wait a moment while he talked to his advisers about it.

His advisers checked their books and said, "Oh! They must mean this little passage. I guess it kind of suggests that it will be in Bethlehem." "But surely, no ruler can be better than you," they lied to save their necks. So, the governor called for those dignitaries and pumped them for information before telling them to go and look in Bethlehem.

"And if you find him," he remarked coyly as if he had just now thought of it, "why don't you come on back and tell me where he is so I can offer my respects, too." So, the men left the governor's mansion and went to the little town without a stoplight. They followed the signs that had led them this far and were glad to see the leading coming to an end and the finding finally starting. They arrived at the little shack and wiped their expensive shoes on the rag that passed for a welcome-mat before entering in to find a teenage girl with her child. Somehow--perhaps it had something to do with the long journey--they knew this was the one and they stood in shocked silence before a little boy. Something amazing had been revealed to them--the birth of God in human flesh--and they could not take it in. So, they offered gifts to express their worship and respect: stock options, a bible with his name embossed on the cover, and--perhaps most shocking to his mother--a cemetery plot near thecity. As they were leaving, they felt compelled not to return to the governor and so they caught the early flight out.

As they often do, years passed and things changed. The boy grew into a man and grew into his calling.

Jesus' cousin John had been spending time out in the woods preaching to anybody who would come near enough to hear his frantic yelling. He preached: "Y'all need to get right cause the kingdom of heaven is right around the corner." He was forever talking about his cousin and how people should pay more attention to Jesus and less to John. John truly was a voice crying in the wilderness: "Get ready for something new from God! Prepare yourselves for God's appearance." Of course, it's no big surprise that people couldn't stop looking at John. He wore clothes that he had stitched himself that had been made out of fur. He ate bugs and honey (when he could find it). So, he was an oddity and got lots of attention. With the attentive crowds came some people who were listening and were preparing themselves for God's big thing--God's Great Revealing.

But attentive crowds aren't always attentive because they like you or agree with you. Often, John would see some of the members of the local ministerial council hanging out in the crowd and would greet them in his own special way:

"You sons of snakes! Who gave you a clue and told you about the storm that's brewing--I know you didn't see it for yourselves. You came out to hear me? Well, get to changing yourself because your name and your reputation aren't going to do anything for you. Your titles and influence are worthless here. Even now, the chainsaw is gassed up and waiting to be picked up to cut down the trees that don't produce good fruit. And what do you do with bad wood? You burn it up because it's useless. I'm out here baptizing with water because of repentance but there's one coming after me who can do you a sight better--shoot, I'm not even worthy to shine his shoes--and he'll baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. Oh, and don't kid yourselves...God's judgment is right around the corner. He's going to sort out the good from the bad real quick."

One day, Jesus came to John to be baptized in the creek where John preached. When Jesus took off his shoes and waded in, John shook his head and said, "If anybody should be doing the baptizing it ought to be you and not me.You should baptize me, Jesus."

But, Jesus smiled and said, "No, John, you're doing right. This is the way it's supposed to start. This is the way God's great revelation begins." So, John agreed begrudgingly and baptized Jesus in the creek. When Jesus came up out of the water, he looked up and the skies were torn apart before him. The barriers between God and humans had been broken and cast aside and the Spirit of God came down and a voice was heard saying, "This is my boy. I love him and I'm proud of him."

It was on those two days--the revelation of God to the wise men and at Jesus' baptism--that we see God choosing to self-reveal to the world. The obstacles have been dismissed and the way has been paved. The paths are being made straight. The Kingdom of God has arrived and is arriving.

January 5 - Felix Manz, Radical Reformer, Anabaptist, Martyr

2012-01-05T07:00:00.000-05:00

People had been trying to tie his hands for several years now but until now it had all been metaphorical--perhaps just as demeaning but still only metaphorically. Those naming themselves as ministers of a new covenant of forgiveness, life, and love wrapped thick rope around his wrists and ankles in the cold January morning. His accusers planned to make a powerful mockery of his baptism by drowning him in the lake and thereby cruelly enforcing a recent edict demanding death for those who resisted the powers on matters of baptism. As he floated down the river and they affixed the pole between his legs, his mother and brother called to him from the shore and encouraged him to face his death--his martyrdom--with courage and confidence.

Felix had been a follower of Huldrych Zwingli at first. Likely, he had been won over to the reformer's views by his commitment to personal involvement in the Christian story and by his own spiritual devotion. Yet, when Conrad Grebel joined with the group he found a closer and more similar friend. Conrad and Felix formed their theology together in conversation and mutual commitment. Soon, they found themselves drifting away from Huldrych theologically. They were uncomfortable with his involvement in political and civil affairs--they felt that the State was all too involved in Zwingli's group and resisted its encroachment into their affairs. Further, they were bothered by the juxtaposition of Zwingli's insistence on personalized faith and the practice of infant baptism. Felix did not want infants to be baptized because he insisted that the norm of baptism involved volition along with intention and method and that infant baptism undermined the importance of personal involvement in one's own faith.

Felix and Conrad's people soon refused to have their infants baptized out of a conviction that the Church was in need of reformation and could only be reformed by honest and intentional involvement by Christian believers. They engaged in debate with Zwingli and there was no resolution or concession by either side of the debate. Instead, the civil authorities stepped in and committed one of the acts that Felix and Conrad feared: they made the Church's decision for it. So, those who insisted upon being baptized as an adult were condemned to die. Felix was baptized. Therefore, Felix was condemned to die.

They took him out onto the lake full of confidence that they were killing a man who rightly deserved it yet one must wonder if their hearts didn't quake at the thought of turning over the power of the Church to the State and murdering a man because of a theological dispute. But, they followed through with their orders and Felix was cast overboard into the cold water to drown to death as a martyr for a Church that refuses coercion and prizes sacrificial love.

January 4 - Elizabeth Ann Seton, Charitable, Victim of Bigotry, Educator

2012-01-04T07:00:00.000-05:00

Elizabeth Ann Bayley was the daughter of a successful doctor and professor of anatomy at Columbia College in New York city. Her father had been a powerful man of influence and generosity who had insisted upon raising his children--first with Elizabeth's mother who died when she was three, and secondly with his new wife--in the Church (specifically, the Episcopal church). She became the wife of William Seton--an affluent businessman--at the age of nineteen and had five children before tragedy struck the young family. Several lost ships meant the loss of the business that provided for their needs. On the heels of their impoverishment, William took ill.Elizabeth went with him to Italy when the doctors suggested he take a vacation for his health and was there when he died young and in a faraway land. She was taken in by a wealthy and loving Roman Catholic family that saw her tragic circumstances and wanted to breathe a little hope into an otherwise bleak situation.

While mourning and grieving, she began to have conversations with her magnanimous hosts and found herself becoming more and more connected to the parish they attended. Eventually, she became a Roman Catholic. Therefore, it was as a Roman Catholic that Elizabeth returned to the States--specifically Maryland--and tried to pick up the fractured pieces of what remained of her life. When she arrived in the States she expected to wade back into family relationships that would provide a loving embrace of support but found nothing to aid her.Her family relationships had soured with her change to Roman Catholicism and so she found herself an impoverished and grieving woman with five children to support in a hostile environment. It would have been easy to give up on what she believed and professed but, instead, she committed to do something incredible. She built a Roman Catholic school and supplied her family from the meager income it provided her. It seemed that a success story had been begun out of the ashes of destruction. But it failed.

The first school she started failed miserably because of anti-Roman-Catholic sentiment. Given all that had befallen her, it is amazing that she pushed on and somehow endeavored to establish the first free school in the United States. She found a life of charity and generosity to be fulfilling but also commanding. She provided free education in a system designed to inhibit it. It was an incredible feat but it seems that Elizabeth never knew just how impossible her calling was. Instead, she strove to do what it was that God had called her to do in spite of adversity and resistance. Religious orders and schools sprung up in the wake of her daring faith and hope and the world was changed ever so slightly for the betterbecause of one grieving woman's efforts to provide not only for her own children but also the children and future of a nation. She died at the age of 46 at the hand of tuberculosis.

January 3 - Decet Romanum Pontificem

2012-01-03T07:00:00.000-05:00

Many protestants look back upon the reformation gladly and view it as some type of ideological victory. With the passage of many years, those painful times have become a hallowed ground where countless people revel in independence and the power of self-determination. The Pope and the leaders of the Roman Catholic church were slandered and scandalized even beyond what they deserved and lines were drawn in the sand that could not easily be crossed over. Wounds were inflicted that would only be healed by love over time.Some even go so far as to celebrate days in the Church calendar specifically designed to remember the separation and disconnect. Yet, why should the Church celebrate the self-mutilation of the Body of Christ?

Many Roman Catholics look back upon the time and decry the protestant reformation as a time of vile heresy and overreaction. In an attempt to vilify those who vilified them, some insist that the exodus of protestants from the Roman Catholic church was a purifying and good thing that finally allowed for real and earnest reformation to begin. Martin Luther and the leaders of the reformation were slandered and scandalized even beyond what they deserved and lines were drawn in the sand that could not easily be crossed over.Wounds were inflicted that would only be healed by love over time. Some would celebrate the excommunication of protesting parties--after all, if one removes the protestants then surely those who remain all agree? Yet, why should the Church celebrate the self-mutilation of the Body of Christ?

In 1521, on January 3, Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem. Specifically, it was only one excommunication and only barred one man--a priest of the Church--from the Eucharist because he had refused to fall in line with people he was protesting. Those in power insisted that theological and practical unity were of primary importance to the Church and those who protested should submit themselves to the guidance of the Church. Those who protested insisted that individual faith and commitment to discipleship were of primary importance to the Church and those in power should submit themselves to the guidance of the Church. Through much of it, there was hope to be held out that the Church might come together and show unity even though it was made up of people quick to take and give offense. January 3 was only one day but it was an important day--perhaps it was past the point of no return but hopefully, there is yet still hope for unity among people united by a common bond in the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

This is not a day to be celebrated. This is a day to be remembered and regretted for all parties involved in the pain that was the reformation. May every protestant only protest so far as it works for the unity of the Church. May every Roman Catholic remember that the Church cannot be whole until we all are gathered in. Both parties were and are at fault. How can we celebrate the self-mutilation of the Body of Christ?

January 2 - Seraphim of Sarov, Hermit, Monk, Peaceful Spirit

2012-01-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

Seraphim had traveled into the city to attend a very important trial. His presence had not been demanded or even requested but yet he had made the long and arduous journey in spite of his injured back and new physical deformities. Of course, his presence was received joyously because his reputation preceded him. The people were happy to see the Russian holy man who had grown up and experienced notable visions throughout his life. Seraphim had been the son of a loving merchant and wife who had raised him within the faith that would form him for the remainder of his life. He had become a novice monk at a young age and had devoted himself to hermetic and ascetic practices in the outlying regions of the Russian countryside. Yet in spite of his hermetic desires and tendencies, people were constantly traveling to visit and study under Seraphim in his hermitage. He had few opportunities to be alone but he was a spiritual mentor and confessor to many. He was known for one supreme teaching: "Acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved." Yet, they were still surprised to see him draw close to the court.

Hunched over his cane, he could barely walk and so the entrance into the courtroom was a long and protracted affair and every eye was upon him--especially the eyes of the defendants. The judge allowed Seraphim to draw close and offer testimony. After all, the defendants were charged with assaulting and beating Seraphim before attempting to rob him. They had crept into the clearing near his hermitage while remaining ignorant of who it was they were planning on taking advantage of. "My joys!" Seraphim exclaimed in greeting to the men as he left his hermitage, "Come now and join with me to eat." He gave the first surprised thief a kiss on one cheek before being bludgeoned in the back by a second thief. A painful shock coursed through his body as his legs collapsed beneath him. Once he had fallen, they began to savagely beat and abuse the old man. As he moaned in agony with a broken shoulder and bruised bones, they roughly looted his person before going to his hermitage to finish the job. In the hermitage they found a bowl and only one item of any value: an icon of the virgin Mary. In shame, they fled from the place but their flight was observed by a pilgrim who also found Seraphim beaten and slowly dying. They were turned over to the government to be judged but Seraphim insisted on being there--even if it tortured him to travel and be present but he had a compelling reason to be there: to plead for the mercy of the court for his attackers.

History doesn't record the fate of the men who assaulted and debilitated poor Seraphim but we do know that his earnest plea for mercy was received with surprise but also a delightful sense of expectation--the people knew that mercy and peace were the governing forces in Seraphim's life. He could not imagine seeking punishment for the men even though they had revealed their most savage aspects to him and the world expected him to seek vengeance. Instead, he returned love and grace for their blind hatred and rage. For the rest of his life he pushed himself to delve deeper into the spiritual life of renunciation and discipline. Even though he had been nearly crippled, he was devoted to physical disciplines that would have been taxing for anybody. The pilgrims never stopped coming and Seraphim never stopped greeting them with a kiss and open arms--this is what he had been called to and this is what he lived out.

January 1 - Telemachus, Martyr, Peacemaker, World Changer

2012-01-01T07:00:00.000-05:00

Telemachus wasn't sure why, but he was headed to Rome. He had been given the unmistakable impression that he was being called to Rome and since he normally interpreted these impressions as the almost silent movements of the Holy Spirit, he followed after it. As a monk and ascetic, he had fashioned a life of prayer around himself and cocooned himself in the subtle rhythms of the spiritual life but he was still shocked when he arrived in Rome to be led to a stadium that people were filing into. Though he was oddly dressed in comparison and did not fit into the crowd, he became one of them and joined them in the stadium. His stomach knotted as he came to realize what spectacle would soon unfold before his eyes.

Two men entered the stadium from opposing entrances and offered a salute to the Empire and to the crowd. Over them was a patchwork of armor but it was not meant truly to protect them; it was only meant to prolong the spectacle. They approached and offered a salute to each other before preparing to harm and possibly kill the man they had perhaps just met. The clatter of the one man's sword against the other's shield reverberated through the crowd and seemed to electrify the Roman populace. They became as one in their furious calls for blood and carnage. Telemachus came to the sudden realization that he was watching an unholy liturgy where a man would be sacrificed violently to appease a crowd disillusioned with life and the Empire. He pushed his way through the vocal crowd and approached the wall that stood between the audience and the gladiators. For a moment, he considered what it was that he was preparing to do but he felt it was the will of God and so he hopped over the wall and ran to the gladiators.

The gladiators were surprised to say the least. They had never been approached by a spectator while they fought--especially, one dressed as a monk.It was no longer the practice of the Empire to condemn Christians to death in the stadium so it was surprising to see one leap willingly to the dirt that had soaked up so much martyr's blood. He moved to stand between them and they allowed him. Telemachus yelled, "For Jesus' sake, stop this!" Their manufactured hatred melted away and they marvelled at his bravery and confidence. But soon the crowd grew displeased--they had come to watch blood be spilled and their unholy moment had been postponed. They gathered stones and murdered Telemachus for making peace. They found the blood they craved and punished Telemachus for interfering in their dark rite.

Upon hearing of the events, the emperor Honorius ordered the end of all gladiatorial combat on January 1 in the year 404. With his death, Telemachus purchased peace and further fought against the worship of violence and death by a people desperate for something to worship.

December 31 - John Wycliffe, Reformer, Theologian, Morning Star

2011-12-31T07:00:00.000-05:00

John Wycliffe was frustrated and deeply disappointed with the Church he himself was a part of. He could not simply walk away from the Church that he loved and that loved him but he could not tolerate the extremes to which so many of his friends and colleagues had wandered to. He had been gifted with a keen and natural intellect that had a tendency to cut the arguments of his opponents to shreds--even when his argument was not necessarily centered in truth. As John surveyed the Church, he could not help but admit that the paths of theologians and clerics had been right but had been carried to extremes. The pursuit of solitude had driven monastics to isolation and irrelevance. The pursuit of virtue had closed many Church doors to the very people Jesus said he would be with. The Church was not in need of schism--it was in need of reformation and revival and John hoped to be a part of it.

His education at Oxford served him well but also introduced him to cultural discrimination and exceptionalism. He became aware of a prevailing culture and attitude of domination among the leaders of the Church and this disturbed him and saddened him. When he awakened to the fear that the Church leaders could only attain the power the sought by slowly selling off the integrity of the Church to secular powers, he began to suggest a need for the Church to escape entanglement with empires and governments. John's fears that the clergy had become rulers instead of servants was increasingly confirmed and, eventually, he resorted to suggesting that the kings and rulers of the world should stop the Church from whoring itself out. John had the protection of a local ruler and, so, he was able to preach and teach this message without especial fear of reprisal but his words were not very warmly received.

In his attempt to return power and money to the secular powers of the world, John hoped to return the Church to a place free from the corrupting grip of worldly power and wealth. It was only in losing all claims to affluence and influence that the Church could again become a witness to the homeless savior who bore the hopes of the world upon his shoulders. He was resisted stridently by those with much to lose but also by those who honestly disagreed with him regardless of their own wealth and power--regrettably, John's followers and students have not always been good about remembering that there were good men who strongly disagreed with him. Yet, in his resistance, he continued to strengthen his arguments and fight against those who offered the treasures of the Church for mere wealth or power. He remained committed to the rejection of indulgences and simony while insisting that the role of the minister was that of a servant and not of a ruler or judge. John also continued to translate large sections of the scripture so that the treasures of the Church could be distributed among the many rightful recipients.

On Holy Innocents' Day in 1384, John Wycliffe was stricken apoplectic while listening to the mass of the Church he loved and expected more from. He died a gadfly and reformer--never satisfied with the way things were and always looking forward to the way things should be. Later, he was deemed a heretic and his bones were exhumed from the grave. They were then burnt and crushed to dust. The ashes were cast over the river Swift--yet John was never excommunicated from the Church he loved but refused to be satisfied with.

December 30 - Josephine Butler, Feminist, Activist, Grieving Mother

2011-12-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

Josephine's life was indubitably envied by many of her contemporaries and acquaintances. She had had the blessing of a happy childhood with good parents and now was married to an academic and cleric and his income provided more than sufficiently for their needs and many of their desires. They even had four children--three sons and a daughter.Josephine and her husband were active in social causes and vicious opponents of slavery anywhere in the world. In fact, they were known sympathizers with the Union cause of the Civil War in the States. Their activism was a tame sort that would be expected from a socially progressive cleric and his wife and they lived into these roles and expectations with ease. Yet, as life often does, things took a turn and their happy way of life was suddenly and painfully upset: their six-year-old daughter Evangeline died without warning and left the family reeling.

Josephine was overwhelmed with grief and was absolutely inconsolable. She resisted the efforts of her friends and acquaintances to comfort her and instead looked for distraction. In her pain, she was immediately desperate for somebody more desperate than herself. She found an object of focus and compassion in the prostitutes of London who she viewed as victims of the cultural machine--as the ones who were ground up in the gears of a machine designed to help and protect some by sacrificing others. She hated prostitution and saw it as a dehumanizing sin against God and themselves but her growing passion and love for the women enslaved by desperate need overcame her aversion to the acts. Soon, she found herself loving the women more and more and helping them less and less out of a desire to be distracted and more out of an honest and consuming love.

The Contagious Diseases Act that had been passed in the 1860s--which Josephine referred to in a gripping way as "surgical rape"--meant that a police officer could accuse any woman of prostitution and turn them over to a group of government backed medical workers who would perform an intrusive examination upon the woman and confine her for a period of three months to "quarantine" her. This became a way of intimidating and abusing women on the streets of London and a simple accusation by a police officer--no matter their honesty or integrity--annihilated the reputation of the woman and left heruntouchable withing polite British society. So, Josephine fought for the repeal of these laws because of the abuse it assisted and the victimization it spread among women who were already victims. Josephine could not understand how a society could be so ostensibly Christian yet simply reject women who were in critical need of help. Josephine had learned to love these women and had become their benefactor--a voice to the voiceless. She was slandered and physically assaulted by Christians and non-Christians alike but her faith bade her remain the friend of the victim and the oppressed. She rejected any morality that appeared built upon a double standard of sexual justice and--finally--in 1886, the laws were repealed in large part due to Josephine's work.

Later in her life, she fought again to have the age of consent raised from thirteen to sixteen to help fight yet more abuse and double standards inherent to the system. This was the life she had been cast into first by her desperate grief and second by a genuine calling from the God she loved and followed. Until the day she died, she remained a powerful activist and feminist who insisted upon the equal rights of women in a system that thrived by victimizing the already victimized.

December 29 - David, King of Israel, Shepherd, "a Man after God's Own Heart"

2011-12-29T07:00:00.000-05:00

David was "a man after God's own heart." He had been the youngest and apparently least fit member of his family when Samuel came looking to anoint a new king of Israel to replace Saul eventually. They didn't even call him in from the field since they needed somebody to watch the flock and protect it and he was considered so unlikely to be the choice. To be honest, Jesse and the rest of the boys fully expected that it would be the oldest son who was selected yet God didn't move Samuel's hand to the mature and muscular man who stood at the front of the line. One by one, Samuel looked into the eyes of the boys and hesitated to hear the voice of God--nothing happened. He began to get worried as he approached the last boy and there weren't any bells going off in his head. He second guessed himself and must have wondered if there wasn't something that washis fault keeping him from hearing God. Then, he ventured a question: "There isn't another, is there?" As the words left his mouth, the tension that had been building in Jesse and the boys reached a fever pitch--of course, there was one more and as the old prophet had moved on from each boy they all breathed in deeply fearing that they had left the next king of Israel alone in the field with the sheep. Jesse sent for the boy and Samuel heard the voice of God. So, he anointed David and proclaimed that this one would be the next king.But, this wasn't why David was "a man after God's own heart."

David was "a man after God's own heart." He had shown courage when no other Israelite dared test God's faithfulness by standing up to Goliath. He gathered five stones--we cannot forget thatGoliath had four brothers back in Gath--and strode into battle without the heavy armor to weigh him down. Saul had wanted the boy to take Israel's best efforts at protection with him but God wanted the boy to take only his faith and a sling. He was mocked by the beastly man but refused to be rebuffed--he had God on his side. He swung the sling and released the stone that would fell the mighty warrior with one precision blow of God's will. The army rode the wave of ecstatic jubilation into battle and routed the Philistines. But, this wasn't why David was "a man after God's own heart."

David was "a man after God's own heart." Saul began to fear David's success because of the conversations and songs of the people--it was clear that they were enamored with the man who had slain Goliath and gained Samuel's approval. This was a man of God who stood in contrast to Saul's impetuous behavior. Saul devised ways to bring about David's death but his own son--Jonathan--worked with David to assure his safety. Saul chased after David but David was always one step ahead.When David had the chance to return the favor and kill Saul, he crept away but left a message for Saul who woke up and deduced that David had been close when he was vulnerable and chosen not to kill him. But, this wasn't why David was "a man after God's own heart."

David was "a man after God's own heart." He became king of Israel and led the armies in many successful battles. Yet once when he was at home and his armies were away, he had the bad fortune to be high in palace and to look upon a beautiful woman--Bathsheba--bathing nearby. His heart burned with lust for the woman and he had her brought to him. In a torrent of passion, the two humans gave into their desire and became adulterers. In an attempt to cover over his sin, he called the woman's husband--Uriah--home from the battlelines to be with her. The hope was that they would have sex and Bathsheba and David's sin would be concealed but Uriah's loyalty to David and Israel meant that he slept on the ground outside the palace because he knew it wasn't fair for him to be home and his brothers in arms to be so far away. So, David's fear gripped him and he made a terrible mistake: he sent Uriah back with an order that he be sent to the front lines of battle to die at the hands of the enemies of Israel. But, this surely wasn't why David was "a man after God's own heart."

David was "a man after God's own heart" because of what he did next. When God's judgment was visited upon David and Bathsheba for their sin, Nathan told David that the child would die. David was struck to the core of his heart with sorrow for his sin and its creeping effects upon others. He recognized how he had injured Bathsheba gravely because of lust--not love--and murdered a man who was loyal to him to a fault. Further, he had brought about the death of his own child because of the sinful expression of his own dominant will. The glass of David's self-delusions began cracking as the sin spider-webbed out into his life and laid its sickly clutches upon all the good things in his life and tarnishing them. He turned to God in repentance and sobbed and prayed. The child still died butDavid had learned not only the lingering effects of sin but also the power and necesity of repentance. David was "a man after God's own heart" because he knew how to lament, pray, and repent when forced to recognize exactly what he was: a broken and sinful man.

December 28 - Holy Innocents' Day

2011-12-28T07:00:00.000-05:00

It had been some time since Jesus had been born but when the magi had seen the star in the distance--a star that they and their fellow astrologers knew nothing about--they set out quickly to find what it was a portent of. Surely, a new star must lead them to something special. As they arrived closer and closer to the place where they would find young Jesus, they began to realize that there was a connection between this star and a rumored new "King of the Jews." When they questioned other travelers, they asked if they had met the new King but none seemed to know of any new royalty and suggested that the magi keep this kind of talk to themselves--Herod would be none too pleased to find out that there might be another vying for his power. Herod was jealous of the throne--jealous enough to kill his own children to protect himself from their possible conspiratorial machinations. Herod had a good thing going and no amount of blood was too much to keep his pseudo-dominance of his little corner of the world. Yet, somehow, the magi ended up in the palace of Herod and asked him if he knew where the new King could be found. He didn't know but he desperately wanted to and lied to them: "I don't know where but if you find him, please come and tell me where I too might find him--I want to pay my respects to the new ruler."

Herod had gained and held his power by being willing to play the game and sell himself to Rome bit by bit. Herod's father--Antipater--had been poisoned for offering financial support to the treasonous men who murdered Caesar. It is hard to imagine that the son of a collaborator could rise to power but somehow Herod knew the game well enough to manipulate the right people. He swore his allegiance to Rome while using the Roman army to kill his father's supposed murderer. He would soon rise to power in Judea and be named tetrarch but he first had to consolidate his power by marrying his niece to cement his claim on the throne. This was an easy task for a powerful man like Herod but required that he banish and exile his current wife and three-year-old son. No cost was too high for Herod in his search for power. A little while later, after convincing the Roman leaders that his father's treachery had been forced, he was threatened by another usurper who he cast as a traitor and enemy of Rome to his powerful Roman friends. With the backing of his Roman friends--bought with his pledge of allegiance to Rome first and foremost--Herod was further cemented as Governor of Judea and he took the title: king Herod the Great. All it cost was his integrity, his allegiance, and selling the Jewish leadership into Roman control.

Herod had lost so much to gain what he wanted that he wasn't afraid to spill a littlemore blood for power. When the magi gave him the slip, he ordered soldiers and guards at his disposal to go to Bethlehem and murder all boys under the age of two. They were to die so that Herod could insure that no other would grow up to place a claim upon his throne--he didn't havemuch left to give Rome to insure they would continue to help him and, in fact, they expected him to keep the peace of it would cost him his life. So, the soldiers descended upon the little village and murdered infants and children because of a desperate man's fear. All in all, somewhere between 20 and 30 human lives were cut short by the obsessive arm of the Empire that hoped to maintain power by dealing in blood and death. Indeed, a prophecy from Jeremiah was fulfilled (perhaps for the second time): "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."

Yet, they missed Jesus. Shortly before the soldiers came, an angel had come to Joseph and instructed him to take Jesus and Mary and get out of Israel--they had to go somewhere Herod could not reach--and go to Egypt. They fled the bloody grasp of Herod and would not return until Herod the Great had died and some of the sons he didn't murder had taken over. So as not to live under Herod's son Archelaus, they settle in Nazareth in Galilee

December 27 - John, Apostle, Caretaker of Mary, "the Disciple Who Jesus Loved"

2011-12-27T07:00:00.000-05:00

John had come a long way to follow Jesus. His mother--Salome--had watched her two sons--John and James--follow after this itinerant preacher and leave her husband behind. They had a successful fishing business but John and James had other things in mind. John had been following John the Baptizer but had recently switched his allegiance to this new Jesus fellow and had begun to talk about the things Jesus was saying and doing in the sight of the religious leaders. Salome was worried by her sons' association with this man because she recognized thatthe leaders would do anything to stay in power and keep Rome at a distance--even if it meant turning over well-meaning boys of affluent and influential social status. But, John insisted that he had nothing else he could do except follow Jesus because Jesus was offering something that nobody else could offer: life more abundant.

Yet, as John and Peter watched Jesus slowly suffer and die, they had to wonder if it hadn't all been a hoax. The one who had promised life more abundant was languishing on a Roman cross and being mocked by his accusers and one of his fellow victims. Mary--Jesus' mother--had insisted that she would be present for the death of her own son and so she was. Simeon's words were coming true all over again as Mary experience excruciating agony over the death of her own son before her eyes--the death of a promise and of her own hope, perhaps--and her ears rang with knowledge that a "sword would pierce her own soul, too." John stepped forward to comfort her and wrap her up in his arms so that she might find some relief from the terrible distress engulfing her in front of the Roman authorities. With one arm wrapped around her, he looked up at the source of her hope and distress and wondered if everything had finally broken down beyond repair--wondered if there was room for hope in a world that crucified one like Jesus. Jesus looked down, coughed harshly foreshadowing the death rattle that nested within his chest and called out in a voice barely audible: "Mom...that's your son, now." Mary's sobs escalated in pitch as she suffered under her dying son's compassion. Turning to look John in the eyes, Jesus continued: "John, take care of your mother." John knew instantly that Jesus was calling to take care of Mary and fulfill the duties of a firstborn son to his widowed mother. He nodded his assent to Jesus and Jesus went on to die. As far as John was concerned, this woman truly was a mother to him now.

Even after the resurrection, the ascension, and Pentecost, John still cared for Mary and watched over her. She passed on several years later (some say a decade after Jesus) and John took up the mission of the Kingdom that Jesus had inaugurated with blood from nail-pierced hands. He traveled to Ephesus and Asia-minor. He would eventually be swept up in the persecutions to be executed but would be the last to die because when they went to execute him, their efforts were fruitless. Eventually, they gave up and exiled him to an island--Patmos--where he would receive one final vision revelation. In this vision, he would find hope anew to offer the Church struggling under persecution. The Lamb that was Slain offered an assurance of healing and reward for those who would dare persist in their commitment to a Gospel of life through death in the face of the promise of the latter.

December 26 - Stephen, Protomartyr, Evangelist

2011-12-26T07:00:00.000-05:00

Stephen had just been appointed to be one of seven deacons in the Church in Jerusalem. His job was reaching out to the poor, widowed, and orphaned among the Hellenized Jews of the community. Since he spoke Greek as his native tongue--and was himself a Hellenized Jew--this seemed an especially appropriate calling for Stephen. The necessity of having deacons largely came out of a desire to be more transparent with the use of the Church funds. Some had complained about an inappropriate use of money set aside for alms and the leaders of the Church had responded by appointing more deacons like Stephen. This was a great opportunity for Stephen who felt a passion burning within him to offer the Faith to those around him. This same passion is what led him to talk freely with friends and acquaintance as well as preach in the open where anybody could hear. This same passion is also what got him into trouble with the powers.

They insisted that he had blasphemed God and Moses. They drug him before the Sanhedrin and insisted that he be punished. Yet, they had taken time on the way to get their story straight and decide how they would spin Stephen's words and preaching to be blasphemy."This man never stops saying things against the Temple and the Torah..." his accusers began with subtle rage, "we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the Temple and will change the customs that Moses handed on to us." They had leveled a charge against Stephen that would indubitably result in his execution if he was found guilty. Yet, Stephen had a response:

"Beloved ones, listen to me. God appeared to our ancestor Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, “Leave your country and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you.” So Abraham did it. After his father died, God had him move from Haran to this very country. God said to childless and aged Abraham: 'This isn't yours, it's your children's.' And God insisted that his descendants would be strangers in somebody else's land, who would enslave and abuse them for 400 years. 'But I will judge the nation that they serve,' said God, 'and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.' Then he gave him the covenant of circumcision--a physical mark of a spiritual condition--and this covenant and its mark continued with Abraham's son--Isaac--and his grandson--Jacob--and his great-grandsons--the twelve patriarchs.'

Then, Stephen rehearsed their mutual history and spoke of Joseph and Moses and how their people had insisted upon bringing along their false gods even as God led them out of Egypt and through the wilderness. Stephen made his argument: you've missed the point of all of it--you've fallen in love with the words of the story and failed to get the message. He summed it up:

'You stubborn people, you still don't get it! You may have the circumcision--the physical mark-- but you are uncircumcised in heart and ears. You lack the spiritual part that the physical part is supposed to represent. You are always opposing the Holy Spirit, just as our fathers and forefathers used to do. You know the history but you still haven't learned its lesson. You've killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers. You received the glorious gift of the Law but you've cast it aside for other whims."

So, they drug him out of the city for his death and found a low spot near a wall for him to stay. His accusers went to gather stones and the witnesses laid their cloaks at the feet of Saul--who would become Paul--so that they might better murder the one who dared speak the truth to them. As they were preparing to cast the stones on him (some stones so big they needed two people to carry them), Stephen fell to his knees and cried: "Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" They rushed him with a furious rage and began pummeling him with stones. As he died--in a posture of prayer--he cried out: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit and do not hold this sin against them. They don't get it." He died under a pile of stones.

December 25 - Christmas

2011-12-25T07:00:00.000-05:00

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered.This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem,because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!’

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Marytreasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord’), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.’

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeontook him in his arms and praised God, saying,

‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.’

And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeonblessed them and said to his mother Mary, ‘This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.’

There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage,then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him.

December 24 - Lottie Moon, Missionary, Champion of Missions, Evangelist

2011-12-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

Lottie Moon was easy to miss in a crowd: she was only 4'3" tall and very slender. But, her personality and passion for missions and the rights of women to be missionaries are not easy to miss when we look backward across the annals of history. She was born to a slave holding family in Virginia and lived on the 1,500 acre plantation for the early parts of her life. She was the third of seven children and showed an aptitude toward languages and education. As she grew older, she had the opportunity to continue her education at an all-female school in Charlottesville, Virginia, because her family placed a very high value upon education because of its ability to promote the affluence and influence of those who obtain it. Lottie obtained it well and soon received a Master of Arts degree--one of only a few given out to women in the south in the middle of the 19th century.

Her faith had always been a cultural thing when she was growing up but while she was in school she attended a revival meeting led by John Broadus where the preaching was different than she was used to. The convicting and passionate nature of the minister's words gripped Lottie's heart and compelled her to learn more about what he was talking about. Soon, her faith became very real and intense and her life became less simple. She began teaching in all-female schools (in Kentucky and then in Georgia) because she wasn't sure what else she would do. She was educated and was a good teacher but it didn't feel right. While Lottie was teaching, her younger sister Edmonia became a missionary to the Northern parts of China and left quickly. Lottie found herself thinking of the absurdity of Edmonia's commitment but soon she found herself envying her sister's passion and commitment. Eventually, she followed her sister to China after realizing that this was where God was calling her.

At first, China was a disappointing mission for Lottie. The culture shock was overwhelming and Lottie's own ethnocentrism caused her to avoid and reject the Chinese customs and culture. Further, as a single female missionary she was assigned to teach Chinese students but not to evangelize or venture into the interior sharing the Gospel. She wrote letters back to the United States hoping that people would "get it" and permit her to be an evangelist instead of only a teacher. Her argument became persuasive when she pointed out that Chinese women were only being reached by other women and that this group could not simply be abandoned. With the permission of the mission board, Lottie stepped further into her calling even as her sister Edmonia was returning to the United States because of deteriorating health. Lottie soon learned that she was more able to reach people if she adopted their cultural dress and appearance. Soon, Lottie was learning to love the people that she had feared and rejected shortly before. Her own redemption was being effected even as she led others to theirs.

Lottie spent 39 years in China meeting the needs of the people and sharing the Gospel message of love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace. She was forever sending back letters pleading for more missionaries--especially more female missionaries--to be sent to China. Yet, budget constraints and limited spending meant that she was also forever being rejected. She fought for missionaries furloughs so that missionaries would not simply waste away and be forgotten in their home. She organized mission societies of women in the United States and contributed significantly to the Baptist passion for international missions. When salaries of missionaries were reduced yet again because of debt and budget constraint, Lottie found ways to make do. Her fellow missionaries found out, at one point, that she had been giving away to the poor most of the food her meager salary could afford. At one point, she weighed as little as fifty pounds because of malnutrition and stress. They insisted on sending her home and she died on the way on December 24, 1912. To this day, churches across the United States collect money for international missions in the week before Christmas and have collected over 1.5 billion dollars since they started in 1888.

December 23 - Sarah Grimke, Abolitionist, Feminist, Activist

2011-12-23T07:00:00.000-05:00

Sarah couldn't believe that her father would agree to that. She may only have been five but she was convinced that her father's actions were reprehensible. She gathered up a few of her things in secret and set out from the house to find a way out of her native South Carolina. Her father--a proud advocate of slavery--had ordered a slave to be beaten and Sarah had tagged along to see what he meant by that. She couldn't imagine that her father would actually order some poor person to be abused yet she was surprised to see a slave tied to a post and whipped repeatedly. That's what had convinced her she had to run away and find a place to live in a state where slavery was not the norm.Of course, five-year-olds--no matter how powerfully angry--cannot get far when they are surrounded by miles and miles of land and so she was caught on her flight and brought back to the plantation to pout silently in her room. This disgust with injustice would characterize the rest of her life.
Sarah was the sixth eldest child of fourteen and was clearly one of the more intelligent children her mother and father had. As she aged, her intellect was further demonstrated in her ability to teach herself and apply her growing wealth of academic resources to the problems at hand. She hoped to follow in the path of her father--a respected lawyer and judge--with one notable exception: she wanted to fight against slavery. As she grew, however, her father began to get nervous about his daughter's intellect. When Sarah let it slip that she hoped to go to college (like her older brother) to become an attorney, she was forbidden from continuing to study so that she would be unable to attend college. It seems that in order to prevent her from achieving, they crippled her intellectually because she was a woman and her father felt it was inappropriate for a woman to take that kind of position. She resisted this obstacle but it proved to be fairly insurmountable for young Sarah. She did, however teach the slave assigned to her to read--in contradiction of the law--because she recognized the power of education even as she was denied its graces. This event only deepened her commitment to women's rights and the suffrage of the disenfranchised.

Sarah was the godmother of her own sister--Angelina, the youngest--and helped tutor and care for her as she grew older. Sarah even came back for her many years later after she had already moved to Philadelphia and become active in the abolitionist community and church there. When Angelina was twenty-two (and Sarah was thirty-five), Sarah came back to Charleston to convert her sister to Christianity and bring her north. Angelina would convert but it would be two more years before she moved north to live with her sister. In Philadelphia, the sisters worked for the abolitionist and the feminist cause and Angelina eventually married. In Angelina's home with her husband Theodore, there was a room for Sarahand the sisters worked together out of the home to edit newspapers and release articles and papers that denounced slavery and repression of women. Though they were rebuked by ministers and eventually given an ultimatum by the Quakers, they refused to accept that slavery was acceptable or women were to be subservient and second-class creatures. They stood upon the same foundation that their opponents stood upon: the Christian faith. By refusing to appeal to another foundation, they refused to concede the holy to those who would abuse it.

When Sarah was seventy-eight years old, the United States ratified the fifteenth amendment to the United State Constitution which stated: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." In many ways, this was a victory for Sarah and in her advanced age, she could have sat back and congratulated herself for the rest of her life yet she was not finished. A little while later, she attempted to vote on the basis that the fifteenth amendment should expand voting to all people regardless of sex. She was rejected, however, as it would take the nineteenth amendment in 1920 before women could vote. Sarah spent the rest of her life rehashing old arguments with new circumstances and campaigning for a world she would never witness. She died on December 23 in the year 1873.

December 22 - Chico Mendes, Rubber Tapper, Environmentalist, Murdered

2011-12-22T07:00:00.000-05:00

Chico wasn't a minister or a Church leader. He attended religious services and was described as having much faith but he wasn't acting on behalf of the Church when he resisted the developers who were invading and pillaging the Amazon rain forest. Instead, he was acting out to hear the "cry of the Earth" and respond to the needs of the people near to him--his neighbors. He began by unionizing and organizing rubber tappers who worked in the Amazon rain forest in Northwestern Brazil. The workers were being manipulated and the powerful were taking advantage of them to render wealth from the natural resources of the rain forest. The powerful and wealthy profited mightily from this arrangement but the poor and the working were slowly and singularly trampled and abused. Chico wanted to stop this as best he knew how so he joined the workers together and stood resolutely defiant in the face of the manipulations of those who stood to gain from the destruction of the rain forest. They negotiated for better working conditions and this might have been acceptable. Yet, when they pushed for sustainable and environmentally sound harvesting practices, they were rebuffed because they got in between the powerful and Mammon. The ranchers could only continue to profit so obscenely if they cleared the rain forest away to make room for grazing land.

Chico once said, "At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rain forest." His unionizing efforts were quickly and steadily being changed into environmental efforts on behalf of the rubber tappers who needed the rain forest to continue working but, also, on behalf of those who fought to protect the treasure of the Amazon rain forest. He flew to Washington, D.C. to represent the environmental concerns to a group hoping to pave roads through the rain forest. Thanks to Chico, it was postponed and then renegotiated. His constant refrain was the need for sustainable practices that protected and took care of the treasure of the rain forest for the future. Soon, the "cry of the Earth" was becoming the "cry of the poor," though as he led groups of the poor and the working class in nonviolent resistance against the ranchers who hoped to profit in the now and forget about the future. Chico's groups understood the power and scope of nonviolent resistance as Jesus had taught when they marched into the camps of the loggers and put themselves in the way of the loggers and the trees. Further, they pleaded with the workers to reconsider what they were doing to the rain forest, to Brazil, and to the world as a whole. Many of the workers could not bear to continue in their job and so the ranchers plans were often thwarted by unarmed and insignificant people even though they had paid and sent armed individuals to remove the treasure that stood in the way of their financial gain.

Chico gained many enemies and opponents--like his Lord Jesus--by refusing to turn away from his nonviolent resistance when it got in the way of the aims and goals of those worshiping themselves and their own interests.Eventually, Chico--the man of faith--was assassinated at the command of the ranchers.Like the early Christian martyrs, his death was expected to be the end of his cause yet this is not what financed death brought into the region. In response to his death, money came pouring into the cause andrain forest reserves were founded in his name never to be transgressed by the men who bought his death. What had started as a call to protect his friends had become a call to protect a national treasure. It had ended up being a call for a man of faith to hear the cry of the poor and disenfranchised and to defend them by the only means available to him: nonviolent resistance.

December 21 - Melania the Younger, Mother, Pilgrim

2011-12-21T07:00:00.000-05:00

Melania was a child of wealth to an affluent and influential family in Rome. In fact she was a member of the family Valerii. She was Christian from an early age and was a child of an age after the persecutions that claimed so many Christians. As a follower of Jesus, she felt compelled as a teenager to commit to a life of celibacy and prayer. Yet, her parents were not especially fond of the idea and tried to convince her to marry a patrician of some importance named Pinianus. She insisted that she felt called to celibacy but eventually conceded to her mother and father's wishes and was married at the age of fourteen to another wealthy man who desired children. Up to this point, her story is not all that different from other young women in the late fourth century yet it is at this point that it takes a turn.

In the span of only seven years, Melania and Pinianus had two children. Yet, her first child died at a very young age and Melania was heartbroken. But, the pain of one lost child was compounded when their second child also died young. After seven short years of being a wife and mother, Melania had tasted more than her fair share of matronly tragedy. She begged Pinianus to grant her the right to commit herself to Christian celibacy and charity. Further, she asked him to join her in a life of devotion to Jesus. Perhaps because of her earnestness and zeal, Pinianus was convinced and joined with his wife--who he now called sister--to follow an increasingly narrow road that would lead to being a better and more fit disciple of Jesus.

Melania and Pinianus traveled for many years to various parts of the Roman world including Africa and the Middle East to spread the Christian Gospel and provide hospitality and charity to the needy. While in Africa, she became associated with Augustine and Alypius and had a friendly relationship with the two that was mutually beneficial for the discipleship of all involved. She and Pinianus established nunneries and cloistered environments and took in pilgrims and converts so that they might continue to journey further along the path of devotion to Jesus that they, too, travelled. Eventually, they settled in Palestine and considered their long pilgrimage over. They established a home for pilgrims in Jerusalem that provided for the sick and suffering but also the travelling and the strangers. She also met Jerome while in Jerusalem.

In Jerusalem, she finally agreed to sell the remainder of her property and when she had received the funds from their sale, she continued her acts of charity and benevolence to the people of Jerusalem in the name of her savior Jesus.Even after her husband's death, Melania continued to build convents and cloistered spaces for those pilgrims who also found themselves along the narrow way that leads to the Kingdom of God. Near the end of her life, she traveled to Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas with a friend in a convent and found herself growing suddenly more ill by the moment. After praying with her friends and loved ones, she retired to her bed never to rise again. Her last words--fitting words for a pilgrim like Melania--were: "As the Lord willed, so it is done."

December 20 - Ignatius of Antioch, Martyr, God Bearer, Apostolic Father

2011-12-20T07:00:00.000-05:00

As he walked across the wilderness flanked by guards and wild beasts, Ignatius' mind drifted back to the day Jesus had come to his little town. He had been teaching for a while and offering that particular blend of love and expectation that he was so well known for when a ruckus had been stirred up. Ignatius peeked from behind his mother's skirts to see that the disciples had been trying to keep some of the local mothers away from Jesus when they tried to bring their children closer to him. Ignatius immediately knew what had been on their minds--having their children blessed by this wandering holy man--because his own mother had mumbled something about it earlier that day. So, he knew this Jesus was an important man and he had been trying very hard to listen especially close to what he had to say. It made sense, as far as he could tell, and so he assumed that he was missing the point since he was only a child and wasn't used to understanding wandering holy men. He had much to say about the power of love to change things and the love of God for all people. To young Ignatius this made sense and he hadn't questioned it but he was surprised to see quizzical looks on the faces of the adults. Then, it happened. Jesus beckoned him forward from behind his mother's skirts. "Don't keep the children out," Jesus started, "for they understand the Kingdom of God in ways that you struggle to grasp." Jesus took Ignatius into his arms and blessed him--much to Ignatius' mother's approval--before saying: "If you want to be a part of the Kingdom, you have to lay down much and be just like a little child."
From that day on, Ignatius had been keen to follow after Jesus. Jesus had confirmed Ignatius' feeling that the Kingdom he spoke of was honestly that simple (not easy but simple) so as to allow a little on to understand it. Ignatius had followed after the words of Jesus as best he could but Jesus had eventually been killed. On that day, Ignatius had wept for the death of his Lord but, also, for the slaughter of his innocent hope in a Kingdom where love was enough. When Jesus was raised from the dead, Ignatius was finally and irrevocably stamped with the high-minded hope that dared to trust God to bring life through death and redemption out of sin and brokenness. He had become a student of the Apostle John and had, eventually, matured into a leader in the early Christian Church when it was no more than a movement much maligned by the powers that be. Eventually, Peter had appointed Ignatius as Bishop of Antioch and entrusted many souls to his shepherding before finding his own death at the end of a life of truth-telling and at the hands of the Empire. Eventually, these same forces conspired to rob Ignatius of his life. He was arrested and marched to Rome for his execution: being torn apart by wild beasts in the Colosseum.

As he traveled, he had the opportunity to write letters to various congregations along his route.He had heard rumors that they were hoping to release him from the soldiers who guarded him and so he sent them letters pleading with them to allow the will of the Empire to be done since it coincided with God's will. The Empire hoped to snuff out the fledgling faith by killing another of its leaders. Of course, this failed and only further spread the Gospel of love and forgiveness but they were convinced that a little more blood might make the difference. Ignatius assured the congregations that martyrdom was an honor that he looked forward to. As he approached Rome, he sent one final letter to the Church in Rome and insisted that they do nothing except tell the story of his martyrdom. He included a powerful image:"I am writing to all the Churches and I enjoin all, that I am dying willingly for God's sake, if only you do not prevent it. I beg you, do not do me an untimely kindness. Allow me to be eaten by the beasts, which are my way of reaching to God. I am God's wheat, and I am to be ground by the teeth of wild beasts, so that I may become the pure bread of Christ." The soldiers eventually threw him to the floor of the Colosseum and the beasts killed him for his faith.

December 19 - Sundar Singh, Convert, Missionary, Sadhu

2011-12-19T07:00:00.000-05:00

The crumpling of a body is a unique and easily remembered sound. As the Brahmin holy man's legs gave way he fell into a heap at the crowded--and stifling--bus terminal. The people scattered and some went for help. A man rushed back with a glass of cold water for the holy man knowing that he was likely suffering from some type of heat exhaustion. The life giving water was offered to the man but he pushed it away ferociously because it was not in his personal drinking vessel. The crowd understood that the man was trying to maintain his distinctness and so a boy ran to the home of the man and found his vessel. When he arrived, they filled it with cold water and the holy man drank quickly from his vessel and was strengthened and revived. In these startling moments, Sundar became painfully aware of a lesson hidden behind the circumstances: the people of India were like the man who would accept water only in the way he was familiar with--they would only accept a story of faith in the guise of an Indian man and not with the appearance of Western thought or teaching. It made everything make more sense as to how effective his life had been and why God had called him to live such a peculiar life--perhaps even why God had called him from those train tracks so many years previous.

Sundar was raised by a Sikh woman who wanted him to receive both an excellent education and excellent spiritual mentoring. So, she took him to the local Sadhu--an ascetic Indian holy man--to be mentored in the faith of his people and took him to a western school so he might learn English and other subjects. This school was a Christian mission and so he began to learn some of the faith as he advanced in his studies. But, then, tragedy struck when he was fourteen and his mother died unexpectedly. This shock led him to reject the faith of the Christians who spoke of a loving God who cared for the people of the world. He openly rejected their faith and mocked their converts. He brought his friends together so that they could watch him burn a bible page by page in defiance of the faith he so eagerly resisted in his rage. His rage did not ease his suffering and so he found himself laying on railroad tracks and screaming at the heavens: "If there is a God, then show yourself! If you're real, come to me or I will lay here and let the next train run over me and end it all." Sundar waited for quite a while and nothing happened and so he resolved to die when the train came shortly after dawn. As dawn was breaking, he had a vision where God spoke to him and called him to serve as a missionary to his own people.

He ran home, he woke his father and shared the story of his own conversion. His father was outraged and demanded that he renounce the absurd moment and vision. When Sundar refused, his father schedule a great party--but this party was a farewell ceremony and after the meal, Sundar was expelled from his home and disowned by his widowed father. As he walked away from his only family, his stomach began to hurt and he realized that he had been poisoned by his own father. He struggled to keep going and was eventually crawling due to the pain. Yet, he was taken in by a local Christian family and nursed back to health. He was baptized in the community and became a servant of God in the leper community nearby.

Eventually, he took upon himself the Indian garb of the Sadhu and began an itinerant ministry of mission work to the Indian people. In his yellow robe and turban, he began speaking to people who would otherwise ignore and reject the faith he offered. He spoke of Jesus--the man whom God had become in this world--and one important Gospel message that God loves us and desires to be with us. In other words, Sundar brought water to the people of India in a vessel they recognized and preferred. He would travel to Tibet--to minister to the Buddhists there--andthroughout India on foot because of the calling to share the faith with his people.

He received some formal education but not much. He was occasionally sponsored by various ministries and ecclesial organizations but they never defined his identity. Instead, he kept pursuing the redemption of a people he cared for by offering the message that God's love was furious and unrelenting and that there was hope for life in the words and stories of the Christian faith. In 1929, he endeavored to make one last journey to Tibet--the visits had started very painfully but had gotten better each time he visited--and so he set off through the mountains. He never arrived and his body was never found. It is possible that he was murdered by bandits or that he died of exhaustion but one thing is for certain: Sundar went places and talked to people that other Christians did not have access to. Sundar was called by God to reach those he loved even if they rejected and abandoned him.

December 18 - Sebastian, Martyr, Soldier, Wonder Worker

2011-12-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

Sebastian had been raised within the bounds of the Roman empire and knew well the laws and principles that were the foundation of Roman reason and expectation. Further, he had been appointed a captain of the Praetorian Guard under emperors Diocletian and Maximian. However, they had appointed him to this influential and powerful position without the rulers knowing what it was he did on Sundays. Sebastian was a Christian and professed his ultimate allegiance tothe same Lord that Rome had slaughtered to keep the pax romana in Judea. Had they known, they likely would have had him executed if he would not deny his faith. Yet, his faith remained secret even as the power of the Praetorians was weakened by Diocletian and Maximian. Because of this secrecy, Diocletian was unprepared for what came next.

It seems that two Christians had been arrested and tortured when they refused to deny their faith. Mark and Marcellian were close to abandoning their faith in exchange for an end to their pain and an opportunity to be with their family again when they heard whispering outside of their cell. Sebastian comforted them and shared his own faith with them. There in the Roman prison they prayed together and invoked the protection of their crucified Lord. Sebastian encouraged them to be courageous as death approached and they received the holy crown of martyrdom. The next day they surprised Diocletian who expected them to be sufficiently worn down. Diocletian had them tortured again yet their faith would not cave. He called for the family members of the men to visit them and plead with them to make a token sacrifice and renounce their faith. As they visited and pleaded with Mark and Marcellian, Sebastian arrived. At first, the families were worried to see a Praetorian captain near their loved ones yet were comforted by Mark and Marcellian's joy to see him. Again he comforted Mark and Marcellian and offered prayer with them but he also shared his faith with their non-Christian family. In a few short hours, the families were confessing faith in Jesus and joining with the men in their prayer and worship.

Diocletian was surprised again but this time he thought he had an idea what had happened. Some important families had been having family members become Christians at surprising times andall of the conversions seemed to be connecting around one central figure's visit: Sebastian. Diocletian called Sebastian to him and gave him no opportunity to regain his status. Instead, he had him taken to a nearby field and tied to a stake. The Roman archers raisedtheir brutal bows and rained death upon him. His flesh was pierced on account of his faith. He was left for dead as his blood was slowly consumed by the soil beneath his naked body. Yet, as the sun fell and the soldiers departed, Sebastian's heart still beat and he was taken from the place by a Christian widow--Irene of Rome who had been married to Castulus. She took him to her home and nursed him back to health after cleaning his wounds and giving him her bed to sleep in. Amazingly, he recovered and worked a wonder in the house of Irene. A blind woman from the community was skeptical of his faith--perhaps because of his status as a Praetorian--and refused to accept that he was a Christian. He called her to himself and asked, "Do you desire to be with God?" She responded in the affirmative and he made the sign of the cross upon her forehead. Miraculously, she gained her sight the moment after his thumb left her brow.

Yet, one day Diocletian and his entourage were passing through the city and Sebastian saw him coming. He stood upon the step of the home and called out to Diocletian in a loud voice: "See now, Diocletian, the one you condemned to death stands before you. You hope to kill the disciples of Jesus Christ but you only honor those whom you murder and encourage those who escape your desperate grasp."In a fit of rage, Diocletian ordered his soldiers to beat Sebastian to death and throw his body into a garbage heap after they were sure he was dead. Sebastian died a martyr and evangelist who espoused a faith that was contagious and compelling.

December 17 - Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, Near Martyrs

2011-12-17T07:00:00.000-05:00

"You see, fellas, those Jews can look healthy, too, thanks to the fine food they eat here in our palaces." boasted king Nebuchadnezzar. He was answered with the expected nods and grunts of affirmation. Being the king of Babylon meant that people agreed with you and didn't bother to correct you when you were wrong. The four men he was referring to were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah and they had secretly requested not to eat the meat offered them since it had been offered to idols first. In an attempt to keep themselves clean, they had risked the wrath of one who is always right--those who are always right must do much to maintain their status--and so they had been allowed to eat only vegetables for ten days and drink only water as a test. Their handler had been hesitant to allow it but was amazed to see them looking healthier every day as they subsisted upon the bare minimum and prayer. Even now, the king could not tell that his prisoners had been refusing his meat.

Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, and Daniel had been taken captive when the Babylonians overwhelmed and overran Judah. The four men had been of noble birth and blood in Israel and so they made effective bargaining tools for the Babylonians who hoped to purchase Judah's submission with threats of death and violence against the noble and respected. In essence, they were hostages but they were treated well. They were provided with fine accommodations and were even allowed to worship as they pleased--sometimes. They were even given Babylonian names (you may be more familiar with some of these): Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were addressed by these names but they remained connected with their heritage. Consequently, three of them (all but Daniel) ran into some trouble when Nebuchadnezzar built a gold statue of himself to be worshiped.

He had decreed that when the people heard a great cacophony of musical instruments, they should immediately cease all other activities and bow before the statue of the king. The people were quick to oblige for they knew the penalty for withholding worship of the king would be severe and immediate. As if to prove them right, Nebuchadnezzar had his workers build a furnace to ruthlessly murder any one who would dare defy his royal order. The king knew that this visible threat would cause the hearts of the hesitant to quake and surrender. Yet, he didn't anticipate Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. The instruments were played and people shouted. The crowd dropped to the ground in reverence to their manipulative persecutor but the three men stayed on their feet, perhaps mumbling a prayer to the Lord God Almighty whom their true names made reference to. He ordered them brought before him to face his fury. He had the guards drag them near to the furnace as it blazed and crackled. "Bow before me as your god or you will burn this very moment." The three men shook their heads and insisted that there was only one God worthy of worship. Nebuchadnezzar demanded worship but God was worthy of worship without demands or manipulations. "Make it hotter--seven times hotter!" screamed Nebuchadnezzar and his anxious workers did as he commanded. "Will you not now save yourselves and worship me?" he asked them. They resolutely refused.

So, he threw them into the fiery furnace and as they entered into the flames, bound by ropes, their entrance caused the flames to shoot out and consume the men who threw them in. This was no concern for Nebuchadnezzar who had no care for the men he manipulated. Expecting to harvest the fear he produced in those who watched his heinous actions, Nebuchadnezzar was surprised to see what looked like four men walking together in the flames. "How is this possible? and who is that fourth man?" he questioned his men in surprise. A murmur rose up that the fourth must be one appointed by God to go forth and watch over them in the flames. The ropes had been consumed but they were fine. "Come out, please." Nebuchadnezzar pleaded with the men. The three men came out at his request and were untouched by the fire or the soot. Nebuchadnezzar didn't know what to say but eventually decreed that nobody should oppose the God of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Perhaps that is the one good thing to say for Nebuchadnezzar in the story: he recognized that there was one greater than himself even if it had no immediate impact on his life except to provide him a way to avoid losing face before the near-martyrs: Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

December 16 - Thomas Becket, Martyr, Champion of the State, Enemy of the State

2011-12-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

It's hard to classify where Thomas Becket fits into the question of State and Church. For much of his career, he was a friend of the powerful in England. The king and Thomas were fast friends for many years and Thomas even served as a foster father to one of Henry's sons. As Thomas rose through positions of power and influence within the Church, he garnered yet more attention from the powerful and respected. Yet, he continued living the life of a servant of the Kingdom by taking care of the poor and disenfranchised that had been created by the very systems he was so involved in. Thomas' story is a conflicted one even at its more heroic parts. For years, people have tried to gloss over his early affection for the State as being a matter of cunning or somehow less corrupting than it may appear to be yet it cannot be doubted any longer that Thomas defended and encouraged the king even as his actions drew the ire and disrespect of the people of the Church.

Yet, there is more to the story. The reach of the State began to increase even more and to take advantage of the clergy of England. Now that Thomas was the Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry hoped to command him and further cement his power over the clerical and Church leaders in his kingdom. Yet, now Thomas balked. He resisted Henry's suggestions and refused to be directed to serve the State's whims any longer. At first, Henry felt there must be a misunderstanding but Thomas' refusals only continued as time went on. Henry called for leaders to sign the Constitutions of Clarendon and swear their allegiance first to the British empire and secondly to the Church. Thomas was conflicted yet refused to sign. For this decision, he suffered condemnation from those he had been ingratiated to and learned to love and please. As the crisis continued, he eventually excommunicated those who sided with Henry and the State over the Church. In these actions, it seemsThomas made his choice as to who would be his master--yet it is not hard to imagine that all of this was a challenging decision for the man who had rested in the king's own courts. Thomas was forced to flee the king and ended up in Normandy.

When Henry heard of the newest volley of excommunications and Church actions, he remarked from his sick bed: "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?" What was intended to be a remark was interpreted as a command and a group of four knights went forth to find and judge Thomas. When they arrived at the worship service that Thomas was presiding over, they left their weapons outside and ordered Thomas to come with them to be judged by king Henry. He refused and they retrieved their weapons. As Thomas proceeded to the sanctuary for the vespers service, he was assaulted and killed by Henry's men. He died quickly as the men were trained by the State to exact the king's commands even against those who had been near and dear to the king.

December 15 - Annie Armstrong, Layperson, Advocate for Missions, Founder of the Women's Missionary Union

2011-12-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

Annie Armstrong had a Baptist pedigree that many other Baptists may have envied. Her immediate family was intimately involved in church life in Baltimore, Maryland. Her ancestors had been Baptists about as far back as anybody could remember and her father's great-grandfather had been a man who helped establish the first Baptist church in Maryland: Henry Satre. In other words, Annie was very familiar with the life of the Church and the roles that it filled in the lives of those around her. Yet, it wasn't until she was nineteen (four years after the end of the United States of America's Civil War) that she finally had an experience she would call "being born again." This moment was a significant one for her and was a leap forward in her conversion away from the powers of this world to Lord of All Creation. Shortly thereafter, she left that first congregation--Seventh Street Baptist Church--and was a charter member in a new congregation: Eutlaw Place Church. The pastor at the time was a man with a heart for missions who preached about a need to go into the world and meet the needs of a people that live in darkness because of a calling upon the lives of the members to reflect the light of their Lord and Savior. This was a message that Annie heard loud and clear.

The Baptists of Annie's day were loosely confederated in conventions and associations. The typically independent Baptists convened and associated for missions purposes, at first. They became increasingly aware that they could do more good for the world and meet more needs if they'd work together. Annie was involved in these efforts early on. While in Baltimore, she became intimately associated with a variety of people with a variety of needs regardless of social or racial identity. As a follower of Jesus, Annie felt called to associate with those that many in the nation looked down upon and resented.

In 1888, Annie met with a group of women from many Baptist churches to address the question of female involvement in missions throughout the world. They were aligned with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and organized a group that worked through the denominational structure to encourage women to think about their faith in terms of missions.This group would eventually be called the Women's Missionary Union (WMU) and Annie would be its first director. Her early efforts for missions involved writing many letters--Annie is said to have written over 17,500 letters in one year--and providing a loving hand and a hospitable environment to children and the lonely, disenfranchised masses. The SBC wanted to pay her a salary for her efforts to raise missions awareness among Baptists but she refused not only the salary but also reimbursements for any of her expenses. She insisted that her work was a calling and labor of love.

Annie eventually resigned from her position of leadership because of a fear that her work was paving a pathway for the ordination of women--an issue she was stridently opposed to--and Annie never worked with the WMU again. She continued to live a life of emphasis on mission work but stuck to her convictions and abandoned the organization she had helped to establish. Yet, near the end of her life (a few years before the beginning of the Second World War and in the year of the fiftieth anniversary of the WMU) she offered a blessing for the WMU and shared her hope that it would continue to grow stronger and stronger each year.

December 14 - Juan de la Cruz, Mystic, Reformer, Imprisoned

2011-12-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

Juan had a challenging childhood. His father died and left him and his mother and two older brothers alone at Avila in central Spain. Further, theirs was a family among the great group known as conversos--Jews forced to convert at the tip of a sword. Though his family had been forcibly converted to a faith that had cost them any chance at financial success and committed many sins against them, Juan found himself at home in the Christian faith. He was educated at a Jesuit institution when the Society of Jesus was still new. The Jesuit founder--Ignatius of Loyola--may have been alive for the first few years that Juan spent studying. As he grew older, he joined a Carmelite monastery with intentions of eventually becoming a Carthusian hermit.Then, he met Teresa.

Teresa de Avila (or Teresa of Jesus as she is sometimes called) spoke to Juan in a way that enticed him. She convinced him--slowly at first--not to join the Carthusians in pursuit of solitude and prayer but rather to make a life of reformation his prayer. Teresa was working to bring reformation to the Carmelite order and saw a coworker in the recently-ordained Juan. They began to work together and spiritual formation and maturity seemed to travel in their wake as they settled among various Christian communities. They were, however, met with resistance--as can be expected--by those who were uninterested in the reformation and healing of the Church.The resistance began as being barred from entering some convents and monasteries but eventually became more severe as they became more influential among spiritual communities.

Juan had been ordered to relocate by a superior--perhaps to break up his work with Teresa--and had been advised to stop his reforming work. When he refused both, he was seized by his brothers and imprisoned in a small cell. It was barely big enough for him to lay down and yet they felt it was the best place to keep him. He was fed and given water but was abused and mistreated by the same people who he had covenanted to love and take care of. Weekly, he was brought out of his cell to be publicly whipped and humiliated for his works of reformation and discipleship. While in his cell he wrote poetry including his most famous poem: La noche oscura del alma or The Dark Night of the Soul. In it, we read of the mystic path that leads the follow of Christ through a dark night of the seeming absence of God from the life of the disciple. In this dark place, disciples learn to lay down their egos and lives so that they might find life through death and darkness. In his small cell, these words must have resonated in his soul to provide him with some modicum of comfort even as his life seemed to fall apart around him.

He was able to engineer and escape by breaking his cell door and squeezing through a small window in a nearby room. Having left captivity behind, he tried to return to a normal life and found himself consistently drifting back to the monastic life. Instead of seeking solitude again, Juan began founding monasteries with Teresa and continuing to pursue the reformation of the Church he loved and had served even in the face of its enemies and adversity.

December 13 - Lucia, Martyr, Unpolluted, Generous

2011-12-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

The coins clattered to the stone and Lucia looked around as if she expected somebody to notice. In fact, many people noticed the sound of coins hitting the ground in this poor neighborhood but none of the people were her wealthy soon-to-be husband. She had no trouble giving away the money but knew it must be done in relative secrecy lest her betrothed find out that she was giving away her dowry. Her mother had not approved and had begged her to think of her father--her recently passed father--but could not convince her. At least, not since that night at Agatha's tomb when she had been healed from her bloody problem. They had waited and prayed all night and Lucia's mother had finally been healed but Lucia had been the recipient of a vision at the same moment that foretold her soon coming martyrdom. Mom had been happy to be healed and Lucia had not let her know what she had learned. Instead, she proposed that she be allowed to give away her dowry to the poor as an act of alms giving. Of course, mom had resisted but Lucia won out. As she handed over the last of the coins, she breathed a sigh of relief--partly because she had maintained the secrecy and partly because she was glad to finally be rid of the bride money--after all, she had committed herself to a celibate life and had no desire to be a bride in this world.

Yet, as thing so often happen, her betrothed was quick to find out. He was a wealthy man and so he had much influence. Great influence in a city buys many eyes in various places and some of them had told him that they thought they had seen her in the streets giving away a large sum of money. He confronted her and asked to see the dowry set aside for him to gain when he finally married her. She knew she had been caught and so she admitted that she had given it away--knowing well that her martyrdom was likely to spring from this moment of opportunity. "If you don't replace it, I will betray your secret--that you are a Christian--to the magistrate. Maybe then you'll see some sense once you've given up these silly Christian fables." he yelled. She nodded because she knew he would and because she had come to accept it.

Lucia was arrested at her his insistence and dragged before magistrate Paschasius. This was during the time of the Diocletian persecutions and being Christian was akin to high treason. She was ordered to make a sacrifice upon the Roman altars and she refused. Paschasius was not surprised by any means--it seemed that the Christians were only all too willing to refuse and die if the other option was denying their Faith. "If you do not," said Paschasius, "then you'll be killed. Offer sacrifice and live." Paschasius wasn't surprised but he was confused--what could be so valuable as to forfeit your life--it didn't make any sense to him (it never does to the Empire).

"Here is my offering," Lucia began, "I offer myself to God, let God do with His offering as it pleases Him." Paschasius sat in shocked silence for a moment. Lucia's betrothed was dumbstruck by what he might call her lunacy but others might call her courage. Paschasius finally asked her why she would not like to keep her life and be married. He pointed out many of the desirable traits of her betrothed. Lucia let them know that she had committed herself to celibacy and was not interested in marriage.

At this, Paschasius saw an opportunity to wring a denial out of her. "Deny your faith," he said slickly, "or I'll turn you over to the brothel to be raped and become a prostitute." He gloated to himself and smiled what can only be called a smile of self-satisfaction. In this, he had revealed the Empire's great lust to control and dominate even if by evil means. He fully expected her to give in but this time he truly was surprised.

Lucia said: "No one's body is polluted so as to endanger the soul if it has not pleased the mind. If you were to lift my hand to your idol and so make me offer against my will, I would still be guiltless in the sight of the true God, who judges according to the will and knows all things. If now, against my will, you cause me to be polluted, a twofold purity will be gloriously imputed to me. You cannot bend my will to your purpose; whatever you do to my body, that cannot happen to me." Furious, Paschasius ordered her eyes gouged out and then to be martyred. The soldiers followed through and ended her life as a martyr.

December 12 - Alice Domon and Companions, Martyrs, Victims of Operation Condor, Human Rights Activists

2011-12-12T07:00:00.000-05:00

Alice didn't know what drugs they had given her but she did know that she found it hard to think let alone move. She had a thought tickling the back of her mind but she couldn't get a grip on it but it was probably for the bet. After all, these people who had drugged her clearly didn't have good plans for her. Though these were not the men who had tortured her, they were associated with them. As the vibrations of the plane buzzed through her body, her mind drifted back to the day she had first arrived in Argentina.

Alice had been born in eastern France in the year 1937. As a child, she lived through World War II and saw many of its atrocities first hand. She knew the evil that anonymous empires and states could perpetrate if allowed. She was steeped in a culture that knew well the violation of human rights. As a child, she began to feel a tug on her heart to serve her God in a foreign land. She joined a society of French missioners and in 1967 was sent with other nuns and priests to Argentina to minister to the handicapped in Buenos Aires. Yet, this wasn't the only thing she did when she was there. Soon, she became invested in the political and social problems the country. She began ministering in the shanty-towns, as well. When the country underwent a coup in 1976 and installed Jorge Rafael Videla as president, the stage was set for Alice's dramatic end.

Following the brutality of the coup, Alice began associating with a group called "Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo" that had one particular interest: revelation of the names of those who had been "disappeared" by the party now in power. They began to make demands that the State own up to its treacheries and admit what it had done. But, fighting for the desaparecidos insured that the State would take notice--they had worked hard to disappear them and didn't want them brought up again. Eventually, they sent men pretending to be family members of the handicapped to kidnap Alice with some her friends and loved ones. They took the nuns and hid them in government buildings with the intention perpetrating a vast conspiracy to blame their torture and death upon opponents of their newly installed regime. At one point, they had tied Alice to a bed, stripped her, and slashed and stabbed her naked and exposed body. Finally, they decided to make her disappear.

So, they grabbed the drugged nun and opened thebay door of the plane. They were flying over the Argentinian coast and the soldiers were tied to the frame of the plane so that they might not join their victims in their fast approaching death. Alice offered a prayer as the soldiers grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her from the plane. She fell quickly and hit the water hard enough to kill and dismember her instantly. She was made to disappear but her story was again uncovered and told so that people might not forget the difference between the State and the Church--so that people might not forget the disappeared.

December 11 - Victoricus, Fuscian, and Gentian - Martyrs, Missionaries

2011-12-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

"Victoricus...Fuscian," Gentian called to them in a hurried voice, "you need to leave Therouanne if you want to live." He continued, "Your presence here has been a blessed one and many have become Christians because of your words but you must now retreat if you hope to save your lives."Victoricus and Fuscian looked at each other and weighed Gentian's words carefully. They had expected that they would eventually run into this kind of resistance. They had arrived in Therouanne to spread the Gospel to the people who lived along the coast of the North Sea in what is now known as France but was then known as Belgica. Gentian spoke truly: their mission work had been very successful and had even brought Gentian--an elder in the community--into the Christian fold.

The two men conferred and return to the anxious Gentian. They knew what they must do if their testimony was to hold in the region. If they fled persecution, then many would finally believe that their true colors had been shown and abandon the Faith they had offered as worthless or manufactured. They steeled their resolve and gave Gentian the news that they would not be fleeing and that they would, instead, continue sharing the faith that would very likely cost them their lives.

The governor had tired of Victoricus and Fuscian and had decided to give them a choice: denying their faith or dying. However there was a problem: he didn't know where they were and had no way of finding them. Although, he had heard that old man Gentian had recently seen them and so he had Gentian dragged before him. "Where are they, old man?" the governor demanded. Gentian refused to tell. "If you won't tell me, then you'll die. Eventually, somebody will tell me and they'll die, too. Save yourself" the governor concluded. Gentian refused again and was martyred.

Eventually, somebody did tell and Victoricus and Fuscian were brought before the governor and ordered to deny their faith. If they did, it would be quickly spread that the Roman Empire was stronger than the Christian Gospel. It would appear to be a victory for power over love and dominance over mercy. They refused and were tortured by having metal spikes driven through their nose and ears. Finally, when they still refused to give in, they were beheaded and their bodies cast aside. In the wake of their strong testimony, Christianity took roots and flourished in and around Therouanne. By hoping to stop the spread of the Faith within the region, the governor only cemented its hold upon the hearts and minds of a people who respected and valued three men who refused to retreat simply because of fear.

December 10 - Thomas Merton, Monk, Author, Activist

2011-12-10T07:00:00.000-05:00

Thomas had only stepped out of the shower--such an innocuous thing--but it proved to be the last action in a chain of actions that resulted in his death. He was in Bangkok and had recently given a talk to an eager and interested audience. Indubitably, most (if not all) of them had read his work and were happy to hear him talk about it. It was the 27th anniversary of his entrance into the monastery--the Abbey of Gethsemani in Trappist, Kentucky--and he must have been aware of it. He reached out to the fan--perhaps to turn it on or off--and when his hand made contact, the poorly grounded fan electrocuted him. He died nearly instantaneously. In the forty years since his death, people--many who never met him and who might not have even been born when he died--have mourned his death and insisted that he died too young and too soon.

Thomas' story is a long and interesting journey that he recorded in his own spiritual autobiography: The Seven Storey Mountain. He had been born into a family of nominal religious affiliation in France but had been baptized in the Anglican church. His mother was a Quaker by birth but died young and had a limited impact upon him. Her death, however, haunted him for the rest of his life. As a child, he moved very often because of the rootless life of his artist father. For many years, he lived in America with his baby brother and grandparents but during his adolescence he was a student in European boarding schools while his father traveled and attended art shows. He had little to no spiritual involvement at the time and by his own recollection only rarely attended a religious service. At the age of fifteen, Thomas' father died from a brain tumor and Thomas began to live upon his inheritance as it was watched over by his father's friend and physician.

Years later, Thomas would begin to feel and resist a calling toward the Church. It seems that synchronicity and serendipity were constantly at play and Thomas became more and more connected with the Church. At first, it was the Byzantine mosaics that brought him into sanctuaries. He wrote:

"I was fascinated by these Byzantine mosaics. I began to haunt the churches where they were to be found...thus without knowing anything about it I became a pilgrim...though not quite for the right reason. And yet it was not for a wrong reason either. For these mosaics and frescoes and all the ancient altars and thrones and sanctuaries were designed and built for the instruction of people who were not capable of immediately understanding anything higher."

So, Thomas became a pilgrim on a path that unknowingly was drawing him to Jesus and to service. Yet, he struggled deeply with the death of his father and mother and the declining health of his grandparents. He descended into a world sustained by alcohol and sexual conquest. It seems incredibly likely that he fathered a son during one of these trysts. Yet, no matter how much he resisted the call upon his life, he was drifting inexorably toward redemption. Eventually, after many years of fighting and resisting, he took his vows as a Trappist monk and was sent to the Abbey of Gethsemani. There, he was able to live in silence, write, and live a life of contemplation and prayer. His writings have comforted and challenged people ever since. So also have his interests in comparative religion and radical hospitality for others.

It is impossible to share the impact of Thomas Merton upon others without reading some of his writing. Thomas was called to write and lived into the calling with a passion that occasionally got him rebuked by those in power. Any telling of Thomas' story that did not include some of his writing would be remiss and so I include my own favorite passage:

"In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking form a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world, the world of renunciation and supposed holiness. The whole illusion of a separate holy existence is a dream."

December 9 - Leocadia and Eulalia, Martyrs, Eager to Confess

2011-12-09T07:00:00.001-05:00

Eulalia and Leocadia may never have met each other on our own side of the dusky vale of death. Regardless, their lives had an impact upon one another. Leocadia had been gathered up from the streets of Toledo, Spain, by the Roman empire in yet another attempt to stifle and neutralize the Christian presence. The Diocletian persecutions were in full force and had drawn blood throughout the Empire but in the days of Eulalia and Leocadia, it was particularly bad in Roman Spain. Leocadia's story was like so many other martyrs--she had been identified as a Christian and drawn before the powers of the Empire and given a chance to deny her faith to save her life.Leocadia's faith was strong, however, and she refused to concede to the wishes of the Empire since they would require her to betray herself and her Lord. As was the practice of the Empire, Leocadia was beaten and tortured for her refusal. The Empire's hope was that the pain it could inflict might win out over the faith of the Christian. The Empire always thinks in terms of self-preservation and avoidance of pain--this is one of the high values of the Empire--and not in terms of glory and the Kingdom of God. The greatest power of an Empire always has been--and always will be--the ability to deprive somebody of their life and when somebody no longer holds their life to be protected at all costs, the Empire loses their domination. So, Leocadia was returned to her cell in prison so that she might think over her refusal in hopes that time would combine with her wounds to render a denial.

While Leocadia languished in prison, Eulalia was at home. As a Spanish Christian, she had known many of the people gathered up in the Imperial raid. Though she was only thirteen, she also knew the inevitable fate of those who refused to deny their faith when placed under the unrelenting scrutiny of the Empire. Somehow, her name had escaped the list of Christians and she had been left alone while her brothers and sisters began to suffer on account of their common faith and Lord.Eulalia was distressed that she was not numbered with her brothers and sisters--Leocadia being one of them--and so she went to the tribunal and confessed her faith before the ears of an Empire that had not asked. For this crime of faith, she was arrested and tortured like her brothers and sisters. Supposing that she might be humiliated and induced into apostasy, they stripped her of all of her clothing and cast her out on the steps of the tribunal. Eulalia suffered the indignity of being laughed and leered at in the public square but refused to deny her faith because of the temporary and desperate machinations of the Empire.

Eulalia was brought in from her humiliation and taken to a public execution. Along with other Christians, this eager martyr was burned at the stake and her ashes were scattered. The story of Eulalia seeking out the powers and confessing her faith drifted through the prison cells and brought a new confidence and joy to those who were facing their own martyrdom. Leocadia heard the story and fell to her knees. She was still bleeding and hurting from her last experience with the Imperial death-dealers but she had a new determination.Praying to God, she cried out, "Lord, deliver me from a world that allows a woman like Eulalia to die at the hands of an Empire like the one that holds me even now. If Eulalia has died so eagerly, then so do I desire to die."Having prayed this and aroused the attention of her guards, she died without being touched or harmed in any additional way.

December 8 - Walter Ciszek, Prisoner, Priest, Seed Planted in the Gulag

2011-12-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

"Walter, have you heard that Lubyanka is the tallest building in Moscow?" asked Walter's fellow prisoner," they say you can see Siberia from the basement." It had been meant as a joke to relieve some of the mundane and oppressive tension that highlighted the lives and days of the prisoners in Lubyanka. Walter laughed but it might be because of the absurdity of it all and his growing need for companionship with other people. Walter was primarily kept in solitary confinement while at Lubyanka even though he was no physical threat to the other prisoners or the guards. He was confined for the purposes of cruelty and restricted on a whim. He had come a long way from the small Polish family in Shenandoah, Pennsylvnia, in the United States of America. Even now his family wondered what had happened to Walter. He had not led an exemplary life in the United States but his family still dearly missed him and prayed daily for his safe return. Regrettably, though, they were increasingly convinced that he would never return and was likely no longer alive. When he had left the life of a gang member behind to become a Jesuit priest, they had assumed that his life was taking steps in the direction of safety and security. But then he had accepted a calling.

Walter heeded the desperate call by the pope for priests to become missionaries to Russia in the early twentieth century. It was not an especially safe time for men to immigrate to Russia but the Church seized upon the opportunity and soon he found himself in Rome studying to become a priest while also learning the Russian language and history. When he arrived in Russia, he became a logger and got to work becoming part of a culture that was not his own. In his spare time, he began hearing confession and saying mass in secret. The Soviet State had no room for Christians and was quick to isolate them from others. Perhaps the Soviets had learned from the actions of Rome and knew that the Christian story was contagious and would continue to spread--maybe even faster-- as you tried to kill Christians to silence them. So, instead of killing Walter, they arrested him and threw him into one of their most secure prisons. This hadn't been enough and he continued to share his faith with the people he met and eventually they were forced to further restrict him. In an act of desperation, they ordered him sent to one of the many Gulag camps. It seems that they truly could see Siberia from the basement at Lubyanka.

In this attempt to silence Walter, they only firmly planted a seed in frozen Russian soil. They had dropped him into the camp expecting him to give up and eventually die from exhaustion and exposure. He was among prisoners of all different types and crimes. Some had been sent to the camp for speaking out against the government--even as little as telling a joke that was deemed disrespectful of the State--or being too closely related to somebody who had been marked for exile. Children, women, and men labored in the cold to support the State and save their own necks. Yet, Walter still heard confession and held services in the camp. In their attempt to isolate Walter, the State had only given him a larger audience and nurtured the tiny plant that was Walter's ministry in Russia.

Even after he was released from the camp and moved between other cities, he continued to offer ministry and aid to those who were seeking it. He wrote to his family for the first time in nearly fifteen years and they were surprised and overjoyed to learn that the brother and son whom they had presumed dead was alive--the one they thought lost had been found. His release was eventually negotiated by the United States of America so that he might come home and a Soviet spy and his wife might return to Russia. Even as he was being released, the Soviets still considered him a spy and failed to understand that he had been a missionary for a Kingdom that is not of this world. After twenty-three years of imprisonment he was reunited with his family and lived the remainder of his days as a minister in Pennsylvania. Twenty-five years ago, today, he died.

December 7 - Ambrose of Milan, Reluctant Bishop, Careful Leader, Doctor of the Church

2011-12-07T07:00:00.000-05:00

Ambrose hadn't expected to be interrupted in the middle of his speech. Of course, he had expected there to be a degree of outrage and confusion at the meeting but it was unexpected for it to interrupt the address he had been asked to give to bring peace and calmness to the crowd. Auxentius--the bishop of Milan--had died only recently and there was considerable conflict over who would succeed him. Auxentius had been an Arian and the other Arians insisted upon the appointment of one of their number. The non-Arians insisted that Arianism was heterodox and that an orthodox bishop should be appointed. In the middle of Ambrose's address on the need for unity and peace, he was interrupted by cries of "Ambrose, bishop!" He shook his head humbly and tried to pick up the fast escaping thread of his address but soon the cries were being voiced by the whole crowd. Both Arians and non-Arians approved of the conciliatory nature of Ambrose's words and so they insisted upon his appointment in one voice.

However, Ambrose was reluctant to accept the position. He insisted that they seek some other fit person to serve. He protested that he wasn't even baptized and found a hiding place with a dear friend. The word of Ambrose's appointment spread and soon the emperor was congratulating the people in Milan for their selection noble-born Ambrose. When word continued to spread Amrbose's host and friend eventually gave up his hiding place and Ambrose reluctantly agreed to become bishop of Milan. Within the following week, Ambrose was baptized, ordained, and installed as bishop of Milan. Soon, he was overseeing the life of the Church in Milan and providing counsel to the priests in the city using his extensive political and diplomatic experience and expertise.

Ambrose was an able and competent bishop who helped define the relationship between the Church and the State--not to mention he also advised and mentored Augustine of Hippo. When emperor Theodosius had massacred 7,000 people in the city of Thessalonica, it was Ambrose that hoped to win back the emperor's heart from death and evil through tough love. He refused to admit Theodosius to the shared Eucharistic table and went so far as to suggest he would excommunicate the emperor if penance was not done. Theodosius had executed an atrocity and Ambrose understood that the only way back for the emperor was the way of repentance and forgiveness. Under Ambrose's direction, Theodosius repented and served public penance for his crimes.

Ambrose's influence upon the growth and development of the Church during a turbulent time should not be understated. He had kept the Church together even in times of theological dispute and civil unrest. For this reason, it is right to remember his story and to resolve to seek unity and peace with the same fervor as our brother Ambrose.

December 6 - Nicholas, Generous, Wonder Worker, Anonymous Gift Giver

2011-12-06T07:00:00.000-05:00

Nicholas knew the likely consequences of the man's poverty--his three daughters would have no dowry and would not be able to marry because of it. If they couldn't marry, then they would likely follow the same path that so many other poor, unmarried women did at the time: prostitution. This thought chilled Nicholas' heart and so he devised a plan. Taking a significant portion of the wealth he inherited from his parents, he converted it to gold and divided the gold equally among three sacks. As day gave way to dusk and the frenetic activity of the street faded into yet more noisy memories, Nicholas left his home and began walking toward the home of the man and his three daughters.

That first night, he must have felt nervous since he wasn't planning to be noticed. He waited until a group of people were walking down the street by the home and joined in with their gentle throng. He had spied the window of the home and noticed that it was open that night and would allow him the safest and easiest way to leave the gold. If he left it on the doorstep, it would likely be stolen but he couldn't knock and hand it to them without being noticed. Instead, he waited as his group passed the doorway and tossed the sack through the window. The sack landed with a pleasant thud and the jingling of coins. The father picked up the bag to see what type of garbage had been tossed through the window and discovered that it was filled with gold. Immediately, his thoughts went to his daughters and he rejoiced that he was a little closer to providing a dowry for his daughters. His thoughts turned to fear, though, as he considered that surely this was dropped by some wealthy man walking the street and so he opened the door to find the man who would be frantically searching for his money. There was nobody left on the street. So, the father waited up several eager hours silently hoping against hope that this had been a gift and not an accident. Every step in the street drew the father from the home to see if it was somebody looking for the money but nobody ever came to claim the gold.

The next night, Nicholas took another sack of gold and waited for another group of people to walk down the street. He joined with them again and was glad to see that the man had left the window open again. Feeling that his work for the Kingdom of God was not yet done, Nicholas approached the window with the group of people again. He thrilled to know that he was making a difference in the lives of the daughters and their father but he still did not want to be found out. He tossed the sack through the window where it landed again in the middle of the room. This time, however, when the sack landed the father didn't hesitate and bolted for the door. He already knew whatwas in the sack but he wanted to know who had again delivered such a wonderful gift. He gave chase to the cloaked figureand caught up with him. He spun him around and asked who he was that he should leave such a wonderful gift but the man only shook his head and said, "It wasn't me. Some man gave me this coin and his cloak to run when you came out of your door." With a subtle deception, Nicholas crept away into the night and again eluded the father.

The third and final night, the father had prepared and hid by the window. When the sack entered the open window, he would leap up and catch the man. Then, he would be able to thank and praise the man who had done such good for him. He waited as Nicholas approached but Nicholas had already detected the father's plan. He climbed to the top of the house and took the third sack with him. There was no smoke coming from the chimney and so Nicholas knew his plan would work. He dropped the third sack down the chimney where it landed with a triumphant thud. Before departing, the father yelled, "Who are you that I might thank you for these great gifts?"

Before he disappeared, Nicholas responded, "You have nobody to thank but God alone."The father did not try to follow after Nicholas for it was abundantly clear that he didn't want to be found out. He took the money and used it to provide a sizable dowry for each of his daughters and to ease the poverty that had gripped his small family. For this wonder--and others--Nicholas is well remembered and memorialized. May we, too, be generous gift givers.

December 5 - Sabbas, Monk, Hermit, Uneducated Leader

2011-12-05T07:00:00.000-05:00

Sabbas sat in silence in a sea of squabbling monks. Though they were talking about him he had little interest in their discussion--and it seemed that they had little interest in the fact that they were dissecting his strengths and weaknesses in front of him as if he wasn't present. He looked around bemusedly and shook his head in loving frustration. Most of these men--on both sides of the argument--had sought him out from miles away so that he might direct their spiritual paths. Indeed, some of them seemed to have taken the monastic path as a shortcut to power and influence--for these he prayed especially often--but others had taken Sabbas' path to find a life of prayer, peace, and service. Sabbas' mind drifted back to the years so long ago when he had lived the life of a hermit and he remembered them fondly. The conversation seemed to be becoming an argument about whether or not Sabbas was intelligent and educated enough to lead a group of monks. It had never been Sabbas' plan to be a leader or to be educated and so it didn't bother him that some accused him of being ignorant--what bothered him was the state of the hearts of those who judged him.

As this argument heated up, Sabbas' mind drifted back to the days when he would come into the monastery with an armload of willow baskets that he had woven. He'd silently drop them off and go and take his compensation. He had worked out a deal that he would weave ten willow baskets every week and give them to the monastery if the monastery would then give him a week's worth of food and enough willow branches to make ten more baskets. This deal worked for Sabbas and he had been doing it for some time. He had been a monk for many years and had eventually been granted the privilege of becoming a hermit and further devoting himself to prayer and service. Yet, this day he heard sad news: his own spiritual director had died in the week prior and there was debate as to who would replace him. Sabbas' mind was on his dear, departed friendbut this didn't keep the wheels of the monastic machine from running and soon a successor was selected and Sabbas knew that the time was coming for him to move on from the area. He moved to another cave farther away so that he might continue his life of prayer independent of the politics of the monastery.

Yet, when he moved others came after him because of his spiritual stature and maturity. Soon, the other caves and cells around him began to fill with people who were naming him as their spiritual director. Eventually, this new groupbecame disenchanted with their leader and began to demand a man with education and charisma. When this happened, Sabbas moved on to a different cave and, eventually, a new set of eager monks. This happened several times.

Now, it seemed it would happen again so Sabbas volunteered that he would leave and return to a private life of prayer and service in another cave far from here. He left but the Church was not keen to appoint another spiritual director immediately and insisted that Sabbas was their director. When Sabbas arrived at the cave, he was surprised to see a lion at the mouth of it. He suspected that this would be the last of him and that the lion would kill and eat him. Yet, the lion bowed its head and moved on--it ceded the cave to Sabbas as if directed to do so by divine mandate. When this story made its way back to the monks, some of them distorted and twisted it and took it to the patriarch. They pleaded with the patriarch to establish a new director because Sabbas had been killed by a lion. As they were finishing their arguments, though, they looked over and observed what had grabbed the patriarch's attention: Sabbas was sitting quietly and attentively listening to their description of his death. The patriarch ruled that there should be reconciliation and that the monks who disapproved of Sabbas because of his lack of education were in the wrong. Eventually, there was reconciliation--and in reconciliation are the seeds of redemption--for all of the monks and Sabbas.

Sabbas would go on to lead nonviolent protests against Imperial injustices. His protests gathered thousands of monks under one banner and behind one cause: their common Lord Jesus Christ and his furious love. Many years later--at the age of 93--Sabbas died peacefully among his fellow monks and friends.

December 4 - Barbara, Martyr, Refused to Concede

2011-12-04T07:00:00.000-05:00

Barbara's father--Dioscorus--was away on business. At least that's what he had said. Of course, Barbara was convinced that he had left because of the seething anger that he was nursing. Barbara hadn't told him she was a Christian and was still very unsure when and how to do so. That wasn't what had excited his fury. Instead, she had refused his offer. Their relationship had been strained for years--ever since she became a Christian--and Dioscorus was feeling more and more embarrassed about his daughter at every turn. Luckily for him, there was no dearth of suitors looking to marry her. Dioscorus was a wealthy man and Barbara was beautiful--these two factors combined and made her a very attractive choice for a wife. Yet, when Dioscorus had finally found a man who he thought was best for his daughter, she had rejected him. Barbara had refused to marry a non-Christian but Dioscorus didn't know that was why. In his anger, he left Barbara at home to oversee the building of a new part of his estate.

Barbara wondered how she would explain her faith to her father while she oversaw the work the builders were doing. One day, they asked her to approve the design of the windows. "How many windows will there be?" she asked. They informed her that there were to be two windows in the bath-house they were building. Sensing an opening and a means to express her faith and create an opportunity to speak with her father, she insisted that they install three windows. Unknown to the builders, this was Barbara's attempt to represent the Trinity in a little thing such as windows.Knowing that she had contradicted her father's design, she also knew that this would result in his questioning her and lead to the conversation she had been seeking. When he arrived home--perhaps buoyed up with fresh hope for marrying his daughter so some other suitor--he was shocked to see his designs had not been carried out.

"What did the builders do, Barbara?" asked Dioscorus, "did they even consult the plans I left for them?"

"Yes, father, they did," replied Barbara, "but I told them to build three windows instead of two."

"Why would you do that, Barbara?" questioned Dioscorus as he felt the familiar tinge of anger flare up in the back of his mind. A conversation followed wherein Barbara admitted to being a Christian and Dioscorus insisted that she deny this and reject the faith of the hated Christians. Again she refused to concede to his wishes. He threatened her if she would not reject her faith but she stood firm in her hope. Finally, he said, "If you will not deny these Christian lies, then I have no choice but to hand you over to the prefect."

"As you wish, father," replied Barbara to the now shocked Dioscorus. He had assumed that she would bend and concede at his ultimate threat. After all, she knew well what was happening to Christians who ended up in the clutches of the Empire. Yet,Dioscorus had played the card and now was forced to follow through if he hoped to win back his daughter.Dioscorus dragged his daughter before the prefect and she was condemned to die. He turned to her and asked if she would not now reject her faith and live. She refused. The soldiers handed her father a sword and he looked at the prefect questioningly. The prefect indicated that if she would not deny her faith then it was Dioscorus' duty to decapitate her. Yet still she refused. Dioscorus' heart beat quickly as he insisted that she stop playing around and deny the things the Christians had taught her.

"I'll have to kill you, Barbara, if you refuse again" insisted Dioscorus.

"It's okay, Father, I love you. Do as you must." replied his daughter. He raised the blade and hesitated--hoping she would shriek our her denial in the scant moments of hesitation--and then swiftly decapitated his own daughter with a mournful wail.On that day, for fear of the Gospel of mercy and grace for sinners the Empire made both a martyr and a murderer in one family. Because of a refusal to concede by either, they both finally became what it was that their lives and actions were leading them to.

December 3 - Francis de Xavier, Jesuit, Missionary, Work in Progress

2011-12-03T07:00:00.000-05:00

"It's my right, Francis, to live as I please," said the noble man, "and I don't see why any savage heathen should have any right to say anything about it." Francis gawked at the man as arguments fought each other in his mind to see which one Francis would unleash upon the western noble. In India, it seemed that Francis spent most of his time battling the negative images of Christianity that the Europeans carried with them like their luggage and valuables. It was so easy for the poor of India to reject what Francis had to say because they had seen many men and women with the same attitude as the man who now stood before Francis looking pleased with himself and disgusted by the poverty around him.

"But you don't get it, friend," started Francis, "God loves these people, too, even if they aren't like us." Sure, it wasn't the best argument but it had taken some time for even Francis to arrive at it. He had been sent by his friend Ignatius of Loyola to be a missionary to the people of India.He had been called out of his worldly ambitions to serve the Church and seek a higher calling of love and mission work. When he arrived, he knew nothing of the Hindu, Buddhist, or Muslim religion and refused to have any conversation on the philosophy or thought of these religions. As his exposure to the people increased, however, he became enamored doesn't have the right to do as he or she pleases--we've given up that right." The man walked with the poor and needy left to suffer and die in the streets because of an accident of birth. "God is calling us to care for these people,"continued Francis. The man walked away--offended--and left Francis to wonder if there was any hope for salvation for foreign peoples if it seemed there was so little hope among his kindred.

Francis was criticized for caring for the poor instead of appealing to the noble-born and influential. It was argued that he could reach more by first reaching the far-reaching segments of society.Yet, Francis centered himself among the poor, needy, and untouchable portions of society because of his own increasing awareness of the calling upon his life to live as a servant of God's people. It had been a long time since he had been with Ignatius but he had learned well the power of prayer and active love for making a way for redemption in the hearts of men and women. Eventually, he moved on and traveled to Japan as a missionary. This time, he learned from his mistakes--he truly was a work in progress--and addressed the cultural and spiritual predispositionsof the Japanese people from the beginning. He quickly set to work spreading the Gospel among the Japanese people and caring for those that the society wished would simply disappear. Eventually, he had a small group of converts who would meet regularly and were reaching out to those around them. Having established a foothold, he wrote letters and appealed for more missionaries. For many years, the Jesuits were able to send many missionaries to Japan because Francis had prepared a foothold and a community to welcome them.

But, it is true that Francis was a work in progress. He was instrumental in beginning the Goa inquisition and leading to the torture and death of many people in Southeast Asia. For this, Francis is not celebrated but mourned. He failed to see the consequences of his actions and the inherent evil in what he was doing. Francis' sin was one that so many of us have made: a willingness to crush and harm another to make myself feel better. From this sin, Francis and we must repent.

Near the end of his life he set out for China because of a growing passion for the people of that nation and indubitably looked forward to meeting the people and sharing the good news with them. On his way, he fell very sick and had to be dropped off before reaching the mainland.Throughout his life, he had subsisted on very little food so that he could feed more of the hungry and got by with little medical attention so that he could aid the poor. Finally, his years of devotion to the suffering had brought him into the place of the sick and the needy. He died on an island off the coast of China and did so by himself. He had gone on to prepare another place for missionaries to go and had died in his service to the Lord who calls all followers to take up their cross and follow him.

December 2 - Maura Clarke and Companions, Martyrs, Victims of State Sponsored Death

2011-12-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

Maura was bleeding profusely and knew that death was likely waiting for her after every short and gasping breath. Yet, she noticed that the men had already sprinted back to their van. Their guns were still warm from the bullet they had discharged and the death they had wrought in Maura and her sisters: Ita Ford, Jean Donovan, and Dorothy Kazel. It was odd to see five grown men sprinting from the defenseless, dying (or perhaps dead) nuns back to the safety of the van. They ran as if they expected some retribution to spring forth from the bloody wounds in the chests and heads of the women who had not even resisted.They turned up the radio as loud as it could go and peeled out--spraying gravel--as they fled the scene.Maura wondered if the radio was meant to silence the memory of atrocity and murder in their minds and wondered if they even knew what song was playing.

Maura had come to El Salvador because of Oscar Romero's plea for ministers of the Gospel to come and spread the Faith to people suffering injustice and oppression. Before coming to ElSalvador, she had worked in the United States of America and Nicaragua providing assistance and pastoral care to the poor and needy. When Oscar had made his plea, Maura had been quick to respond and soon found herself serving her suffering Lord in the city of Chalatanengo. She had served alongside Ita Ford in a local parish. Upon returning from a conference in Nicaragua where she had reaffirmed her commitment to stay in El Salvador, she and Ita were picked up at the airport by Donovan and Kazel. They were tailed from the airport by a group of Salvadorian soldiers in civilian clothing. These men were soldiers trained to serve the interests of the State before even their own calling. To call them a "death squad" would be appropriate according to history but it would also grant them the privilege of rationalizing their atrocity--so, it is best to call them murderers. They followed the women to an isolated spot, stopped their vehicle, drug them from the van and began to beat them savagely. The women offered no defense and instead offered prayers and tears.

It was clear that the goal was to eliminate these "undesirables" in such a way as to make it look plausibly deniable. There would be no doubt that these women--who had helped take care of the enemies of the State in the Salvadorian Civil War--had been murdered but it would be plausibly deniable if they made it look like an act of chance not sponsored by the State. So, to make it look more barbaric--and truly to make it more so--the soldiers raped the nuns before shooting them and leaving them to die.In the logic of State sponsored death, one atrocity covers over another and allows the State to execute great evil under the cloak of denial and confusion.

When asked if she would leave the evils in El Salvador Maura had said that she would remain"to search out the missing, pray with the families of prisoners, bury the dead, and work with the people in their struggle to break out of the bonds of oppression, poverty, and violence." She had stayed and she had suffered for her commitment to Christ's calling and mission in the world. Finally, she died and was buried in Chalatanengo as she had desired. She would not forget the people of El Salvador and they would not forget her.