Martyrs and More Martyrs

I haven't posted very much lately, largely because I've been consumed by the preparations for a 10-hour mini-course on Sacramental Theology I will teach this weekend. The course is part of our diocesan catechist certification program and so my audience will consist of about 30 catechists and Catholic school teachers from this northern end of our diocese.

Normally I would have completed my preparations long before the start of the course, but the recent visit of our daughter and her family happily kept me from the PC for a couple of weeks. Of course, I could have done all the necessary work before their visit, but that would have required some long-range planning, a virtue not often practiced by us supposedly retired folks. In any event, I have paid the price for my procrastination.

As you know if you've inexplicably followed this insignificant blog for any length of time, I have devoted quite a few posts to the subject of the ongoing persecution of Christians throughout the world. I was just about to add another, this time on the very recent murders of seven Coptic Christians in Egypt. (These murders were in addition to the Christmas Eve bombing of the Coptic Church that killed 21 innocent people.) But then I came across Robert Royal's excellent article, "The New Martyrs", published today by one of my favorite websites, TheCatholicThing.org. It's definitely required reading for any Christian who has remained oblivious to the continued and increasing attacks on Christians, and especially on Catholics, in recent years. Oh, and a few years ago Royal wrote a splendid book on 20th Century martyrs that is also well worth reading: The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century.

Keep our persecuted brothers and sisters in your prayers.

God's peace..